Country music

====The Nashville and countrypolitan sounds====
{{Main|Nashville sound}}

Beginning in the mid-1950s, and reaching its peak during the early 1960s, the Nashville sound turned country music into a multimillion-dollar industry centered in [[Nashville, Tennessee]]. Under the direction of producers such as [[Chet Atkins]], [[Bill Porter (sound engineer)|Bill Porter]], [[Paul Cohen (record producer)|Paul Cohen]], [[Owen Bradley]], [[Bob Ferguson (music)|Bob Ferguson]], and later [[Billy Sherrill]], the sound brought country music to a diverse audience and helped revive country as it emerged from a commercially fallow period. This subgenre was notable for borrowing from 1950s pop stylings: a prominent and smooth vocal, backed by a [[string section]] (violins and other orchestral strings) and vocal chorus. Instrumental soloing was de-emphasized in favor of trademark "licks". Leading artists in this genre included [[Jim Reeves]], [[Skeeter Davis]], [[Connie Smith]], [[the Browns]],{{sfn |Gilliland |1969 |loc=shows 10–11}} [[Patsy Cline]], and [[Eddy Arnold]]. The "slip note" piano style of session musician [[Floyd Cramer]] was an important component of this style.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.rockhall.com/inductees/floyd-cramer |title=Rockhall.com |publisher=Rockhall.com |access-date=February 1, 2011}}</ref> The Nashville Sound collapsed in mainstream popularity in 1964, a victim of both the [[British Invasion]] and the deaths of Reeves and Cline in separate airplane crashes. By the mid-1960s, the genre had developed into [[countrypolitan]]. Countrypolitan was aimed straight at mainstream markets, and it sold well throughout the later 1960s into the early 1970s. Top artists included [[Tammy Wynette]], [[Lynn Anderson]] and [[Charlie Rich]], as well as such former "hard country" artists as [[Ray Price (musician)|Ray Price]] and [[Marty Robbins]]. Despite the appeal of the Nashville sound, many traditional country artists emerged during this period and dominated the genre: [[Loretta Lynn]], [[Merle Haggard]], [[Buck Owens]], [[Porter Wagoner]], [[George Jones]], and [[Sonny James]] among them.