God doesn't need to know what time it is.

@bdp24 

I never saw James Burton on TV-- my first astonishing exposure was on the song "For No One" on Emmy Lou Harris' "Pieces of the Sky" album. At that point, I had absolutely no idea that a "Country" player could play in such a "jazzy" manner, my only point of reference for Country playing being Roy Buchanan. I can see your point about Paisley, BTW.

Steve Cropper is one of those players who doesn't play a lot of notes. . . and doesn't need to, as everything he plays just sounds right. Cornell Dupree is one of the great R&B tele players I was trying to think of, while we're on this genre. 

Robben Ford. . . everyone talks about his chops. What about his ears? ? ? 

Taking over from Larry Carlton with J. Mitchell. . . how many could step into those shoes?  I'm hoping the next J. Mitchell box set will include unreleased live performances from the "Miles of Aisles" tour she did with Robben and the LA Express. 

I saw Robben on the Tiger Walk tour and enjoyed that material very much. I saw him later at at casino in the Tahoe area and the constant screaming by a highly inebriated crowd ruined that show for me. I left as three cops were attempting to wrestle some guy to the ground who was freaking out on who-knows-what substance. Bad scene. Can't imagine trying to play to that sort of audience!

And those who've been summoned by Miles belong to a very elite club. . . Shorter, Carter, Holland, Corea, McLaughlin, Jarrett, DeJohnette, Coleman, Hancock, Scofield, Williams, Garrett, Bartz, etc. 

I favor older stuff, myself-- Jerry Jeff, EmmyLou, Rodney Crowell, Willie, etc.

+1 stuartk, Rodney’s been doing his best work the last 20 years. My favorites are:

The Houston Kid

Fate’s Right Hand

Close Ties

Acoustic Classics

Triage

Willie’s "The Willie Nelson Family" is very good if you enjoy country gospel.  It's not Willie & Family, it's his kids and Sister Bobbie, RIP. 

"As talented as he is, I have to admit I have mixed feelings about his playing. I take very seriously the notion of the musician’s priorities as being in service to first the song, second the singer, third the ensemble, and lastly his instrument. I’m not sure Brad sees things that way."

bdp24-

IMO Brad is more of an "entertainer" that happens to play guitar.

"I saw Robben on the Tiger Walk tour and enjoyed that material very much. "

stuartk- I bought the CD when it was released. Still play it now and then. While I do like the album, wasn’t compelled to listen to his other work.

@bdp24 IMO, one example of a player who is capable of doing all the showy “whootly-whootly” wankery but chooses to instead be only in service of the song is Lindsey Buckingham.  

@tomcy6: Rodney’s The Houston Kid is as good an album as I have ever heard, in my Top 10 of all time. He wrote an accompanying book, Chinaberry Sidewalks, which is well worth reading. He served as Emmylou’s band leader/harmony singer for a while, a role now played by another fave of mine, Buddy Miller.

Buddy is a great guitarist, singer, producer, and picker of material. Buddy’s wife and musical collaborator Julie is just wonderful, an Angel sent from Heaven. Buddy and Julie have done a couple of albums together, and he has of course also produced her solo work. I also have the albums she did when she was a Contemporary Christian artist (one album produced by Buddy), the world she and Buddy came to the secure world from.

I really need to see Emmylou and Buddy live together, but though they have appeared at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco (my old friends who still live in San Jose/Cupertino attend those shows), they don’t come up to the Northwest, where I now reside.