3 of the Most Pivotal Country Albums From the 1970s

Sometimes the test of a great country album isn’t just if it becomes a No. 1 record. Instead, the best test of an album’s success is if it is still talked about years later and if it made a mark on an artist’s career. With that in mind, these are three of the most pivotal country albums, which all came out in the 1970s.

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‘The Gambler’ by Kenny Rogers

The Gambler is Kenny Rogers’ sixth studio album, and one of his most revered. Out in 1978, Rogers had two hits from the project, with both the title track and “She Believes In Me”. But “The Gambler” remains his most successful song as a solo artist, beaten only by his “Islands In The Stream” duet with Dolly Parton.

Other artists recorded “The Gambler”, including Johnny Cash. But it’s Rogers who not only had a multi-week No. 1 hit with the song, but starred in a series of TV movies based on the song.

“I wrote it in August of ’76, walking home from a meeting with my mentor, Bob McDill,” “The Gambler” songwriter Don Schlitz tells American Songwriter.  “I walked from his office over on Music Row to my apartment, and in that 20 minutes, I wrote most of it in my head.”

‘Y’all Come Back Saloon’ by The Oak Ridge Boys

The Oak Ridge Boys’ Y’all Come Back Saloon was a game-changer for the quartet and for country music. The record marks the first one that introduced the quartet to country music, after spending their entire career up until then singing gospel music.

Not only did Y’all Come Back Saloon mark a major genre shift for The Oak Ridge Boys, but it also contains “I’ll Be True To You“, the first of The Oak Ridge Boys’ many No. 1 singles. The other two singles from Y’all Come Back Saloon, both the title track and “You’re The One”, were also Top 5 hits for them.

‘Jolene’ by Dolly Parton

Of the many, many albums Dolly Parton has released over the years, none likely had the impact on her career like Jolene. Out in 1974, both the title track and the follow-up single, “I Will Always Love You”, became massive hits for Parton.

“Jolene” became Parton’s second No. 1 single, coming three years after her first chart-topping hit, with “Joshua”.

Parton understands why “Jolene”, based on a true story about a woman flirting with her husband, became such a hit.

“For a woman to say, ‘I can’t compete with you. I’m not as beautiful as you; I’m never going to be that beautiful. Your beauty is beyond compare, but I don’t have all that going for me.’ It was unusual at the time in songwriting,” Parton tells Vulture.

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