Urban Cowboy is a 1980 American romantic Western film directed by James Bridges. The plot concerns the love-hate relationship between Buford "Bud" Davis (John Travolta) and Sissy (Debra Winger). The film's success was credited for spurring a mainstream revival of country music. Much of the action revolves around activities at Gilley's Club, a football-field-sized honky tonk in Pasadena, Texas.
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Urban Cowboy in the context of Neotraditional country
Neotraditional country (also known as new traditional country, hardcore country, or hard country) is a country music style and subgenre that developed in the 1980s and emphasizes the traditional country instrumental background (i.e. fiddle and pedal steel guitar) and traditional country vocals found in subgenres popularized in the 1940s-60s. Neo-traditional country draws inspiration from styles such as honky-tonk, Western swing, and the Bakersfield sound and performers such as Hank Williams, George Jones, Loretta Lynn, Buck Owens, Tammy Wynette, Kitty Wells, Bob Wills, Ernest Tubb, and Merle Haggard. as well as often dressing in the fashions of the country music scene of the 1940s-1960s.
The neotraditional country movement was ignited by artists George Strait, Ricky Skaggs, and John Anderson in the early 1980s as a reaction to the pop-country and Urban Cowboy scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s,and became popular in the mainstream country scene by the mid-1980s into the mid-1990s with artists such as Randy Travis, Clint Black, Dwight Yoakam, Alan Jackson, Highway 101, Patty Loveless, Kenny Chesney, The Judds, Brooks & Dunn, Mark Chesnutt, Toby Keith, and Keith Whitley. By the mid-to-late 1990s, the neotraditional country movement was overtaken in popularity by "stadium-sized" pop-country performers like Garth Brooks, Shania Twain, Faith Hill, Billy Ray Cyrus, LeAnn Rimes, and Tim McGraw, who integrated aspects of the neotraditional style with the musical and theatrical components of arena rock, adult contemporary music and 70s-90s pop music.
Urban Cowboy in the context of John Travolta
John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor. He began acting in television before transitioning into a leading man in films. His accolades include a Primetime Emmy Award and three Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Travolta came to prominence starring in the sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter (1975–1979), followed by a supporting performance in Carrie (1976) and then leading roles in Grease (1978), Urban Cowboy (1980), and Blow Out (1981). He earned nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his roles in Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Pulp Fiction (1994). His other notable films include Get Shorty (1995), Broken Arrow (1996), Michael (1996), Face/Off (1997), A Civil Action (1998), Primary Colors (1998), The General's Daughter (1999), The Punisher (2004), Wild Hogs (2007), Hairspray (2007), Bolt (2008), and Savages (2012).