Bedtime Stories: Morello Reissues Albums by Tammy Wynette and Guy Clark

Morello Records, an imprint of Cherry Red Group, continues to salute the greats of country music with recent releases from Tammy Wynette and Guy Clark.

Last year, the label reissued Tammy Wynette's The First Lady and We Can Sure Love Each Other, from 1970 and 1971, respectively, on one CD. Now, a two-fer has emerged with The First Lady of Country Music's next two Epic albums, both from 1972: Bedtime Story and My Man.

Both albums are very much of a piece. They continued Wynette's long relationship with prolific producer and countrypolitan king Billy Sherrill, and featured the distinctive background vocals of The Jordanaires and The Nashville Edition. The May 1972 release Bedtime Story became a No. 8 record for Wynette, aided no doubt by the strength of its title track. "Bedtime Story," written by Sherrill and his frequent partner (and Mr. Lynn Anderson) Glenn Sutton, became Tammy's eleventh C&W chart-topper and cracked the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 86. It was backed on 45 by the album's closing track, "Reach Out Your Hand (And Touch Somebody)," co-written by Sherrill and Wynette herself. It followed "Bedtime Story" up the charts all the way to No. 2 and made the peak spot in Canada. Songwriters Norro Wilson and Ben Peters also made contributions to Bedtime Story, as did "Elvira" scribe Dallas Frazier with his song "If This is Our Last Time." In addition to "Reach Out Your Hand," Wynette also co-wrote "Take Me Home and Love Me."

In August 1972, Tammy followed up Bedtime Story with a joint album with her then-husband George Jones, Me and the First Lady. Then, in September, her solo My Man arrived in stores. Like Bedtime Story, My Man opened with a No. 1 title track. The uptempo "My Man (Understands)" was written by Sherrill, Norro Wilson and Carmol Taylor, and marked Wynette's twentieth appearance on the C&W chart. Sherrill only had one other composition on the LP, the closing "Good Lovin'." But Tammy penned a couple of the album's other tunes ("Things I Love to Do" and "Hold On (To the Love I Got)") with collaborators including Wilson and Taylor, and the duo was also represented by "You Can't Hang On." Taylor, solo, wrote "Gone with Another Man." Wynette even tipped her hat to her husband with a cover of "Loving You Could Never Be Better," and to another country lady with a cover of Donna Fargo's "The Happiest Girl in the Whole U.S.A.," a No. 1 Country/No. 11 Pop hit earlier in 1972. Red Lane and Larry Henley's "'Til I Get It Right" provided My Man with its second chart-topping hit - Tammy's twelfth Number One! (The busy Wynette concluded 1972 with another album of Jones duets, her fourth release of the year.)

In 2015, country troubadour Guy Clark celebrated the 40th anniversary of his solo debut, 1975's Old No. 1. Alongside such artists as Townes Van Zandt, Kris Kristofferson, Tom T. Hall, Willie Nelson and Jerry Jeff Walker, Clark was at the vanguard of the progressive country movement. The sub-genre rebuffed the lush Nashville Sound and edged country-and-western into the present day by blending traditional honky-tonk style with newer elements influenced by rock and the burgeoning singer-songwriter sound. Progressive country also spawned outlaw country, which took the rock attitude even further. In fact, it was Walker ("Mr. Bojangles") who helped raise Clark's profile considerably when he recorded Clark's songs "L.A. Freeway" and "Desperados Waiting for a Train." Johnny Cash, Bobby Bare, Steve Wariner, Ricky Skaggs and Vince Gill all benefited from Clark's sharp, keenly-observed compositions. Late in 2015, Morello reissued two of Clark's 1990s LPs, Boats to Build and Dublin Blues, on one CD.

1992's Boats to Build, co-produced by Clark and Miles Wilkinson, was Clark's first album for Elektra/Asylum Records. Songs were co-written with frequent collaborator Rodney Crowell - one of the many young talents befriended by Clark and welcomed into his songwriting open houses - as well as wife Susanna Clark, Lee Roy Parnell, Verlon Thompson, Richard Leigh, J.C. Crowley and Bill Lloyd. Slide/dobro master Jerry Douglas contributed mightily to the sound of Boats to Build as did Parnell on slide and Marty Stuart and Sam Bush on mandolin. Emmylou Harris duetted with Clark on "I Don't Love You Much, Do I" and Harris' ex-husband and frequent collaborator Brian Ahern also appeared on guitar.

Dublin Blues (named for the album's Celtic-meets-country tune) followed in 1995, also on the Elektra/Asylum label. Clark and co-producer Wilkinson welcomed back Rodney Crowell and Verlon Thompson who co-wrote "Stuff That Works" and "Hangin' Your Life on the Wall," respectively. Susanna Clark co-wrote "Shut Up and Talk to Me" with her husband and Keith Sykes. Clark even revisited "The Randall Knife" from 1983's Better Days as the closing of Dublin. He employed his road band for the first time in the studio, and Ramblin' Jack Elliott (name-checked on Boats), Nanci Griffith, Kathy Mattea and the returning Emmylou Harris all contributed background vocals. Boats to Build and Dublin Blues represent the entirety of Clark's album tenure at Asylum; since then, he's recorded for labels including Sugar Hill and Dualtone.

Morello's two-for-one reissues for both Clark and Wynette feature a brief essay by Tony Byworth and remastering by Alan Wilson. You can order these releases at the links below.

Tammy Wynette, Bedtime Story/My Man (Morello MRLL 53, 2016) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)