Nashville sound
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The Nashville sound in country music arose during the 1950s in the United States. RCA-manager Steve Sholes was responsible for the birth of the Nashville Sound. Chet Atkins, Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson, who were producing records in Nashville, invented the form by stripping the honky tonk roughness from traditional country and adding jazzy production and pop song structures. Vocalists Patsy Cline and Jim Reeves along with pianist Floyd Cramer were among the most famous of the artists leading the way to the smooth crooning style of Nashville sound's original era. Bill Porter is the legendary RCA recording engineer behind many of Elvis Presley's and Roy Orbison's Billboard Magazine's chart toppers during this time.
Classic examples of "Nashville Sound" recordings:
- The Three Bells by The Browns, 1959
- El Paso by Marty Robbins, 1960
- Four Walls by Jim Reeves, 1960
- Last Date by Floyd Cramer, 1960
- I Fall to Pieces by Patsy Cline, 1961
- The End of the World (song) by Skeeter Davis, 1963
- Here Comes My Baby by Dottie West, 1964
- King of the Road by Roger Miller, 1965
- Make the World Go Away by Eddy Arnold, 1965
- Misty Blue by Wilma Burgess, 1966
In the early 1960s, the Nashville sound began to be challenged by the rival Bakersfield sound. Nashville's pop song structure became more pronounced, and it morphed into countrypolitan. Countrypolitan was aimed straight at mainstream markets, and it sold well throughout the later 1960s and 1970s. Among the architects of this sound were producers Billy Sherrill (who was instrumental in shaping Tammy Wynette's early career), and Glenn Sutton. Artists who typified the Countrypolitan sound initially included Wynette, Glen Campbell, Lynn Anderson, and Charlie Pride, during the 1960s and early '70s, and later Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, and Crystal Gayle. The Bakersfield sound and, later, outlaw country dominated country music among aficionados while countrypolitan reigned on the pop charts.
John Denver's name didn't show up as an Nashville artist, because of the management at RCA, his records had a price of a million in sales of decline. The Record Company wanted to turn John Denver into a country singer, his name did not exist because he was an unwilling country star.
Upon being asked what the Nashville Sound was, Chet Atkins would reach his hand into his pocket, shake the loose change around, and say "That's what it is. It's the sound of money".
| Country music | Country genres |
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| Bakersfield sound | Bluegrass | Close harmony | Country blues | Honky tonk | Lubbock sound | Nashville sound | New Traditionalists | Outlaw country | Australian country music |
| Alternative country | Country pop | Country rock | Psychobilly | Deathcountry | Rockabilly | Country-rap |
