The "
Special Country Edition
" of
Ace
's ongoing
Chartbusters USA
series focuses on country singles that crossed over into the Billboard Hot 100 during the 1960s. Some of these songs became enduring popular standards (
George Jones
' "The Race Is On,"
Merle Haggard
's "Okie from Muskogee,"
Roger Miller
's "Chug-A-Lug,"
the Statler Brothers
' "Flowers on the Wall,"
Buck Owens
' "I've Got a Tiger by the Tail,"
Jeannie C. Riley
's "Harper Valley P.T.A."), while a few others are country standards (
David Houston
's "Almost Persuaded,"
Henson Cargill
's "Skip a Rope,"
Jim Reeves
' "Distant Drums,"
Eddy Arnold
's "Make the World Go Away,"
Jerry Lee Lewis
' "What's Made Milwaukee Famous [Has Made a Loser Out of Me]"), but the fun in the collection is the middle ground: songs that evoke their era. This could either be
Chet Atkins
' skipping, tongue-in-cheek spin on
Boots Randolph
's "Yakety Sax,"
Hank Williams, Jr.
first entering the charts with a cover of his dad,
Porter Wagoner
's gothic tragedy "The Carroll County Accident,"
Tommy Cash
's lush protest "Six White Horses" -- or
Johnny Cash
's vigorous "Understand Your Man" or
Bobby Bare
's "Miller's Cave," two songs that point the way toward '70s outlaw country. All combined, it's a snapshot of '60s country-pop, music that always felt as country as it did pop. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine