Richard Edward Arnold – better known as Eddy Arnold – proved throughout an eight-decade career that he could sing anything.  The countrypolitan crooner scored 147 U.S. chart hits between 1945 and 2008, sold over 85 million records, and earned inductions into the Country Music Hall of Fame and The Grand Ole Opry.  Yet, in 1970, the superstar known as “The Tennessee Plowboy” found himself at a crossroads.  That year, he released two remarkable albums ending one chapter in his career and beginning another.  Love and Guitars proved to be his final full-length collaboration with Nashville-based producer and legendary guitar man Chet Atkins, with whom he had first worked in 1950.  Standing Alone marked his first and only project with hip maverick Lee Hazlewood – a pairing which inspired some of the finest vocals Arnold ever committed to record.

On July 1, Second Disc Records and Real Gone Music will bring together these seminal, never-before-reissued albums on Each Road I Take: The Lee Hazlewood and Chet Atkins Sessions 1970.  This packed release includes:

• Love and Guitars (produced by Chet Atkins);
• Standing Alone (produced by Lee Hazlewood);
• Arnold’s non-LP singles from the landmark year; and
• Two previously unreleased Lee Hazlewood productions!

Both albums featured on our release took Eddy Arnold in new and unexpected musical directions.  Love and Guitars departed from the usual lush sound of his recordings, surrounding his burnished baritone with a cadre of Nashville’s top guitarists including Jerry Reed, Harold Bradley, Ray Edenton and Atkins himself (who rarely played on Eddy’s records by that point).  They took on a dazzling array of material from The Box Tops, Merle Haggard, John Denver, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Kris Kristofferson and Henry Mancini in a raw, acoustic-based setting.

Standing Alone then moved Eddy to RCA’s Music Center of the World in Hollywood for his first session outside of Nashville in six years.  He was joined by Hazlewood and the fabled Wrecking Crew for a contemporary-flavored set of strong, adult material by writers such as John Stewart, Steve Young, Ben Peters and Mac Davis which blurred the lines between country, folk and pop-rock as only Hazlewood could do.

Four rare single sides including the Burt Bacharach/Hal David-penned “Ten Times Forever More” round out this first-time-on-CD collection.  Each Road I Take features my own liner notes as well as fresh remastering by Grammy winner Mark Wilder at Sony’s Battery Studios.  Its 27 tracks present two distinct roads taken by Eddy Arnold – both showcasing the resonant storyteller’s voice that turned The Tennessee Plowboy into a legend of popular music.

Each Road I Take: The Lee Hazlewood and Chet Atkins Sessions 1970 fills in a major gap in the discographies of Arnold, Hazlewood and Atkins on compact disc, and can be pre-ordered at the links below.  It’s due from Second Disc Records and Real Gone Music on July 1 along with the rest of Real Gone’s killer slate…watch this space for more details soon!

Eddy Arnold, Each Road I Take: The Lee Hazlewood and Chet Atkins Sessions 1970 (Second Disc Records/Real Gone Music, 2016) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Links TBD)

1. Soul Deep (2:27)
2. A Man’s Kind of Woman (2:51)
3. With Pen in Hand (3:27)
4. When the Wind Blows in Chicago (2:55)
5. Just Enough to Start Me Dreamin’ (2:43)
6. I Just Can’t Help Believin’ (2:19)
7. Leaving on a Jet Plane (3:40)
8. Today I Started Loving You Again (2:43)
9. Shadows of Her Mind (2:34)
10. Mary in the Morning (3:05)
11. I’ll Give You Three Guesses (2:14)
12. Living Under Pressure (3:05)
13. A Man’s Kind of Woman (Single Version/Unique Recording) (3:43)
14. July, You’re a Woman (2:57)
15. Each Road I Take (2:22)
16. She Believes in Me (2:40)
17. New World in the Morning (2:14)
18. Where Love Has Died (2:38)
19. Seven Bridges Road (3:52)
20. Some Lonely Picker (3:20)
21. All That Keeps Ya’ Goin’ (2:31)
22. Closest I Ever Came (2:50)
23. My Way of Life (2:52)
24. Gentle is My Love (Previously Unreleased Outtake) (Unknown)
25. How Do I Love Thee (Previously Unreleased Outtake) (Unknown)
26. From Heaven to Heartache (2:42)
27. Ten Times Forever More (2:10)

Tracks 1-11 from Love and Guitars, RCA Victor LSP 4304, 1970
Tracks 12-13 from RCA Victor single 47-9848, 1970
Tracks 14-23 from Standing Alone, RCA Victor LSP 4390, 1970
Track 24 previously unreleased, recorded May 13, 1970
Track 25 previously unreleased, recorded May 15, 1970
Tracks 26-27 from RCA Victor single 47-9889, 1970