Country music in the 80s was rife with contradictions, with the Urban Cowboy trend inspiring a slew of slick pop-country hits, the emergence of the cowpunk scene, the long tail of the Outlaw country movement of the late 70s carrying over into the new decade, the rise of Young Country and the Class of 89 at the decade’s end, and superstar crossovers from the likes of Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers.
The genre seemed to be in a state of perpetual identity crisis as a result. And the artists who debuted during this era fell largely into one of two camps: Trend-hopping onto whatever the most popular variety of country at any given moment, or staking a claim to their own unique territory right out of the gate.
The debuts that mattered most, of course, fell into that latter group, and there were plenty of them from artists who became both commercial juggernauts and major influential figures.
The Greatest Debut Albums in Country Music: 1980s
Wynonna & Naomi
The Judds
Feb. 1984
RCA’s cautious experimentation with EPs in the mid-eighties to launch new artists resulted in abbreviated releases from three future hall of fame acts. The releases from Vince Gill and Keith Whitley show elements of their future promise, but the Judds? They arrived fully formed with a completely realized musical identity.
Bona fide classics abound, with “Had a Dream” and “Mama He’s Crazy” enjoying immediate success, alongside two early versions of future hits “Change of Heart” and “John Deere Tractor.”
Wynonna can credibly claim two of the best debut releases in country music history, and this stunning EP is remarkably still the lesser of the two. – KJC
Guitars, Cadillacs, etc., etc.
Dwight Yoakam
Mar. 1986
The “Etc. Etc.” acknowledges Dwight Yoakam’s independent EP Guitars, Cadillacs, and his debut album for WB fleshes out that early release brilliantly, resulting in one of the most assured and distinctive debut albums in country music history.
The title track is still his signature song, his cover of “Honky Tonk Man” established him as a covers artist to be reckoned with, and his duet with Maria McKee dipped his toe early in the waters that we now call Americana. – KJC
Guitar Town
Steve Earle
Mar. 1986
Too easy to fall into the rockist trap that the greatness of Earle’s fiery debut hinges on how it contrasted with the slick pop-country of the early and mid-80s. The reality is that the greatness of some– many, even– of those pop-country records has been reappraised, while Earle’s status as a country-rock iconoclast and one of the genre’s most outspoken artists has never wavered. Guitar Town established his singular identity right out of the gate: Its harder edges and political unrest still pack a wallop a full forty years on. – JK
Lyle Lovett
Mar. 1986
Lovett’s debut rode his listeners up to a scenic overlook where we could take in just how wide and expansive the country music horizon line was before charging down into a new decade. Although never the “Big Daddy” of that class of pioneers, Lyle Lovett proved he was certainly not a nobody with his eponymous MCA/Curb Records debut album he co-produced with none other than Tony Brown… He brings charisma and creativity in spades. His laconic charm drips from the songs. Self-deprecating humor is as much a part of his songwriting as are his wickedly sharp observations about people, love, and life. It is a brilliant collection of songs that resist easy categorization. – PS [Full review]
Storms of Life
Randy Travis
Jun. 1986
It wasn’t the first of the neo-traditionalist revival albums out of the gate, but Storms of Life was the album that best represented the sea change that was taking place in the genre in the mid-80s. “On the Other Hand” initially failed at radio, stalling at a lowly #67 peak, as programmers turned “1982” into Travis’ first top 10. Once they realized that Travis’ neo-trad style and his speaker-rattling baritone were viable for radio, they didn’t look back. The re-release of “On the Other Hand” shot to #1 and cemented Travis as the genre’s new superstar.
In hindsight, what’s so striking about Travis’ vault onto the A-list was that it was purely a function of how exceptional the album was. While we’ve long since re-appraised the music that some of his contemporaries were recording, at the time, Travis was hailed for re-establishing country music as an art form during a credibility scare. Storms of Life kicked off an era when the genre’s stars were expected both to be truly great singers and to write or curate unimpeachable quality songs.
Travis was rewarded with a triple-platinum album at a time when labels were thrilled with a gold record for an A-lister, as Storms of Life made the top 50 on the year-end album sales chart for five straight years. Both the public and the industry recognized the album as something rare and something worth celebrating and imitating.
Forty years on, we recognize Storms of Life as the greatest debut album in country music history. – JK
80s Ladies
K.T. Oslin
Jun. 1987
Early on in her career, Oslin pitched “ Younger Men” to country radio. When a DJ refused to play it because he found it offensive to men, she asked him if he was currently playing, “Don’t the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time.” When he said, yes, she asked him if that song might be similarly offensive to women. He hung up on her.
Her debut album may as well be an LP length response to that experience, as she centers the real life experiences of women without a single concession to the male gaze. You don’t get the 90s wave of brilliant older women dominating the genre critically and commercially without Oslin throwing down the gauntlet first. – KJC
Stout & High
The Wagoneers
Jun. 1988
There isn’t a blank or misfire in the entire eleven-song, fully loaded gun-belt of an album. The cover photo of the band on Stout & High could be a stand in for a Sons of the Pioneers album from fifty years earlier. The entire production is cowboy cool through and through… This debut album matters. It still sounds beautiful, exciting, and excellent, standing defiantly Stout & High this many years later. – PS [Full Review]
Killin’ Time
Clint Black
May 1989
It was a big deal at the time when Clint Black’s debut single went to number one and the debut album then produced three/four more number one singles, depending on the chart.
Garth Brooks was chasing Clint Black’s shadow for the first year of his career, so undeniable was Black’s flawless first effort. That he never approached this level of brilliance again captures the way that a debut album can be lightning in a bottle. He’s made some great records since then, but nothing is fully realized as this once modern classic.
Every new guy in a hat made an attempt to replicate this album for years to come. Some got close. Many eclipsed it with later efforts. Somehow even out sold it handily.
But no matter how good they eventually got, nobody else among the hat acts was this good the first time out. It would’ve had eight hit singles if it was released during the era of longer album cycles. – KJC
Pickin’ on Nashville
Kentucky Headhunters
Oct. 1989
The colloquial “pickin’ on” reflects the good-natured personality of The Kentucky Headhunters, but it might’ve been more accurate to say that their debut record was bullying Nashville or, maybe, kickin’ Nashville in the teeth. The album’s first single took fellow KY native Bill Monroe’s “Walk Softly” and turned into something that rocked every bit as hard as what Guns N Roses were doing in 1989. They did the same on covers of “Oh, Lonesome Me” and “Skip a Rope,” defying all of the conventional wisdom– and the concurrent neotrad movement– of what country music was supposed to sound like.
They were rewarded with an upset victory for Album Of The Year at the CMAs– one of the rare debut albums to earn such an honor– but quickly found out that you can only kick down a door the one time. – JK
Honorable Mentions:
Foster & Lloyd
Highway 101
Lone Justice
The O’Kanes
Sweethearts of the Rodeo
The Greatest Debut Albums in Country Music
Introduction
Part One: 1960s & 1970s
Part Two: 1980s
Part Three: 1990s
Part Four: 21st Century
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