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Non-country songs that sound country.

Diana Ross went country with "Last Time I Saw Him" in 1974.

Tony Orlando And Dawn's Album "New Ragtime Follies" could perhaps be a little country-ish at times.

And, you could kinda argue Ray Charles' "I Can't Stop Loving You" cover, has early country elements.
 
Biondi4Mayor said:
Diana Ross went country with "Last Time I Saw Him" in 1974.

Tony Orlando And Dawn's Album "New Ragtime Follies" could perhaps be a little country-ish at times.

And, you could kinda argue Ray Charles' "I Can't Stop Loving You" cover, has early country elements.
Click to expand...
Diana Ross'Last Time I Saw Him sounded more to me like "Broadway", with a show-tune quality. Yes, the late female country vocalist Dottie West once gave it a spin, but I didn't even find her version to be "Country". I do agree with you though on Ray Charles and I Can't Stop Loving You. Charles was no small player in the arena of R & B, two of the three ingredients infused some 60-years ago to form rock 'n' roll. The third ingredient: Country.
 
TomL said:
A lot of what the Carpenters did sounded country.
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The Karen Carpenter biography "Little Girl Blue" quotes Karen as telling a country music magazine in 1978: "We always try to get one country song on our albums. Not for any specific purpose but because we like it. We don't go in and say we've got to record a song that will get on the country charts. We always just go in with what we like."

The Carpenters actually got a Top 10 hit on the country charts in the late winter of 1978 with "Sweet, Sweet Smile," which stiffed at #44 pop (and was written by none other than future '80s superstar Juice Newton).

"Top of the World" was already a country hit for Lynn Anderson before the Carpenters released their #1 Hot 100 hit version in 1973. The original version of the song was on their 1972 album "A Song For You," but Richard and Karen hadn't planned for it to be a single until it was released in Japan and became a huge hit there, and then Lynn Anderson's version went to #2 country and briefly got on the pop and AC charts.

Following the success of "Sweet, Sweet Smile," the Carpenters serviced country radio stations and promoters with a four-song EP called "Country Collection," which also included their versions of "Jambalaya" (which had also been a successful single in Japan and the U.K. in 1974) and "Reason to Believe." Reportedly the response "Smile" got from country radio at a time when their pop success was slumping led Karen and Richard to consider doing a full album of country tunes; A&M brass nixed that idea.
 
most people dont know, or long forgotten that the carpenters actually had one fluke of a country hit that charted top 10 in 1978, and ironically didnt even make top 40 pop. it was "sweet sweet smile". got regular rotation airplay through 81 or 82 in seattle on KMPS. it was last spun via CD, somewheres in the mid 90's by yours truly, at the now defunct country gold network of 5 AM'rs(now all foreign jibberish). great song, good country, top 10 hit. but, no longer played anywheres here or there because centralized control says NO!
 
yipes chrisMI, looks like we done posted the same info about the same time. looks like the great karen carpenter channeled us both! what a synergistic coincidence of epic proportions!
 
jfrancispastirchak said:
Biondi4Mayor said:
Diana Ross went country with "Last Time I Saw Him" in 1974.

Tony Orlando And Dawn's Album "New Ragtime Follies" could perhaps be a little country-ish at times.

And, you could kinda argue Ray Charles' "I Can't Stop Loving You" cover, has early country elements.
Click to expand...

Diana Ross'Last Time I Saw Him sounded more to me like "Broadway", with a show-tune quality. Yes, the late female country vocalist Dottie West once gave it a spin, but I didn't even find her version to be "Country". I do agree with you though on Ray Charles and I Can't Stop Loving You. Charles was no small player in the arena of R & B, two of the three ingredients infused some 60-years ago to form rock 'n' roll. The third ingredient: Country.
Click to expand...

PS: Meant to also mention Ray Charles' copy of Buck Owens' "Together Again".
 
jfrancispastirchak said:
Diana Ross' Last Time I Saw Him sounded more to me like "Broadway", with a show-tune quality. Yes, the late female country vocalist Dottie West once gave it a spin, but I didn't even find her version to be "Country". I do agree with you though on Ray Charles and I Can't Stop Loving You. Charles was no small player in the arena of R & B, two of the three ingredients infused some 60-years ago to form rock 'n' roll. The third ingredient: Country.
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I can see that I guess with Ross. Brenda Lee is another artist who can be country/pop/rock/R&B all at the same time.

What about Marie Osmond's "Paper Roses"?
 
scott salvatori said:
yipes chrisMI, looks like we done posted the same info about the same time. looks like the great karen carpenter channeled us both! what a synergistic coincidence of epic proportions!
Click to expand...

I'm a big Carpenters fan myself. And of course this month is the 30th anniversary of Karen's death. :)

I have heard that song a few times on adult standards stations (WIOS in Tawas City, MI is one that plays it) and on a small-town Michigan AC station's all-oldies Friday programming. Seems that song gets more play on pop-oriented stations than on country, despite being a pop stiff.
 
jfrancispastirchak said:
Biondi4Mayor said:
Diana Ross went country with "Last Time I Saw Him" in 1974.

Tony Orlando And Dawn's Album "New Ragtime Follies" could perhaps be a little country-ish at times.

And, you could kinda argue Ray Charles' "I Can't Stop Loving You" cover, has early country elements.
Click to expand...
Diana Ross'Last Time I Saw Him sounded more to me like "Broadway", with a show-tune quality.
Click to expand...
Yep, either Broadway or Burlesque.
Yes, the late female country vocalist Dottie West once gave it a spin, but I didn't even find her version to be "Country". I do agree with you though on Ray Charles and I Can't Stop Loving You. Charles was no small player in the arena of R & B, two of the three ingredients infused some 60-years ago to form rock 'n' roll. The third ingredient: Country.
Click to expand...
 
I would take a non-country song that sounds country over a country song that doesn't sound country any day.
 
Bob Seger: "You'll Accomp'ny Me," "Shame On the Moon" (written by Rodney Crowell, and crossed over to the country charts), "Against the Wind, "Night Moves," "Main Street"
Bruce Springsteen: "One Step Up" and some of his more acoustic, "unplugged" songs
John Mellencamp: "Small Town," "Pink Houses" (acoustic version), others
 
CatCall said:
An oldie: “Nashville Cats” by the Lovin Spoonful
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Interesting submission by an R/D member named 'CAT'call.

Nashville Cats has always been a favorite of mine, yet many of my contemporaries, even when this number was featured in a movie that bombed (one word title, a man's name, but I can't remember it), swear they never heard it. Although never mentioned by name, I believe this number was meant as a tribute to the iconic SUN recording label.
 
jfrancispastirchak said:
Another artist whose music oozed with country nuance was Michael Nesmith, the only truly accomplished musician among the Monkees.
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Good one! Hard to believe "Joanne" and "Silver Moon" weren't country hits. Likewise, it's a bit of an anomaly that "Take Me Home, Country Roads" by John Denver wasn't as big a country hit as it was pop.
 
ChrisInMI said:
scott salvatori said:
yipes chrisMI, looks like we done posted the same info about the same time. looks like the great karen carpenter channeled us both! what a synergistic coincidence of epic proportions!
Click to expand...

I'm a big Carpenters fan myself. And of course this month is the 30th anniversary of Karen's death. :)

I have heard that song a few times on adult standards stations (WIOS in Tawas City, MI is one that plays it) and on a small-town Michigan AC station's all-oldies Friday programming. Seems that song gets more play on pop-oriented stations than on country, despite being a pop stiff.
Click to expand...

Did Alabama cover The Carpenters' "Touch Me When We're Dancing" or was it the other way around?
 
ChrisInMI said:
And yes, WYCD played the country version of "Hey Soul Sister" when it was current.

Then there was Lady Gaga's equally awful country version of "Born This Way." Did any country stations ACTUALLY play that turd?

Speaking of Gaga, I was a little surprised that she didn't try to promote "You And I" to country radio. It sounded almost exactly like a 1990s Shania Twain song to my ears (specifically "Honey I'm Home").
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"You and I" features Queen guitarist Brian May on electric guitar. I think it would be strange to hear the guitar work of Dr. Brian May (he actually holds a doctorate in astrophysics) on country radio :)
 
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