but DJs tested the song and the response from listeners was enormous. The song had been composed by Kris Kristofferson, who had recorded the only other previous version of the song. After Smith's hit, the song was covered by Gladys Knight and the Pips and Elvis Presley; both versions achieved more modest chart success. In 1972, Sammi Smith won a Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance that year, and Kristofferson took songwriting awards. Critics David Cantwell and Bill Friskics-Warren called "Help Me Make It Through the Night" "a watershed event in the history of Nashville and country music" and placed it at No. 1 in their book Heartaches by the Number: Country Music's 500 Greatest Singles. "The dynamic country soul of the recording — thanks, for starters, to producer Jim Malloy and arranger Bill Walker — revealed the influences of a generation of Nashville music makers who had grown up listening not only to country music but also to rock & roll, jazz, pop, R&B, and even classical music," they wrote. "A crossover smash, 'Help Me Make It Through the Night' signaled country's belated arrival in the rock and soul era." After "Help Me Make It Through the Night" After the success of her hit, Smith continued to have more success on the country charts. In 1973, Sammi moved to Dallas, Texas, with Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson to become a country "outlaw". Smith continued to have an ongoing friendship with Jennings and Nelson for the rest of her life. Smith continued to have success with the Mega Records label until 1975. She reached Billboard'''s Hot Country Singles Top 10 twice after the success of "Help Me Make It Through the Night" with "Then You Walk In" (1971) and Merle Haggard's "Today I Started Loving You Again" (1975), her last top 10 hit. In 1972, "I've Got to Have You" was a successful country hit, and it broke onto the pop charts at No. 77. Smith continued to score Top 40 country hits like "The Rainbow in Daddy's Eyes" (1974) and "Long Black Veil" (1974). In 1976, after Mega Records closed its doors, Smith signed with Elektra Records and scored with several hits, including "Sunday School to Broadway" (1976), "Loving Arms" (1977), "I Can't Stop Loving You" (1977), and "Days That End in Y" (1977). In 1979, Smith made a successful comeback album on Cyclone Records called Girl