High As The Mountains: Omnivore Collects Buck Owens and Susan Raye on “Together Again”
On October 29, Omnivore Recordings concludes its current reissue program of nine never-on-standalone-CD albums from Buck Owens with reissues of In the Palm of Your Hand, Ain’t It Amazing, Gracie, and It’s a Monster’s Holiday. (Watch this space for more coverage of that trio soon!) But happily, the label is far from done with the Owens oeuvre. On December 10, Omnivore will release Buck Owens and Susan Raye’s Together Again, a new 22-track compendium of duet and solo cuts originally issued between 1970 and 1975. It will be available on both CD and digital formats.
Susan Raye began singing with Owens in 1968, and soon after became a featured performer on the Owens-co-hosted variety show Hee Haw. In addition to being a distinctive vocalist, Raye was a television natural; she had previously appeared alongside the Bakersfield icon on The Buck Owens Ranch Show. Owens and Raye released five studio albums together and placed six hits on the Country chart, while Raye prospered as a solo artist as well. She scored over 20 solo chart entries including three top 40s in 1971 alone and seven top 10s in total, among them the international crossover hit “L.A. International Airport.” Raye remained on Hee Haw for nine seasons, and largely retired from music and performing in the mid-1980s.
Together Again boasts a dozen Owens/Raye duets and nine solo Raye deep tracks. There is no overlap here with Varese Sarabande/Craft Recordings’ solo Raye compilation 16 Greatest Hits (meaning that her most familiar songs such as “L.A. International Airport,” “Willy Jones,” “Pitty, Pitty, Patter,” and “(I’ve Got A) Happy Heart” are absent) but a number of cuts do appear both here and on Varese/Craft’s The Very Best of Buck Owens and Susan Raye. The deep cuts selected (largely penned by Owens and those in his creative circle) paint a full portrait, however, of the timeless style which earned Raye five Academy of Country Music nominations between 1969 and 1973.
The release will also kick off Omnivore’s digital-only reissue program of Raye’s long-unavailable, never-on-CD Capitol albums, including her duet sets with Owens. Throughout 2022, the following titles will be made available digitally with more to follow:
- One Night Stand (1970) – Susan Raye
- The Great White Horse (1970) – Buck Owens & Susan Raye
- We’re Gonna Get Together (1970) – Buck Owens & Susan Raye
- Pitty Pitty Patter (1971) – Susan Raye
- Willy Jones (1971) – Susan Raye
- Wheel of Fortune (1972) – Susan Raye
- I’ve Got A Happy Heart (1972) – Susan Raye
- My Heart Has A Mind Of Its Own (1972) – Susan Raye
- Hymns By Susan Raye (1973) – Susan Raye
Together Again was compiled and produced for release by Cheryl Pawelski and mastered by Michael Graves. In typical Omnivore fashion, the package features photos, ephemera, and new liner notes from Randy Poe (Buck ‘Em! The Autobiography of Buck Owens). Look for it on December 10 at the links below!
Buck Owens and Susan Raye, Together Again (Omnivore, 2021) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
- Foolin’ Around – Susan Raye
- High As the Mountains – Buck Owens & Susan Raye
- Nobody’s Fool But Yours – Susan Raye
- Love’s Gonna Live Here – Susan Raye
- Sweethearts in Heaven – Buck Owens & Susan Raye
- My Heart Skips a Beat – Susan Raye
- Together Again – Buck Owens & Susan Raye
- I Don’t Care (Just as Long as You Love Me) – Buck Owens & Susan Raye
- Think of Me – Buck Owens & Susan Raye
- Your Tender Loving Care – Buck Owens & Susan Raye
- How Long Will My Baby Be Gone? – Susan Raye
- I’ve Got You on My Mind Again – Susan Raye
- We’re Gonna Get Together – Buck Owens & Susan Raye
- Togetherness – Buck Owens & Susan Raye
- The Great White Horse – Buck Owens & Susan Raye
- The Kansas City Song – Susan Raye
- I’ll Still Be Waiting for You – Susan Raye
- Looking Back to See – Susan Raye
- The Good Old Days (Are Here Again) – Buck Owens & Susan Raye
- Arms Full of Empty – Buck Owens & Susan Raye
- Great Expectations – Susan Raye
- Love Is Strange – Buck Owens & Susan Raye
Track 1 from One Night Stand, Capitol ST-543, 1970
Tracks 2, 8-10 & 15 from The Great White Horse, Capitol ST-558, 1970
Tracks 3 & 17 from Plastic Trains, Paper Planes, Capitol ST-11223, 1973
Tracks 4 & 16 from Cheating Game, Capitol ST-11179, 1973
Tracks 7, 13-14 & 22 from We’re Gonna Get Together, Capitol ST-448, 1970
Tracks 5, 19 & 20 from The Good Old Days (Are Here Again), Capitol ST-11204, 1973
Track 6 from My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own, Capitol ST-11055, 1972
Track 11 from Pitty, Pitty, Patter, Capitol ST-807, 1971
Track 12 from Love Sure Feels Good in My Heart, Capitol ST-11135, 1973
Track 18 from Capitol single 3368, 1972
Track 21 from Whatcha Gonna Do with a Dog Like That, Capitol ST-11393, 1975
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2 thoughts on “High As The Mountains: Omnivore Collects Buck Owens and Susan Raye on “Together Again””
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It seems odd to make the future releases digital only. I would guess the main audience for these releases would not really be the streaming/download type. My mom had a bunch of Susan Raye albums so along with Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, Johnny Cash and Charley Pride etc, this was the soundtrack to my childhood.
Looking forward to this new comp. for the deep cuts alone. I have most of the original albums and would be nice to get them on CD, perhaps the label will reconsider. Although last year Barbara Mandrell’s catalog got a digital only release and she was arguably a bigger “star” than Susan Raye and if they haven’t done a physical reissue for Barbara, I doubt Susan stands a chance.
For those that want CD quality, all but one of the Buck & Susan duets – including their Christmas LP – were included on the third Bear Family Buck Owens box set – “Tall Dark Stranger.” The only exception is their first duet “We’re Gonna Get Together.” That one was included in the second Bear Family Buck Box “Open Up Your Heart” because those sets were sequenced chronologically.
Two single CD’s have featured Susan’s solo Capitol recordings. “L.A. International Airport- 25 Great Songs” released on Repertoire Records in 1995 [REP 4362-WY] contained 25 tracks. The track list includes most of her single releases and all of her top ten hits. “16 Greatest Hits” compiled by Varese Sarabande in 1999 [VSD-6028] also covers all of her hits and most of her charted Capitol singles.
Sure would be nice if Omnivore would offer at least a limited run of Susan Raye solo & duet LP’s on CD. “Two-fers” would offer a good value especially because the duration of those ten track albums was rather brief.
By the way there is a typo in the above article. The first track on that new compilation “Foolin’ Around” is from Susan’s first solo Capitol LP titled “One Night Stand” [ST -543]
Thanks again to Joe for including country releases on this blog.