My Kind of Country

Country music from a fan's point of view since 2008

Week ending 11/10/18: #1 singles this week in country music history

1 Comment Posted by on November 11, 2018

1958: City Lights — Ray Price (Columbia)

1968: I Walk Alone — Marty Robbins (Columbia)

1978: Sleeping Single In A Double Bed — Barbara Mandrell (ABC)

1988: Runaway Train — Rosanne Cash (Columbia)

1998: Wide Open Spaces — Dixie Chicks (Monument)

2008: Just A Dream — Carrie Underwood (Arista Nashville)

2018: Meant To Be — Bebe Rexha featuring Florida Georgia Line (Big Machine)

2018 (Airplay): She Got The Best of Me — Luke Combs (Columbia Nashville)

 

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One response to “Week ending 11/10/18: #1 singles this week in country music history”

  1. Ken November 16, 2018 at 12:40 pm

    During the 1960’s most country singles were identical to their album counterparts except that the version issued on stereo LP’s was a stereo mix of the same take. Pop/rock songs issued as singles were often edited, remixed or were a completely different take than the LP version.
    Marty Robbins’ #1 country hit from fifty years ago this week was a rare country remix & edit.

    Marty recorded “I Walk Alone” at the end of late night session on July 1-2, 1968. It was a musical experiment of sorts as his bluesy arrangement featured pianist Bill Pursell on an electric organ. At that time organ was used on many pop/rock recordings but seldom featured as a lead instrument on secular country songs. Marty and his producer Bob Johnston liked the result and selected the first take as Marty’s next single release. However they obviously had concerns about the recording being accepted by some conservative country radio programmers because they made a couple of edits to the single release. The brief organ solo was removed from the middle of the song [from 1:54 to 2:06] and the ending was faded a few seconds early before the final drum beat. The single version was released only in mono [stereo 45’s were not yet standard at the time] but the full unedited version was issued in stereo as the title track for Marty’s “I Walk Alone” album released in October. The country audience accepted Marty’s musical innovation and made the single his 13th number one hit. It remained at the top for two weeks and the “I Walk Alone” LP climbed to #2 on the country album chart.

    I Walk Alone -LP version

    I Walk Alone – single hit version

    Reply

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