The writers…
Filed Under…
- Album Reviews
- Awards Discussions
- Blockbuster Albums
- Blurbs
- Book Reviews
- Charts
- Classic Rewind
- Country Heritage
- Decade In Review
- Discussions
- Editorials
- Everything Else
- Fellow Travelers
- Giveaways
- Interviews
- Live Reviews
- News
- Opry Legends
- Playlist
- Retro Reviews
- Single Reviews
- Spotlight Artist
- Wish lists
- Year In Review
My Kind of Country 
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