Welcome to the first installment of Ultimate Music Tournament 2012.

For the preliminary round, rank your top 5 artists in this genre from 1-5. The top 8 will advance to the next round. Here are the 32 artists in this genre, Folk Rock...


Ben Harper
Billy Bragg
Bob Dylan
Bon Iver
Cat Stevens
Counting Crows
Crosby, Stills & Nash
David Gray
Donovan
Fleet Foxes
Grateful Dead
Iron & Wine
Jethro Tull
Joanna Newsom
Joni Mitchell
Leonard Cohen
Love
Neil Young
Nick Drake
Okkervil River
Ray LaMontagne
Robyn Hitchcock
Rusted Root
Sarah McLachlan
Sinead O'Connor
The Band
The Byrds
The Hooters
The Pogues
Tom Waits
Tracy Chapman
Van Morrison

1. Neil Young
2. The Band
3. Tom Waits
4. Leonard Cohen
5. Van Morrison

1. Bob Dylan
2. Tom Waits
3. Nick Drake
4. Joni Mitchell
5. Neil Young

Tim Buckley not in this year?

When I put together these lists I had rough lists and narrowed them down 2 ways. The first was to go through artists with multiple genres and determine the best fit, also trying to even out the heavyweights as much as possible. Then I paired down each list to 32, obviously some were harder than others to determine who are the best 32 keeping in mind the 50 or so voters. Looking at the original list Tim Buckley was on it, but did not make the final cut.

When I post the results, I will include the lists from all the e-mail voters.

My top 5:

1. Bob Dylan
2. Neil Young
3. Ben Harper
4. Van Morrison
5. Fleet Foxes

1. Bob Dylan
2. Neil Young
3. Tom Waits
4. Van Morrison
5. Nick Drake

1. Bob Dylan
2. Crosby, Stills & Nash
3. Cat Stevens
4. Donovan
5. Van Morrison

1.Bob Dylan
2.Neil Young
3.Nick Drake
4.The Byrds
5.The Band

1. Bob Dylan
2. Tom Waits
3. Love
4. Leonard Cohen
5. Nick Drake

Neil Young and Van Morrison just miss the cut. Love and Tom Waits don't seem to fit in with this category, but I had to vote for them.

Only 8 of these will go on? Damn, that's harsh.

1. Bob Dylan
2. Neil Young
3. Leonard Cohen
4. Van Morrison
5. The Byrds

Real shame I can't vote for The Byrds, The Band and Tom Waits.

1. Tom Waits
2. Neil Young
3. Bob Dylan
4. Fleet Foxes
5. Van Morrison

1. Bob Dylan
2. Tom Waits
3. Love
4. The Byrds
5. The Pogues

1) Nick Drake
2) Ben Harper
3) Bon Iver
4) The Pogues
5) Leonard Cohen

2 close calls :
Ray LaMontagne
Van Morrison

I'm not a big fan of Folk Rock, so I don't have issue not voting for the big ones.
But it looks indeed that in some categories, it will be harsh to pick only 5.

The Hooters?

1. Leonard Cohen
2. Cat Stevens
3. Tom Waits
4. Donovan
5. Ben Harper

1. Nick Drake
2. Neil Young
3. Leonard Cohen
4. Bob Dylan
5. Tom Waits

1. Bob Dylan
2. Tom Waits
3. Neil Young
4. Leonard Cohen
5. Van Morrison

Really sorry I couldn't fit Fleet Foxes in there.

I guess Waits doesn't occur in another genre?

1. Bob Dylan
2. Leonard Cohen
3. Tom Waits
4. Neil Young
5. Fleet Foxes

Thanks!

I know there are a lot of great artists to choose from but I'm surprised that nobody else has placed even a 5th place vote for CSN. If John Prine or Phil Ochs were on the nominations list I probably would have gone with one of them #5.

1. Neil Young
2. Bob Dylan
3. The Band
4. Crosby, Stills and Nash
5. The Grateful Dead

1.Van Morrison
2.Bob Dylan
3.Tom Waits
4.Joni Mitchell
5.Neil Young

1. Bob Dylan
2. Fleet Foxes
3. Neil Young
4. Billy Bragg
5. Joanna Newsom

1- Bob Dylan
2- Neil Young
3- Love
4- Tom Waits
5- Jethro Tull (How are they folk rock?)

Well, at least you didn't have them in the metal category.

1. Bob Dylan
2. Neil Young
3. Crosby, Stills & Nash
4. Bon Iver
5. The Band

Grateful Dead just missed the cut.

RESULTS (31 voters):

110 - Bob Dylan
88 - Neil Young
40 - Tom Waits
31 - Crosby, Stills & Nash
22 - Leonard Cohen
22 - Nick Drake
19 - Van Morrison
17 - Ben Harper
___________________________
13 - The Band
12 - Cat Stevens, Fleet Foxes, Joni Mitchell
11 - Grateful Dead
9 - Love
6 - Bon Iver, The Byrds
5 - Counting Crows, David Gray, The Pogues, Tracy Chapman
4 - Donovan, Jethro Tull, Ray LaMontagne
3 - Billy Bragg, Robin Hitchcock
1 - Joanna Newsom, Okkervil River, Rusted Root
0 - Iron & Wine, Sarah McLachlan, Sinead O'Connor, The Hooters

1. David Gray
2. Bob Dylan
3. Robyn Hitchcock
4. The Pogues
5. Bon Iver

Young, Fleet Foxes, CC, Dylan, Bragg

-- Dead
- Ray LaMontagne
- Ben Harper
- Dylan
- Tom Waits

1. Bob Dylan2. Neil Young3. The Band4. Grateful Dead5. Ben Harper

Crosby Stills & Nash Bob Dylan Neil Young Counting Crows Van Morrison

1. Bob Dylan. 2. Neil Young. 3. Crosby, Stills, and Nash. 4. Grateful Dead. 5. Rusted Root

1. Bob Dylan 2. Neil 3. Joni 4. Van 5. Byrds; shoutout: Ray, David, Donovan, Cat, CSN.

dylan, CSN, neil, joni, tracy c....in that order

Cat, CSN, Van, Neil and Okkervil River....in that order

1. Bob Dylan 2. Nick Drake 3. Joni Mitchell 4. Crosby, Stills, Nash 5. The Band

Ben Harper, CSN, jethro Tull, tracy Chapman, Dead