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 Chet Atkins may have brought elements of pop music into country music in developing what became known as "The Nashville Sound," but it was Billy Sherrill, as director of A&R for the Nashville divisions of Columbia and Epic, who blurred the distinctions between country and pop with his lavishly orchestrated late '60s to early '80s productions. Under his producing (and in many cases, song-writing) aegis, country artists such as Tammy Wynette, Barbara Fairchild, the young Tanya Tucker, and especially Charlie Rich, found their audience broadening and their singles crossing over to the upper reaches of the pop charts. Sherrill insisted his "sound" was nothing more than the result of turning sessions over to the musicians; to critics who blasted him for reducing country to easy listening pop, he insisted that "our identity will grow with people that can do something with a wider range of lyrics, melodies and instruments. It doesn't necessarily have to be two guitars and a banjo."
As his track record indicates, Sherrill's focus as a producer was the hit single, the irresistible song-and he did it not only well, but better than most. According to Sherrill, who left Columbia/ Epic in the mid-'80s but still works periodically (he produced a track on the Dixie Chicks' multi-platinum Wide Open Spaces album), "Hit singles are the best concept for albums in the world. Finding the right song is the rough part of the record business. Recording is just the gravy."
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