3 Country Groups From the 1970s Whose Melodies Still Echo Through the Decades

If you check out the 1970s, you might just rediscover your favorite country band. The golden era for the genre offered music fans any number of country standouts, from solo acts to group projects.

Here below, we wanted to highlight three examples of the latter. These are outfits we love to tap our toes to. Indeed, these are three country groups from the 1970s whose melodies still echo through the decades.

The Oak Ridge Boys

Born in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, The Oak Ridge Boys have been around seemingly for as long as country music has. Indeed, the group has been recording songs since the 1950s. But some things take time. It wasn’t until the 1970s, nearly 20 years after they started releasing music, that their stuff started to see a big audience. Their self-titled 1974 LP hit No. 38 on the Billboard Country chart, and then the band saw a string of records make the vaunted charts over and over, beginning with the 1977 offering, Y’all Come Back Saloon. In 2024, the project released its latest LP, Mama’s Boys. Now THAT’s a career.

The Flying Burrito Brothers

Formed in 1968, The Flying Burrito Brothers released a handful of records in the 1970s, including two that charted on the Billboard Top 200: The Flying Burrito Bros in 1971 and Flying Again in 1975. Boasting one of the strangest names in country music history, the country music project was founded by Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman. As a result, the band blends country with down-home rock music. It’s a sound that has lasted through the ages—and thankfully so.

The Outlaws

With a name like The Outlaws, you had better be quite the country group. And that’s just what this project from Tampa, Florida, sure does the trick. In the 1970s, it was hard to escape the influence of rock music. So, this is another southern outfit that blends the threads of country with those of rock. But the result is something special. It’s something you can jam out to at a honky-tonk or something you can play air guitar to in your living room. In the end, it’s all up to you!

Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images

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