The Cold Hard Facts Of Life

With the emergence of Country radio as a force to be reckoned with comes an inevitable evolution — in the late 1960s, Country doesn't just spill over into the larger cultural landscape, it allows outsiders to amble on in, too. And so Merle Haggard's woeful prison lament “Mama Tried” offers a taste of SoCal-style folk-rock interplay, while Countrypolitan producer Billy Sherrill lends pop gloss to real emotional turmoil on Tammy Wynette's broken-home tearjerker “D-I-V-O-R-C-E.” Chickasaw County child Bobbie Gentry creates a crossover sensation and ongoing mystery with her smokey voice and Southern-gothic story song “Ode to Billie Joe;” and Glen Campbell scores not just a hit, but his very own prime-time TV theme song on the rolling ode to love and the open road, “Gentle On My Mind.”