Rest of the Best (The 10 Best Bands | Posters | Voters)

A total of 155 bands and artists got votes in our Best Knoxville Band Ever poll, spanning the early days of commercial recording (Brownie McGhee, Roy Acuff, and Leola Manning) to the heyday of the Cumberland Avenue scene all the way to some bands that have just been together a few years. Here’s the full list, in order, with comments from voters.

11. (tie)

• Mic Harrison and the High Score (34 points, one first-place vote)

These guys are what rock ’n’ roll is supposed to be about—fun. Every time I see them, they’re having a blast and inviting the audience along for the ride. And the music is pretty f--king sweet as well. —Steve Wildsmith

• The Judybats (34 points, one first-place vote)

Knoxville spin on the Athens, Ga., sound. Great pop. —Rob Levering

13.

• Donald Brown (28 points)

The first time I saw Donald perform solo I kept looking for the bass player. The bass was Donald’s left hand. He’s always amazing. —Wayne Bledsoe

14.

• Gran Torino (25 points)

A little bit of funk, soul, rock—and a hell of a fun time. So many band members that these road warriors needed a school bus. Both frat-guy- and hipster-approved. —Rob Levering

15.

• 30 Amp Fuse (24 points)

Simple punk pop in the vein of Hüsker Dü. [Mike] Smithers and a rotating cast of band members released three solid full-lengths that I still wear out. —Rob Levering

It’s been too long to know what to say, except that the dude wrote great power pop. I wonder where he is now. —Joe Tarr

16.

• The High Score (23 points)

17.

• Royal Bangs (22 points)

Damn, these guys put on a show. Frenetic, ADD energy throughout, and they’ve built a following that’s eager to see them perform every time. —Steve Wildsmith

18. (tie)

• Robinella (21 points)
• Westside Daredevils (21 points)

20.

• Straight Line Stitch (20 points, two first-place votes)

These cats tour like it’s nobody’s business and put on one of the best live shows I have ever seen. Their energy and drive are completely amazing, but they often get overlooked as one of the major staples of the Knoxville music scene. —Brandy Blaylock

21.

• Phil Pollard and His Band of Humans (20 points, one first-place vote)

22. (tie)

• The Everly Brothers (19)
• Stewart Pack (19)

24. (tie)

• Sea 7 States (18 points)

What, you didn’t think I’d put them here? —Kevin Crothers

• Vertigo (18 points)

Though technically from Morristown, this band defines themselves as a Knoxville band, and I think they are some of the best songwriters from the area. Their brand of alternative rock is both complex and catchy. And their live show is killer—I mean, killer. —Brandy Blaylock

26. (tie)

• Kevin Abernathy Band (17 points)

The most criminally unknown group in Knoxville. —Wayne Bledsoe

• Koro (17 points)

I preferred Whitey more to Koro but this stuff is brutal and collectors still seek it out decades later. —Rob Levering

• Rude Street Peters (17 points)
• Whitechapel (17 points)

Somehow this band came along at the right place and time in the current metal scene and found themselves as a central figure in the new sub-genre of deathcore. Growing out of awkward teenagers in the Knox Scene Coalition to a national force has been an amazing and awe-inspiring feat. —Brandy Blaylock

30. (tie)

• Mustard (16 points)
• Christabel and the Jons (16 points)
• The Used (16 points)

33.

• Double Muslims (15 points)

34. (tie)

• Erick Baker (14 points)

I must admit that the whole singer/songwriter thing is not my bag, but this guy does it so well that you can’t help but like it. His lyrics are poignant, his stage presence is sincere, and his vocals area amazing. —Brandy Blaylock

• Relentless Blues Band (14 points)
• Wh Wh (14 points)

37. (tie)

• Oh, Muse! (12 points)
• Torture Kitty (12 points)

Everything seemed possible in 1997. —Emily Robinson

39. (tie)

• Dishwater Blonde (11 points)
• Mountains of Moss (11 points)

[Adam Ewing] might be my favorite person in Knoxville. —Joe Tarr

• Taoist Cowboys (11 points)

Neither particularly religious nor into steer-punching, this basement band defined the “Fort Sanders Sound” as Bob [McCluskey] aimed for Phil Lynott but settled (sometimes) for Dylan. —Kevin Crothers

42. (tie)

• Roy Acuff (10 points, one first-place vote)
• Bluefish (10 points, one first-place vote)
• Rich Mountain Tower (10 points, one first-place vote)
• Tonite! Nude Girls (10 points, one first-place vote)
• Trapper Keeper (10 points, one first-place vote)
• Rick Wolfe (10 points, one first-place vote)
• Whiskey Scars (10 points, one first-place vote)

49.

• Cutthroat Shamrock (10 points)

50. (tie)

• The American Plague (9 points)

Who doesn’t like these guys? They are a really great rock band—straightforward and catchy but also driving and Southern. They just have a really great sound. —Brandy Blaylock

• Cold Hands (9 points)
• Crawdaddy (9 points)
• The Faults (9 points)

The rock ingredients of The V-Roys distilled into a short-lived concoction of fizzy (power)pop soda. —Kevin Crothers

• Lonesome Coyotes (9 points)

Razor-sharp wit, glorious harmonies, and a walking history lesson of East Tennessee music. —Steve Wildsmith

• Natti Love Joys (9 points)
• See Rock City (9 points

57. (tie)

• 1220 (8 points)
• Angel and the Love Mongers (8 points)
• Chet Atkins (8 points)
• Bitter Pills (8 points)
• The Lawn Darts (8 points)
• Tim Lee 3 (8 points)
• The Leningrads (8 points)
• Limit 9 (8 points)
• Hector Qirko Band (8 points)
• Real Hostages (8 points)
vThe Red Scare (8 points)
• STDs (8 points)
• Brent Thompson and His Wandering Circus (8 points)

70. (tie)

• Argentinum Astrum (7 points)
• Chelsea Horror (7 points)
• Hypertribe (7 points)

Had the chops, had the hair—they were just too talented and too ahead of their time. They were doing in the early ’90s what rock radio was playing a decade later, only they didn’t suck. —Rob Levering

• Ibrahim (7 points)
• Kelle Jolly and Will Boyd (7 points)
• Knoxville Grass (7 points)
• Left Foot Down (7 points)
• Or (7 points)
• Pegclimber (7 points)
• The Swamis (7 points)

High-top rockers do pathos, punnery, poetry, and party, often at the same time. —Kevin Crothers

• The Viceroys (7 points)

81. (tie)

• 5 Twins (6 points)
• The 1-900s (6 points)
• Black Atticus (6 points)
• Black Sarah (6 points)
• Bloo Shroom (6 points)
• Candy Creme and the Wet Dream (6 points)
• Chico and the Men (6 points)
• the everybodyfields (6 points)
• Angel Higgs (6 points)
• Con Hunley (6 points)
• Lebron Lazenby (6 points)
• Lobster Lobster Lobster (6 points)
• Leslie Woods (6 points)

Moody, sultry, and particular—she’s Appalachia reflected through a 21st-century prism. You can’t really classify her music, but her singing makes me swoon, with all its heartfelt aches, pains, and lusts, and she always makes me feel them when she sings. It’s the kind of music that makes you order whiskey and stay up all night. (And as an aside, with no offense to Terry Hill, Hector Qirko, Angela Bartlett, et. al., but Bob Deck is the best f--king guitar player in Knoxville, ever!) —Joe Tarr

94. (tie)

• The Cheat (5 points)
• DJ Slink (5 points)

Not much to say here. From Fiction to VooDoo, he’s been a Knoxville staple for years now, and he’s always dependable for a dancin’ good time. —Brandy Blaylock

• Jeff Heiskell (5 points)
Hometown Slackers (5 points)
• Mr. Mack (5 points)
Leola Manning (5 points)

I’ve only ever heard two songs by her—“Satan Is Busy in Knoxville” and “Arcade Building Moan.” The first is self-evident, the second about a horrific fire here during the Great Depression. They’re the kind of songs that evoke and define the mythological Knoxville: a corrupt place of sin, violent, decrepit, and old—sort what I hear when I read the best of Jack Neely’s columns. —Joe Tarr

• Jodie Manross (5 points)
• Nairobi Trio (5 points)
• Nug Jug (5 points)

103. (tie)

• 10 Years (4 points)
• Tommy Bateman and the Thunderthieves (4 points)
• The Bearded (4 points)
• Bone (4 points)
• The Cuts (4 points)
• Dirtclods (4 points)
• Rus Harper (4 points)

Other towns should be so blessed to have an artist who loves to push boundaries, challenge norms, and generally raise a ruckus like Rus does. —Steve Wildsmith

• Holly Be Thy Name (4 points)
• Immortal Chorus (4 points)
• Mito Band (4 points)

Okay, [Travis Gray]’s a good friend—and also the art director of this paper that occasionally pays me to do some meager writing—but I happen to think he’s insanely talented and bold. I don’t really know what exactly you’d call his music—quirky pop kids’ music? Television theme shows? When I’ve heard him play at Pilot Light—and he’s probably still pissed at me for not going to his last show—I’m always amazed to hear him pull it off. For my mind, he takes more risks than any other musician in Knoxville, bar none. He’s so talented, he writes nasty songs about his friends that they don’t even know he’s singing about them. And when they eventually find out, they don’t really care, probably because the song is so good. —Joe Tarr

• R.C. and the Boogeymen (4 points)
• Ramblin’ Roy (4 points)

The first time I saw this band, Chris Cook jumped off the stage and beat some guy who looked like Ian MacKaye in the head with his Fender bass. The next time I saw them, Robbie fell off the stage and unplugged his guitar with the first chord played. —Emily Robinson

• The Rockwells (4 points)
• Satellite Pumps (4 points)
• Spades Band (4 points)
• Three Ring Psychosis (4 points)

A decade ahead of their time. Much of their sound was later commercialized by ’90s “alternative” bands. —Kevin Crothers

119. (tie)

• Amazing Rhythm Aces (3 points)
• deek hoi (3 points)
• Dissocial (3 points)
• Divorce (3 points)
• French Broads (3 points)
• L.A. and the Blues Express (3 points)
• Quartjar (3 points)
• The Thirteenth Generation (3 points)

What happens when you mix Murvil and medication. —Kevin Crothers

• Twinkiebots (3 points)

Everything seemed possible again in 2003! —Emily Robinson

128. (tie)

• Aftershock (2 points)
• Howard Armstrong and the Tennessee Chocolate Drops (2 points)
• Clifford Curry (2 points)
• Dirty Knees (2 points)
• The Home Boys (2 points)

Influential if only for gathering rookie band members who later formed Sea 7 States, What Alice Found, Awfully Anglo, and The Taoist Cowboys. —Kevin Crothers

• Bill Jenkins (2 points)
• Jesus Chrysler (2 points)
• Sara Jordan and the Leftovers (2 points)
• The LoneTones (2 points)
• Red Rector (2 points)
• Sadville (2 points)
• Senryu (2 points)
• Speedshifter (2 points)
• State Champs (2 points)

142. (tie)

• Awfully Anglo (1 point)

Too-often forgotten (i.e., little-recorded) ’80s proponents of punk/prog/jazz. —Kevin Crothers

• John T. Baker (1 point)
• The Bloodiest Night of My Life (1 point)
• Bullrooker (1 point)
• The Clintons (1 point)
• Terry Hill (1 point)

An influence that crossed generations and genres. —Rob Levering

• Greg Horne (1 point)
• Idle Hands (1 point)
• Marshall Andy (1 point)

Sure, you know him as a singing cowboy host, but he’s one of my favorite vocalists, period. —Wayne Bledsoe

• Brownie McGhee (1 point)
• Montage (1 point)
• Serene Scream (1 point)
• The Wedge (1 point)
• W-S Burn (1 point)