For the past couple of years, Cherry Red imprint Morello Records has been releasing twofers from Tammy Wynette's Epic Records catalog ranging from the 1960s to the 1980s. We've got two more to tell you about now: Another Lonely Song/Woman to Woman and You and Me/Let's Get Together. These four albums all hail from the mid-1970s and were produced by Wynette's longtime collaborator Billy Sherrill. They also chronicle the period before and after her divorce from fellow country superstar George Jones.
Another Lonely Song and Woman to Woman were both released in 1974. March's Another Lonely Song was Wynette's first solo album since 1972's My Man (reissued by Morello last year). In the interim, she had released three duet albums with Jones. The title track, penned by Wynette with Sherrill and Norro Wilson would be the singer's fourteenth solo country No. 1. Alongside other originals on the LP, Wynette also covered Kris Kristofferson's "Help Me Make It Through the Night" and future husband's George Richey's "Keep Me In Mind" which he co-wrote with Glenn Sutton. The album would spend 14 weeks on the Billboard country charts, peaking at No. 8.
Arriving eight months later in November, Woman to Woman also had its title track released as a single, this time penned by Billy Sherrill alone. It would climb to No. 4 on the Billboard Country Singles chart. Once again a mix of originals and covers, the record had Wynette singing two songs co-written by current husband Jones ("The Woman I Am" and "I've Been Loved Before (But Not Like This)") and covering Dave Loggins' "Please Come to Boston," Mickey Newbury's "I Don't Think About Him No More" and Shel Silverstein's "For the Kids." Woman To Woman would spend longer than Another Lonely Song on the country charts with 21 weeks, but would only peak at #19.
Tammy Wynette would divorce George Jones in March 1975 (although they would continue to record duet albums together - including 1976's chart-topping Golden Ring). Her next solo album, I Still Believe in Fairy Tales, arrived in September 1975, followed by 'Til I Can Make It On My Own in March 1976. (Both were collected together as a two-fer late last year by Morello.) By the time You and Me arrived in October, 1976, Wynette had married and divorced real-estate developer Michael Tomlin (the marriage lasting only 44 days). The LP once again had its title song (written by Billy Sherrill and George Richey) released as a single, scoring Wynette another Billboard country No. 1. This would be a back-to-back placement for her as "''Til I Can Make It On My Own" from the previous album had also hit the peak position. The new LP also featured covers of Willie Nelson's "Little Things," Donna Fargo's "Funny Face," and perhaps a little out of the norm for Wynette, "The Hawaiian Wedding Song (Ke Kall Nei Au)." The album hit No. 4 on the country album charts.
Let's Get Together arrived in May 1977. Another Billy Sherrill/George Richey co-write, "Let's Get Together (One Last Time)," would be the album's only single, peaking at No. 6 on the country singles chart. The album would not fare as well, only going to No. 19. Two of the Statler Brothers, Don and Harold Reid, contributed "You Could Be Coming to Me," which they would record for their 1977 album The Country America Loves. Wynette co-wrote "Loving You, I Do" with Richey, perhaps foreshadowing their 1978 marriage.
Both new reissues are produced by Lee Simmonds and remastered by Alan Wilson at Western Star Studios. Each features an 8-page full color booklet with 2 pages of notes by country music author/historian Tony Byworth. If you would like to give either a try, both are available now and we've got the ordering links and full tracklistings below.
Tammy Wynette, Another Lonely Song/Woman To Woman (Morello/Cherry Red, 2017) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
- Another Lonely Song
- Crying Steel Guitar
- What My Thoughts Do All the Time
- Stayin' Home Woman
- Satin Sheets
- Homecoming
- Help Me Make It Through the Night
- Keep Me in Mind
- Oh, How I Miss Him
- With Child
- One Final Stand
- Woman to Woman
- Right There in Your Arms
- What's a Little Rain?
- This Time I Almost Made It
- Please Come to Boston
- I Don't Think About Him No More
- For the Kids
- The Woman I Am
- Touching Love
- I've Been Loved Before (But Not Like This)
Tracks 1-11 from Another Lonely Song, Epic LP KE 32745, 1974
Tracks 12-21 from Woman to Woman, Epic LP KE 33246, 1974
Tammy Wynette, You and Me/Let's Get Together (Morello/Cherry Red, 2017) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
- You and Me
- Every Now and Then
- Funny Face
- The Hawaiian Wedding Song (Ke Kali Nei Au)
- Little Things
- Jesus Send a Song
- One of These Days
- You Hurt the Love Right Out of Me
- When Love Was All We Had
- Dixieland (You Will Never Die)
- Let's Get Together (One Last Time)
- If We Never Love Again
- Loving You, I Do
- It's Gonna Take a Long, Long Time
- You Could Be Coming To Me
- Your Sweet Lies (Turned Down My Sheets Again)
- Cheatin' Is
- I Can Love You
- Now One Can Take His Place
- I Can Still Believe In You
Tracks 1-10 from You and Me, Epic LP KE 34289, 1976
Tracks 11-20 from Let's Get Together, Epic LP KE 34694, 1977
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