1958 (Sales): Ballad of a Teenage Queen — Johnny Cash (Sun)
1958 (Disk Jockeys): Ballad of a Teenage Queen — Johnny Cash (Sun)
1968: A World of Our Own — Sunny James (Capitol)
1978: Mama’s Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys — Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson (RCA)
1988: Life Turned Her That Way — Ricky Van Shelton (Columbia)
1998: Nothin’ But The Taillights — Clint Black (RCA Nashville)
2008: All-American Girl — Carrie Underwood (Arista Nashville)
2018: Meant To Be — Bebe Rexha featuring Florida Georgia Line (Big Machine)
2018: Broken Halos — Chris Stapleton (Mercury)
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My Kind of Country 
Ricky Van Shelton scored his first #1 hit in December 1987 with “Somebody Lied.” His next single was a Harlan Howard song that had charted for Mel Tillis two decades earlier. At that time it was Mel’s biggest single to date peaking at #11 in May 1967. Ricky was just fifteen that year and not a big country music fan so he was unfamiliar with Mel’s recording. He first heard Mel’s version when his producer played it for him. The song became Ricky’s second #1 hit thirty years ago this week.
I remember Mel’s version but I first heard the song during the summer of 1965 – disc jockeys at WCMS (Norfolk) and WWVA (Wheeling) played Jimmy Dickens version of the song as an extra (I don’t think it was ever released as a single). I really liked Jimmy’s version
Although “Life Turned Her That Way” was officially designated as the “A” side of the Columbia single, the flip side “He Stands Real Tall” became the chart hit. It peaked at #21 in Billboard during June 1965. Jimmy’s next single became his career hit – “May The Bird Of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose.”
Jimmy was an excellent ballad singer but mostly gained significant traction with his novelty songs. Waylon Jennings famously expressed his affection for Dickens’ ballads. I agree that Jimmy turned in an excellent performance on “Life Turned Her That Way.”