Looking through Conway history once again...back in July 1976 there was an article on Loretta Lynn and within the article she mentions that a period in time where Conway's fans sent her letters accusing her of breaking up the marriage between Conway and his wife at the time. Such nonsense...but back in 1976 it was a hot topic...and given that country music's only real out-let for news was monthly magazines or the syndicated country music shows on the weekend's, people generally tended to be less informed as they are now. A lot of Conway's fans would hear him and Loretta singing together and "believe it" meaning that people would think Conway and Loretta were an item off-stage. The article is mainly about Loretta and her marriage with Mooney. She goes on record by saying that her husband's nick-name, Doolittle, was acquired when he was a kid and that it didn't mean that her husband was lazy...which is how some have interpreted the nick-name. The nick-name of Mooney came about because of the moonshine fondness. Rumors and gossip about Conway and Loretta always swirled...and in hindsight it looks cruel. Here you had two of the biggest country stars of the day joining forces on records and in concerts and instead of the fans enjoying every second of it you have those kinds of stories that pop up which due to their gossipy overtone will have more wide-spread circulation than the important news. Elsewhere...a year earlier in 1975...Conway was at #1 with "Touch the Hand" in the summer. Those rounding out the Top-10 that week were: Tom T Hall with "Deal"; Dolly Parton's "The Seeker"; Narvel Felts unearthly "Reconsider Me"; Johnny Rodriguez's "Just Get Up and Close the Door"; Freddy Fender's "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights"; Charlie Rich's "Everytime You Touch Me"; Gene Watson's "Love in the Hot Afternoon"; and Olivia Newton John's "Please Mister, Please". Conway and Loretta's album, Feelins, was in the Top-10 that week. I found a music review that's just flat-out hilarious in places. It was written in 1977...I won't divulge who wrote it because if I did they would probably be embarrassed that they said some of the things that they did. Anyway, it was a review of Conway's 1977 album, Play Guitar Play, and the headline that screamed across the top of the review was this: "TWITTY'S NEW LP MAY WIN HIM COUNTRY MUSIC FANS". I found that headline to be highly comical because the album was released in 1977...nine years after Conway's first Top-10 success on the country music charts. The other 1977 album, I've Already Loved You In My Mind, featured a very casual, relaxed Conway on the album cover...one of the only album covers in his career to be so informal looking. It featured 10 recordings. As was the practice back then, only one single was released from the album. In a lot of cases the single would've already reached it's peak and then the label would issue an album named for the single...meaning the album contained just the one hit single and the rest were filler songs. As was the case with mostly all country albums, artist's would cover other artist's songs. "Leona" was a hit for Stonewall Jackson. "I Changed My Mind" is a solo recording...originally a duet with Loretta from their album, Country Partners, from 1974...Conway himself originally recorded the song for his 1974 album, I'm Not Through Loving You Yet. Several years after the release of the 1977 I've Already Loved You In My Mind album, Conway would re-record "My First Country Song" with pop singer Dean Martin in 1983.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Conway Twitty: media time-line, part three
Looking through Conway history once again...back in July 1976 there was an article on Loretta Lynn and within the article she mentions that a period in time where Conway's fans sent her letters accusing her of breaking up the marriage between Conway and his wife at the time. Such nonsense...but back in 1976 it was a hot topic...and given that country music's only real out-let for news was monthly magazines or the syndicated country music shows on the weekend's, people generally tended to be less informed as they are now. A lot of Conway's fans would hear him and Loretta singing together and "believe it" meaning that people would think Conway and Loretta were an item off-stage. The article is mainly about Loretta and her marriage with Mooney. She goes on record by saying that her husband's nick-name, Doolittle, was acquired when he was a kid and that it didn't mean that her husband was lazy...which is how some have interpreted the nick-name. The nick-name of Mooney came about because of the moonshine fondness. Rumors and gossip about Conway and Loretta always swirled...and in hindsight it looks cruel. Here you had two of the biggest country stars of the day joining forces on records and in concerts and instead of the fans enjoying every second of it you have those kinds of stories that pop up which due to their gossipy overtone will have more wide-spread circulation than the important news. Elsewhere...a year earlier in 1975...Conway was at #1 with "Touch the Hand" in the summer. Those rounding out the Top-10 that week were: Tom T Hall with "Deal"; Dolly Parton's "The Seeker"; Narvel Felts unearthly "Reconsider Me"; Johnny Rodriguez's "Just Get Up and Close the Door"; Freddy Fender's "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights"; Charlie Rich's "Everytime You Touch Me"; Gene Watson's "Love in the Hot Afternoon"; and Olivia Newton John's "Please Mister, Please". Conway and Loretta's album, Feelins, was in the Top-10 that week. I found a music review that's just flat-out hilarious in places. It was written in 1977...I won't divulge who wrote it because if I did they would probably be embarrassed that they said some of the things that they did. Anyway, it was a review of Conway's 1977 album, Play Guitar Play, and the headline that screamed across the top of the review was this: "TWITTY'S NEW LP MAY WIN HIM COUNTRY MUSIC FANS". I found that headline to be highly comical because the album was released in 1977...nine years after Conway's first Top-10 success on the country music charts. The other 1977 album, I've Already Loved You In My Mind, featured a very casual, relaxed Conway on the album cover...one of the only album covers in his career to be so informal looking. It featured 10 recordings. As was the practice back then, only one single was released from the album. In a lot of cases the single would've already reached it's peak and then the label would issue an album named for the single...meaning the album contained just the one hit single and the rest were filler songs. As was the case with mostly all country albums, artist's would cover other artist's songs. "Leona" was a hit for Stonewall Jackson. "I Changed My Mind" is a solo recording...originally a duet with Loretta from their album, Country Partners, from 1974...Conway himself originally recorded the song for his 1974 album, I'm Not Through Loving You Yet. Several years after the release of the 1977 I've Already Loved You In My Mind album, Conway would re-record "My First Country Song" with pop singer Dean Martin in 1983.
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