The Best Country Songs of the 70s

What are the best country songs from the 70s?

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The 1960s British Invasion was not only a major influence on rock and pop music, it also had an influence on Country music. Starting in the late 1960s and continuing into the 1970s, country music blended with rock music developing a new genre known as Country Rock. Early innovators in this new style of music included Rock n' Roll icon band The Byrds (while Gram Parsons was the front man) and its spin-off The Flying Burrito Brothers, Commander Cody, and The Eagles. Subsequent to the initial blending of the two polar opposite genres, other offspring soon resulted, including Southern Rock and Heartland Rock. In the decades that followed, artists such as Alabama and Linda Ronstadt moved Country farther towards rock influence.

Another subgenre of country music that took root in the 1970s was Outlaw Country. Outlaw Country was derived from the traditional and honky tonk sounds of the late 50's and 60's and helped revolutionize the genre of Country music. The term "Outlaw Country" is traditionally associated with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Ray Price, Roger Miler, and Billy Joe Shaver. According to Willie Nelson, "After I left Nashville [in the early 1970s], I wanted to relax and play the music that I wanted to play, and just stay around Texas, maybe Oklahoma. Waylon and I had that outlaw image going, and when it caught on at colleges and we started selling records, we were O.K. The whole outlaw thing, it had nothing to do with the music, it was something that got written in an article, and the young people said, 'Well, that's pretty cool.' And started listening."

Similiar to Country Rock, Country Pop is another subgrenre that developed in the 1970s blended two different styles of music into one. In 1974 Olivia Newton-John, an Australian pop singer, won the "Best Female Country Vocal Performance" as well as the Country Music Association's most coveted award for females, "Female Vocalist of the Year".

However, not everyone was happy about this new trend. That same year, a group of artists, troubled by this trend, formed the short-lived Association of Country Entertainers. 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.

Despite the controversy, pop music singers Glen Campbell, John Denver, Olivia Newton-John, and Anne Murray all had hits on the Country charts with Campbell's "Rhinestone Cowboy" was among one of the biggest crossover hits in Country music history.

Located below you will find a list of some of the best country songs of the 1970s. For your convenience, we have included links to the sheet music on Sheetmusicplus.com as well as the CD on Amazon.com whenever available. If you are looking to purchase the mp3 or would like to listen to a sample, then click on either the Amazon, Rhapsody, or iTunes links.

Rhapsody provides both music subscriptions as well as individual mp3s for sale in WMA format and iTunes only provides MPEG-4 audio files for sale. However, Amazon does offer mp3s that are compatible with both Windows Media Player and iTunes. For more information about where to purchase music online, we provide it on our Music Downloads page or our Music Subscriptions page.

These singles are considered among the best country songs to hit the charts in the 1970s.

"After the Fire Is Gone" performed by Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty
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"Backside of Thirty" performed by John Conlee
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"Before The Next Teardrop Falls" performed by Freddy Fender
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"Behind Closed Doors" performed by Charlie Rich
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"Coal Miner's Daughter" performed by Loretta Lynn
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"Country Bumpkin" performed by Cal Smith
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"Devil Went Down to Georgia" performed by Charlie Daniels Band
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"Do You Know You Are My Sunshine" performed by Statler Brothers
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"Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue" performed by Crystal Gayle
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"Family Tradition" performed by Hank Williams Jr.
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"Good Hearted Woman" performed by Willie Nelson
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"Happiest Girl In The Whole U.S.A." performed by Donna Fargo
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"Heaven's Just a Sin Away" performed by The Kendalls
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"Hello Darlin'" performed by Conway Twitty
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"Help Me Make It Through The Night" performed by Sammi Smith
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"Here You Come Again" performed by Dolly Parton
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"I Ain't Never" performed by Mel Tillis
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"It Was Almost Like A Song" performed by Ronnie Milsap
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"Jolene" performed by Dolly Parton
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"Kiss An Angel Good Mornin'" performed by Charley Pride
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"Lizzie And The Rainman" performed by Tanya Tucker
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"Lucille" performed by Kenny Rogers
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"Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys" performed by Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson
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"My Maria" performed by B.W. Stevenson
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"Old Dogs, Children, and Watermelon Wine" performed by Tom T. Hall
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"Paper Roses" performed by Marie Osmond
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"Rhinestone Cowboy" performed by Glen Campbell
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"San Antonio Stroll" performed by Tanya Tucker
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"Satin Sheets" performed by Jeanne Pruett
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"Sleeping Single In A Double Bed" performed by Barbara Mandrell
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"Take This Job and Shove It" performed by Johnny Paycheck
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"The Gambler" performed by Kenny Rogers
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"The Grand Tour" performed by George Jones
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"Tulsa Time" performed by Don Williams
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"When You're Hot, You're Hot" performed by Jerry Reed
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