98 Country Classic Bonus – 5 Country Classic Hits from 1981 [VIDEOS]

Good morning and welcome to another 98 Country Classic Show. We’re heard locally, all over the country and worldwide on air at 98.1 FM, online at 98country.com and on your mobile device.

Each week, we give you our Country Classic Bonus -- an extra helping of class country goodness in the form of five performances of classic songs. And today we’re featuring country hits from the year 1981.

Making news in 1981:

US-Iran agreement frees 52 hostages held in Teheran since 1979. Hostages welcomed back to the US, January 25, 1981
Ronald Reagan takes oath as 40^th President, January 20^th
Pope John Paul II wounded by gunman May 14^th in St. Peter’s Square
MTV goes on the air
The most significant tornado to hit the Twin Cities since the 1965 Fridley/Moundsview tornadoes. A tornado touchdown in Edina/Lake Harriet area with the hardest hit area was the Harmar Mall area in Roseville

In Country music, we were listening to Roseanne Cash, John Anderson, Alabama, John Conlee and The Oak Ridge Boys.

Roseanne Cash – “Seven Year Ache”

"Seven Year Ache" is the third studio album by Roseanne Cash. It was produced by her then-husband, Rodney Crowell. The album reached number one on the Billboard Country Album chart. The titled track from the album, “Seven Year Ache” scored a number one on the country singles chart in March of '81. Cash wrote the song, which was released in February 1981. The song is about a man who goes out to a bar to forget the problems his marriage is facing.

John Anderson – “Chicken Truck”

“Chicken Truck” is a song co-written and recorded by John Anderson. The song features Anderson discussing an experience of getting stuck behind a truck hauling a load of chickens on Alabama State Highway 65. Anderson was the headliner for the Sauk Rapids Fire-Department Fundraiser July 12^th at Rollies Rednecks and Longnecks on Highway 23 East Sauk Rapids. Hope you didn’t miss him.

Well it was morning when I left Alabama, it must have been around In Mid July I got behind a chicken truck from Georgia and the feathers were a flyin' like snow out of the sky.

Alabama – “Love in the First Degree”

“Love in the First Degree” a song written by Jim Hurt and Tim Dubois. It was released in October 1981 as Alabama’s third single from the band’s album “Feels So Right.” The song has a strong country-pop beat, uses the analogy of being found guilty of a crime -- love -- and the perpetrator throwing himself on the mercy of the object of his affection.

I once thought of love as a prison, a place I didn’t want to be.

John Conlee – “Miss Emily’s Picture”

“Miss Emily’s Picture,” was written by Red Lane and released in 1981 on the John Conlee album “With Love.” The song reached number two on Billboard's Hot Country Singles Chart.

I wake up in the morning in a state of fright on the wrong side of the bed all night clinging to the broken heart inside my head.

Oak Ridge Boys – “Elvira”

“Elvira” is a song written by Dallas Frazier, which became a very famous country and pop hit by the Oak Ridge Boys. A number one hit on the billboard country chart in 1981, the song is considered one of the band's signature songs.