In 1963, Buck Owens topped the country charts with "Act Naturally," which opened with the prophetic line "They're gonna put me in the movies." But decades before that tune was a hit, country stars were already trading the concert stage for the sound stage.
The '80s were a transitional decade for country music: a time when artists could try out different styles and approaches -- and, by extension, adopt new traditions that would come to reverberate in the '90s and beyond.