Country pop
Country pop is a fusion genre of country music and pop music that was developed by members of the country genre out of a desire to reach a larger, mainstream audience. Country pop music blends genres like rock, pop, and country, continuing similar efforts that began in the late 1950s, known originally as the Nashville sound and later on as Countrypolitan. By the mid-1970s, many country artists were transitioning to the pop-country sound, which led to some records charting high on the mainstream top 40 and the Billboard country chart. In turn, many pop and easy listening artists crossed over to country charts during this time. After declining in popularity during the neotraditional movement of the 1980s, country pop had a comeback in the 1990s with a sound that drew more heavily on pop rock and adult contemporary. In the 2010s, country pop metamorphosized again with the addition of hip-hop beats and rap-style phrasing.
History
Beginnings: Nashville sound/50s-60s
The joining of country and pop began in the 1950s when studio executives Chet Atkins and Owen Bradley wanted to create a new kind of music for the young adult crowd after "rockabilly stole away much of country music's youth audience". According to Bill Ivey, this innovative genre originated in Nashville, Tennessee and thus became known as the Nashville Sound. He believes that the "Nashville Sound often produced records that sounded more pop than country" after the removal of the fiddle and banjo. Patsy Cline, Marty Robbins, Jim Reeves, and Eddy Arnold were among the most popular artists during this time. Both Reeves and Arnold had major influence on their RCA labelmate Elvis Presley, apparent not only in secular songs but even more so in country gospel songs. Cline became famous in the early 1960s, gaining widespread acceptance from country and pop audiences alike. Other crossover hits during the 1960s included Skeeter Davis's "The End of the World", Sonny James' "Young Love", Billy Joe Royal's "Down in the Boondocks", Jeannie C. Riley's "Harper Valley PTA", and Bobby Goldsboro's "Honey". However, the Nashville Sound was not well received by country purists and faced competition on that front, first from the Bakersfield Sound and later the outlaw movement; on the pop side, the format was overshadowed by the British Invasion, which was taking place during the same time that Cline and Reeves died by airplane accident.1970s country pop
The Nashville sound eventually evolved into countrypolitan during the 1970s and had varying levels of success, with several artists recording in the style: Ray Price, Lynn Anderson, Charley Pride, Mac Davis, Donna Fargo, Marie Osmond, Kris Kristofferson, Charlie Rich, Billy Swan, Ray Stevens, Jessi Colter, and Crystal Gayle all charted pop-influenced country hits during the 1970s.Country pop started when pop music singers like Glen Campbell, John Denver, Olivia Newton-John, and Anne Murray began having hits on the country charts. Denver's single "Take Me Home, Country Roads" went to No. 2 on the Billboard pop charts in 1971, and while the song stalled outside of the top 40 on Billboard's country chart, the album Poems, Prayers, and Promises reached the top 10 on the Billboard Country Album chart and was certified Platinum. Denver's career flourished from then on, and he had a series of hits over the next four years. In 1972, Denver scored his first Top Ten pop album with Rocky Mountain High, with its title track reaching the pop Top Ten in 1973. At the peak of his popularity in 1974 and 1975, Denver's albums Back Home Again and Windsong reached number one on both the pop and country album charts. His singles were also successful on both charts: "Sunshine on My Shoulders" No. 1 pop, No. 42 country; "Annie's Song" No. 1 pop, No. 9 country; "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" No. 1 pop and country; "Back Home Again" No. 5 pop, No. 1 country; and "I'm Sorry" No. 1 pop and country.
Another 1970s crossover artist was Olivia Newton-John, who emerged from Australia in the mid-1970s, hoping to make it big in the United States. Her single "Let Me Be There" became a big pop-country crossover hit in 1974. She won a Grammy award for "Best Female Country Vocal Performance" for the song and also won the Country Music Association's most coveted award for females, "Female Vocalist of the Year". Her win sparked a backlash, with several traditional country artists forming the Association of Country Entertainers to promote what they considered to be "real country music." Newton-John scored a string of pop-country hits in 1974 and 1975 including "I Honestly Love You", "Have You Never Been Mellow", and "Please Mr. Please", before moving away from country in the late 1970s after starring in Grease and focusing mostly on pop music from then onward.
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 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 ACE would only last two years; its two biggest backers, firm traditionalists George Jones and Tammy Wynette, faced a bitter divorce, and Jean Shepard, the other major backer of the ACE, closed down the organization when she could not find others that shared her enthusiasm for the association's purpose.
Although known primarily as a rock performer in the 1970s, Linda Ronstadt had considerable country chart success with "I Can't Help It ", for which she won the Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance in 1976, "When Will I Be Loved" and "Love is a Rose", and "Blue Bayou".
Several artists principally identified as rock, such as the Eagles and America, scored significant pop chart hits with country rock songs, though they may have reached country charts rarely or not at all.
Glen Campbell's "Rhinestone Cowboy" was a crossover hit between the pop and country charts in 1975. "Rhinestone Cowboy" was produced by blue-eyed soul writer team Dennis Lambert & Brian Potter and written by Larry Weiss. The Bellamy Brothers' "Let Your Love Flow", Amazing Rhythm Aces' "Third Rate Romance", Glen Campbell's "Southern Nights", and Anne Murray's "You Needed Me" were additional examples of late '70s country pop hits.
In 1977, Kenny Rogers, former frontman of the rock band the First Edition, burst onto the country charts with "Lucille" and would go on to rank among the most successful country pop performers. After "Lucille", Rogers had a string of songs that did well on both the country and pop charts around the world, including "Daytime Friends", "The Gambler", and "Coward of the County", all of which were produced by Larry Butler. Rogers would go on to push the boundaries of pop influence in country music, having records produced by the likes of the Bee Gees, Lionel Richie, David Foster, and George Martin, all of which did well in both the pop and country markets. Barbara Mandrell also became known for her blue-eyed soul vocal style. Several of her other hits charted on the country adult contemporary charts, but her songs were the Bubbling under Billboard Top 100 charts. She was one of country music's most successful artists during the 1970s and 1980s. She was involved in a serious car accident in 1984. Her big country hits included "Sleeping Single In a Double Bed" and " I Don't Want to Be Right."
In 1977, Dolly Parton crossed over into the pop music world with her No. 1 country and No. 3 pop hit "Here You Come Again."
1980s
Parton earned another big hit with "9 to 5", which topped both the country and pop singles charts in early 1981, supplemented by the 1980 film of the same name.Country pop reached new heights immediately following the movie Urban Cowboy in the early 1980s. Urban Cowboy was the third music-themed hit film to star John Travolta, each from a different genre; much like Saturday Night Fever did for disco and Grease did for oldies, Urban Cowboy popularized pop-country, helping to boost the career of Mickey Gilley in particular, along with other songs that appeared on the film's soundtrack.
Willie Nelson and Dottie West came back in the 1980s. Dottie West released a series of hit duets with Kenny Rogers. Kenny Rogers also had a duet hit with Parton, the Bee Gees–penned "Islands in the Stream", which topped the country and pop singles charts in late 1983. Dottie West achieved her biggest success as a country singer during this time, acquiring her first No. 1 hit as a solo artist in 1980 with "A Lesson in Leaving".
Oak Ridge Boys, Alabama, Eddie Rabbitt, Juice Newton, Bertie Higgins, and Ronnie Milsap also had crossover success during the early 1980s. The Oak Ridge Boys had a crossover hit "Elvira" in 1981. Four of Alabama's most successful songs of the early 1980s—"Feels So Right", "Love in the First Degree", Take Me Down", and "The Closer You Get" —all reached the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, while four of Ronnie Milsap's No. 1 songs between 1980 and 1982 reached the Hot 100s Top 20, the most successful of which was the No. 5 hit " No Gettin' Over Me". Rabbitt had three top-5 pop songs in 1980–1981, and "I Love a Rainy Night" reached No. 1 on both the Hot 100 and Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. Country star Juice Newton also achieved country pop success with several crossover hits in the early '80s, including "Queen of Hearts", "The Sweetest Thing ", and Grammy-winner "Break It To Me Gently"; in addition, she wrote "Sweet Sweet Smile", the only country hit for easy-listening act the Carpenters. Former pop acts such as Exile, Marie Osmond, Bill Medley, Tom Jones, Michael Johnson, Billy Joe Royal, B. J. Thomas, Nicolette Larson, Paul Davis and Dan Seals began targeting their music at the country market in the early 1980s with a country pop sound.
Although a number of country pop artists continued to have hits, most notably Alabama, Parton, Mandrell, Rabbitt, and Milsap, the mid-1980s saw a major sea change within the country music industry and the revival of traditional country sounds, as the boost in country's crossover popularity had collapsed; by 1984, country record sales had fallen to the point they were before Urban Cowboy was released.