The history of country music of the 80’s is the time when the crossover into easy-listening pop started to take effect. The sound of 80’s country music is known as Urban Cowboy. This sound was a mixture of the pop sound of the 1960’s and 1970’s with a rock beat. The outlaws of the 70’s became a thing of the past as artists like The Oakridge Boys, Dolly Parton and Juice Newton stepped onto the scene. The move into Urban Cowboy was also helped out by movies such as 9 to 5 which starred Dolly Parton, and Urban Cowboy starring John Travolta. http://www.roughstock.com/history/urban-cowboy

One of the most successful groups of the 1980’s in country was Alabama. The group was formed in Fort Payne, Alabama in 1969. The group was originally named Wildcountry and was made up of a group of cousins, Randy Owen, Jeff Cook, Teddy Gentry and John Vartanian. Mark Herndon joined the band as the drummer in 1976 after John Vartanian left the group. The first song to hit the charts for Alabama was I Want to Be With You in 1977. It wasn’t until the 80’s after signing with RCA Records that they took off as a group.

They had twenty one number one hits between the years of 1981 and 1987.http://www.roughstock.com/history/urban-cowboy This included songs such as Mountain Music, Roll On, Why Lady Why and The Closer You Get.http://www.thealabamaband.com/disco.html The band had sixteen albums produced by a major label and all went gold or platinum. http://www.roughstock.com/history/urban-cowboy Alabama has received multiple awards including Entertainer of the Year from Country Music Association 1982 through 1984 and from the Academy Of Country Music 1982 through 1985. In 2005 Alabama was inducted in the Country Music Hall of Fame. http://www.roughstock.com/history/urban-cowboy

The term “ New Traditionalists” during the 80’s came to be a title that was given to the artists of the time that songs and sound were that of old country when compared to the pop country that was being produced at the time. Some of the artists that are considered new traditionalists include John Anderson, Ricky Skaggs, Randy Travis and Dwight Yoakam.http://www.benoconnor.com/countryroots/80s.html