The trend may have started in the mid-1980s and has never reversed itself.
That was about the time that country music stars who took their music to a much broader audience suddenly only had the country fans to entertain because that was about the same time pop radio cut the country stars off at the proverbial bar.
"No more drinkin' here, stick to your own bars."
And that's a shame for the 1970s and early 1980s gave us some of the truly great crossover country songs and songs that may have been considered country songs just because of its feel. And it was in the late spring/early summer of 1975 that country music stars had a starring role on the chart, especially the Top 40 of June 14, 1975.
Lizzie And The Rain Man--Tanya Tucker: This song about a soothsayer coming through a small Texas town, captivating a young girl named Lizzy Cooper, and then promising that the drought-ridden town would get a lot of rain would be 16-year-old Tanya Tucker's fourth No. 1 country hit. It jumped two places from No. 39 to No. 37. This was after the song had been recorded by artists such as Bobby Goldsboro, the Hollies and the song's co-writer, Kenny O'Dell (who co-wrote it with former Newbeats member Larry Henley, the same man who co-wrote the tear-jerker "Wind Beneath My Wings").
Judy Mae--Boomer Castleman: Better known as the man who invented the palm pedal, the device that helped to make pedal steel-style string bends to be easier, Castleman's one and only Top 40 hit never hit the country chart, but sure had a country feel to it. Moving up one notch from No. 34 to No. 33, "Judy Mae" was a very controversial song for its time. It told about the special relationship held between a son and his step mother, who was half the age of his dad. Let's just say the son had an infatuation for the stepmom and I think it was vice-versa, though Castleman never completely comes out and says so.
Misty--Ray Stevens: The Erroll Garner-penned classic first made famous by Johnny Mathis sure took a wild turn when funny man and Georgia native Ray Stevens of "The Streak" and "Gitarzan" fame took his crack at it, puttin' plenty of banjo, steel guitar and fiddle in the backdrop. The song got as high as No. 3 on the country chart and was on its way to No. 14 pop, moving up from No. 31 to No. 28 this weekend.
Before The Next Teardrop Falls--Freddy Fender: One of the all-time legendary country music songs, the man born Baldemar Huerta hit paydirt with a song he said took 10 minutes to record -- and no less, in two languages, recording the first verse in English, then repeating it in his second language, Spanish. It became the long-awaited breakthrough hit for him as the tear-jerker hit No. 1 on both the pop and country chart. It was on its way down the chart at this point, falling from No. 8 to No. 19.
Wildfire--Michael Murphey: Another tear-jerker from the very minute Murphey tickles the ivories in the opening moments of the song, you are enthralled in the story of the horse lost in a Nebraska blizzard. The song, which moved up from No. 17 to No. 12 and would eventually peak at No. 3, became Murphey's biggest pop hit, but surprisingly, it never was a hit on the country chart, though one assumes it was. Murphey ultimately became a country music star and in 1982, scored the Top 20 pop and No. 1 country crossover hit "What's Forever For?" Coincidentally, Murphey was in a 1960s band called the Lewis & Clark Expedition where his partner in the group was, believe it or not, Boomer Castleman.
Thank God I'm A Country Boy--John Denver: Now what's a country song without a song with "country" in it performed by one of the biggest acts on the chart at the time? John Denver was more folk than pop, but his folk music was being eaten up by the country music fans. So "Thank God I'm A Country Boy," written by John Martin Sommers, was really an ode to the country music fans as it was anything else. And it scored on the chart, hitting No. 1 both on the pop and country charts. It dropped on the pop chart this week from No. 1 to No. 8.
I'm Not Lisa--Jessi Colter: Waylon Jennings' wife was also a singer and "I'm Not Lisa," the story of a forlorn lost lover who treats his new love interest named Julie like his old love, Lisa, struck a chord in the spring of '75 from both men and women who had been there, done that. Colter wrote the song and her husband and Ken Mansfield co-produced it. Made memorable by the 13 soft brushes (six double brushes) of the piano that opens the song by Colter, "I'm Not Lisa" jumped from No. 8 to No. 6 and would climb as high as No. 4 pop after it, too, had gone to No. 1 country.
When Will I Be Loved--Linda Ronstadt: The remake of the classic Everly Brothers Top 10 smash of 1960, Ronstadt practically made it her own thanks to the work of producer Peter Asher and her guitarist Andrew Gold. Ronstadt turned "When Will I Be Loved" into a powerhouse rocker that had a lot of country flavor to it, again thanks to Gold's guitar work. It moved up three places from No. 6 to No. 3 on the same week it climbed to the No. 1 spot on the country chart. It would peak at No. 2 pop the next week, kept out by the Captain & Tennille's breakthrough "Love Will Keep Us Together."
Country music had a big-time friend with the pop charts in 1975. Five of the songs that hit No. 1 country -- "Thank God I'm A Country Boy," "Before The Next Teardrop Falls," "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song," "Rhinestone Cowboy" and "I'm sorry" -- also went to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 that year, too.
You rarely ever see it that day. It's why 1970s radio was as awesome as it was. And it's why 1975 was the best year of any musically in the decade.
Country music made its presence in the middle of the decade. It also left us some classics -- even if some of the songs weren't country chart hits.
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