K.T. Oslin was definitely one of country music’s biggest stars in the 1980s. She rose to the top despite being over 40 in a youth-obsessed profession and unfairly image-driven field of country music.
Well, she has her songs to prove why she should. Here are our favorite K.T. Oslin songs you need to check out.
1. 80s Ladies
“80s Ladies” was the song that kick-started K.T. Oslin‘s career. She was already 45 then. The song topped out at No. 7, and it won Oslin a Grammy For Best Female Country Vocal Performance and Song of the Year at the 1988 CMA Awards. Not only that, but “80s Ladies” also gave her the brand of being the wry, brassy, feisty artist that she is and kept her a hot item into the ’90s.
With the chorus that goes: “We were the girls of the ’50s/Stoned rock and rollers in the ’60s/And more than our names got changed/As the ’70s slipped on by/Now we’re 80’s ladies/There ain’t been much these ladies ain’t tried.”
2. I’ll Always Come Back
This is another song written by K.T. Oslin and was her second No. 1 on the country chart. It also received Academy of Country Music Award for Video of the Year and Academy of Country Music Award for Single Record of the Year nominations.
3. Do Ya
“Do Ya” became the first of her four singles to hit No. 1 on the country chart, where she held true to the compelling chronicles of women.
4. Come Next Monday
“Come Next Monday” was penned by K.T. Oslin together with Charlie Black and Rory Bourke. It was originally recorded by Judy Rodman on her 1986 album Judy, but four years later, Oslin released her own version as the second single from her album Love in a Small Town.
The song went to No. 1 for two weeks and has spent a total of 20 weeks on the country singles chart. It also turned out to be her final single to reach No. 1 on that chart. The single has also received favorable reviews. For instance, Lisa Smith and Cyndi Hoelzle of Gavin Report said, “Another intelligent, feeling song from a wise woman’s point of view. Of course, both men and women should relate to the self-promises in this song.”
5. Hold Me
“Hold Me” is the second single from her album This Woman, and it seemingly broke away from the standard formula that dictated a hit. This song was far from the usual country songs you’d hear on the radio. It contained large sections of recitation, and it ran more than four and a half minutes.
But Despite the song’s unorthodox structure, K.T. Oslin has pulled off a major coup with “Hold Me.” The single trotted No. 1 in the Billboard’s chart in 1989. It became her third No. 1 hit. And the best part was that the song garnered K. T. Oslin, a pair of Grammys for “Best Country Vocal Performance by a Female” and “Best Country Song.”
But what’s more intriguing is the fact that “Hold Me” is a song about marriage – yet, Oslin has never walked down the aisle. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, K. T. Oslin explained that she wrote from a personal perspective. She has observed what her friends were going through and how they reacted to relationships, then tried to put it into terms that music fans would find interesting.
6. Wall Of Tears
K.T. Oslin finally made it to the chart when she reached No. 40 with “Wall of Tears” in 1987. The song was also her debut single for RCA Records.
The singer, who grew up poor in Arkansas, proves in the song that she’s the kind of woman who deals with life’s ups and downs head-on. She sings: “There’s a wall of tears that I got to get over. Got to stop thinking of you; Got to learn not to love you. I know the sun will shine, I’m gonna be fine, but until then: The rain’s gonna fall just like a wall of tears.”
7. Live Close By, Visit Often
K.T. Oslin returned to the country scene with a vengeance in 2001 through “Live Close By, Visit Often.” The song is a joy from start to finish, an ode to the independent lifestyle of Oslin. Especially when she sings, “I’m not lookin for a husband. Found out the hard way it doesn’t work for me,” and the chorus that goes, “So live Close by, visit often. That’ll work, that’ll work for me. Live close by, visit often. Save us both a lot of misery.”
8. Do You Think About Me
In 2015, K.T. Oslin released Simply, her first studio album in 14 years, and “Do You Think About Me,” included on the album, is the first all-new composition of hers in more than two decades. “I don’t write like I used to,” she said. “I used to just thump it out, but I may never do that again. I don’t write them unless I think they are going to be real good.”
9. Hey Bobby
The song was released as the third single from the album This Woman in 1989. It reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart.
10. New Way Home
In the early 1990s, K.T. Oslin hit a severe mid-life crisis and a wicked depression caused by the death of her mother due to aneurysm, career burnout, and, most likely, her menopausal, which was perhaps the most debilitating of all.
“New Way Home” is her way of showing the world that she’s slowly healing.
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K.T. Oslin