Comments on: 100 Greatest Women, #5: Tammy Wynette

By: Paul W Dennis

Paul W Dennis — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 15:33:19 +0000

I seriously doubt that Tom T Hall would agree with your assertion that OTBJ was an inspiration for Harper Valley PTA. Although Margie Singleton supposedly asked Tom to write a song along the lines of OTBJ, the delivered product bears no resemblance except that it was a story song, something at which Tom T Hall already was an acknowledged master.

According to Hall, his inspiration for the song was that he liked the name of a nearby school, Harpeth Valley Elementary School in Bellevue, Tennessee and thought it would make a neat song title for about folks he had encountered along the way.

The only similarities were that both were hits for hot female singers, although Riley was much the prettier and hotter of the two. OTBJ was a slow moving morose ballad, HVPTA was uptempo, upbeat and sassy

Skytorch – I realized that you are fixated on Bobbie Gentry, but she simply wasn’t that important to country music. As I said previously, at #67 Kevin may have her over-ranked. If Bobbie Gentry had never existed (an unpleasant thought, I concede) the state of modern female country music would be exactly where it is today – mostly vapid slush

Bobbie was a talented MOR artist – just leave it at that. Tammy pre-dated Bobbie and trying to steal Tammy’s thunder by attributing its success to a blues-folk-MOR artist marginally associated with country music is just plain obscene

By: Skytorch

Skytorch — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 07:37:02 +0000

The first real shift in country music to an albums driven market occured in Oct 1967, when the first ever album in the history of the Billbaord charts went #1 country and pop. That album, Bobbie Gentry’s’ Ode to Billie Joe’ knocked the Beatles St Pepper from the #1 spot. It would sell 500,000 copies in a mere three weeks and go on to have an international sale of 1.5 million at a time when a hit country album averaged less than 100,000. The very next year, Jeanie C. Riley would also sell a million albums with her massive debut of Harper Vally P.T.A( a song inspired by O.T.B.J) and Tammy Wynette would have her biggest cross-over, ‘Stand By Your Man’ at #19 pop with a gold album to boot. The one two punch of Gentry, Riley proved once and for all that country females could sell a ton of records and have #1 pop hits.

By: Paul W Dennis

Paul W Dennis — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 06:19:45 +0000

The vocal deficiencies had to do with range. Billy Sherrill did a masterful job of covering up notes Tammy couldn’t quite reach. In live performances, the lack of range was easier to notice – I was seeing her live around 1970-1972 when she was still at the peak of her powers

Also I would never describe Tammy’s voice as raw. That description would fit Janis Joplin well, but Tammy Wynette – NEVER

By: Randall

Randall — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 03:46:49 +0000

Vocal deficiencies? ya’ll are FOOLS. Tammy outsang any female out there. Tammy fans are extremely loyal so remember that when you talk about deficiencies, of which she had none. Is it a deficiency to have a raw, untamed, uncontrollably emotional voice? I think not.

By: Jonathan at MTCM

Jonathan at MTCM — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:00:21 +0000

Tammy’s Anniversary: 20 Years of Hits is a great cd for people looking for an introduction to Tammy’s music. I think Tammy should be in the top 4. She has some great music.

By: J.R. Journey

J.R. Journey — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 14:56:15 +0000

Johnny Cash recorded many theme albums including ‘Ride This Train’ – considered by many to be the first concept album in pop or country music history. ‘Blood, Sweat and Tears’, anthems for the working man and ‘Bitter Tears’ about the American Indian.

By: J.R. Journey

J.R. Journey — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 14:52:38 +0000

Thanks for the info, Paul. I should have researched that before I opened my mouth I guess. I did say I’m not sure … lol … But I’ll have to check those out.

Also, even without ever singing a note, Minnie’s role in broadening the audiences of country music can never be understated.

By: Paul W Dennis

Paul W Dennis — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 19:46:11 +0000

Kevin – I think it is a shift that was happening anyway, with Emmylou riding the wave. The huge LP sales of Charley Pride, Johnny Cash and Glen Campbell started the ball rolling and then Waylon and Willie really got it into high gear.

Emmylou Harris first charted in 1975 – by then
Charley Pride had ten gold albums on albums issued before 1973)
Johnny Cash had five gold albums and three platinum plus before 1973)
Glen Campbell had four gold albums and five platinum plus before 1973)

Emmylou Harris deserves credit for a lot of things in her career – being any part of the impetus toward making country music an album-oriented genre isn’t of of those things

Billboard started tracking County albums in 1964. When it comes to “themed” albums the real pioneer was probably Marty Robbins who issued highly successful albums revolving around western songs, Hawai’ian songs and (God help us) Rock ‘n Roll

Message to J.R. Journey – Minnie Pearl recorded a number of songs, the biggest being “Giddy-Up Answer” – Minnie’s singing was never meant to be taken too seriously – for compelling evidence to this effect, listen to her most famous number “How To Catch A Man (with the Minnie Pearl Plan) “

By: Kevin

Kevin — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 17:11:02 +0000

Paul,

Emmylou was one of the major reasons that country started to shift from a singles-driven to an album-driven market.

By: J.R. Journey

J.R. Journey — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 14:38:23 +0000

Great effin blog tho!