Arnold's father died when he was just 11, forcing him to leave school and begin helping on the family farm.

He quit before graduation to help with the farm work, but continued performing, often arriving on a mule with his guitar hung on his back.

He soon left WMPS for KWK-AM in St. Louis, Missouri,[2] followed briefly by a spot at WHAS-AM in Louisville, Kentucky.

Arnold's first single was little noticed,[3] but the next, "Each Minute Seems a Million Years", scored number five on the country charts in 1945.

With Parker's management, Arnold continued to dominate, with 13 of the 20 best-scoring country music songs of 1947–1948.

[8] With the rise of rock and roll in the mid 1950s, Arnold's record sales began to decline, though fellow RCA Victor country recording artist Jim Reeves found a greater audience with popular-sounding string-laced arrangements.

Arnold annoyed many in the country music establishment by recording with Hugo Winterhalter and his Orchestra at the RCA Victor Studios in New York.

Winterhalter's pop-oriented arrangements of "The Cattle Call" and "The Richest Man (in the World)", however, helped to expand Arnold's appeal beyond its country music base.

In the summer of 1965, he had his first number-one country song in 10 years, "What's He Doing in My World" and struck gold again six months later with the song that became his most well-known, "Make the World Go Away", accompanied by pianist Floyd Cramer on piano and featuring the Anita Kerr Singers.

[9] Bill Walker's orchestra arrangements provided the lush background for 16 continuous successes sung by Arnold in the late 1960s.

Arnold performed with symphony orchestras in New York City, Las Vegas, and Hollywood.

[9] In 1966, Arnold was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, the youngest performer to receive the honor.

[9] On May 16, 1998, the day after his 80th birthday, he announced his final retirement during a concert at the Hotel Orleans in Las Vegas.