Country music from a fan's point of view since 2008
1959: White Lighting — George Jones (Mercury)
1969: Woman Of The World (Leave My World Alone) — Loretta Lynn (Decca)
1979: I Just Fall in Love Again — Anne Murray (Capitol)
1989: I’m No Stranger To The Rain — Keith Whitley (RCA)
1999: How Forever Feels — Kenny Chesney (BNA)
2009: It Won’t Be Like This for Long — Darius Rucker (Capitol)
2019: Beautiful Crazy — Luke Combs (Columbia Nashville)
2019 (Airplay): Beautiful Crazy — Luke Combs (Columbia Nashville)
1959: When It’s Springtime in Alaska (It’s 40 Below) — Johnny Horton (Columbia)
1969: Who’s Gonna Mow Your Grass — Buck Owens and his Buckaroos (Capitol)
1979: I Just Fall in Love Again — Anne Murray (Capitol)
1989: I’m No Stranger To The Rain — Keith Whitley (RCA)
1999: How Forever Feels — Kenny Chesney (BNA)
2009: It Won’t Be Like This for Long — Darius Rucker (Capitol)
2019: Beautiful Crazy — Luke Combs (Columbia Nashville)
2019 (Airplay): Beautiful Crazy — Luke Combs (Columbia Nashville)
1959: Don’t Take Your Guns To Town — Johnny Cash (Columbia)
1969: Who’s Gonna Mow Your Grass — Buck Owens and his Buckaroos (Capitol)
1979: I Just Fall in Love Again — Anne Murray (Capitol)
1989: Baby’s Gotten Good At Goodbye — George Strait (MCA)
1999: How Forever Feels — Kenny Chesney (BNA)
2009: It Won’t Be Like This for Long — Darius Rucker (Capitol)
2019: Beautiful Crazy — Luke Combs (Columbia Nashville)
2019 (Airplay): Beautiful Crazy — Luke Combs (Columbia Nashville)
1959: Don’t Take Your Guns To Town — Johnny Cash (Columbia)
1969: Only The Lonely — Sonny James (Capitol)
1979: I Just Fall in Love Again — Anne Murray (Capitol)
1989: New Fool At an Old Game — Reba McEntire (MCA)
1999: You Were Mine — Dixie Chicks (Monument)
2009: Sweet Thing — Keith Urban (Capitol Nashville)
2019: Beautiful Crazy — Luke Combs (Columbia Nashville)
2019 (Airplay): Beautiful Crazy — Luke Combs (Columbia Nashville)
American Faces was John Conlee’s ninth studio album, and second for Columbia. Released in February 1987, the album reached #16 on Billboard’s Country Albums chart, his last top twenty-five album, all of his previous albums having reached at least #22. Three singles were released from the album in “Domestic Life” (#4), “Mama’s Rockin’ Chair” (#11) and “Living Like There’s No Tomorrow” (#55). After “Mama’s Rockin’ Chair” no John Conlee single would ever again reach the top forty.
Although by this time Conlee had established himself as a major country artist with a long string of hits, the country music market was becoming increasingly youth-oriented and at forty-one years of age, Conlee didn’t fit the “handsome hunks and sweet young things” profile that Nashville was marketing at the time. Too bad, as the quality of Conlee’s recorded output remained high.
The album opens with “Domestic Life”, Conlee’s last top ten hit. That song, with its saxophone riffs and lyrics addressing typical Conlee concerns like everyday life and dreams, is a worthy addition to his canon of hits.
Cruising in my Station Wagon
Trying to keep my muffler from dragging
Sometimes it seems so defeating
As I’m hustling to make it to the Cub Scout meetingI dream about Mexico
Where all the pretty people go
But we’re on a budget that just won’t budge
Not much money but a whole lot of loveLiving that domestic life
Happy children and a pretty wife
Our Cocker Spaniel’s always having puppies
How could anybody be so lucky?
“Slow Passin’ Time” is a quiet ballad about the passage of time with a mildly Caribbean feel to the arrangement. The song would have made a good single, as evidenced by Anne Murray’s Top 40 success with the song a few years later
We both had our dreams when we left that sleepy little town behind
Things have gotten so mixed up, I tell you I’ve forgotten mine
It all had something to do with money and a better way of life
When that old alarm goes off it’s getting hard to open our eyesOh, but somewhere in my mem’ry the afternoon sun’s hangin’ in the trees
And the sun is comin’ up from the gulf coast on a sultry breeze
You and me, we’re together in a porch-swing state of mind
Lovin’ each other to the rhythm of slow-passin’ time
“Love Crazy Love” features some nice saxophone lines in the accompaniment
“American Faces” is one of those nostalgic songs that would have likely been a hit if released as a single after 9/11. The song is a medium slow ballad. “American Faces” might have seemed like a cynical flag-waver in the hands of a less capable vocalist, but Conlee sings it confidently and comfortably giving the song a finely nuanced performance.
Met a black man down in Memphis with lines on his face that looked like the Mississippi
He was the son of a slave, the father of a PhD
He’d squint his eyes at the new day sun, spit tobacco from a toothless gum
And say “Boys, it’s a good day to be free”American faces I have seen, American voices I have listened to
They’re a lot like me and you
They’re all red, white or blue
American faces I have seenSaw a veteran in a halfway house, a monkey on his back and the whole world on his shoulder
On his dresser was a medal and a picture of a long lost friend
He’d won a purple heart when he lost his mind but he’s kept his dreams since 69
That one day he’ll be coming home again
“Faded Brown Eyes” is a very slow ballad that I regard as filler. It is an okay song about a life of disappointment and a faded relationship.
“Mama’s Rockin’ Chair” is one in a long list of “mother songs” and stalled just shy of the Top Ten. It is deserved a better fate. It describes a trip many of us remember taking
When I think of my childhood days
Growing up in the small town USA
The fondest of my many memories
Is that a front porch rocking chairAnd all of us children gathered there
Waiting our turn to climb up on Mama’s knee
With her imagination
Around the world she’d take us
With the stories of the places she knew we’d never seeIn Mama’s rocking chair
She could a take us anywhere
To a tropical island
Or a snow covered mountain
Or a desert caravan
“It’s Not Easy Being Fifteen” is an interesting song about the difficulties in the passage of the teen years. The song is a slow ballad bears repeated listening.
“I Can Sail To China” is a slow ballad about a man experiencing a breakup. The catch line is ‘I can sail to China on the tears I’ve cried for you’. I like the song as an album cut.
I do not know why “Living Like There’s No Tomorrow (Finally Got to Me Tonight)” was chosen as the album’s third single as I regard it as one of the weaker songs on the album in terms of commercial appeal, as it just wasn’t what radio was playing at the time, although five or six years earlier (think Con Hunley) it would have fit in better. The arrangement is good (nice saxophone work), the song has a strong blues feel to it and Conlee sings it well. The song died at #55, a harbinger of things to come for Conlee.
The album closes with “Right Down To The Memories”, another nostalgic ballad, this one of a man looking back with great fondness at this life with his partner.
Time turns the ashes into diamonds
And then the diamonds into dust
But even time can’t steal the magic
That’s here between the two of us‘Cause I love you right down to the memories
And I need you right now in my arms
You’ll always be the greatest gift that God has ever given me
Right down to the memories
This album wasn’t Conlee’s strongest album, but John Conlee is always an effective singer and always treats his songs with respect. I would give this album a B+
Track List & Songwriters
Domestic Life (Martin/Harrison)
Slow Passin’ Time (Rocco / Burke / Black)
Love Crazy Love (Deborah Allen / Rafe Van Hoy)
American Faces (Nelson / Nelson / Boone)
Faded Brown Eyes (Reid / Martin)
Mama’s Rockin’ Chair (MacRae / Menzies)
It’s Not Easy Being Fifteen (Curtis)
I Can Sail To China (Grazier)
Living Like There’s No Tomorrow (McBride / Murrah)
Right Down To The Memories (Bogard / Giles)
Veteran folk-country-rocker Chris Hillman is always eclectic, but his latest album (produced by the late Tom Petty and longterm confrere Herb Pedersen) leans a little more in the folk-rock 
direction than the acoustic country work he had been making in recent years.
The opening ‘Bells Of Rhymney’ is a rather depressing song about struggling Welsh miners, written by Pete Seeger based on a 1930s poem by Idris Davies. Hillman previously recorded the song with The Byrds in 1965, in their jangly folk-rock period. The new version is rather better sung (with ex-Byrd David Crosby on harmonies), but it makes for a rather depressing opening.
There are a couple of co-writes with Hillman’s old Byrds bandmate Roger McGuinn, including a revival of ‘Here She Comes Again’, an older song but one they had not previously recorded. This is OK but a bit too Byrdsy for me, with McGuinn’s guitar prominent in the mix. ‘Old John Robertson’ has been revised (and retitled ‘New Old John Robertson’), and is very charming if very short, with a bluegrass arrangement. Another jangly Byrds cover comes with the Gene Clark-penned ‘She Don’t Care About Time’, which is quite pleasant.
Most of the new material comes from the longstanding songwriting partnership of Hillman and Steve Hill. The title track is a lovely waltztime reflection on the longing to return home to the countryside, prettily ornamented by Hillman’s mandolin. ‘Restless’ is a short and quite nice midpaced song about passage through life.
‘Different Rivers’ is a gentle, poetic ballad painting the portrait of a couple navigating a difficult world. ‘Given All I Can See’ is a vaguely spiritual plea for God’s “mercy and grace” on himself and the world in dark times. ‘Such Is The World That We Live In’ is a charming bluegrass influenced mid-tempo tune with an engaging melody, airy vocals and lyrics addressing the state of the USA from the point of view of a pair of fictional characters:
I never thought the day would come
When I’d see America on the run
And not sure what they’re running from
When all that’s lost in our schools
When the godless ones attempt to rule
We can only wonder who’s the fool
The pretty, lilting ‘Wildflowers’ is a cover of a Tom Petty song, and has a charming acoustic arrangement. ‘Walk Right Back’ was a pop hit for the Everly Brothers, and a country one for Anne Murray. Herb Pedersen’s close Everlys style harmony makes this track another joy. A more obscure cover is of ‘When I Get A Little Money’, a charming folk-style song written and previously recorded by Nathan G Barrow.
Overall I enjoyed this album, but it is not as commercially appealing as, say, Hillman’s work with the Desert Rose Band.
Grade: B
Kenny Rogers’ thirteenth album, Love Will Turn You Around, was his second studio release since parting ways with longtime collaborator Larry Butler. The album, released in 1982, was a platinum-selling success.
The title track, one of my favorites in Rogers’ catalog, was issued as the lead single. The whimsical mid-paced ballad, the theme to his film Six Pack, peaked at #1 on both the Country and Adult Contemporary charts.
The second and final single, “A Love Song” was written and originally recorded by Lee Greenwood on his Inside Out album the same year. The lush ballad, which peaked at #3, is a bit too slow and delicate for my tastes.
Bobby Harden’s “Fightin’ Fire with Fire” is the story of a man being tormented by a woman named Diana and the new flame she’s literally rubbing in his face. “Maybe You Should Know,” composed by Peter McCann, is a forceful confessional from a man to his woman.
The funky R&B leaning “Somewhere Between Lovers and Friends” was co-written by Brent Mehar and Randy Goodrum, who were enjoying ample success during this period writing for everyone from The Judds and Anne Murray to Ronnie Milsap. With that degree of pedigree, it’s odd this wasn’t chosen as a single.
“Take This Heart,” by J.P. Pennington, moves Rogers’ further away from country with a lyric and melody that would’ve perfectly suited Crystal Gayle. The straight-up rock of “If You Can Lie A Little Bit” recalls his work with the First Edition. “The Fool In Me,” another Goodrum co-write (with Dave Loggins), is one of the album’s strongest tracks, complete with horns.
The best album cut on Love Will Turn You Around is closing track “I Want A Son,” co-written by Steve Dorff and Marty Panzer. The reflective ballad isn’t particularly country but that doesn’t diminish its quality in the least.
Love Will Turn You Around is a mixed bag at best, melding a slew of different styles both effective and ineffectively. The title track is the obvious classic and easily the most memorable cut from this set.
Grade: B
Don’s eleventh album, released in June 1981, continued Don’s string of successful albums, reaching #5, his ninth (of eleven) albums to reach the top ten. Three singles were released from the album, all of which made the top ten: “Miracles” (#4 Billboard/ #1 Cashbox ), the exquisite duet with Emmylou Harris “If I Needed You” (#3 Billboard/ #1 Record World) and “Lord, I Hope This Day Is Good” (#1 across the board).
The instrumentation on this album is a bit unusual for a country album of this vintage as a variety of odd instruments appear including such things as bongos, congas, ukulele, shaker and tambourine. Fortunately only the second and ninth tracks feature synthesizer, and Lloyd Green is present on steel guitar to restore order on five of the tracks. Unlike Don’s earlier albums, dobro (or resonator guitar) does not show up in the mix at all, and I definitely miss its presence.
The album opens up with a tune from “The Man In Black” (Johnny Cash) in “Fair-weather Friends”. This is a religiously oriented track, but a nice song
Fair-weather friends, fair-weather sailors
Will leave you stranded on life’s shore
One good friend who truly loves you
Is worth the pain your heart enduresWe never know which way the wind will blow
Nor when or where the next turmoil will be
But He’s a solid rock when troubles grow
And He’s holding out a saving hand for me
“I Don’t Want to Love You” comes from the pen of Bob McDill. Bob never did anyone wrong with a song and this song about the human dilemma is no exception
I think about you every minute
And I miss you when you’re not around
And every day, I’m gettin’ deeper in it
I’m scared to go on, but the feelin’s so strong
I can’t turn away from you nowNo, no, no, I don’t want to love you
And oh, oh, oh, I’m tryin’ not to
No, no, no, I don’t want to love you
But oh, oh, oh, I think I do
“Years from Now” by Roger Cook and Charles Cochran is a tender ballad with no potential as a single
Still love has kept us together
For the flame never dies
When I look in your eyes
The future I seeHolding you years from now
Wanting you years from now
Loving you years from now
As I love you tonight
Dave Hanner was a familiar figure in the country music as a writer and performer (Corbin/Hanner). His songs have been recorded by the Oak Ridge Boys, Glen Campbell, Mel Tillis and the Cates Sisters but the capstone of his writing career is the classic “Lord, I Hope This Day Is Good”, a chart topper for Don and recorded many times since then including nice versions by Lee Ann Womack and Anne Murray. Don had Corbin/Hanner for his opening act on one tour. Taken at mid-tempo, this is one of the songs that come to mind when Don’s name is mentioned.
Lord, I hope this day is good
I’m feelin’ empty and misunderstood
I should be thankful Lord, I know I should
But Lord, I hope this day is goodLord, have you forgotten me
I’ve been prayin’ to you faithfully
I’m not sayin’ I’m a righteous man
But Lord, I hope you understandI don’t need fortune and I don’t need fame
Send down the thunder Lord, send down the rain
But when you’re planning just how it will be
Plan a good day for me
“Especially You”, written by Rick Beresford has an artsy feel to it and has that “Nashville Sound” combination of strings and steel. I think that this song would have made a decent single
I see the rainbow in your eyes,
I see all the colors pass me by
I sure like the things my eyes can do,
Especially when they see you.I hear the music of this day,
I sure like the songs this world can play
But most of all I like your tune,
When you whisper I love you.My senses don’t like, I get a definite high
When you’re near I feel clear off the ground
Reach for my arms, and I will give you the stars
There is nothing that is holding us down.
Townes Van Zandt was the source of “If I Needed You”, Don’s successful duet with Emmylou Harris. I am not that much of a fan of Emmylou’s solo endeavors, but she can seemingly blend with anyone. Pair her with a good singer like Don Williams, and the end result is outstanding. I think that this is my favorite Townes Van Zandt composition:
If I needed you, would you come to me?
Would you come to me, for to ease my pain?
If you needed me, I would come to you
I would swim the sea for to ease your painWell the night’s forlorn and the mornin’s warm
And the mornin’s warm with the lights of love
And you’ll miss sunrise if you close your eyes
And that would break my heart in two
“Now and Then” (Wayland Holyfield) and “Smooth Talking Baby” (David Kirby, Red Lane) are acceptable album filler, but nothing more.
“I’ve Got You to Thank for That” by Blake Mevis and Don Pfrimmer is an upbeat mid-tempo love song song that grows on you over time. Blake Mevis had considerable success as a songwriter but may be best remembered as the producer of George Strait’s early albums.
I’ve got Sunday school to thank for Jesus
Got educated thanks to mom and dad
I can borrow money thanks to banker Johnson
Thanks to me I’ve spent all that I have.I quit smoking thanks to coach Kowalsky
Thanks to lefty Thomson I can fight
It took a while learning all life’s lessons,
But I learnt about love just one night.Honey I’ve got you to thank for that
It’s good from time to time to look back
It always reminds me that I love it where I am at
Honey I’ve got you to thank for that
The album closes with the first single released from the album “Miracles”. Written by Roger Cook, the song is yet another slow ballad. In the hands of anyone other than Don Williams, the song would seem turgid, but Don sells the song effectively. The use of strings with steel enhances the dramatic presentation
Miracles, miracles, that’s what life’s about
Most of you must agree if you’ve thought it outI can see and I can hear, I can tell you why
I can think and I can feel, I can even cry
I can walk, I can run, I can swim the sea
We had made a baby son and he looks like me
I don’t think Don Williams is capable of issuing a bad album. It appears that Especially For You was only briefly available on CD (I’ve been reviewing from a vinyl copy), but is currently unavailable.
I prefer the more acoustic sound of Don’s earlier albums, but this is a good album that I would give a B+. Did I mention that I really missed that dobro?
1956 (Sales): Heartbreak Hotel/I Was The One — Elvis Presley (RCA)
1956 (Jukebox): Heartbreak Hotel/I Was The One — Elvis Presley (RCA)
1956 (Disc Jockeys): Heartbreak Hotel — Elvis Presley (RCA)
1966: I Want To Go With You — Eddy Arnold (RCA)
1976: Together Again — Emmylou Harris (Reprise)
1986: Now and Forever (You and Me) — Anne Murray (Capitol)
1996: No News — Lonestar (BNA)
2006: What Hurts the Most — Rascal Flatts (Lyric Street)
2016: Somewhere on a Beach — Dierks Bentley (Capitol)
2016 (Airplay): I Like the Sound of That — Rascal Flatts (Big Machine)
The title of Highway 101’s sophomore album is not, as you might think, the number 2. Rather, it is the symbol for squared. Pretentious title aside, the material isn’t quite as consistently strong as on their debut album, but it is still a very rewarding record, and helped to maintain them as one of the top country groups of the late 80s.
The exuberant lead single, ‘(Do You Love Me) Just Say Yes’, was the band’s third #1 hit. It was written by Bob DiPiero, John Scott Sherrill and Dennis Robbins.
It was followed by my favourite track on the album, the sweetly sung, regretful ballad ‘All The Reasons Why’, which reached #5. Written by Paulette Carlson with Beth Nielsen Chapman, its guilty protagonist has just broken up with her unfortunate spouse, who can’t understand why:
You’ve asked what you’ve done wrong,
And if there’s someone new
What has changed my heart
And what else can you do
Oh darlin’ can’t you see
It’s not so cut and dried
And who knows where love goes
And all the reasons why
She wants to stay friends, but it’s hard to see that happening.
There was a change of pace for the third single, the urgent ‘Setting Me Up. This was a cover of an album cut by the British rock band Dire Straits, written by that band’s Mark Knopfler. Apparently he was unaware that his publisher had some country demos recorded of his songs, resulting in this and other cuts, but he did have some country influences – in 1989-90 his main project was a country-rock-blues band called the Notting Hillbillies, which also featured steel guitar legend Paul Franklin, and he later made an album and toured with Emmylou Harris. This song isn’t particularly country in its rhythmic structure, but was another to 10 hit, and allowed more of a band feel than usual, with some superb playing by the guys and a share of the vocals.
The last single, another top 10 tune, was the excellent ‘Honky Tonk Heart’, written by Jim Photoglo and Russell Smith. It is a rather upbeat breakup song in which the protagonist has grown up since meeting her ex in a bar, and now wants more to life:
The night life isn’t my life anymore
What matters most to me is a home and family
But you can’t find that behind those swingin’ doors…I won’t play second fiddle to the beat of your honky tonk heart
Go on back to the bar where I found you
Go on back to your so-called second home
You’ll feel better with your good-time friends around you
And I’ll be here but I won’t be alone
Photoglo also co-wrote (with Wendy Waldman and Josh Leo) the solid mid-tempo ‘Road To Your Heart’.
‘Somewhere Between Gone And Goodbye’ is an excellent song written by Matraca Berg and Ronnie Samoset’, given a sparse production and great harmonies. An anxious woman lies awake wondering when her man is coming home:
How many nights must I lay me down and wonder
Will I wake up tomorrow without you by my side?
I’m feeling worn and thin as the sheets that I lay under
Lying somewhere between gone and goodbyeLate night headlights out in the driveway
Drivin’ me crazy again
No need to sneak in
I wasn’t really sleepin’
No need to tell me
I know where you’ve been
It feels like the prequel to ‘Honky Tonk Heart’, and would have made another good single.
A vibrant and authentic sounding cover of Buck Owens’ ‘There Goes My Heart’ reminds us of the band’s California roots. ‘Feed This Fire’ is an earnest love song written by Hugh Prestwood about the need to work at keeping the romance going; it was subsequently a hit single for Anne Murray. Paulette fights temptation she knows has no good ending in ‘Desperate Road’.
Finally, Beth Nielsen Chapman’s ‘Long Way Down’ is a strong story song about a young woman musician who has fought her way to stardom from tough beginnings, but can’t rest on her laurels.
While the album lacks the classics of their debut, this is a very strong follow up with no weak songs.
Grade: A
1954 (Sales): More and More — Webb Pierce (Decca)
1954 (Jukebox): More and More — Webb Pierce (Decca)
1954 (Disc Jockeys): More and More — Webb Pierce (Decca)
1964: Once A Day — Connie Smith (RCA)
1974: I Can Help — Billy Swan (Monument)
1984: Nobody Loves Me Like You Do — Anne Murray with Dave Loggins (Capitol)
1994: Pickup Man — Joe Diffie (Epic)
2004: Back When — Tim McGraw (Curb)
2014: Shotgun Rider — Tim McGraw (Big Machine)
2014 (Airplay): Girl In A Country Song — Maddie & Tae (Dot)
I was really happy to hear about the release of Taylor Swift’s new single last week. Now there’s something you never thought you’d hear me say. But (you knew there had to be a “but” coming, didn’t you?) I should qualify that comment by saying my mood was not affected so much because I was looking forward to listening to new Taylor Swift music, but because the single “Shake It Off” is a watershed moment in Swift’s career, as the artist, her label and her publicists acknowledge that 1989, Swift’s forthcoming album, is not country, but pop.
I will be the first to argue that this is hardly news and that Swift’s music was never really country to begin with, but it’s nice to hear the people responsible for marketing her finally admit it. While Swift’s defenders have argued for years that she was bringing new fans to the country genre, I always maintained that her youthful fanbase was unlikely to embrace the genre at large, and that Swift herself would eventually decide that the pop world was a better fit for her. The shift began with the release of 2012’s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”, which became the first Taylor Swift single to be deemed not country enough for country radio. It spent nine weeks at #1 anyway, due to a ridiculous change in Billboard’s chart tabulation methodology, but that is a separate topic.
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1954 (Sales): I Don’t Hurt Anymore — Hank Snow (RCA)
1954 (Jukebox): I Don’t Hurt Anymore — Hank Snow (RCA)
1954 (Disc Jockeys): I Don’t Hurt Anymore — Hank Snow (RCA)
1964: Dang Me — Roger Miller (Smash)
1974: Marie Laveau — Bobby Bare (RCA)
1984: Just Another Woman In Love — Anne Murray (Capitol)
1994: Summmertime Blues — Alan Jackson (Arista)
2004: Live Like You Were Dying — Tim McGraw (Curb)
2014: Dirt — Florida Georgia Line (Republic Nashville)
2014 (Airplay): Yeah — Joe Nichols (Red Bow)
1954 (Sales): I Don’t Hurt Anymore — Hank Snow (RCA)
1954 (Jukebox): I Don’t Hurt Anymore — Hank Snow (RCA)
1954 (Disc Jockeys): I Don’t Hurt Anymore — Hank Snow (RCA)
1964: Dang Me — Roger Miller (Smash)
1974: He Thinks I Still Care — Anne Murray (Capitol)
1984: I Don’t Want to Be a Memory — Exile (Epic)
1994: Foolish Pride — Travis Tritt (Warner Bros.)
2004: Live Like You Were Dying — Tim McGraw (Curb)
2014: Beachin‘ — Jake Owen (RCA)
2014 (Airplay): Beachin‘ — Jake Owen (RCA)
1954 (Sales): I Don’t Hurt Anymore — Hank Snow (RCA)
1954 (Jukebox): I Don’t Hurt Anymore — Hank Snow (RCA)
1954 (Disc Jockeys): Even Tho — Webb Pierce (Decca)
1964: My Heart Skips A Beat — Buck Owens (Capitol)
1974: He Thinks I Still Care — Anne Murray (Capitol)
1984: Somebody’s Needin’ Somebody — Conway Twitty (Warner Bros.)
1994: Wink — Neal McCoy (Atlantic)
2004: Whiskey Girl — Toby Keith (DreamWorks)
2014: Somethin’ Bad — Miranda Lambert with Carrie Underwood (RCA)
2014 (Airplay): My Eyes — Blake Shelton ft. Gwen Sebastian (Warner Bros.)
Because You Believed In Me was Gene’s second major label album, following on the heels of his successful major label debut Love in the Hot Afternoon. While there weren’t any blockbuster hits on the album, the album was the affirmation of the arrival of a superior vocalist with staying power
“Because You Believed In Me” was a song that originally appeared on Gene’s 1969 debut album on the World Wide label. The original recording was good, but Gene had developed as a vocalist in the ensuing five years. Written by the legendary A.L. ‘Doodle’ Owens, this song was a straightforward ballad which reached #20 as a single.
I would have picked “If I’m A Fool For Leaving (I’d Be Twice The Fool To Stay)” for release as a single. Written by Skip Graves and Little Jimmy Dickens, the song showcases the fiddle of Buddy Spicher and the steel guitar of Lloyd Green to good effect, coupled with a superb vocal. This track is my favorite track on the album but, of course, I like my country music a little more country than most.
This morning I am leaving, I’ve been up all night long
You’re right I’m tired of waiting for you to come home
I’ve begged and tried to change you but you’ve grown worse each day
If I’m a fool for leaving I’d be twice the fool to stay
Larry Gatlin penned and had a minor hit in 1974 with “Bitter They Are, Harder They Fall”, a great song that was also recorded by the likes of Elvis Presley, Anne Murray and Dottie West and various others. This is the best rendition of the song, bar none, although I would have preferred that they not used a fade-out ending for the song.
“My World Left Town” is a fairly typical my-girl-left-me song written by Tom Ghent and R. Paul, that in the hands of a typical artist would be nothing special. With a nice fiddle and steel arrangement and Gene’s vocals, the song is elevated beyond that. It’s not an immortal classic, but the song reaches its full potential with this recording.
Roger Miller penned “Sorry Willie” and while it is sometimes thought to be about Willie Nelson (and Roger & Willie recorded the song on their Old Friends album), I don’t think Roger would ever have visualized Willie Nelson as the loser portrayed in this song. The song is a slow ballad with the piano of Hargis ‘Pig’ Robbins being a highlight of the arrangement.
See her dancing see there Willie see how reckless she is
She’s a wild one as everyone knows
Why what’s wrong Willie why you’re cryin’ what have I done
Sorry Willie I didn’t know you didn’t knowAnd I wouldn’t have said all those things that I’d known
That she was your darling your sweetheart your own
Don’t ask how well I know her I might lie I don’t know
Sorry Willie I didn’t know you didn’t know
Canadian Ray Griff was a prominent singer-songwriter of the late 1960s – mid 1970s. Although he had some mostly mid-chart success as a vocalist on the American Country charts (he was a far bigger star in his native Canada with 41 chart records), his U.S. success came in the form of the hits that he wrote for others such as Faron Young, George Hamilton IV and Jerry Lee Lewis. Gene rounded up four of Ray’s songs for this album. “How Good A Bad Woman Feels” would have made a good single.
I’d forgotten how good a real passion can be
In a honky tonk girl’s warm embrace
I’d forgotten the sound of a woman’s soft sigh
And that how-did-you look on her face
Griff’s “Her Body Couldn’t Keep You (Off My Mind)” was the second single released from this album. It stalled at #52, but perhaps Capitol learned something from the relative failure of this song because the next twelve singles all made the top twenty (mostly) the top ten. I not sure what it was they learned because I though this was a pretty good song.
I could call her up again tonight
And chances are she’ll see me
She’d be ready like she was the other time
She was willing with her warm red lips
And she kept nothing from me
But her body couldn’t keep you off my mindHer body couldn’t drive my love for you out of my sight
Her kisses weren’t enough to make me wanna spend the night
It’s been two long years since I came home
And found your goodbye letter
Still I can’t get over what you left behind
I tried turning to a woman who was burning up with passion
But her body couldn’t keep you off my mind
Hank Cochran was the writer on “When You Turned Loose (I Fell Apart) “, a slow ballad that to me is just another good Hank Cochran song made better by Gene’s vocals.
Yes I’m down and might be here forever
I could get up but I don’t have the heart
‘Cause you’re all that held me together
And when you turn loose I fell apartAnd baby I can’t get me back together
‘Cause without you I don’t even want to start
‘Cause you’re all that held me together
And when you turn loose I fell apart
A pair of Ray Griff compositions, “Hey Louella” and “Then You Came Along” close out the album.
“Hey Louella” is an up-tempo number with a Cajun feel to it. It’s fun but it’s a song that any half decent singer could have sung and doesn’t really give Gene a chance to demonstrate his vocal prowess. “Then You Came Along” is a nice jog-along ballad of the kind that Gene always performs well.
Gene would go on to bigger and better things, but this album maintained the momentum from his major label debut album. Although I’ve pointed out their contribution in conjunction with specific songs, the contributions of Buddy Spicher, Lloyd Green and Pig Robbins to the overall sound of the recording cannot be overstated. There are vestiges of the ‘Nashville Sound’ production (strings and choruses) but those are kept to a minimum and are unobtrusive. Capitol released this album in May 1976. Currently it is available on CD paired with Beautiful Country, an album that will be reviewed next.
Grade: A
1953 (Sales): There Stands The Glass — Webb Pierce (Decca)
1953 (Jukebox): There Stands The Glass — Webb Pierce (Decca)
1953 (Disc Jockeys): There Stands The Glass — Webb Pierce (Decca)
1963: Love’s Gonna Live Here — Buck Owens (Capitol)
1973: The Most Beautiful Girl — Charlie Rich (Epic)
1983: A Little Good News — Anne Murray (Capitol)
1993: American Honky-Tonk Bar Association — Garth Brooks (Liberty)
2003: I Love This Bar — Toby Keith (DreamWorks Nashville)
2013: We Were Us — Keith Urban & Miranda Lambert (Capitol)
2013 (Airplay): We Were Us — Keith Urban & Miranda Lambert (Capitol)
This is the sixth in a series of short articles about artists who, although not country artists, were of some importance to country music.
WHO WAS HE?
Gordon Lightfoot arguably is Canada’s most successful folk performer with a long string of pop successes in the United States and Canada and some hits in Australia and the UK as well. Gordon had many hits in Canada before breaking through as a singer in the US, but many of his compositions were made hits by American artists including songs such as “Ribbon of Darkness” (Marty Robbins) and “Early Morning Rain” (Peter, Paul & Mary, George Hamilton IV) . Among the other artists who have recorded Lightfoot’s songs are Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams Jr., The Kingston Trio, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, Barbra Streisand, Johnny Mathis, Viola Wills, Richie Havens, The Dandy Warhols, Harry Belafonte, Tony Rice, Sandy Denny (with Fotheringay), The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, Scott Walker, Sarah McLachlan, John Mellencamp, Toby Keith, Glen Campbell, Anne Murray, The Irish Rovers and Olivia Newton-John.
As a singer, Gordon’s most successful records were “Sundown”, “If You Could Read My Mind” and “The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald”, the first two reaching #1 in the US and Canada and the latter (a Canadian #1) reaching #2 in the US despite its six-minute length.
WHAT WAS HIS CONNECTION TO COUNTRY MUSIC?
Although Gordon Lightfoot charted eight times on Billboard’s Country charts, only “Sundown” cracked the top fifteen. His real importance to country music is in the huge number of country artists who recorded his songs. George Hamiliton IV recorded many of his songs on various albums scoring hits with “Steel Rail Blues” and “Early Morning Rain”. As noted above, Marty Robbins scored a #1 hit with “Ribbon of Darkness, a song also recorded by Connie Smith, Jack Greene and countless others. Glen Campbell had a hit with “Wherefore and Why”. Legendary bluegrass artists Mac Wiseman and Tony Rice each recorded entire albums of nothing but Gordon Lightfoot songs. Country albums of the late 1960s and the 1970s frequently included a Gordon Lightfoot song.
Gordon doesn’t seem to have an official website but there is a fan site. The site is a bit disjointed but contains much information about Lightfoot, including tour dates.
My Kind of Country 