 Country Music
1960 -1970
In 1962 Ray Charles surprised the pop world by topping the
charts and rating # 3 for the year on BillBoard’s pop chart
with "I Can't Stop Loving You" , and recording the hugely
popular album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music.
Outlaw Country
Derived from the traditional and honky tonk sounds of the
late 50's and 60's, including Ray Price (whose band, the
"Cherokee Cowboys", included Willie Nelson and Roger Miller)
and mixed with the anger of an alienated subculture of the
nation during the period, outlaw country revolutionized the
genre of Country music.
"After I left Nashville (the early 70s), I wanted to relax
and play the music that I wanted to play, and just stay around
Texas, maybe Oklahoma. Waylon and I had that outlaw image
going, and when it caught on at colleges and we started selling
records, we were O.K. The whole outlaw thing, it had nothing to
do with the music, it was something that got written in an
article, and the young people said, 'Well, that's pretty cool.'
And started listening." (Willie Nelson)
The term "Outlaw Country" is traditionally associated with
David Allan Coe, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter,
and Billy Joe Shaver, and was encapsulated in the 1976 record
Wanted! The Outlaws.
Country Rock
The late 1960s in the aftermath of the British Invasion,
many American artists desired a return to Rock n' Roll and
there was a lack of enthusiasm for Nashville country music.
What resulted was a crossbred genre known as Country rock.
Early innovators in this new style of music in the 60s and
70s included Rock n' Roll icon band The Byrds (beginning while
Gram Parsons was a member) and its spin-off The Flying Burrito
Brothers, guitarist Clarence White, Michael Nesmith & The
First National Band, Commander Cody, Allman Brothers, The
Marshall Tucker Band, Poco, Buffalo Springfield, and The Eagles
among many.
Even The Rolling Stones got into the act with songs like
"Honky Tonk Women" which resulted in many others recording
country rock type songs including Neil Young and the Grateful
Dead.
Southern rock, Heartland Rock and in more recent years
Alternative country were other blendings.
Country-Pop
Country Pop emerged in the 1970s. The term first referred to
country music songs and artists that crossed over to top 40
radio. Country pop found its first widespread acceptance during
the 1970s. It started with Pop music singers, like The Bellamy
Brothers, Glen Campbell, John Denver, The Eagles, Olivia
Newton-John, Marie Osmond, B.J. Thomas and Anne Murray having
hits on the Country charts. Campbell's "Rhinestone Cowboy" was
among one of the biggest crossover hits in Country music
history. These Pop-oriented singers thought that they could
gain higher record sales and a larger audience if they crossed
over into the Country world.
In 1974 Olivia Newton-John, an Australian pop singer, won
the "Best Female Country Vocal Performance" as well as the
Country Music Association's most coveted award for females,
"Female Vocalist of the Year". In the same year, a group of
artists, troubled by this trend, formed the short-lived
Association of Country Entertainers.
The debate raged into 1975, and reached its apex at that
year's Country Music Association Awards when reigning
Entertainer of the Year, Charlie Rich (who himself had a series
of crossover hits), presented the award to his successor, John
Denver. As he read Denver's name, Rich set fire to the envelope
with a cigarette lighter. The action was taken as a protest
against the increasing pop style in country music.
History
of Country Music 1980 - 2000
| 
