26. Tompall Glaser & The Glaser Brothers

Being the 3 youngest of six children, Tompall, Jim and Chuck Glaser began singing together and were playing county fairs when they were just preteens. From a modern perspective, their radio career was never one that set the charts on fire, but they were always firmly planted in the ‘outlaw scene’ of the 1970’s country music industry. Their harmonies were considered some of the best in the genre, so when they were starting out they got most of their work as background singers, singing on records for Marty Robbins and Johnny Cash among other people. Always knowing that they wanted to do their own thing outside of the Nashville machine, the brothers formed a publishing company in 1962. They were signing on songwriters that other studios were ignoring, including John Hartford (Hartford would go on to write “Gentle On My Mind”, a signature song for Glen Campbell and one that has been recorded by over 300 other artists). Then, after charting a few of their own songs in the late 1960’s, the Glaser brothers opened their own full studio. It housed a publishing company, a production company, a talent agency and design services for album covers. This place was a haven for artists as it allowed them to have more creative control over their music and their music careers. Artists like Mel Tillis, Jimmy Buffett and Kenny Rogers all recorded there. When Chuck had a stroke in 1975, Tompall and Jim went off for solo careers for a few years before the trio came back together in 1980. To summarize, Tompall Glaser & the Glaser Brothers never got a number one song (though they got a couple top tens), but what they were able to do was open up avenues in country music for other artists to flourish. For that, they are deserving