20. LEFTY FRIZZELL

Frizzell’s prime run spanned only about three years in the early 1950s, but he cut a remarkable quantity of hit songs during the time, including a spell where four of the Top 10 country songs were his. Like most country singers of his era, the Corsicana

native initially took inspiration from Jimmie Rodgers, but he avoided imitation, coming up with a manner of phrasing all his own. Frizzell’s slurring of vowels was otherworldly, wringing every last bit of anguish or joy (mostly anguish) from them, with his voice rising and falling with rubbery dexterity. The movement of his voice reflected the untethered early years as the child of a peripatetic oilman. Generations of country singers — including Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Randy Travis and Keith Whitley — followed his ambling lead, making him one of the three or four most important singers in country music history. Most Texas musical moment: Willie Nelson enjoyed breakout success in 1975, the year Frizzell died. Not content to let a fellow Texan’s legend fade, Nelson covered “If You’ve Got the Money (I’ve Got the Time)” in 1976 and then made a full album of Frizzell songs, “To Lefty From Willie” a year later.