The week of October 18, 1966, found a trio of repeats atop the Billboard Hot 100, plus one band that I’m planning to explore further, so I’m setting that one aside for now.
That brings us to #5, where the California garage band Count Five peaked with their only hit, ‘Psychotic Reaction.’ The quintet formed in high school and released this single the day two of its members graduated.
Throwing back to the week of October 17, 1956, we find Elvis Presley hanging on to the #1 spot with ‘Don’t Be Cruel,’ in the final week of its record-setting 11-week run in the top spot. It’s no ‘Choosin’ Texas,’ but that’s not bad!
In the #2 spot was Johnnie Ray’s ‘Walkin’ in the Rain,’ one of three hits to reach #1 or #2 for Ray. It’s a song with a very interesting back story.
The final six albums of Dolly Parton’s career epitomized her playfulness, versatility, and desire to experiment.
Those releases include a stripped-down country collection (2016’s Pure & Simple), a children’s album (2017’s I Believe in You), another Christmas album (2020’s A Holly Dolly Christmas), and a companion record to a suspense novel she co-wrote with James Patterson (2022’s Run, Rose, Run). Yes, you read that last one correctly.
By her standards, Dolly Parton was unproductive in the 2000s, releasing just five studio albums.
She followed up her bluegrass trilogy with a pair of albums that approached American politics from two different directions. In 2003, For God and Country was a collection of patriotic songs (some traditional, some original) recorded as a response to the September 11 terror attacks. Two years later, Those Were the Day featured covers of 60s and 70s folk songs, most of them anti-war anthems.
After starting the 90s with the most successful run of her career, Dolly Parton closed out the decade with a string of lower profile albums.
Something Special (1995) was notable for including re-recordings of classic hits ‘Jolene’ and ‘I Will Always Love You,’ which didn’t do any favors to the new material. Treasures (1996) was a covers album on which Dolly tried her hand at songs by Neil Young, Cat Stevens, and Katrina and the Waves, among others.
