Country USA (Time-Life Music)


Country USA was a 23-volume series issued by Time-Life Music during the late 1980s and early 1990s, spotlighting country music of the 1950s through early 1970s.
Each volume in the series chronicled a specific year in country music, from 1950 through 1972, and was issued on a double-length compact disc or cassette, or two vinyl albums. Individual volumes contained 24 tracks, usually representing the year's most popular and important songs. Also included was a booklet, containing liner notes written by some of the most respected historians of the genre, photographs of the artists, and information on the songs.
All told, the entire series contains 553 tracks.

History

"Country USA" was first issued during the summer of 1988, and is patterned after Time-Life's successful "Rock'n'Roll Era" and "Your Hit Parade" series. It represented Time-Life's first real attempt at chronicling country music's post-1950 history; earlier in the 1980s, Time-Life had a budget "Country Series" and the later "Country & Western Classics."
During its peak, the "Country USA" series was advertised in television and magazine advertisements. The series was available by subscription ; those who purchased the series in that fashion received a new volume roughly every other month, and had the option of keeping just the volumes they wanted. Each volume was also offered for individual sale.
New volumes continued to be issued through 1991. Another series, "Contemporary Country," essentially picked up where "Country USA" left off, as that series covered the 1970s through early 1990s.
Time-Life continued to offer "Country USA" through the early first decade of the 21st century. The series has essentially been replaced by "Classic Country." Three newer series — "Country Gold," "Superstars of Country" and "Lifetime of Country Romance" — have also since been issued.
Critics widely hailed "Country USA" as a definitive overview of the genre during what some refer to as the Golden Age. In many cases, the songs offered on each volume represented the first time they had ever been re-released on compact disc. However, critics tempered their praise by pointing out a few minor faults, such as the exclusion of some tracks and alternate versions/re-recordings of some hits.

The series

The track listings below represent the sequencing on the compact discs. While the sequencing is identical on the records and cassettes, some songs may be on different sides.
Also, while the years will be listed sequentially under the track listing section, the "Country USA" series was not issued sequentially by year. The series was issued in the following order:

1950