70 Fun Facts About 80s Country Music

Both the 1980 film 9 to 5 and Dolly Parton's title song took their name from what?

9to5 was founded in 1973 to fight for fair pay and equal treatment for women in the workplace, and the film's premise grew from its members' stories. The song earned Parton an Oscar nomination and two Grammys.

Songwriter Dallas Frazier named "Elvira," the Oak Ridge Boys' huge 1981 hit, after what?

Frazier named "Elvira" after a street in East Nashville, Elvira Street, which he drove past in the mid-1960s; his own 1966 recording flopped, but the Oak Ridge Boys' 1981 cover became a top-ten pop hit and country number one.

Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton's 1983 duet "Islands in the Stream" was written by which group?

The Bee Gees, brothers Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb, wrote it, and the duet topped both the Hot 100 and the country chart in 1983; the title comes from a 1970 Ernest Hemingway novel.

Emmylou Harris's 1985 concept album about a fictional singer was titled what?

The Ballad of Sally Rose, released in 1985, was Emmylou Harris's self-written concept album tracing a singer's life and loss, co-written with English songwriter Paul Kennerley.

Kenny Rogers's 1980 chart-topper "Lady" was written and produced by which Motown star?

Richie had first pitched the song to his own band, the Commodores, who turned it down. Rogers later sang on "We Are the World," which Richie co-wrote.

Randy Travis's 1987 wedding-day standard "Forever and Ever, Amen" was written by which songwriting pair?

Overstreet had already given Travis "On the Other Hand." The pair wrote "Forever and Ever, Amen" in a couple of hours, and it won the Grammy for Best Country Song in 1988.

Randy Travis's 1986 debut album Storms of Life eventually earned which RIAA certification?

Three million copies of a debut was unheard of for a hard-country record at the time, and Storms of Life is often credited with kicking off the neotraditional boom.

Which 1987 George Strait album was the first to debut at number one on the Top Country Albums chart?

Ocean Front Property entered the Top Country Albums chart at number one in 1987, the first album ever to do so; its title track jokes about selling ocean-front property in Arizona.

The band Alabama was formed by three cousins in which Alabama town?

Alabama formed in Fort Payne, the cousins' DeKalb County hometown, and honed their act at The Bowery bar in Myrtle Beach before RCA signed them in 1980.

Which 1980 single, Alabama's first on RCA, began the band's streak of 21 consecutive country number ones?

"Tennessee River" topped the country chart in 1980, the first of 21 consecutive number-one singles for Alabama, a streak that ran until "Tar Top" stalled at number seven in 1987.

In which years did Alabama become the first group to win CMA Entertainer of the Year three years running?

Alabama won CMA Entertainer of the Year three straight years, 1982 to 1984, the first group ever to take the award; the Academy of Country Music later named them Artist of the Decade for the 1980s.

Which member of Alabama wrote the band's 1982 anthem "Mountain Music"?

Owen, the band's lead singer, wrote it as the title track of the album that made Alabama arena headliners; it was the group's sixth number one.

Naomi Judd, one half of the Judds, was born in which Kentucky city?

Naomi and daughter Wynonna went from an Ashland childhood to five Grammys for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group and nine CMA awards.

The Judds' 1986 hit "Grandpa (Tell Me 'Bout the Good Old Days)" was written by whom?

O'Hara, later half of the O'Kanes, won a Grammy for the song, and the Judds won another for performing it — one of five they took home as a duo.

Gilley's Club, the honky-tonk setting of Urban Cowboy (1980), was in which Texas city?

Gilley's stood in Pasadena, an industrial suburb southeast of Houston; part-owned by Mickey Gilley, it was billed as the world's largest honky-tonk, and its mechanical bull became a national craze after the film.

Who played Sissy, the wife of John Travolta's Bud, in Urban Cowboy?

Debra Winger played Sissy opposite John Travolta's Bud, a breakthrough that preceded her Oscar-nominated roles in An Officer and a Gentleman and Terms of Endearment.

Which Texas songwriter wrote "Pancho and Lefty", a 1983 number one for Nelson and Haggard?

Van Zandt first recorded it in 1972 to little notice. He never confirmed whether Pancho was meant to be Pancho Villa, but did not rule it out.

The supergroup the Highwaymen took their name from a 1985 hit written by which songwriter?

Webb, of "Wichita Lineman" fame, first cut "Highwayman" on his 1977 album El Mirage; the Highwaymen's version won him a Grammy for Best Country Song.

In the Highwaymen's recording of "Highwayman," Johnny Cash sings the final verse as what?

The song follows one soul through four lives — highwayman, sailor, dam builder and finally a starship captain — with each Highwayman taking a verse.

"Always on My Mind" was a UK top-ten hit a decade before Willie Nelson's 1982 version for which singer?

Elvis Presley's 1972 recording of "Always on My Mind" reached number nine in the UK; Nelson's 1982 version won three Grammys and was CMA Song of the Year in both 1982 and 1983.

George Jones's 1980 comeback "He Stopped Loving Her Today" was written by which duo?

Bobby Braddock and Curly Putman wrote it; Jones, in a personal tailspin, resisted the song as too morbid before it went to number one in July 1980 and won CMA Song of the Year in 1980 and 1981.

Loretta Lynn picked Sissy Spacek to play her in Coal Miner's Daughter (1980) based on what?

Lynn chose Spacek from a photograph of the actress, having never seen one of her films; Spacek did all her own singing and won the Best Actress Oscar for the role.

In 1982, which bluegrass-rooted singer became the youngest Grand Ole Opry inductee up to that time?

Ricky Skaggs joined the Opry in May 1982 at 27, then its youngest member; as a boy he had been told he was too young to perform there, and his 1982 album Highways and Heartaches went platinum.

Which New York mayor played a cabdriver in the 1985 video for "Country Boy"?

Ed Koch, New York's mayor from 1978 to 1989, played the cab driver in the "Country Boy" video, with Bill Monroe appearing as Uncle Pen; the clip was nominated for the CMA's first Music Video of the Year award.

Dwight Yoakam's 1986 debut 'Honky Tonk Man' was a cover of a 1956 hit by whom?

Yoakam's version peaked at number three and opened Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.; Horton is better remembered for "The Battle of New Orleans."

What was the title of Steve Earle's 1986 debut album?

Guitar Town, recorded in Nashville and released in 1986, included "Hillbilly Highway" and earned Earle a Grammy nomination for Best Male Country Vocal Performance while winning him a college-rock audience.

Which Nashville legend, best known for his work with Patsy Cline, produced k.d. lang's 1988 album Shadowland?

Owen Bradley, who produced Patsy Cline's classic records, came out of retirement to produce Shadowland, which also paired lang with Kitty Wells, Loretta Lynn and Brenda Lee on the "Honky Tonk Angels' Medley."

Which 1981 single, written by Rosanne Cash herself, was the title track of her breakthrough album?

"Seven Year Ache" topped the country chart in 1981 and reached the pop top 40, launching a run in which Cash notched eleven country number ones during the decade.

Who first won CMA Entertainer of the Year in back-to-back years, 1980 and 1981?

Barbara Mandrell won CMA Entertainer of the Year in 1980 and 1981 while starring in NBC's Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters, becoming the first artist to take the award in consecutive years.

In Ronnie Milsap's "Smoky Mountain Rain", the narrator has left Los Angeles for which Tennessee city?

The narrator thumbs his way from LA back to Knoxville, then flags down a trucker bound for Gatlinburg; in 2010 the Tennessee legislature made "Smoky Mountain Rain" an official state song.

Why was country star Ronnie Milsap sent to a state school in Raleigh at age five?

A congenital disorder left him almost sightless. He went on to win six Grammys and 35 country number ones, behind only George Strait, Conway Twitty and Merle Haggard.

Eddie Rabbitt's "I Love a Rainy Night" hit Hot 100 number one in February 1981 by knocking off which country crossover?

Rabbitt's single displaced Parton's "9 to 5" at number one on 28 February 1981; it was Rabbitt's only pop chart-topper and also led the country and adult contemporary charts.

Juice Newton's 1981 smash "Queen of Hearts" was first recorded two years earlier by which British rocker?

Hank DeVito wrote it, and Edmunds cut it for his 1979 album Repeat When Necessary. Newton's near-identical arrangement became the hit.

Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the U.S.A." got an early boost from a 1984 convention film about which president?

A film shown at the 1984 Republican convention that renominated Ronald Reagan used the song, and Reagan's campaign adopted it; it surged again during the 1991 Gulf War and after the September 11 attacks.

Which broadcast used a reworked 'All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight' as its theme from 1989 to 2011?

The reworked version opened Monday Night Football from 1989 until ESPN dropped it in October 2011 over the singer's on-air political remarks; "Are you ready for some football?" became the show's catchphrase.

Which artist won the CMA Entertainer of the Year award in both 1987 and 1988?

Hank Williams Jr., nicknamed Bocephus, won CMA Entertainer of the Year in 1987 and 1988, by then country's biggest live draw after surviving a near-fatal 500-foot fall on Montana's Ajax Peak in 1975.

What was the cause of country star Keith Whitley's death at 34 in 1989?

Whitley died of acute alcohol poisoning on 9 May 1989 with a blood-alcohol level near 0.47; he had just finished I Wonder Do You Think of Me, which yielded two more posthumous number ones.

Keith Whitley was married to which fellow country singer, whose daughter he adopted?

Lorrie Morgan married Whitley in 1986, and he adopted her daughter Morgan; their posthumous duet "'Til a Tear Becomes a Rose" won the CMA Vocal Event of the Year in 1990.

Which Kathy Mattea hit was named CMA Single of the Year in 1988?

"Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses" topped the country chart in 1988 and won CMA Single of the Year that October, setting up Mattea's Female Vocalist wins in 1989 and 1990.

Sawyer Brown landed their Capitol Records deal in 1984 after winning the grand prize on which TV show?

Sawyer Brown won the first season of Star Search, Ed McMahon's syndicated talent show, in 1984, taking a $100,000 prize and a Capitol deal; they had been country singer Don King's backing band.

How many singles from Rodney Crowell's 1988 album Diamonds & Dirt hit number one, a then-record?

All five singles topped the chart, including "After All This Time," which won Crowell a Grammy for Best Country Song.

In 1984 Earl Thomas Conley became the first artist to pull how many number-one singles from one album?

Conley's album Don't Make It Easy for Me yielded four number ones, the first time any artist had done that from a single album; he finished the decade with 18 country chart-toppers.

Which single from Clint Black's 1989 debut Killin' Time was Billboard's country song of 1989?

"A Better Man", Black's debut single, topped the country chart in 1989 and was Billboard's year-end number one country single; the album's next single, the title track, also reached number one.

Garth Brooks's self-titled debut album, released in April 1989, came out on which label?

Capitol Nashville signed Brooks in 1988 and released the album in April 1989; its first single, "Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)," peaked at number eight before "If Tomorrow Never Comes" and "The Dance" went to number one.

Willie Nelson wrote "On the Road Again" for the soundtrack of which 1980 film, in which he also starred?

Honeysuckle Rose cast Nelson as a touring country singer; "On the Road Again" topped the country chart, won the Grammy for Best Country Song and earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song.

Waylon Jennings's "Good Ol' Boys" was the theme of which TV series, which he also narrated?

Jennings narrated The Dukes of Hazzard as the unseen Balladeer, a job he got after narrating Moonrunners (1975), the film the series was based on; "Good Ol' Boys" hit number one in 1980.

In which city was the first Farm Aid concert held in September 1985?

Champaign, Illinois hosted the first Farm Aid at the University of Illinois's Memorial Stadium on 22 September 1985, drawing about 80,000 after Bob Dylan's offhand Live Aid remark about family farmers inspired Nelson to organize it.

The 1987 album Trio brought together Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and which third singer?

Linda Ronstadt completed the Trio; the three had tried to record together in the mid-1970s but were tied to different labels, and the 1987 album won a Grammy and went platinum.

Which 1987 Nitty Gritty Dirt Band hit was written by Wendy Waldman and Jim Photoglo?

"Fishin' in the Dark", written by Wendy Waldman and Jim Photoglo, went to number one on the Billboard country chart in 1987 and appeared on the band's album Hold On.

Willie Nelson's 1984 hit "To All the Girls I've Loved Before" was a duet with whom?

Julio Iglesias and Nelson took the Hal David and Albert Hammond song to number one on the country chart and into the Hot 100's top ten, and the CMA named them Vocal Duo of the Year in 1984.

Who wrote and first recorded 'Amarillo by Morning' a decade before George Strait's 1983 hit?

Stafford, best known for the 1964 pop hit "Suspicion," got the idea driving home from a San Antonio rodeo. Strait's version peaked at number four but became his signature.

Which 1983 John Anderson hit won the CMA's Single of the Year award?

"Swingin'", Anderson's tale of Charlotte Johnson on her front-porch swing, was named CMA Single of the Year in 1983 and was certified gold, rare for a country single then.

The Nashville Network (TNN) launched in March 1983, broadcasting from which location?

TNN broadcast from studios at the Opryland USA theme park in Nashville, under the same Gaylord ownership as the Grand Ole Opry; rival Country Music Television had launched two days earlier, on 5 March 1983.

What was Reba McEntire's first Billboard country number one?

"Can't Even Get the Blues" went to number one in January 1983, McEntire's first chart-topper after years of lesser hits on Mercury, and the first of more than twenty country number ones.

Reba McEntire's first music video promoted which 1986 single about a husband's Boston trips?

"Whoever's in New England", a number one in May 1986, got McEntire's first video, whose ending — the straying husband choosing to stay — became a career-maker.

Which 1982 Sylvia hit was the only single of her career to reach the Billboard Hot 100?

"Nobody" topped the country chart in 1982, climbed to number 15 on the Hot 100 and earned Sylvia a Grammy nomination for Best Female Country Vocal Performance.

Ray Stevens's "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" is set at a Sunday service in which Mississippi town?

The song's First Self-Righteous Church is in "that sleepy little town of Pascagoula"; a boy smuggles a squirrel into the service, and the chaos sets off a wave of confessions and baptisms.

Who wrote "Meet Me in Montana", the 1985 number one duet by Dan Seals and Marie Osmond?

Davis, of "I Go Crazy" fame, later duetted with Osmond himself on "You're Still New to Me." It was Seals's first number one, coming after his years as half of England Dan & John Ford Coley.

Randy Travis, billed as Randy Ray, recorded an early live album at which club managed by Lib Hatcher?

Randy Ray Live at the Nashville Palace (1982) was cut at the Nashville Palace, the club where Hatcher was manager and Travis cooked in the kitchen; she managed his career and married him in 1991.

From 1980, Kenny Rogers starred in Emmy-nominated TV movies based on which of his songs?

The Gambler, Rogers's Grammy-winning 1978 single, spawned Kenny Rogers as The Gambler in 1980 and a string of sequels through 1994, with Rogers playing gambler Brady Hawkes in each.

Which band topped the Hot 100 in 1978 with 'Kiss You All Over', then became a country act?

Exile, from Richmond, Kentucky, scored ten country number ones between 1983 and 1987 — more chart-toppers than they ever managed on the pop side, where "Kiss You All Over" was their only one.

Which band, formed in LA in 1986 with singer Paulette Carlson, hit number one with "Somewhere Tonight"?

Highway 101's "Somewhere Tonight", written by Rodney Crowell and Harlan Howard, reached number one in 1987; bassist Curtis Stone is the son of Cliffie Stone, and the other members were session players.

Before going country in 1984, Vince Gill sang lead for which soft-rock band?

Gill sang lead for Pure Prairie League on "Let Me Love You Tonight" (1980), then played in Rodney Crowell's Cherry Bombs before Tony Brown signed him to MCA, where "When I Call Your Name" made him a star in 1990.

What was the title of Ricky Van Shelton's 1987 debut album?

Wild-Eyed Dream went platinum on the strength of "Somebody Lied" and "Life Turned Her That Way", and Shelton won the CMA Horizon Award in 1988.

What was George Strait's first number one single, in 1982?

"Fool Hearted Memory", featured in the 1982 film The Soldier, reached number one in August 1982, the first of dozens of Strait chart-toppers after he signed with MCA in February 1981.

Which K.T. Oslin single became her first major hit in 1987?

"80's Ladies" reached the country top ten in 1987 and won Oslin the Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance; the debut album of the same name went platinum and produced the number one "Do Ya'".

Which K.T. Oslin song won the Grammy for Best Country Song in 1989?

"Hold Me" won the Grammy for Best Country Song in 1989 and also earned Oslin Best Female Country Vocal Performance, two of her three career Grammys.

Which Nashville producer assembled Restless Heart in 1984 to record demos of his songs?

The band recorded for RCA Records Nashville from 1984 to 1998; DuBois later ran Arista Nashville.

The Forester Sisters, whose first 14 singles all went top ten, hail from which state?

The sisters grew up on Lookout Mountain, Georgia, just below the Tennessee line, and signed with Warner Bros. Nashville in 1984; "I Fell in Love Again Last Night" was their first number one.

Lyle Lovett grew up in which small Texas community outside Houston?

Lovett grew up in Klein, a farming community north of Houston named for his ancestor Adam Klein; he won a Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance, Male, for Lyle Lovett and His Large Band.