Despite the polarizing crossover success of 1980’s Urban Cowboy film and soundtrack, legends and old souls stood tall throughout the first year of a new decade.
It’s hard now to imagine the legacies of Merle Haggard, George Jones, Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton without their biggest songs of 1980. Meanwhile, Alabama, John Anderson, Emmylou Harris and Hank Williams Jr. found commercial success while honoring country music’s past.
As for the other end of the spectrum, Eddie Rabbitt and Johnny Lee did ’80s pop-country first, and few over the coming years did it better.
Read on to rediscover 10 definitive country music albums released in 1980: