The country music genre has always appeared smaller than less extensive than music critics have given it credit for. Before country pop was popularized in the early ’90′s by the likes of Billy Ray Cyrus, and Leanne Rhimes, there was a very different and wide spread range of pure country roots styles, spanning from the Deep South to Southern California. The list of the top 20 country songs before this modern sound of country pop, may have some surprising revelations.

#20 El Paso, by Marty Robbins. This 1959 hit won a Grammy and crossover fame in both country and pop for Robbins. The song was later covered by the Grateful Dead.

#19 Big River, by Johnny Cash. This song was released by Sun Records as a single in 1958, where it reached #4 on the charts. The Dead version of this song becoming legendary and one of Cash’s most cherished and aired songs.

#18 Cold, Cold Heart, by Hank Williams. In 1951 this blues balland really represented the honky-tonk era of the 50′s, especially the early 50′s. Then Tony Bennett went and recorded a pop version of the song which hit #1 on the charts.

#17 Walkin’ After Midnight, written by Donn Hecht and sung by Patsy Cline. One of the most beautiful songs of Patsy’s career, this amazingly tender, heartbreaker was just one of many of Patsy Clines, in her long, productive career.

#16 The Ballad of Jed Clampett, by Earl Scruggs, Lester Flatt, and Jerry Scoggins. Instantly recognizable as the theme song to “The Beverly Hillbillies,” this 1962 hit song helped country music and bluegrass reach a wider audience.

#15 I’m a Lonesome Fugitive, written by Liz Anderson and sung by Merle Haggard. This was a song that topped the charts at #3 in 1967, and it really helped outline what “Outlaw Country” was and become the Bakersfield sound for many generations to follow.

#14, John Henry, by DeFord Bailey. One of the greatest African-American country music stars before the mid-century, Baily scripted and performed this song to honor the working man.

#13 Hickory Wind, by Gram Parsons and Bob Buchanan. Parsons lived a short, but powerful life in country music, living and playing hard and eventually dying of an overdose at age 26 in 1973. However his influence from songs such as Hickory Wind can still be felt, it tells the story of abandaoned childhood in the middle of the pain and emotion of global success with the absence of happiness.

#12 Me and Bobby Mcgee, Kris Kristofferson. This 1969 hit was originally composed and sung by Roger Miller, but it later became a signature of Kristofferson’s. The song tells the story of a doomed love affair that takes place on a road trip.

#11 Ballad of Easy Rider, written by Roger McGuinn and performed by the Byrds. This song became the theme and title of the 1969 film, and its mood of disillusionment and spiritual loss came to symbolize the end of the protest era.

The above being just the tip of the top 20 country songs iceberg, but this gives you an idea of where the modern country pop genre stems from.