Country music from a fan's point of view since 2008
1955 (Sales): I Don’t Care/Your Good For Nothing Heart — Webb Pierce (Decca)
1955 (Jukebox): I Don’t Care/Your Good For Nothing Heart — Webb Pierce (Decca)
1955 (Disc Jockeys): I Don’t Care — Webb Pierce (Decca)
1965: The First Thing Ev’ry Morning (and the Last Thing Ev’ry Night) — Jimmy Dean (Columbia)
1975: Just Get Up and Close the Door — Johnny Rodriguez (Mercury)
1985: 40 Hour Week (For A Livin’) — Alabama (RCA)
1995: I Don’t Even Know Your Name — Alan Jackson (Arista)
2005: As Good as I Once Was — Toby Keith (DreamWorks)
2015: Kick the Dust Up — Luke Bryan (Capitol)
2015 (Airplay): One Hell of an Amen — Brantley Gilbert (Valory)
My Kind of Country 
Here are the #1s per Music Vendor/Record World
1955 – I Don’t Care – Webb Pierce
1965 – The First Thing Ev’ry Morning (and the Last Thing Ev’ry Night) – Jimmie Dean
1975 – Wasted Days and Wasted Nights – Freddy Fender
I didn’t know that Johnny Rodriguez and Freddie Fender had #1’s at the same time.
Rodriguez probably had more success on the country charts–(and I like him a lot more)–but I think Fender is much more well-known outside of country music circles.
The Jimmy Dean song is an example of the Nashville Sound on steroids. I don’t mind a little orchestration and vocal choruses here and there, but this one is really overdone!
Jimmy’s song was indeed a big “Nashville Sound” style production. That arrangement mirrored the style of a lot of the music that Dean was performing on his ABC-TV variety show at that time. Don Sebesky was the musical director for Dean’s TV show and he arranged and conducted the session for this song at Columbia studios in New York City on March 11, 1965. Dean’s TV show was in production there at the time which is why he did not record it in Nashville. Perhaps because I’ve heard the song since it was first released it has always sounded great to me. I purchased the original Columbia 45 at that time which is still in my collection!
What was so appealing to me about country music back then was the depth and breadth of sounds and styles that were included. From big orchestrations to small string bands and everything in between country music was a complete joy to listen to.
For the record – the link to Dean’s song on YouTube [above] is a RE-RECORDING. Though it’s quite close it’s not the original. Here’s the 1965 Columbia hit:
Thanks, Ken. It makes sense that this is the type of music that Dean was doing during the run of his TV show; they were probably reaching for a wider audience than country typically reached. It’s not bad but I still think it sounds like a Dean Martin record.
I agree with you — the variety of sounds one could find in country music ensured that there was something for everybody and I think that extended well past the 60s. Barbara Mandrell once said that anyone who said they didn’t like country music hadn’t really listened because there really was something for everyone. Today, not so much. It’s a damn shame how bad things have become. The Luke Bryan song currently occupying the #1 slot is an absolute disgrace. Crap songs like this fly to the top of the charts while deserving artists can’t get any attention.