From Dolly Parton to modern icons, these 22 biggest and boldest country music hairstyles of all time are unforgettable showstoppers. ML
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1
Brenda Lee
What Brenda Lee’s hair lacked in length, it more than made up for in height.
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2
Johnny Cash
Known for his pompadour hairstyle, the Man in Black let his locks gradually grow a little looser and longer as he got older.
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3
Loretta Lynn
The “Honky Tonk Girl” had long, voluminous locks. Sadly, Tammy Wynette’s hairstylist, Nanette England, recalled to Duvall that it became a problem, as fans would cut off chunks of Lynn’s hair for souvenirs while she signed autographs.
4
Willie Nelson
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The Red Headed Stranger may be known for his iconic full beard and long, gray braids, but when he started out in the ’50s and ’60s, Willie Nelson actually had a clean-cut flattop haircut.
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5
Patsy Cline
The “Crazy” crooner’s finger waves were likely achieved by hot-rolling her hair and then brushing it out.
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6
Barbara Mandrell
Barbara Mandrell experimented with all sorts of styles. She received relevant training as a teen touring with and playing steel guitar for Patsy Cline’s band: “Patsy would have Barbara do her hair for her on the road,” Earl Cox, owner of Trumps Salon in Nashville and Mandrell’s eventual hairdresser, said in Country Music Hair. “It was a tedious process and took hours.”
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7
Tammy Wynette
The First Lady of Country Music maintained beautiful blonde tresses—she used to be a hairdresser herself, after all. But as England revealed, “it was wigs. I’d have about ten or fifteen wigs, I’d fix them all. We’d go on the road and then I would put a wig on her head. That was it. How hard was my job?” In the ’80s, of course, Wynette chopped her hair short, reinventing her look.
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8
Waylon Jennings
The “Ramblin’ Man” had hair to match: wild, messy curls that helped solidify his status as an early sex symbol. Kris Kristofferson rocked a similar style.
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9
Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton, the undisputed queen of country music hair, has always been open about wearing wigs. “People always ask me how long it takes to do my hair,” she famously once said. “I don’t know, I’m never there.” But even before Dolly Parton became known for her current over-the-top platinum hair, she was rocking a variety of styles on The Porter Wagoner Show, most significantly the bouffant and the beehive.
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10
Reba McEntire
It’s impossible to think of Reba and not think of those fiery red spiral curls.
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11
The Judds
Between the two of them, the mother-daughter duo Naomi and Wynonna Judd had some seriously legendary locks.
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12
Billy Ray Cyrus
Before he was known as Miley Cyrus’s dad, the “Achy Breaky Heart” singer was notorious for that mullet—no matter how many other male musicians across genres wore the same style.
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13
Blake Shelton
Speaking of mullets, here’s Blake Shelton when he first came on the country music scene, with what Deana Carter dubbed “the mullet of all mullets” in Duvall’s book.
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14
Travis Tritt
The singer-songwriter’s long hair was important to his persona, what he calls a “Southern rock, Outlaw, biker look” in Country Music Hair.
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15
Faith Hill
In the ’90s, Faith Hill had a mane of wild, Julia Roberts-esque curls, but she eventually chopped it into a bob. It may have been a controversial move at the time, but it proved the “Breathe” singer is beautiful in any cut.
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16
Shania Twain
Who could forget Shania Twain’s red carpet staple—a ponytail tightly pulled back with full curls cascading down?
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17
The Chicks
Though they frequently switched up their hairstyles (and hair colors), the band started out as a trio of blondes—with those wispy bangs that were so popular in the late ’90s framing their faces, of course.
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18
Carrie Underwood
As the American Idol winner went from “girl next door” to “superstar,” her natural curls evolved as well, into the more glamorous look she is known for today.
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19
Miranda Lambert
The “Kerosene” singer embraced her bad-girl persona with rock star-worthy hair fit for head banging.
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