Country music has gone through a lot of transformation in 50 years. But some artists, likely unknowingly, created masterful albums in 1975, ones that are still revered today. These four country albums were all released in 1975, but still sound great, even after all these years.
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‘Red Headed Stranger’ by Willie Nelson
For a man who has released more than 100 albums, his list of great records is lengthy. But Red Headed Stranger is among his best. His 18th, the project includes revered classics like “Blue Eyes Crying In the Rain”, “Can I Sleep In Your Arms”, the title track, and more.
The beauty of Red Headed Stranger lies in Nelson being able to choose all of the songs on the album, a rarity for artists back then.
“I started out with the song ‘Red Headed Stranger’ itself, a song that I didn’t write but I used to sing when I was a disc jockey many years ago,” Nelson recounts (via The Boot). “So, when I had the chance to do an album with CBS, what was almost unheard of in those days was artistic control. I had to stop and think of what I wanted to do. I took the Red Headed Stranger album and thought, ‘I’ll write a concept album about what happened up until that song started, and then what happened after the end of it.’”
‘Pieces Of The Sky’ by Emmylou Harris
Pieces Of The Sky is the second album released by Emmylou Harris. The project, out five years after her Gliding Bird debut, reveals Harris’s masterful vocal abilities. It’s a trait she continues to embrace 50 years later.
Pieces Of The Sky includes songs like “If I Could Only Win Your Love Again”, “Boulder To Birmingham”, and a cover of Dolly Parton’s “Coat Of Many Colors”. Pieces Of The Sky also earned Harris her first Grammy nomination.
‘Dolly’ by Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton’s Dolly album is written entirely by Parton, as are most of her albums. What makes Dolly unique is that it is filled with love songs, showing Parton’s romantic side.
Dolly includes both “We Used To” and “The Seeker”. “The Seeker”, considered one of Parton’s best songs, is inspired by her own spiritual life.
“It came to me at a time when I was going through a lot,” Parton says in her Songteller book. “I felt like I wasn’t being as good a Christian as I should have been. Not that I have ever been, but I believe that I do my best.”
Dolly is actually Parton’s second album, out in 1975. The record comes after her The Bargain Store, which was released in February of that year.
‘Back To The Country’ by Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn’s Back To The Country shows that Lynn is not willing to adhere to any expectation of what a female country artist in the 1970s was supposed to sound like. The groundbreaking record includes “The Pill”. That tune is one of Lynn’s more defiant songs. And it’s one that ultimately got banned on the radio.
In addition to “The Pill”, Back To The Country also includes “Paper Roses”, “I Can Help”, “Jimmy On My Mind”, and more. Lynn also proves with Back To The Country that it’s all about the song, not including any songs she wrote on the record.
Photo by Richard E. Aaron/Redferns
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