“Pretty Paper” was released by Roy Orbison in November of 1963, so it’s about to be the 60th anniversary of the song. It reached #15 on the Billboard Hot 100. A bit early for a holiday song but it fits the category nicely. This song is a rarity for a number of reasons. First, is was written by a Country Singer Songwriter, Willie Nelson. Second, it was recorded by a Rock and Roll singer. Third, it was a Christmas song and it charted well when it first came out, which was not typical at the time. If that’s not enough, it was first covered by the songwriter a year later, changing the original Rock and Roll Ballad into a Country Christmas song. And lastly, the vast majority of the 80 plus versions are in that same Country Style.

Given the title, you may have expected this song to come from a Country Artist but “Are you Ready for the Country” was written and recorded by Neil Young and appeared on the 1972 album Harvest. All ten of the tracks on this album have been covered, including “Heart of Gold”(128) and “Old Man”(77). The ‘Country’ in the title does not reference Country Music in this case, and which ‘Country’ is not specified.

Waylon Jennings was the third cover version of 17 recordings and his charted #7 on the Country Chart in 1976. Jennings changed up a few words in his rendition to countrify the song.

“You Turn Me On I’m a Radio” from 1972 is one of several Joni Mitchell songs that blur the lines between Pop Rock and Folk. Given her vast influence on the Rock genre I could include several more of her songs. When I say influence that includes Prince saying that “Joni Mitchell’s music should be taught in school” or her impact on Lemmy from Metallica to Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, Chrissie Hynde, Heart, Sherly Crow and so many more. Joni saw herself as an album artist, and yes she was brilliant, but the record company pressured her to write a ‘hit’ single. So she did.

This performance by Wynonna Judd is an example of how Joni touched the hearts of Country artists as well. The song was covered by a friend of Joni’s, Gail Davies and it charted #7 in Canada and #17 in the US on the Country Charts in 1982.

“Sea of Heartbreak” was a #2 Country chart hit in 1961 for the accomplished Don Gibson. Written by the multi talented (singer, actor, lyricist and writer) Paul Hampton and Hal David. This song was on a list of 100 that Johnny Cash gave his daughter Rosanne at the age of 18. Johnny would do this in 1996, and he deemed this list essential to Country Music and it would lead to an album by Rosanne aptly named “The List” released in 2009.

There are several Rock artists who have covered this great song so it was tough for me to pick just one, ok maybe two.