On the other side of the front cover is a picture of Conway taken in the early 1970's. The back of the magazine shows a rock and roll publicity picture of Conway with "It's Only Make Believe" shown off to the left. On the other side of this page is a display of 1982 and 1984 Nashville Sounds souvenir programs. It's a truly remarkable look at Conway's career and looking through the commentaries and pictures and everything else, it does make one wish those days were here again. It details the creation of Twitty-City in 1981, it's grand opening in May 1982, and the success that the attraction enjoyed during it's entire existence as part of various country music tours. Twitty-City was rightfully credited with being a major force in the tourism business during the 1980's and it's Christmas season every year was a lavish display of ornaments and lights. His duet career with Loretta Lynn is covered...featuring several picture of the two on awards shows and in the studio with Owen Bradley. There are a few mistakes in the writing, which are not really eye catching unless you are a person like I am and like to have statistics reported accurately. There is a passage in this magazine where it talks about Conway and his children as singers: Michael, Kathy, and Joni. It mentions "Don't Cry Joni" as a single that reached #11 on the country charts, which is an error. The single reached #1 in Cashbox and the Top-5 in Billboard...so I don't know where the #11 peak came from...the writer must have been looking at an overseas chart or the 1 on their key-pad must have been sticking that day?
There is also the omissions of Conway's solo awards. It has a section spotlighting awards that Conway won but it only shows the ones he and Loretta were given from the CMA, ACM, and Music City News. It doesn't show that Conway was named Male Artist of the Year by Music City News readers or that he was named the Top Male Artist by the ACM or that several of his songs and albums were honored by Music City News readers, either. It only shows the awards he won with Loretta at those various awards organizations...including their Grammy win for "After The Fire Is Gone".
This came from a 1983 magazine promoting his 1983 album, Lost In the Feeling. I also like the way his first several releases on the Elektra/Asylum label in 1982 were also spotlighted at the bottom of the advertisement.
This isn't one of the souvenir program's for the Nashville Sounds, by the way. This is actually a booklet promoting the charity baseball game that Conway and Barbara headlined for quite a few years in Nashville. Pieces of Conway and Barbara's charity event was included on the 1982 TV special, Conway On The Mississippi. The TV special is a wonderful program in my opinion. The rest of the fans thought so, too, because in June of 1983 it was awarded a fan-voted plaque at the Music City News awards as Television Special of the Year. In the special Conway's life is chronicled with the visual help of the Mississippi River and the overall scenery. Several notable peers and friends appeared on the special...including the likes of Ralph Emery, Jerry Lee Lewis, George Lindsey, Tammy Wynette, Dick Clark, Charley Pride, and of course, Loretta Lynn. At the time of the taping, Conway's current hit was "We Did But Now You Don't", which hit #1 on the Radio and Records chart. The special would re-air on The Nashville Network at various times in the 1980's, edited down from it's original 2-hour broadcast in 1982. A DVD release surfaced years later. Here is a Music Row magazine promoting Conway's annual Christmas season at Twitty-City...
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