3 Pop-Country Hits From the 1960s That Wound up Predicting Where the Genre Is Now

The lines between country and pop have forever been blurred. Country music has become an integral part of the mainstream music landscape to the extent that artists you might never expect to go country have adopted the genre as their own. This is a modern development, but the foundation for it has been building for decades. Below, find three pop-country hits from the 1960s that wound up predicting where the genre is now.

Videos by American Songwriter

“Gentle On My Mind” (Glen Campbell)

Glen Campbell’s “Gentle On My Mind” has a polished production that was typically reserved for the easy-listening genre in this decade. Though his guitar playing and slight twang keep this hit in the country realm, on paper, it’s nothing but a pop song.

“Gentle On My Mind” is evocative of the Nashville Sound that developed in country in the 1960s. While their Texas counterparts were beginning to explore the outlaw way of life, Nashville country artists were focused on mass appeal. It earned them many enduring hits like the song below.

“Stand by Your Man” (Tammy Wynette)

Tammy Wynette‘s soaring vocals would’ve found a comfortable home in any genre, but lucky for Nashville, she chose country. Her 1960s country hit, “Stand by Your Man,” is indicative of Wynette’s crossover appeal. She is beloved, no matter your musical affiliations.

“Stand by Your Man” has a universality to it because of the message. Matters of the heart are one of the only things every songwriter from every genre has in common. This is one of the most powerful love songs to come out of the ’60s, so genre lines don’t matter much.

“Crazy” (Patsy Cline)

In a similar way to Wynette’s inclusion on this list, Patsy Cline’s “Crazy” is universal. Although the instrumentation in this song is country, Cline’s vocals lean more towards pop. She was an early adopter of a practice that is now commonplace: blending traditional country ideas with digestible pop tones.

Although not the most traditional country song, “Crazy” has become one of the most important songs in the genre’s history. Despite tiptoeing into another genre, this 1960s country song helped to proliferate the genre in a way no other song had done before.

Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images