A glittering anthem about ambition, illusion, and the fragile machinery of fame Released in September 1974, “Gonna Make You a Star” by David Essex became one of the defining singles…
A Love That Bleeds Long After the Blade Is Gone When Brian Connolly released his rendition of “The First Cut Is the Deepest” in 1983, it arrived not as a…
A Voice That Carried the Heartache of a Nation Fell Silent in 1993 When Conway Twitty passed away on June 5, 1993, country music did not merely lose a singer;…
Torch Song for the Quiet Hours When Regret Burns Brightest When Conway Twitty released “Night Fires” in 1983 as the title track of his album Night Fires, the record did…
A Love So Enduring It Rose Like a Hill Above the Noise of Its Time When Fats Domino carried “Blueberry Hill” onto national television on The Ed Sullivan Show, he…
Man Watches Love Slip Through His Hands and Learns the Sound of Irreversible Goodbye When Roy Orbison released “Losing You” in 1963, it ascended to No. 2 on the Billboard…
A Candy-Coated Smile Hiding the Fractures of a Fading Pop Dream Released in 1974 as a solo single by Brian Connolly, best known as the frontman of Sweet, “The Lollipop…
Meeting of Two Honky-Tonk Souls, Where Heartache Finds Its Harmony On August 24, 1973, American television audiences watching NBC’s The Midnight Special witnessed a rare convergence of country royalty: Loretta…
A Ballad of Betrayal That Chooses Compassion Over Condemnation When Ricky Van Shelton released “Life Turned Her That Way” in 1988 as a single from his album Loving Proof, it…
A Quiet Man Standing at the Edge of Losing Everything When Conway Twitty released “Borderline” in 1987 as the title track from his album Borderline, he was no newcomer chasing…
Best Oldies Songs