40 sensational songs from the 1980s

Country

Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings left Nashville for Austin in the early 1970s and threw a bombshell into country music that continues to reverberate today. Outlaw country was born. But could it go anywhere? Would it change the way Nashville did business? The ‘80s would start answering those questions with some sensational music.

“Can’t Even Get the Blues No More” by Reba McEntire (1982)

Reba McEntire was Nashville. And she wasn’t. In the late ‘70s, when she was following the course that was typically laid out for women in country music at the time, she was experiencing middling success. She wanted to expand. She’d do standard heartbreak ballads, but she also wanted to rock, She wanted more soulful grooves and she wanted the blues.

In 1982, on Unlimited, she began getting what she wanted. The final cut on the album was rockabilly blues which made perfect use of her vocal prowess. And she had her first country chart-topper in 1983. Another year later, she began her run of four consecutive Female Vocalist of the Year awards from the CMAs.

“Highwayman” by the Highwaymen (1985)

The Highwaymen were the Dream Team of country music. There were so many reasons they might not have ever happened that it now seems like a minor miracle that they did. The four artists all knew and respected each other. And other than Willie Nelson, they all needed a career boost in the mid-‘80s.

But Willie and Waylon had a bit of a love-hate relationship. None of the other three were particularly comfortable with Kris Kristofferson’s outspoken liberal politics. And Johnny Cash – well, he was Johnny Cash. In order for the supergroup to come together, they needed Cash, even though he was at a career-low point.

Fortunately, they all agreed to give it a shot and then allowed Marty Stuart and Jimmy Webb to talk them into doing a Webb song that Glen Campbell had recorded back in 1979. They were looking for something with four equal verses and no chorus to fuss over. None of them were all that enthusiastic at first, but Cash said if he could sing the final verse – about the starship pilot – he’d do it. The rest fell in line. A myth and a legend were born.

“Guitars, Cadillacs” by Dwight Yoakam (1986)

In the mid-‘80s. a decade after the outlaw movement began, a couple of young guitar players, started a new movement that would extend the outlaw idea. It was called neo-traditional and it combined a deep love for seminal artists like Hank Williams with a new vibe, heavily informed by rock & roll.

Dwight Yoakam played rockabilly and sang with an authentic twang on his debut album Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc. and helped country music drop the strings and choirs that were still lingering in the countrypolitan universe.  He had some help from another scruffy guitar player, who were will get to shortly.

“Copperhead Road” by Steve Earle (1988)

Is that soon enough for you? Earle’s first song from his first album, both called “Guitar Town” had a lot of similarities to Yaokam’s debut. Two years later, Earle would go even further with his second album, Copperhead Road. The title track, which kicked off the album, is earth-shattering, tracing the progression from old-time moonshine runners to the drug dealers of the ‘80s, complete with mandolins and organs that speak of the hills of Kentucky and Ireland in equal measure.

By the time he hits the third verse, his warning “you better stay away from Copperhead Road” is one of the most ominous lines of ‘80s music produced.

“Why’d You Come in Here Looking Like That” by Dolly Parton (1989)

Yoakam and Earle were new kids on the block in the ‘80s. Dolly Parton was already royalty. She had been writing sensational songs for several decades. She had transitioned from Porter Wagoner's duet partner to a major solo artist. She had conquered almost everything the music world had to offer.

So “Why’d You Come in Here…” was just Dolly doing it again, albeit with a sense of rock & roll and sheer fun that wasn’t always present in her more sentimental ballads. And when you’re Dolly, who had already gotten to the top of the country charts more than 20 times, you could have Bela Fleck plucking the banjo, and Ricky Skaggs doing almost everything else.

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