<P> In an essay published in Heartaches by the Number: Country Music's 500 Greatest Singles, David Cantwell argues that Elvis Presley's rock and roll recording of "Don't Be Cruel" in July 1956 was the record that sparked the beginning of the era now called the Nashville sound . </P> <P> Regarding the Nashville sound, the record producer Owen Bradley stated, "Now we've cut out the fiddle and steel guitar and added choruses to country music . But it can't stop there . It always has to keep developing to keep fresh ." </P> <P> In the early 1960s, the Nashville sound began to be challenged by the rival Bakersfield sound on the country side and by the British Invasion on the pop side; compounding these problems were the sudden deaths, in separate airplane crashes, of Patsy Cline and Jim Reeves, two of the Nashville Sound's biggest stars . Nashville's pop song structure became more pronounced and it morphed into what was called Countrypolitan - a smoother sound typified through the use of lush string arrangements with a real orchestra and often, background vocals provided by a choir . Countrypolitan was aimed straight at mainstream markets and it sold well throughout the later 1960s into the early 1970s . Among the architects of this sound were producers Billy Sherrill (who was instrumental in shaping Tammy Wynette's early career) and Glenn Sutton . Artists who typified the countrypolitan sound initially included Wynette, Glen Campbell (who recorded in Hollywood and not Nashville), Lynn Anderson, Charlie Rich, and Charley Pride, the latter being a rare example of a top - selling African - American country performer . </P> <P> The Bakersfield sound, and later outlaw country, dominated country music among aficionados while countrypolitan reigned on the pop charts . </P>

The nashville sound brought a polished and cosmopolitan sound to country music by