Of the five albums Frank Zappa released in 1979, Orchestral Favorites is the least known. Released by Warner Brothers without his permission this all instrumental album was performed by the 37-piece Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra with Terry Bozzio on drums. Strictly for completionists.
This third solo album by ex-Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett starts off with "Every Day" which sounds like it was plucked right out off a Kansas album. Then it begins to sounds like a scavenger hunt for every musical styling under the sun. The whole thing seems terribly dated to me but Spectral Mornings has fans who swear it's a masterpiece.
Diana Ross teams up with Ashford and Simpson for some sassy diva disco. Robert Christgau gave the album a B writing "Quite smart, quite sexy, but sometimes dull."
In April of 1979, Emmylou Harris released Blue Kentucky Girl, a Grammy winning collection of mostly classic country songs, many sung with other artists including Don Everly on the excellent Louvin Brothers cover "Every Time You Leave". Married to producer Brian Ahern and raising three children, Harris continues to explore the roots of contemporary country music.
This is the album where you'll find Emmylou's cover of "Hickory Wind", the most touching of Gram Parsons songs and the one she'd sing back up to when they toured together. She sounds as homesick as an orphan.
"Beneath Still Waters" , originally recorded by George Jones, would hit #1 in 1980 while both "Save the Last Dance for Me" (originally recorded by The Drifters) and the title track (originally recorded by Loretta Lynn) were Top 10 Country hits.
Also notable is the track "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" featuring Dolly Parton and an uncredited Linda Ronstadt years before their hugely successful 1987 Trio album came out.
Dolly's fourth straight single to hit #1 on the country charts despite some radio stations refusing to play a song with lyrics inviting a man to "come inside...you can easily afford the price". It's called a metaphor, cowboy.
Upon the release of Jolene, the country music world was abuzz with Dolly Parton's decision to leave Porter Wagoner, and his syndicated country music show to go solo for good. Wagoner had helped Dolly secure a contract with RCA and, thanks to big hits like "Joshua" (#1), "Coat of Many Colors" (#4) and "Jolene" (#1) she'd already become a huge country star in her own right. But Dolly didn't want to be tied down to a country traditionalist who was afraid of flying.
The split began amicably enough with Dolly 's heart felt goodbye, laid out in the lyrics of the song that must have earned her millions of dollars: "I Will Always Love You".
If I should stay
Well, I would only be in your way
And so I'll go, and yet I know
That I'll think of you each step of my way
And I will always love you
Now Dolly was free to bring her country into the pop marketplace. The years that followed would see her record in LA and even earn an Oscar nomination in the movie 9 To 5.
And that's about the time Porter Wagoner sued Dolly for breach of contract. He had, in his hands, a note Dolly had signed in the 70's:
"To Porter Wagoner...because of my appreciation and respect for you...I agree to pay you 15% of my gross income on my RCA record royalties "
That signature was probably worth a million dollars to Wagoner although the settlement was never disclosed.
There were a few lean years for Dolly so she could make good on that payment but by the mid -80's she was back on top. With her own theme park to boot.
We've already visited Willie Nelson's Shotgun Willie, Charlie Rich's Behind Closed Doors and Waylon Jennings's Lonesome On'ry and Mean this year. Something from Austin, a countrypolitan classic and one of outlaw country's first hits. And they all came from 1973, a year old school Nashville-style country was being challenged by the outlaw movement from within and by true outsiders like Olivia Newton John, John Denver and even Tony Orlando and Dawn whose "Tie a Yellow Ribbon" got a lot of play on country radio.
In this round up, all you need to remember are three words. Billy. Joe. Shaver. The first three albums all have versions of Shaver's "Old Five and Dimers ( Like Me)"
On his second album of 1973, Honky Tonk Heroes, Waylon Jennings recorded an album almost completely composed of Billy Joe Shaver songs. Shaver ( practically sitting in Waylon's lap on the album cover) is a good ole boy from a small Texas town who worked on a farm, lost parts of his fingers in a sawmill, raised hell and wrote songs about real people that were covered by everyone from Elvis ( "You Asked Me To") to the Allman Brothers ("Sweet Mama") to Kris Kristofferson. His way of looking at things helped Jennings define the outlaw country sound.
Shaver's 1973 debut is packed with classic self-penned tunes like the title track, "L.A. Turnaround", and the autobiographical "I Been to Georgia on a Fast Train ". The most highly recommended album in this post.
One of country music's great songwriters ( whose "I Love" was an early example of a cross over hit), Tom T Hall was at the height of his powers when he released The Rhymer and Other Five and Dimers, featuring a certain Billy Joe Shaver tune I've already named and the heartbreaking "I Flew Over Our House Last Night".
Leon Russell returned to his roots on this album of mostly classic country covers recorded at Bradley's Barn with J J Cale. Seems originally he wanted to release the album Hank Wilson's Back as Hank Wilson but the cat got out of the bag pretty quickly. Some decent stuff here as opposed to the rest of what Russell was doing around this time: overly arranged three disc live albums.
The inescapable country single of 1973 forced Jeanne Pruett to go on some severe diets for all of her TV appearances. At one point she told a reporter "Between us, Loretta Lynn and I have lost enough to start a new girl singer".
After writing "Ladies Love Outlaws" for Waylon Jennings, Lee Clayton made his MCA debut with a self-titled album that featured Carly Simon doing backing vocals on the song "New York Suite 409".
The title track from this concept album made the Country Singles Top 20 and has since become the theme to Dollywood . Maria Muldaur sings the song on her 1973 self titled debut.
After Billy Joe Shaver's "Ride Me Down Easy" nearly broke him back into the Top 10, Bare teamed up with comedic songwriter Shel Silverstein on this huge comeback live album recorded in front of his rowdy friends. When Silverstein first played "The Winner", Bare had to stop him halfway through because he was laughing too hard. Bobby Bare Jr, seen below, is an alt-country star today.
I've added this 1973 Jeannie Seely album just because Willie Nelson does such a sweet cover of her hit single "Can I Sleep in Your Arms" on 1975's Red Headed Stranger
One of my all time favorite country voices, Don Williams made his debut with Volume 1 in 1973. Four hits came off this album including "Come Early Morning" which peaked at #12.
Johnny Rodriguez was country music's first Latin star ( beating Freddy Fender by a few years). In 1973 he had two #1 singles , including "Ridin' My Thumb to Mexico", and a #1 album .
1972 was the year 13-year old Tanya Tucker hit the Top 5 with "Delta Dawn". The Fan Fair debuted and Opryland USA opened in Nashville. Countrypolitan was still dominating country music radio-- string sections replacing fiddles and steel guitars. And it was a good year for cross-overs from country to the pop charts especially for newcomer Donna Fargo and Mac Davis.
Johnny Cash is on a roll with his network TV show, White House concerts and recent marriage to June. He celebrates the latter with his 38th album A Thing Called Love which includes his wedding song " I Promise You".
Here's another wedding song. This one, written by Donna Fargo, almost went to 13 year old starlet Tanya Tucker. Good thing for both of them that Tanya wound up recording "Delta Dawn". "Happiest Girl" made Donna Fargo a cross-over a star. She followed it with another smash hit "Funny Face".
1972 was a good year for Merle Haggard. Then California Governor Ronald Reagan pardoned The Hag for his past crimes ( including burglary, robbery, and larceny) And Haggard released Let Me Tell You About a Song featuring two #1 hits ( "Daddy Frank", "Grandma Harp") as well as the ground-breaking "Irma Jackson", a song about an interracial romance.
The writer of the 6 million selling single "Harper Valley PTA", Tom T Hall hit #1 on his own with "(Old Dogs, Children And) Watermelon". The single , released in November of 1972, is a true account of a conversation Hall had with a old black janitor at the 1972 Democratic National Convention in Miami.
George and Tammy renewed their vows on the album Me And The First Lady in the song "The Ceremony". Jones was already such an erratic a performer he was earning the nickname "No Show" Jones. Tammy, on the other hand, at earned the title "First Lady of Country Music".
The same year the Hag released "Irma Jackson", Buck Owens made his first #1 in three years with his own song about an interracial romance. "Made in Japan" is about a girl "made in Japan". Recorded with The Buckaroos, it features a steel guitar which seemed to be an endangered sound on Country radio at the time.
Dolly Parton was on a hit making streak in the early 70's both as a solo artist and with Porter Wagoner. Although some country stations, citing "sexually suggestive lyrics", refused to play the title cut of her 1972 album Touch Your Woman, the single still hit #6 on the country charts. I guess following it up with the album cut "A Lot Of You Left In Me" was a non-starter.
