People's definition of a one-hit wonder varies. Per The Boot, I am using the criterion of having one - and only one, ever - chart-topping single. That means many artists qualify for this dubious designation. They may have been very talented, extremely hard-working, and popular. Still, all the right elements never fell into place for them again to get to the highest rung of the ladder, so to speak. So we present with pride these country one-hit wonders that defined the 1970s. They are from Roy Clark, Jessi Coulter, Bobby Bare, and C.W. McCall.
Videos by Wide Open Country
'Come Live With Me' By Roy Clark
Clark was not only likable, but multi-talented. He played banjo, fiddle, and guitar, hosted the popular TV show Hee Haw from 1969 to 1997, and was a Country Music Hall of Fame ad Grand Ole Opry member. Despite those impressive credentials, he only had one number one song from 1973, "Come Live With Me." Clark scored a dozen country hits, but only this one got all the way to the coveted pinnacle.
'I'm Not Lisa' By Jessi Coulter
Coulter was married to famous country music "outlaw" Waylon Jennings from 1969 to 2002. She was quite a star in her own right, though. Per pbs.org, her duets with Jennings, for example, like their cover of Elvis Presley's "Suspicious Minds," were successful. But it was Colter's memorable track, "I'm Not Lisa" from 1975 that soared to the top chart spot. It was "No. 4 on the pop Hot 100, and earned Colter GRAMMY and CMA award nominations."
'Marie Laveau' By Bobby Bare
Per American Songwriter, this offbeat tune came from the pen of Shel Silverstein. A humorist, poet, and cartoonist, he also wrote "A Boy Named Sue," which was a huge classic hit for Johnny Cash.
Silverstein's nephew said per the outlet via Songfacts, "Marie Laveau has been described and conjured in history books and legends of voodoo women in New Orleans for decades and decades. And all the research points to the fact that there was a Marie Laveau, and she lived at a certain time, and she was supposed to be a witch of certain powers. But beyond that, she was repeated in fable-type proportions in song and in oral storytelling for as long as I can remember."
Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show recorded the song in 1971. Bare's cover three years later "would be the singer's only No. 1 song and his last to grace the top 10."
'Convoy' By C.W. McCall
"C.W. McCall" was the persona invented by an ad exec named Bill Fries, per Billboard. The song "Convoy" was a number 1 charter because of the CB radio trend of that time. Story songs were in favor then, as were crossover country tunes. Put all of that together and you have the makings of a smash song. People got a kick out of unfamiliar CB jargon; issues affecting truckers of the era, like the fuel shortage and new, strict regulations, made the song timely.
Convoy was also a 1978 film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring Kris Kristofferson, Ali MacGraw, Ernest Borgnine, and Burt Young.
