I never really thought about until I reviewed this song list, but it’s incredible to see how important ‘Americana’ was as a style in late 1968.

Granted, ‘American’ music provided the majority of hits for just about every era except for the mid-sixties British Invasion, but here, we see American influences controlling the charts from just about every direction, every region, with an incredible stylistic variety.

Not a single track here comes from anywhere but the ‘great forty-eight’ (Dusty Springfield is British, but she recorded this song in Memphis), and yet the diversity is extraordinary.

Featured tracks include:

Naturally Stoned – The Avant-Garde

I Heard It Through the Grapevine – Marvin Gaye

Wichita Lineman – Glen Campbell

Chewy Chewy – Ohio Express

Crimson and Clover – Tommy James and the Shondells

I’m Gonna Make You Love Me – The Supremes and the Temptations

Soulful Strut – Young-Holt Unlimited

Hooked on a Feeling – B.J. Thomas

Son of a Preacher Man - Dusty Springfield

Stand By Your Man – Tammy Wynette