“Operators of music machines [are] finding a more generous flow of coins coming in for the hillbilly and cowboy tunes,” according to the Jan. 8, 1944,, in which the genre chart debuted. On top that first week: Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters’ “Pistol Packin’ Mama,” a favorite among Marines stationed in the South Pacific. Some heard the sound of home: A dispatch from New Delhi in the same issue reported that “a hillbilly guitar brought life to a weary troopship.
By the 1950s, country had grown into a significant cultural force — and a big business. The Oct. 20, 1958,), which was topped by Ray Price’s “City Lights.” That issue also showed the genre’s impact on pop and rock: In one article, the 17-year-old idol Paul Anka hailed Hank Williams as “one of the great [song]writers,” while a review said rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson’s “Sinful Heart” “could move in the more rural circles,” since “the gal gives this bleeder a reading with the heartbreak sound.
Even in the psychedelic 1960s, country was big on campus. “The surfers of South Texas have ‘broken their boards’ and made the switch to country and western music,” reported the Dec. 23, 1967,, citing pioneering Black superstar Charley Pride as the region’s most popular.