Country music did not cross over into the mainstream pop market during the late 1950s and 1960s. Artists and records that appealed to select or regional audiences were much less likely to find their way onto the pop charts than those that managed to cut across such distinctions. During the 1960s, country musicians opted for a new, sophisticated approach to the vocal presentation and instrumental arrangement of country music. This approach came to be known as “countrypolitan”—a fusion of “country” and “cosmopolitan.” Nashville was at the center of this development, and the style was also often called the “Nashville sound.”
Patsy Cline began her career as a hit maker in 1957 with her recording of “Walkin’ after Midnight,” which was successful on both the country and pop charts. Had two big hits in 1961, “I Fall to Pieces” and “Crazy,” which were successful on both the country and pop charts. Cline’s songs reflected a particular sensibility like the ballads of broad appeal—not “teen” records and her vocal style, while sophisticated, still retained hints of rural bluesy
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Bob Dylan stood out from his contemporaries in folk music for two basic reasons; The remarkable quality of his original songs, which reflected from the beginning a strong gift for poetic imagery and metaphor and a frequently searing intensity of feeling, sometimes moderated by a quirky sense of irony and His rough-hewn, occasionally aggressive vocal, guitar, and harmonica style, which demonstrated strong affinities for rural models in blues and earlier country music. When folk rock hit the scene in midyear and Bob Dylan went electric, Simon and Garfunkel’s producer, Tom Wilson, turned to one of Simon’s original compositions, “The Sound of Silence.” He did this without Simon or Garfunkel’s prior knowledge or permission and became number one pop hit in