Countrypolitan

A handful of visionary Nashville producers — Owen Bradley and Chet Atkins among them — sought to market country product to the mainstream pop arena during the late '50s and early '60s. Softening the basic country sound with violins (as opposed to fiddles) and vocal choruses, they pioneered the smooth approach now known as "countrypolitan" and never looked back. All of a sudden, Patsy Cline, Jim Reeves, and Eddy Arnold were pop stars.

Bridging the longstanding gap between country and pop was no easy task, but once the countrypolitan sound took hold in Nashville, it settled in to stay — just look at how many country stars gravitated in that direction during the '60s and scored major hits.

In both Nashville and Los Angeles, the countrypolitan approach came to dominate the C&W studio scene during the '60s. These shining examples of the trend underscore just how accessible it was.

This isn't about dirt roads and wooden churches. This is country music from the big city. Slick, sophisticated, but still in touch with the universal feelings that have always been the soul of country. Hear what happens when backwoods moves uptown with these countrypolitan favorites.