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 wrote and recorded the song himself in 1965; it only became a smash 16 years later when the Oak Ridge Boys took it to the top five of the Hot 100.

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

The Gibb brothers wrote it and it went to number one on both the country and pop charts. Its title comes from a 1970 Ernest Hemingway novel.

Which R&B star was 'Islands in the Stream' first written for, before the country duo took it?

The R&B-styled song was reworked into a country-pop duet for Rogers's album Eyes That See in the Dark, which its songwriters also produced.

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?

The title track's joke about selling ocean-front property in Arizona became a Strait signature. He would go on to have more number-one country albums than anyone.

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

The three cousins borrowed $4,000 from a local bank to press their own records to sell at shows before RCA signed them.

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

The streak ran through most of the decade and made Alabama Billboard's Country Artist of the 1980s.

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

No group had ever won the CMA's top prize before Alabama, and they closed the decade being voted Artist of the Decade by the Academy of Country Music.

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?

The real Gilley's, part-owned by Mickey Gilley, was billed as the world's largest honky-tonk and its mechanical bull became a national craze after the film.

John Travolta played Bud in Urban Cowboy. Who played his wife, Sissy?

The film's soundtrack spun off country hits including Johnny Lee's "Lookin' for Love" and helped fuel the early-80s pop-country boom.

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?

Nelson's version won three Grammys and became the CMA Song of the Year two years running, in 1982 and 1983.

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

Jones had gone six years without a number one and was in a personal tailspin; the song shot to number one in July 1980 and is routinely voted the greatest country song ever.

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

Lynn had never seen a Spacek film. 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?

He had been turned away from an Opry audition as a boy for being too young. That same year he released Highways and Heartaches, his only platinum album.

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

Bill Monroe played Uncle Pen in the same clip. It was nominated for the CMA's first-ever Music Video of the Year award but lost to "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight."

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?

Recorded in Nashville, it included "Hillbilly Highway" and made Earle a rare artist with both country and college-rock audiences.

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

The album 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?

It topped the country chart and crossed to the pop top 40, launching a decade in which Cash racked up eleven country number ones.

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

Mandrell, then starring in her own NBC variety show, remains one of only two women to win the award twice; Taylor Swift is the other.

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

He then hitches a ride with a trucker bound for Gatlinburg. In 2010 the Tennessee legislature made the song 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?

It was Rabbitt's only pop number one, and it topped the country and adult contemporary charts too — one of the few singles ever to do all three.

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?

Greenwood says the song's four cities were picked to mark the four corners of the country. It surged again during the 1991 Gulf War and after 9/11.

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

"Are you ready for some football?" made it a signature song. The original video also beat "Country Boy" to win the CMA's first-ever video award.

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

Bocephus had survived a near-fatal 500-foot fall on Montana's Ajax Peak in 1975 that shattered his skull; a decade later he was country's biggest live draw.

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

He had just finished recording I Wonder Do You Think of Me, which produced two more posthumous number ones.

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

The two later shared a posthumous duet, "'Til a Tear Becomes a Rose," that won the CMA Vocal Event of the Year in 1990.

Kathy Mattea's "Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses" is about Charlie retiring after 30 years in what job?

Charlie gets his gold watch and heads home to his wife; the chorus counts down wheels, roses, miles and songs until he gets there.

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

The band had been Don King's backing group before auditioning for Ed McMahon's talent show in 1983.

How many singles from Rodney Crowell's 1988 album Diamonds & Dirt reached number one, a country 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 was one of the decade's most consistent hitmakers, though he is far less remembered than his 18 country number ones would suggest.

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

Black's debut spun off five hits; the title track's follow-up "Nobody's Home" then became Billboard's top country song of 1990.

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

Its first single, "Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)," only reached number eight; the follow-ups "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?

It topped the country chart, won the Grammy for Best Country Song and picked up 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 had narrated the 1975 film Moonrunners, which the series was based on, so he got the job as the show's unseen Balladeer.

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

It drew 80,000 to Memorial Stadium and was sparked by an offhand remark Bob Dylan made from the Live Aid stage two months earlier.

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

The three had tried to make the record in the mid-1970s but were stuck on different labels; the finished album won a Grammy and sold millions.

Who sang lead on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's 1987 hit "Fishin' in the Dark"?

Wendy Waldman and Jim Photoglo wrote it, and it has since become one of the most-streamed country songs of its era despite never being a chart-topper.

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

Hal David and Albert Hammond wrote it. The pair were named the CMA's duo of the year, and it remains Iglesias's biggest US hit.

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?

The story of Charlotte Johnson on her front porch swing was certified gold, rare for a country single at the time.

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

Country Music Television had launched just two days earlier, on March 5, 1983. TNN was relaunched as Spike TV in 2003.

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

She got the news in 1983 while her tour bus was broken down. Whether or not that helped, she has never gone long without a number one since.

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

The video's ending — the husband deciding to stay — was a career-maker, and the song took her to number one in May 1986.

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

It topped the country chart, climbed to number 15 pop and earned her a Grammy nomination — the peak of a brief early-80s run.

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

A boy smuggles a squirrel into the First Self-Righteous Church, and the ensuing chaos triggers 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?

He also cooked in the club's kitchen. Hatcher went on to manage his career and, in 1991, marry him.

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

The 1978 song had won him a Grammy; the films ran to five instalments and Rogers later played the character in a MacShayne mystery series too.

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

The Kentucky group scored ten country number ones between 1983 and 1987 — more than they ever managed on the pop side.

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

Rodney Crowell and Harlan Howard wrote "Somewhere Tonight." Bassist Curtis Stone is the son of Cliffie Stone, and the other three members were session players.

Before going country in 1984, Vince Gill spent 1978 to 1982 as lead singer of which soft-rock band?

He then played guitar 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?

It went platinum on the strength of hits like "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?

Strait was born in Poteet, Texas, and signed with MCA in February 1981; "Fool Hearted Memory" started a run of number ones that has never really stopped.

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

The debut album of the same name sold over a million copies and also produced the number one 'Do Ya'.'

How old was K.T. Oslin when she signed the record deal that launched her late-80s success?

A former Broadway actress and jingle singer, Oslin went on to four number one hits and three Grammys after that late start.

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 four sisters from Lookout Mountain signed to Warner Records Nashville in 1984 and set a top-ten streak record for a new act.

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

Lovett won a 1989 Grammy for Best Country Male Vocal for Lyle Lovett and His Large Band, one of four career Grammys.