12 Unforgettable Country Ballads That Defined the 1960s — True Stories Behind the Hits

Country Archive

Country Archive

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The 1960s produced country music's most heartbroken, most honest, most perfectly constructed ballads — songs recorded before pitch correction and digital production, where the only thing between the microphone and the listener was the truth in a singer's voice.

In this video, we count down 12 unforgettable country ballads that defined the 1960s. A woman who wrote the most argued-about line in country music history in fifteen minutes. A man who recorded both sides of one of the most significant country singles ever pressed in a session held because his label needed justification to keep him — and both sides became classics. The longest-running country number one debut single ever recorded, delivered on the first professional recording session of a woman who had been discovered at a park show. And George Jones in 1962, already the finest country vocalist alive. Every fact is independently sourced and verified.

Songs featured in this video:

Together Again — Buck Owens (1964)
Make the World Go Away — Eddy Arnold (1965)
I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry — Hank Williams (1949/1960s definitive)
The End of the World — Skeeter Davis (1962)
Green, Green Grass of Home — Porter Wagoner (1965)
Oh Lonesome Me — Don Gibson (1958/1960s staple)
Wings of a Dove — Ferlin Husky (1960)
Still — Bill Anderson (1963)
Once a Day — Connie Smith (1964)
It's Four in the Morning — Faron Young (1971/1960s spirit)
Stand by Your Man — Tammy Wynette (1968)
She Thinks I Still Care — George Jones (1962)

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