New Voices, New Forces Alabama, a country-rock
group that owed more to Southern rock than to
Willie Nelson, became the first group to capitalize
on the exposure of country music to a national audi-
ence. In the 1980’s alone, the group scored twenty-
eight number one singles on theBillboardHot Coun-
try Singles chart (including seven in 1984-1985).
Alabama paved the way for a Nashville-based coun-
try music industry that was as corporate and as skill-
ful at exploiting marketing techniques to maximize
exposure and sales as was the mainstream rock in-
dustry. The group’s popularity coincided with the
development and marketing of the first networks of
country radio stations (which in the 1990’s would
become the national conglomerates such as Clear
Channel Communications).
Reba McIntyre was another artist who began her
career in the 1970’s but became a preeminent fe-
male country voice in the 1980’s. McIntyre sold in
excess of 20 million records and later branched into
popular film and television work. The daughter of
a professional rodeo contestant, McIntyre helped
generate the template for combining traditional
country material with the latest recording methods.
Like Alabama, she was quick to consolidate the vari-
ous aspects of her career—including recording,
marketing, and touring. Like the mother-daughter
duo the Judds, these “new country” stars also ex-
ploited the emerging music video format, which
would expand the genre’s audience by reaching ca-
ble television viewers but would also continue to
warp the traditional sound of country music. Taking
a cue from pop rock-oriented MTV, cable stations
such as Country Music Television (CMT) and the
Nashville Network (TNN) began airing country
music videos in 1983. While country stalwarts like
George Jones and Tanya Tucker tried to revive their
flagging careers with music videos, McIntyre and
the Judds used the format to catapult themselves
from successful country artists into major media
stars.New Traditionalists Perhaps the maverick of the
new country stars of the 1980’s was George Strait.
Donning a broad-brimmed cowboy hat, Strait played
straight-up honky-tonk with a strong dose of West-
ern swing. Classics such as “Amarillo by Morning”
(1982) and “All My Ex’s Live in Texas” (1987) ap-
pealed to country fans turned off by the increasingly
high-tech image and glamour of the new country
music. To a lesser degree, Randy Travis emulated
George Strait’s success. Deemed “too country” by
Nashville labels in the early 1980’s, Travis eventually
found success with songs such as “On the Other
Hand” (1985) and “Diggin’ Up Bones” (1986) that
hearkened back to the older country music defined
by “three chords and a story.”
Steve Earle’sGuitar Town(1986) became a rally-
ing cry for the new traditionalist sound, as did the
Bakersfield honky-tonk sound of Dwight Yoakum,
who was also considered “too country” in the early
1980’s. Yoakum’sGuitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.(1986)
became a hit based largely on Yoakum’s faithful re-
make of the Johnny Horton classic “Honky-Tonk
Man” (1956). However, the attempt to breathe new
life into the old sound soon found its limit within
the country music establishment. Earle’sCopperhead
Road(1987), with its anti-Vietnam War title track,
was considered too radical for Nashville and was re-
leased as a rock album out of Los Angeles. Also test-
ing the limits of country music were genre-bending
performers such as Lyle Lovett and k. d. lang, as well258 Country music The Eighties in America
Year Song Performer
1989 “High Cotton,” “If I Had You,” “Southern Star” Alabama
“Cathy’s Clown” Reba McEntire
“Let Me Tell You About Love” The Judds
“Ace in the Hole,” “Baby’s Gotten Good at Goodbye” George Strait
“Is It Still Over?,” “It’s Just a Matter of Time” Randy TravisBillboard Country Music Hit Singles of the 1980’s (continued)