The Best of 1960’s Country Music
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The best of 1960’s country music is a great way to enjoy the classics. This blog will take you through some of the best songs of the decade.
The Best of 1960’s Country Music
Country music in the 1960s was a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern United States. It was a blend of popular music and folk music. The best of 1960’s country music includes artists like Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, and Loretta Lynn.
Hank Williams
Hank Williams is often considered one of the most important country music artists of all time. He was born in 1923 in Mount Olive, Alabama, and died at the age of 29 in 1953. Williams released 35 singles during his short career, which spanned just over four years. Twenty-four of those singles were major hits, including “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” and “Jambalaya (On the Bayou).” Williams was posthumously inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline was an American singer who achieved great popularity in the early 1960s with a string of hits such as “Walkin’ After Midnight” and “Crazy.” Cline was born Virginia Patterson Hensley on September 8, 1932, in Winchester, Virginia. She began her singing career in the late 1940s, performing at local nightclubs and radio stations. In 1957, she made her first recordings for Decca Records, though they were not commercially successful. That same year, she married Gerald Cline; the couple would have two children before divorcing in 1960.
In 1960, Cline signed with Four Star Records and released her first major hit, “I Fall to Pieces.” The song went to number one on the country charts and made Cline a household name. She followed up with further hits such as “Walkin’ After Midnight,” “She’s Got You,” and “Crazy.” Tragically, Cline died in a plane crash on March 5, 1963, at the age of 30. She was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1973.
Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor, and author. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 90 million records worldwide. His genre-spanning songs and sound embraced rock and roll, rockabilly, blues, folk, and gospel. This diversity appealed to a wide range of fans and led to his crossover success. He usually performed with his guitar in the band The Tennessee Three.
The Best of 1960’s Country Music
The 1960’s was a great decade for country music. The genre exploded in popularity and many of the biggest stars of the genre rose to prominence. This list will countdown the best country songs of the 1960’s.
George Jones
George Jones was born in 1931 in Saratoga, Texas and is considered one of the most important country music artists of all time. He started his career in the 1950s, but his biggest hits came in the 1960s with songs like “She Thinks I Still Care” and “Walk Through This World With Me”. Jones continued to have success in the 1970s and 1980s, and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1992. He passed away in 2013 at the age of 81.
Merle Haggard
Merle Haggard was born in Oildale, California, on April 6, 1937. The son ofJames Francis Haggard and Flossie Mae Harp, he grew up in a rural area of the state during the Dust Bowl and Depression years of the 1930s. He left school in the ninth grade to work with his father, who was a farmhand; later he worked as a migrant farmworker. Haggard ran afoul of the law several times in his youth, spending time in juvenile facilities and, on one occasion, San Quentin Prison. He was first introduced to music by Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys on the radio; later he was influenced by Lefty Frizzell, Hank Williams Sr., and Hank Thompson.
Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, novelist, activist, and actor. Born in Abbott, Texas on April 30, 1933, he is one of the most successful country music artists of all time. His career began in the 1950s, but he did not achieve widespread fame until the release of his album Shotgun Willie in 1973.
Nelson has released over 150 albums and has written songs that have been recorded by other artists including Patsy Cline, Roy Orbison, and Johnny Cash. He has been inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In addition to his musical career, Nelson is also an actor, appearing in over 30 films and television shows. He is also a passionate advocate for marijuana legalization and has been arrested several times for possession of the drug.