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With his smooth, pop-flavored stylings, Jim Reeves expanded the reach of country music at the very moment in musical history when rock and roll might have meant its demise. Gentlemen Jim Reeves embodied the Nashville sound and carried it along through the 1950s early 60s, becoming country’s international ambassador. James Travis "Jim" Reeves was born on August 20, 1923 in Galloway, Texas. He grew up playing baseball and was actually drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals before an injury sidelined him and he turned to his second love, country music. He found a job as Continued...

a radio announcer, and it was while working as a disc jockey that Reeves decided to try his hand at recording. Success came quickly for the artist. By 1953 he'd moved to the Louisiana Hayride and had No. 1 hits with "Mexican Joe" and "Bimbo" on Abbott Records. In 1956, RCA signed Reeves to a contract, and his nine shining glory years began. After five Top 10 hits, including 1957's chart topping "Am I Losing You,'' Reeves cut a George Campbell composition, "Four Walls," which stayed at the top of the country charts for two months, and hit #11 on Billboard's pop charts. With the success of “Four Walls” and other crossover ballads, Reeves became an international sensation and toured Europe and South Africa, building a strong following in countries that rarely had been open to country music in the past.

After his death in an tragic plane crash in 1964, Reeves’ fan base didn't diminish at all, and several of his posthumous hits actually outsold his earlier singles; no less than six number one Jim Reeves songs arrived in the three years following his burial. In fact, during the '70s and '80s, he continued to have hits with both unreleased material and electronic duets like "Take Me in Your Arms and Hold Me" with Deborah Allen and "Have You Ever Been Lonely?" with his smooth-singing female counterpart of the plush Nashville sound, Patsy Cline, who also perished in an airplane crash, in 1963. But Reeves' legacy remains with lush country-pop singles like "Four Walls" (1957) and "He'll Have to Go" (1959), which defined both his style and an entire era of country music.