Classic Country: The Grand Tour

So much good music, so many different ways. In the years between 1965 and 1986, Country reached steadily beyond its rural roots to flourish on the national stage. In the process, it turned a full circle from homegrown sounds to the studio sheen of the Nashville Sound, Countrypolitan and Country-pop, on back to New Traditional basics. What begins with Roger Miller's '65 “King of the Road” — no longer a lonely wanderer but the easy-strollin' master of all he surveys — moves on through the groundbreaking crossover of Jeanie C. Riley and the righteous story song “Harper Valley P.T.A.,” the rich easy listening of Ray Price and “For the Good Times,” the new-school pop sensation that was Kenny Rogers' “The Gambler,” and the second-generation genuis of Johnny's daughter Rosanne Cash and the next-step Country poetry of “Seven Year Ache.”