Country singer Waylon Jennings performs in 1979 in Atlanta, Georgia. - Top country song from each year of the '70s Since its birth in the 1920s, country music has undergone major changes. The '60s and '70s saw the meteoric rise of some of the genre's most iconic stars, like Waylon Jennings, Loretta Lynn, and Willie Nelson, many of whom would continue to make enduring hits throughout the following decades.