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Country crossovers were big in the mid-70s, with Kenny Rogers, John Denver, Olivia Newton-John, Glen Campbell, and several others scoring hits on the Country and Pop charts.
The top country song of 1977 was also a crossover of sorts. In addition to spending 7 weeks at #1 on Billboard's Country Chart, it reached #16 on the Adult Contemporary Chart and #25 on the Hot 100.
And trust me, if there had been a chart that measured jukebox activity in bars and roadhouses, the song would have been #1 on that chart, too!
"Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)" by Waylon Jennings was a "Great Country" tune about a couple who has it all and realizes it's actually too much--they're not happy and they're constantly fighting--so they give it all up and move to a small town in Texas.
It doesn't get much smaller. In 2006, Luckenbach's population was...3!
"Luckenbach, Texas" was pretty much a perfect country song...and Waylon did an excellent job with it...but what really put it over the top was a guest appearance by Willie Nelson in the final chorus.
Strangely, Waylon didn't particularly like the song, but he never argued with its success. He felt it had universal appeal--and that every state had a "Luckenbach" to escape to. With that in mind, Waylon made it a playlist mainstay at his concerts.
Historical Trivia: Waylon was one of Buddy Holly's Crickets, and traded his airplane seat for The Big Bopper's (J.P. Richardson's) bus seat on the "day the music died."
Extra trivia for Western Wisconsinites: Buddy, The Crickets, The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens had just played at Fournier's Ballroom in Eau Claire a few days before the tragedy.
"Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basic of Love)" by Waylon Jennings (and Willie Nelson): A "Great Song of 1977!"
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