Recognize This 1970's (11 Top 10 Hits) Country Music Star?

He was one of Country Music's biggest hitmaker's in the 1970's. And it lasted virtually the entire decade.

By the time I began my on-air radio career in 1974 (48 years ago, how is that possible??), he was already an established country star with a half-dozen Top 10 hits. Yes, if you loved country music in the 70's, there's no doubt you heard and loved Tommy Overstreet.

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Born in Oklahoma City and raised in Houston and Abilene, Texas, Tommy got into music as a child, influenced by Gene Austin, a music star back in the 1920's and 1930's. And while he managed a record company in the 1960's, it was in the 70's that Tommy decided to bring his own talents into the recording studio and on the stage.

The first of those 11 Top 10 hits was 1971's "Gwen (Congratulations)" and ten more followed by the end of the decade.

So while for many the 1970's may be remembered most for the birth of the Outlaw Country Music Movement, or maybe the decade that brought us all those CB country hits, for others of us, well, we remember the great Tommy Overstreet.

Tommy passed away at his home in Oregon in 2015 at the age of 78. But those great country hits (now classics) from the 1970's? Those will never die.

Here Are The 7 Remaining Drive-In Theaters In South Dakota

If you were born last century...you know, in the nineteen hundreds (ugh)...you may have spent a summer evening in the car watching movies. I don't mean on your phone, I mean at the drive-in movie theater!

If you were in Sioux Falls in the 1970s and '80's you may remember seeing Jaws and Indiana Jones at The East Park or the Starlite Drive-In. Both drive-ins opened just after World War 2. The East Park didn't make it out of the '70s, closing in 1978. The Starlite survived long enough to see the birth of home video, closing in 1985.

FLASHBACK: Remember the East Park and Starlite Drive-in Theaters in Sioux Falls?

Drive-in movies had a bit of a resurgence during the pandemic. They were a way to go out and do something social without getting out of your car.

If you tried one during that time, or you remember the fun of a warm summer evening watching movies on that giant screen there are still places in South Dakota and around Sioux Falls you can do it.

Filed Under: classic country music