Country pop

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Country pop, with roots in both the countrypolitan sound and in soft rock, is a subgenre of country music that first emerged in the 1970s. Although the term first referred to country music songs and artists that crossed over to top 40 radio, country pop acts are now more likely to cross over to adult contemporary.

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[edit] History

[edit] Beginnings: Nashville Sound

Country music first showed its potential to cross over into the pop charts in the early 1960s with a new creation by producers Owen Bradley and Chet Atkins that called itself the Nashville Sound. This was intended to have country singers gain more success in pop music and help sell more records. The first male artists to come out of this new genre were Jim Reeves and Eddy Arnold, who both grew to have widespread acceptance in both country and pop music. The first female country singer to emerge from this new genre was Patsy Cline in the early 60s. She created a whole new breed of female country artists, such as Crystal Gayle and Shania Twain, who gained prominence in later years. Even though Cline also gained widespread acceptance from country and pop audiences alike, the Nashville Sound did not maintain its popularity for long, receiving competition first from the Bakersfield Sound and later the outlaw movement.

[edit] Country-Pop In the Late 70s and 80s

Country pop found its first widespread acceptance during the 1970s. It started with Pop music singers, like Glen Campbell, John Denver, Olivia Newton-John, and Anne Murray began having hits on the Country charts. Songs like Campbell's "Rhinestone Cowboy" were among one of the biggest crossover hits in Country music history. These Pop-oriented singers thought that they could gain higher record sales and a larger audience if they crossed over into the Country world. Among one of the most unappreciated artists who did this was Olivia Newton-John in 1974, who emerged from Australia in the mid-70s, hoping to make it big in the United States. When her single "Let Me Be There" became a big Pop-Country crossover hit in 1974, it became quite controversial, especially after Newton-John won a Grammy award for "Best Female Country Vocal Performance" for the song, and also won the CMA's most coveted award for females, "Female Vocalist of the Year".

A group of artists, troubled by this trend, formed the Association of Country Entertainers in 1974. 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 (who himself had a series of crossover hits) 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 action was taken as a protest against the increasing pop style in country music. However, the ACE would not last all that long.

In 1977 Kenny Rogers burst onto the country charts with Lucille and would go on to become the most successful of the Country pop performers, topping charts all over the world and taking the genre to the zenith internationally. 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.

Country/Pop reached an early peak immediately following the movie Urban Cowboy in the early 1980s. Some older artists from the 1960s and 1970s converted their sound to country pop or 'countrypolitan,' such as Faron Young, Dolly Parton, and Dottie West. Dolly Parton, who had already achieved considerable success as a mainstream country artist, wanted to expand her audience and go in new directions, so she decided to make a change in 1977, crossing over into the Pop music world with #1 Country hit and #3 Pop hit that year called "Here You Come Again". She followed it up with a number of additional crossover pop hits, including "Two Doors Down", "Heartbreaker" (both 1978), "Baby, I'm Burning" (1979), "Starting Over Again" (1980), and "9 to 5", which topped both the country and pop singles charts in early 1981. (Ironically, despite her being one of the most successful practitioners of country-pop crossover during the late 1970s and 1980s, Parton, because of her upbringing and mountain roots, is regarded by most critics as one of country's most authentic performers.) Dottie West, who had been around since the '60s, completely changed her image into a more sexy and risky profile in the early '80s, following a series of hit duets with Kenny Rogers. (Rogers also had an enormous duet hit with Parton, the Bee-Gees-penned "Islands in the Stream", which topped the country and pop singles charts in late 1983.) After the success with Rogers, West wanted to remain on top of her game, so in order to keep up with current Country music, she continued to record more Pop-sounding material. Because of this, Dottie West achieved her biggest success as a Country singer during this time, acquiring her first No. 1 hit as a solo artist thanks to her music in 1980 titled, "A Lesson in Leaving".

By the mid-80s, however, fans of more traditional country music were growing restless. For the next several years, country radio was dominated by neotraditional artists, although some country pop artists continued to have hits.

[edit] Country-Pop Returns In the 1990s

Country pop enjoyed a resurgence in the 1990s, primarily because of Garth Brooks. Shania Twain would later have success. In the last few years, country singer LeAnn Rimes has proved her ability to sing country pop songs such as the record-setting "How Do I Live", which spent 69 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, longer than any other song in history, as well as her hit "Can't Fight the Moonlight."

Among the more famous country pop artists are Alabama, Martina McBride, Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks, John Denver, Lila McCann, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney, Big and Rich, Trace Adkins, Ronnie Milsap, Rascal Flatts, Eddie Rabbitt, Kenny Rogers, Shania Twain, and Glen Campbell.

In recent years some pop acts have also crossed over to country music. Since 2003, Sheryl Crow, Michelle Branch (The Wreckers), Los Lonely Boys, MercyMe, and Kid Rock have all charted singles on the Hot Country Singles and Tracks chart. Jimmy Buffett, Elton John, Uncle Kracker, John Mellencamp, and Bret Michaels have also hit this chart in collaboration with established country artists. Whether this also counts as country pop is debated.

While supporters of country pop contend the style has brought many new fans to the genre, others, particularly older country music artists and fans that embrace the more traditional styles, have criticized country pop music. Their main argument is that commercial country music, especially that which has been produced since the 1990s already sounds too much like mainstream pop music even without an even more pop-sounding subgenre. Kenny Rogers reposonded to both sides of the debate by stating "For Country music, I'm not Country enough. Everywhere else I'm too Country".

[edit] Country-Pop Artists/Groups

[edit] See also

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