Country music has truly always been the working class’ genre – most especially with truck drivers, who represent honest and hardworking men with a level of liberty unknown to most people. And Red Sovine was one of the most prolific ...
Six-time Grammy Award winner Ronnie Milsap released his cover of Jim Reeves’s “Am I Losing You” in 1981. His version stayed for one week in the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart Ronnie Milsap sold over 35 ...
American singer-songwriter and multiple Hall of Famer Johnny Cash released his rendition of “You Are My Sunshine,” originally recorded by Jimmy Davis and Charles Mitchell. The original version was released in January 1940. Because of the song’s popularity, Broadcast Media, ...
Donald Ray Williams, famously known as Don Williams, is an American singer-songwriter who initially recorded “Tears of the Lonely,” written by Wayland Holyfield. Before continuing to pursue his solo career, Williams was part of a folk-pop group called Pozo Seco Singers. Together ...
In 1968, Tom T. Hall released “Ballad of Forty Dollars” as the fourth and final single off his album of the same name. The song became Hall’s first Top 10 hit on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart as a recording ...
A contract from RCA Victor allowed Dottie West to release her national hit song “Here Comes My Baby” in June 1964. She and her husband, Bill West, wrote the piece together in just one day. Her music made it to ...
In 1975, rock and roll legend Jerry Lee Lewis released the song “Great Balls of Fire” under Sun Records. The song was also featured in the film Jamboree that year and quickly became a huge hit. Even after his passing, ...
In 1995, country supergroup The Highwaymen released “I Do Believe” off their album The Road Goes on Forever. The song was written by Waylon Jennings, who also provided lead vocals on the track. The soul-stirring tune derides conventional religious beliefs, including the ...
Famed country singer Conway Twitty recorded a heartbreaking song in 1989 titled “She’s Got a Single Thing in Mind.” It’s a single from his House on Old Lonesome Road album. Acclaimed songwriter Walt Aldrige wrote the song for Twitty. The ...
In 1969, Neil Diamond released “Sweet Caroline” as a single off his album Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show. The song quickly became a hit, reaching No. 4 on Billboard Hot 100 while ranking No. 3 on Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. It ...
Dolly Parton’s cover of the “Ballad of the Green Berets” will wow people that listen to it. People who were used to listening to the usual Dolly Parton songs were surprised that the icon covered it, but in the end, ...
“Unchained Melody” by Elvis Presley was originally written by Hy Zaret, while the melody was provided by Alex North. It was used as a theme song for the movie Unchained (1955), wherein the vocals were done by Todd Duncan. The ...
Unfortunately, Don Williams’ version of “The Rose” was never released. The original version was recorded by Bette Midler and was used for her first motion picture entitled “The Rose.” The song was written by Amanda McBroom. McBroom revealed her inspiration ...
“She Needs Someone to Hold Her (When She Cries)” is recorded by Conway Twitty. The song was composed by Raymond Smith and was released in November 1972. This is his first single that is included in Twitty’s album with the ...
The song “You’re the Last Thing I Needed Tonight” by John Schneider is his fourth and last song that makes it to the top of Billboard’s US Hot Country Songs and spent 15 weeks on the weekly chart. A musical ...
Conway Twitty and his song “I May Never Get To Heaven” became famous after he released his cover of the single in 1979 as his second single from his album Cross Winds. This musical piece also became his 22nd hit single ...
The song “You Don’t Seem to Miss Me” By Patty Loveless was released in September 1997 as the first single from her album The Long Stretch of Lonesome. For 20 weeks, this single has been part of the Billboard Hot Country Singles ...
The song “All the Gold in California” by Larry Gatlin and The Gatlin Brothers is the first single from the album Straight Ahead. An iconic musical piece that the group released in August 1979, this single bears their signature style and phenomenal ...
Considered to be one of his signature songs, “Wabash Cannonball” by Roy Acuff became one of his most famous songs throughout his career. As one of the crowds’ favorite singles from him, many artists produced a cover of this phenomenal ...
Bring back the 80’s vibe in the air by playing Darlene, a T. Graham Brown song that will make you want to revisit memory lane with your precious loved ones back in the day. It’s a piece that made T. Graham ...
Home is where your heart is. This is how the singer Dottie West transpired through a song entitled “Country Sunshine” in 1973 after declining to live a rich life in the city with her boyfriend, choosing to stay comfortably in ...
In 1985, country icon Ricky Skaggs released “Country Boy” as the second single and title track off his seventh studio album. The song became Skaggs’ another No. 1 hit single on the country chart, occupying the top spot of Billboard’s ...
“Endless Sleep” is a song originally written and recorded by rockabilly singer, Jody Reynolds in 1958, but Don Williams gave the song a country take in his 1973 album, Don Williams Volume One. The song was inspired by Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak ...
In the 1930s, Roy Acuff popularized the classic hymn “The Great Speckled Bird.” It’s actually quite fascinating how Acuff ended up recording the song. At the time, the Tennessee native had just left the medicine show circuit and started playing ...
The 1960 march song “Sink the Bismarck” was recorded by Johnny Horton and co-written by the country singer himself with songwriter Tillman Franks. The single was released under Columbia Records, and with its folk-country style that made use of a ...
Conway Twitty is no stranger when it comes to sentimental songs – “Crazy In Love,” “It’s Only Make Believe,” “Next in Line,” and “Hello Darling” are just a few of his ballads about love. He is no stranger to being ...
“Heartaches By The Number” by Ray Price tells a three-chapter story about heartbreak in 2 minutes and 34 seconds that will surely – trust us – bring you to tears. The song was written by Harlan Howard and released by Ray Price ...
Ten seconds into “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights,” and you’ll find yourself swaying and grooving to the song, that’s how much an amazing artist Freddy Fender is. This blues ballad song was considered by many as a “swamp pop” song ...
Jerry Reed, a tall, blonde country music singer, and guitarist with a knack for writing songs and playing good-humored Southern-type characters, has undeniably marked his name in the music and film industries. For starters, he was only 18 when record ...
Dallas Frazier’s first song in Nashville, “There Goes My Everything,” which was first a hit for Jack Greene in 1966 and was subsequently covered by Elvis Presley and Engelbert Humperdinck, turned out to be one of the biggest songs of ...
The track was Webb Pierce’s most commercially successful pop single, crossing over to the adult contemporary genre and reaching a peak of number 22. The C&W Best Seller rankings’ eighth-highest position was reached by the B-side of “More and More,” ...
Originally recorded by the country star C.W. McCall, the song “Roses for Mama” also has a rendition by Red Sovine. The song centers on a traveler’s thoughtful actions towards a motherless boy. The song begins when the narrator stops in ...
In 2007, music fans were treated to a once-in-a-lifetime concert of honky-tonk hits in what is called Last of the Breed Live in Concert. Among the great things that happened were Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson sharing the stage together for ...
In 1988, Dwight Yoakam released “I Sang Dixie” as the second single from his album Buenas Noches from a Lonely Room. The song became Yoakam’s second No. 1 hit as it ranked atop Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. Meanwhile, Rolling Stone ...
It should not already come as a surprise that one of the greatest singers to have ever graced the country music scene was Glen Campbell. This 81-year-old, who passed away in 2017, was a multi-faceted artist. In fact, he was ...
American country music musician Mel Tillis sang the song “Good Woman Blues,” which was written by Ken McDuffie. In September 1976, it was released as the follow-up single from the album Love Revival. This was Mel Tillis‘ second number-one country ...
Glen Campbell and Bobbie Gentry’s duet of “Let It Be Me” is nothing less of a musical masterpiece. The song’s message and melody, combined with the dreamy vocal performance of the two top country singers of the late Sixties, can ...
Hank Williams Jr. teamed up with Tom Petty, Willie Nelson, Reba McEntire, and the evangelist Reverend Ike to sing this amazing classic “Mind Your Own Business.” The all-star cast sings the catchy honky tonk classic. It is definitely a strong closing ...
There are many vocal techniques that exist in our time, but there is one vocal technique that shines due to the rarity of the people that can do it, just like 83-year-old Patsy Montana. Yodeling is where someone rapidly switches ...
Dolly Parton and Vince Gill’s “I Will Always Love You” undeniably belongs to the catalog of the best country music duets. It still sounds like the classic country that we are all familiar with but with a new and refreshing ...
Even though “I Ain’t Never” was an earlier hit by Webb Pierce, Mel Tillis’ version is the better-known version of the two. When Pierce first released the song in 1959, his version was such a success that it spent an ...
In 1979, Mel Tillis released “Coca-Cola Cowboy” as the first single off his album Mr. Entertainer. The song became another country hit for Tillis, peaking at No. 5 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. It was also a hit in Canada, ...
“My Strongest Weakness” by Wynonna Judd was nothing short of a career-defining vocal performance. The singer was at her peak and no one could touch her, especially with a ballad like this. It was definitely a moment where she was ...
After twenty-six times of entering the US Billboard chart, Waylon Jennings scored his first number one song on the Billboard Country Chart with his single “This Time.” “This Time,” First No. 1 Song Waylon had been releasing singles that entered the ...
In 1960, Skeeter Davis recorded and released the song “(I Can’t Help You) I’m Falling Too” as a response to Hank Locklin’s most successful recording and second No. 1 hit on the country charts entitled, “Please Help Me, I’m Falling.” ...
In 1987, Keith Whitley and Earl Thomas Conley recorded a track that made them brothers in a sense. It was the song “Brotherly Love.” However, it was not included on an album until four years later, where it concurrently appeared ...
In case you didn’t know about the two criminals Bonnie and Clyde, Merle Haggard narrates their story in his song “The Legend of Bonnie and Clyde.” Written by Merle Haggard and Bonnie Owens, “The Legend of Bonnie and Clyde” was ...
In the mid-1970s, Cristy Lane’s career got off the ground with the help of her husband’s newly-formed record label, LS Records – which started releasing her singles and tirelessly promoting her career. Their efforts were rewarded when her label’s debut ...
“Don’t Be Cruel” was released as a single together with Elvis Presley’s high-selling jukebox hit “Hound Dog” in 1956. Amazingly, both sides of the single reached No. 1 in the US. Up to the present, no other single in the ...
Patsy Montana may have been long gone but the memories we have of her will always be remembered. As a female country artist in a male-dominated industry, she sure made a name for herself. She became the first woman in ...
In 1973, pop music group Tony Orlando and Dawn released “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree” as a single off their album Tuneweaving. It then became a global hit for the trio! In addition to ranking No. ...
In 1960, three-time Oscar winner and country musician Walter Brennan released “Suppertime” as the last track of his first album Dutchman’s Gold. Though it did not chart like his most popular hit, “Old Rivers,” “Suppertime” is still a tear-jerker to ...
Most country music artists and fans will, without a doubt, agree that George Jones’ “He Stopped Loving Her Today” is the greatest country song of all time. Released in 1980 as the first single off his album I Am What ...
In 1966, Brenda Lee released the album Bye Bye Blues, which is packed with an excellent lineup of tracks. This includes her rendition of “Flowers on the Wall.” Country music group, The Statler Brothers, was the first to release “Flowers ...
Country music has long been dominated by duets that have since been the most successful songs to ever hit the radio. For some reason, country fans quickly fall in love listening to talented artists exchanging their beautiful vocals with one ...
Throwback to Elvis Presley Recording a Dramatic, Newly Orchestrated Version of “An American Trilogy”
In 1972, Elvis Presley started including “An American Trilogy” as part of his regular concert routine, thereby making it a showstopper. The song is actually a combination of three 19th century songs – this includes the renowned folk song about ...
Ernest Tubb was country music’s biggest star back in 1941. His song “Walkin’ the Floor Over You” was his first country hit and rightfully so. It was said that he wrote the song right after he had a misunderstanding with ...
In 1948, Eddy Arnold released his rendition of “Anytime” off the album of the same name. It turned out to be a massive hit for Arnold, climbing all the way to the top of Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart while ...
In the late 1950s, Willie Nelson– who would one day become Nashville’s hottest star – was struggling with financial issues. He worked at his school as a guitar instructor and sang at Houston’s Esquire Ballroom, in which he would take ...
In 1975, Emmylou Harris achieved massive success when she released “Sweet Dreams” as the third single off her second studio album Elite Hotel – which became her first No. 1 country album and helped her earn the Grammy Award for ...