Country music has spawned numerous superstars, but few can match the impact made by the woman who became known as the Coal Miner’s Daughter. Born Loretta Webb on 14 April 1935 in Butcher’s Hollow, Kentucky, she married Oliver ‘Moonshine’ Lynn in 1949. She has been an inspiration and guide to countless aspiring female acts who followed her into ...
(Vocals, b. 1947) The daughter of songwriter Liz Anderson (b. 1930, whose hits included ‘All My Friends Are Gonna Be Strangers’ and ‘The Fugitive’ for Merle Haggard), Anderson enjoyed success in equestrian competitions during the mid-1960s before turning to music. After a dozen hits on Chart Records, she signed to Columbia (1970–80), where she quickly achieved her million-selling ...
(Vocals, 1933–93) Mississippi-born Harold Jenkins, who changed his name in 1957 to reflect the place names of Conway, Arkansas, and Twitty, Texas, started his career as a rock’n’roll singer in the late 1950s, scoring his biggest hit in 1958 with ‘It’s Only Make Believe’, continuing in 1959 with ‘Mona Lisa’ and a second US ...
(Vocals, 1933–93) Born Harold Lloyd Jenkins, Twitty took his stage name from Conway, Arkansas and Twitty, Texas. His first success was as a rock‘n’roller, topping the pop chart in 1958 with ‘It’s Only Make Believe’, and scoring a second gold single with ‘Lonely Blue Boy’ in 1960. His powerful vocals and sometimes risqué songs made him ...
(Vocals, b. 1951) Loretta Lynn’s younger sister was born Brenda Gail Webb, and her professional career began as part of her older sister’s show. After minor success on Decca, she signed with United Artists in 1974, which resulted in an almost-immediate change of fortunes. The lilting Top 10 hit, ‘Wrong Road Again’ (1975), opened the floodgates ...
One of honky-tonk’s most enduring and beloved figures, Ernest Tubb (1914–84) was born near Crisp, Texas, one of five children from a broken home. He began his career singing at local radio stations and working a string of day jobs – among them a ditch digger, drugstore clerk and brewery worker. As a young man, in ...
(Vocals, songwriter, b. 1961) Canadian lang’s first international album, the Dave Edmunds-produced Angel With A Lariat (1987), was critically acclaimed. A duet with Roy Orbison on a remake of his 1961 hit, ‘Crying’, for the movie Hiding Out, was her first country hit. She then teamed up with veteran producer Owen Bradley for Shadowlands (1988), which ...
(Vocals, b. 1959) The daughter of country star George Morgan, Loretta Lynn Morgan first performed at the age of 13 at the Grand Ole Opry, which she joined in 1984. After two years singing back-up for George Jones, and singing demos for publishers Acuff Rose, she made her first Top 10 hit single, ‘Dear Me’, ...
(Producer, record executive, 1915–98) This influential Westmoreland, Tennessee-born record producer started out as a piano player in pop dance bands before being hired as an assistant to pioneering Nashville producer Paul Cohen at Decca. From the late 1950s until the 1980s, Bradley produced the records and helped shape the musical identities of a host of stars, ...
Born Randy Bruce Traywick on 4 May 1959 in North Carolina, Randy Travis won a talent show at the age of 16, but found his music career progressed painfully slow. Hankering after a more exciting lifestyle, he dropped out of high school in the ninth grade. Music eventually came to his aid, but not without a great ...
Labelled the ‘first lady of country music’, Virginia Wynette Pugh was born on 5 May 1942, in Itawamba County, Mississippi. Throughout the early 1960s she worked as a waitress and beautician – among other jobs – and only dreamed of stardom. It was not long coming, but like many of her contemporaries, Loretta Lynn, Connie Smith ...
(Vocals, songwriter, guitar, b. 1936) Hall had his own band, The Kentucky Travelers, by the time he was 16. He worked as a commercial DJ and for armed-forces radio in Germany between 1957 and 1961, moving to Nashville in 1964. Hall’s career changed overnight in 1968 when Jeannie C. Riley took his song, ‘Harper ...
There is no distinct boundary line between the early and old-time country era, when the music was still relatively unshaped by the American mainstream, and the modern age, when country music’s popularity and ubiquity have made it very much a part of the mass culture. But it was in the 1920s, due to the emerging radio and ...
The names of this array of landmark artists whose music either straddled or transcended specific genres, – Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, George Jones, Conway Twitty, Charley Pride and Buck Owens among others – have become synonymous with country music. During the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, country’s popularity penetrated ...
From the urban cowboys came the neo-traditionalists, who offered a stark and welcome alternative. Their music, with its resolute devotion to earlier styles like honky-tonk, bluegrass and old-time country, bristled with the vitality and spirit of innovation that urban cowboy lacked. Emmylou Harris, a lovely, ethereal singer, came of age in the country and ...
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