Eddy Arnold holds the distinction of landing singles on the "Billboard" Country Songs chart in seven different decades, and he accomplished that feat by being one of the genre’s ultimate singers.

Raul Malo, the former lead vocalist for the Mavericks, is among Eddy’s fans. Raul is well-regarded both as a performer and a musicologist, and he gave Eddy high marks in a piece he wrote for The Los Angeles Times.

"While others worked really hard to achieve [fame], Eddy just sang," Raul noted. "He wrote and recorded some of the most beautiful music ever. There were no rhinestone suits, no affairs with movie stars, no drug problems, no nothing — just great music."

In addition to performing such classics as "Make The World Go Away," "The Cattle Call" and "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye," Eddy also wrote "You Don’t Know Me," which was a hit for Eddy, then for Ray Charles and again for Mickey Gilley.

"His accomplishments," Raul observed, "are staggering and well-documented. But what’s most impressive is how he did it. In a world where apparently anybody can be famous for no good reason, Arnold was famous for the right ones."

It’s a reminder of why Eddy was one of the first 10 people entered into the Country Music Hall of Fame, inducted in 1966.