Country music from a fan's point of view since 2008
After briefly retiring from the music business, Don Williams reemerged as a songwriter and performer for Jack Clement, with the first album being released in June 1973*.
Despite JMI (Jack Music Inc.) being a bit player in the industry, Jack Clement was already a legendary figure with established contacts so this album features the cream of Nashville’s musicians. Allen Reynolds is listed as the album’s producer.
The album opens up with a song from the pen of Bob McDill, “Come Early Morning”. This song was released as the second single reaching #12 on Billboard’s country chart and #9 on Cashbox. This is a laid back look at love
I been walking, walking in the moonlight
Tripping in the starlight, Lord and I’m feeling down
Walking in the shadows, sneaking down a side road
Come early morning I’ll be there on the edge of townI was a thinking, thinking about a good thing
Thinking bout a sweet dream, in my honey’s eyes
And I was a sinking’, feeling kind of lonesome
Come early morning I’ll be home at my honey’s side
Next up is a Don Williams-Allen Reynolds composition “Too Late To Turn Back Now”. This is a nice mellow ballad about falling in love. This song is not to be mistaken for the pop hit by the Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose – it is a good song but not worthy of release as a single
Don covers a pop oldie with “Endless Sleep”, a huge hit for its writer, Jody Reynolds. The song was an interesting teen near-tragedy song that went to #5 pop in 1958. Many country artist covered the song as an album track, and Don’s is among the better covers
The night was black rain fallin’ down
I looked my baby she’s no where aroun’
Chased her footsteps down to the shore
Afraid she’s gone for ever moreWell I looked at the sea, seemed to say
I took your baby from you away
I heard a voice cry in the deep
Come join me baby in my endless sleep
“Shelter of Your Eyes” by Don Williams was the first single released from the album reaching #14 Billboard / #11 Cashbox. Like most Don Williams recording, this is taken at a relaxed tempo, but it tells a complete story and probably would have been a bigger hit had there been a major label pushing it forward.
In the shelter of your eyes
I have finally learned the song
It took so long to realize
I just can’t make it all aloneWords are only what they say
But this feeling isn’t wrong
I’m so glad I found my way
It’s good to be where I belongAnd I’m, gonna stay,
Right here ’cause I’m
In rhythm with your mindTune out the world
And rest my head
‘Neath the shelter of your eyes
Although things had been slowly changing, country music at this time was still largely perceived of as the “endless ballads of booze and broads”. While a few county artists eschewed such topics (Slim Whitman comes to mind) most country artists would spend at least some time with those kind of songs. Don Williams mostly stayed away from the barroom songs.
“I Recall A Gypsy Woman” by Bob McDill and Allen Reynolds would have made a good single. Tommy Cash (1973) and BJ Thomas (1981) both released singles on the song, but neither had a big hit with it. In Central Florida several radio stations gave some airplay to Don’s version of the song, back in the days when Billboard did not chart album tracks. I love the imagery of the song:
Silver coins that jingle jangle
Fancy shoes that dance in time
Oh the secrets of her dark eyes,
They did sing a gypsy rhymeYellow clover in tangled blossoms
In a meadow silky green
Where she held me to her bosom,
Just a boy of seventeenI recall a gypsy woman
Silver spangles in her eyes
Ivory skin against the moonlight
And the taste of life’s sweet wine
“No Use Running”, “How Much Time Does It Take”, “My Woman’s Love” and “Don’t You Believe” are pleasant ballads that Don penned.
The album closes with the Bob McDill classic “Amanda”. The song was the B-side of “Come Early Morning” and managed to chart, reaching Billboard #33/Cashbox #18, as many disc jockeys played both sides of the record. I think it could have been Don’s first top ten single if JMI had issued it as a separate single. Six years later Waylon Jennings would take the song to #1 on all of the country charts, and while Waylon’s version was good, I and many others preferred Don’s recording of the song
It’s a measure of people who don’t understand,
The pleasures of life in a hillbilly band.
I got my first guitar when I was fourteen,
Well I finally made forty, still wearing jeans.Amanda, light of my life.
Fate should have made you a gentleman’s wife.
Amanda, light of my life.
Fate should have made you a gentleman’s wife.
Don Williams Volume One is a really fine album that I frequently revisit. It contains solid country production, well written songs sung with honest but not overwrought emotion. Don would have bigger chart hits and better selling albums upon movement to a major label but the foundation was laid here and few debut albums have been as impressive and satisfying as this one. Despite the lack of up-tempo songs, Don Williams is one of the few artists that can stay in a slow groove forever, without it becoming boring
Grade: A-
Musicians:
Bass – Joe Allen
Drums – Kenny Malone
Electric Guitar – Jimmy Colvard, Reggie Young
Fiddle – Buddy Spicher
Organ – Chuck Cochran
Piano – Bobby Wood, Chuck Cochran
Rhythm Guitar – Chip Young, Don Williams, Jimmy Colvard
Steel Guitar – Lloyd Green
Trumpet – Don Sheffield
* When Don moved over to ABC/Dot, this album was purchased by ABC/Dot and reissued on the ABC/Dot label.
Hank Williams Jr continued to show artistic growth with the release of his seventh album in April 1967. The album’s title refers to the first song on the album, “Standing In The Shadows (of A Very Famous Man)”. The song reached #3 on Record World and was the first of Junior’s own compositions to become a hit. The lyrics encapsulate Junior’s dilemma completely:
I know that I’m not great
And some say I imitate
Anymore I don’t know
I’m just doing the best I canAfter all I’m standing in the shadows
Of a very famous man
The second track, “Almost Nearly, But Not Quite Plumb” is an up-tempo novelty that has Hank sounding quite a bit like Jimmy Dean.
“Is It That Much Fun To Hurt Someone” is a Hank Jr. co-write that sounds more like something Ricky Nelson should have recorded in his teen idol days. It’s a nice song but not well suited to Hank’s voice
Track five of Side One is “I Can Take Anything” a Merle Kilgore-penned ballad; Merle would become very important in Hank’s career, but at this point in his career he was a third tier country artist who was better known as a songwriter. This slow ballad has the full Nashville Sound treatment.
Side One closes out with “Truck Drivin’ Man”, which is not the same song made famous by Terry Fell, Dave Dudley and others. This song is also known as “Ten Ton Load”:
Well, I pulled out of Georgia with a ten ton load
I’m headin’ down the cold stone that black topper road
Looked out the window at the sky up above
Sat back and I thought of the life that I love
Now you can give a banker a nice easy seat
And you can give the sailor all those sea that he meet
But when it comes to drive and just leave that of me
Cause I know in my heart it’s my destinyI’ll never give up this truck driving life
For a son to call me daddy or a sweet loving wife
All you people have heard my story when I’m in my cab well I’m in my glory
Now it may be hard for some to understand
I was born and I’ll die the truck driving man
I was born and I’ll die the six wheeler man
I was born and I’ll die the truck driving man
Side Two opens with a killer version of the Jody Reynolds classic “Endless Sleep”. The song barely cracked the top fifty for Hank.
Ran in the water heart full of fear there in the breakers I saw her near
Reached for my darling held her to me stole her away from the angry sea
I looked at the sea and it seemed to say you took your baby from me away
My heart cried out she’s mine to keep I saved my baby from that endless sleep
Endless sleep, endless sleep, endless sleep
Next up is a track from John D Loudermilk (a first cousin to Ira & Charlie Louvin) titled “You’re Running My Life”. I’ve been married too long to comment on this song. This is followed by a Mitchell Torok composition “Pecos Jail” . Both songs are good album tracks but neither would have made a good single.
“In The First Place” is a bluesy ballad that is nothing more than album filler.
Hank Jr. had a hand in writing “I Went To All That Trouble For Nothing”. The song has a smart country blues arrangement somewhat reminiscent of the arrangement Jerry Kennedy devised for Tom T Hall. I would have liked this as a single.
He went to all that trouble for nothin’ I hear them say
It’s too bad that things turned out for him that way
You took my love and turned around and made me blue
I went to all that trouble for nothin’ for you
I turned my back on the girl I thought that she was mine
I gave up my friends and now it seems I’m givin’ up my mind
I did everything you wanted me to do I went to all that trouble for nothin’ for you
Side Two of the album closes with “Going Steady With The Blues”. The arrangement contains some brass and has the feel of a rock and roll ballad. I like the song but I’d like it better with a more bluesy arrangement.
Don’t think that I’ve been lonely because you left me
And broke my heart in two
I’ve got company, I’m going steady with the bluesYes, every evening while you are dancing and you’re romancing
Oh well, I’m busy too
I’ve got company, I’m going steady with the blues
Very few of these tracks are available in any digital format. “Standing In The Shadows”, “Endless Sleep” and “In The First” place are on the MGM Living Proof Box: 1963-1975, and a few of the songs show up on YouTube. Hank is still finding his way with this album, but the Nashville Sound trappings are subdued and Hank is in good voice.
Grade: B+
My Kind of Country 