ROOTS of Country Music

Early '70s No. 1 Songs

As the '60s came to an end and the decade of the '70s started up, the Vietnam War was in full swing, the killing of students at Kent State just took place and all this tension in the country found its way into country music.

Country music contains numerous images of traditional life, family life, religious life, as well as patriotic themes. Songs such as Merle Haggard's The Fightin' Side of Me and Okie from Muskogee have been perceived as patriotic songs which contain an "us versus them" mentality directed at the counterculture "hippies" and the anti-war crowds.

The roots of the outlaw movement can be traced to the 1950s. However, a major influence on the outlaw movement was Waylon Jennings. He was able to secure his own recording rights and began the trend of bucking the Nashville Sound. Though he had been a professional musician since the late '50s, it wasn't until the '70s that Jennings, with his imposing baritone and stripped-down, updated honky-tonk, became a superstar. Jennings rejected the conventions of Nashville, refusing to record with the industry's legions of studio musicians and insisting that his music didn't resemble the string-laden, pop-inflected sounds that were coming out of Nashville in the early-'70s.

Many artists, including Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson, followed Jennings' anti-Nashville stance and eventually the whole outlaw movement became one of the most significant country forces of the '70s, helping the genre adhere to its hardcore honky-tonk roots.

The soloist singer song writers ruled the '70s country music scene in the early part of the decade. Merle Haggard, Charlie Pride, George Jones, Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynnette were just a few of the talented singers who were mainstays of the early '70s country music charts.

There was a lot of cross-over from the pop music performers. Kenny Rogers, Olivia Newton-John, John Denver, Juice Newton, Marie Osmond and Glen Campbell were a just a few of the performers that blurred the line between country and '70s pop music. Campbell's Rhinestone Cowboy spent two weeks at the top of the '70s pop music charts in 1975.

Hello Darlin' - Conway Twitty was a rock 'n' roller when he wrote Hello Darlin' in 1960, but by the time he recorded it ten years later, he was a fast-rising country singer.  It was producer Owen Bradley's idea to have Twitty speak, rather than sing, the introductory title phrase (which never appears again in the song).  His signature single locked in at No. 1 in 1970.

We're Gonna Hold On - Here's the turbulent Jones-and-Wynette saga a couple more years down the line. Wynette had just filed for divorce for the first time when husband George Jones, coming off one of his binges, approached her singing the phrase We're Gonna Hold On. Wynette changed her mind and the finished song gave the couple their first No. 1 as a duo in 1973. 

Empty Arms - Having topped the country charts with Ivory Joe Hunter's Since I Met You Baby in 1969, Sonny James went to the well once more in 1971, this time to cut the blues balladeer's Empty Arms, with the same result. Hunter's R&B version charted in 1957.

The Fightin' Side of Me - The Fightin' Side of Me cashed in on the working-man's conservative values and politics. Like its predecessor Okie from Muskogee, The Fightin' Side of Me immediately broke in popularity when released in January 1970. The song eventually reached No. 1 on the Billboard Magazine Hot Country Singles chart, where it remained for three weeks.

I'm A Ramblin' Man - Written by Ray Pennington and performed by Waylon Jennings, I'm a Ramblin' Man would be Waylon Jennings' second No. 1 single on the Billboard country chart. The single claimed the top chart spot for a single week in 1974 and was the prelude to his outlaw movement of the mid-1970s.

Rose Garden - Lynn Anderson was the only country music singer of her time to appear on the Lawrence Welk Show. After leaving the show, with which she was appearing weekly, she signed a contract with Columbia and had the first and biggest hit of her career in 1970. This No. 1 song, Rose Garden, earned her a Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal. Through 1974, she recorded fourteen more top-10 hits.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------45 Early '70s No. 1 Songs, Partial List

1. After the Fire Is Gone (Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn) 1971
2. Coal Miner's Daughter (Loretta Lynn) 1970
3. Come Live With Me (Roy Clark) 1973
4. Country Bumpkin (Cal Smith) 1974
5. Easy Loving (Freddie Hart) 1971
6. Eleven Roses (Hank Williams Jr.) 1972
7. Empty Arms (Sonny James) 1971
8. For the Good Times (Ray Price) 1970
9. He Loves Me All The Way (Tammy Wynette) 1970
10. Hello Darlin' (Conway Twitty) 1970
11. Help Me Make It Through the Night (Sammi Smith) 1971
12. Hello Love (Hank Snow) 1974
13. I Ain't Never (Mel Tillis) 1972
14. I Wouldn't Want to Live If You Didn't Love Me (Don Williams) 1974
15. If You Leave Me Tonight I'll Cry (Jerry Wallace) 1972
16. It's Four In the Morning (Faron Young) 1972
17. It's Gonna Take a Little Bit Longer (Charlie Pride) 1972
18. Joshua (Dolly Parton) 1971
19. Kiss An Angel Good Mornin' (Charlie Pride) 1971
20. Made In Japan (Buck Owens) 1972
21. Marie Laveau (Bobby Bare) 1974
22. My Hang Up Is You (Freddie Hart) 1972
23. (Old Dogs-Children And) Water Mellon Wine (Tom T. Hall) 1972
24. Old Man From the Mountain (Merle Haggard) 1974
25. One's On the Way (Loretta Lynn) 1971
26. Please Don't Stop Loving Me (Porter Wagoner & Dolly Parton) 1974
27. Pure Love (Ronnie Milsap) 1974
28. Ridin' My Thumb to Mexico (Johnny Rodriguez) 1973
29. Room Full of Roses (Mickey Gilley) 1974
30. Rose Garden (Lynn Anderson) 1970
31. Satin Sheets (Jeanne Pruett) 1973
32. Soul Song (Joe Stampley) 1973
33. Stomp Them Grapes (Mel Tillis) 1974
34. The Fightin' Side of Me (Merle Haggard)  1970
35. The Grand Tour (George Jones) 1974
36. The Happiest Girl In the Whole U.S.A. (Donna Fargo) 1972
37. The Lord Knows I'm Drinking (Cal Smith) 1973
38. The Pool Shark (Dave Dudley) 1970
39. The Most Beautiful Girl (Charlie Rich) 1973
40. This Time (Waylon Jennings) 1974
41. We're Gonna Hold On (George Jones & Tammy Wynette) 1973
42. Why Me (Kris Kristofferson) 1973
43. Woman (Sensuous Woman) Don Goibson -1972
44. World of Make Believe (Bill Anderson) 1974
45. Would You Take Another Chance On Me (Jerry Lee Lewis) 1971

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Researched, compiled and written by Richard Bell, Roots of Country Music, Feb. 5, 2012