Tammy Wynette "Anniversary: Twenty Five Years Of Hits" (Epic, 1987)
Her tumultuous marriage to George Jones aside, Tammy Wynette is a rather remarkable figure in country music... She hit the charts pretty consistently in the 1960s and '70s, starting with her first big hit, "Apartment #9," which was originally recorded for an indie label in 1967. She was an early protege of producer Billy Sherrill, who helped shape her sound over the next two decades, and who paired her up with ole Possum for several of his biggest countrypolitan hits. But what's most remarkable about Wynette is the extent to which she specialized in sexually subservient, emotional doormat songs, in which the best way for a woman to keep her man is to keep him, um, happy. Feminists criticized her for recording "Stand By Your Man," and while you might think, "oh, that was just a one-off novelty song," indeed, the forget-his-sins, just-keep-yourself-pretty-and-available theme is actually the basis for almost all her major hits. And it really is astonishingly retrograde and demeaning...! Anyway, this CD is a strong collection of Wynette's best material, twenty tracks in all, and while hardcore fans may be left wanting more, for most country fans, this should be more than enough.
Tammy Wynette "20 Greatest Hits" (Tee Vee, 1999)
Tammy Wynette "The World Of Tammy Wynette" (Epic, 2009)
A swell CD reissue of an old 2-LP set from the '70s... A fine overview of her early work, with some nice surprises inserted as well.
Tammy Wynette "The Definitive Collection" (Epic, 2003)
Tammy Wynette "The Essential Tammy Wynette" (Epic, 2004)
More of a budget-line release, with 14 tracks that represent the cream of her hits, although many fans will doubtless want a more thorough exploration of her work.
Tammy Wynette "The Essential" (Epic Legacy, 2013)
A strong 2-CD retrospective, spanning the career of country queen Tammy Wynette, from her earliest hits with producer Billy Sherrill and chart-topping duets with George Jones to later work in the '70s and '80s, along with a smattering of tracks from the early 1990s. Weighing in at a hefty forty tracks, this collection nearly triples the size of the earlier 2004 Essential set, and almost doubles that of the Definitive Collection, making it the most comprehensive budget-line collection of her work to date. There's plenty of overlap, of course, with the biggest difference being that this best-of sticks closer to the country stuff and drops a few of the more pop-oriented tracks included in the Definitive set (collaborations with artists such as KLF and Sting; good riddance, I say...) All in all, an excellent look back at one of the legends of '70s country.
Tammy Wynette "Inspirational Favorites" (Ranwood, 1998)
Tammy Wynette "Tears Of Fire: The 25th Anniversary Collection" (Sony, 1992)
A 3-CD box set...
Tammy Wynette & George Jones "16 Biggest Hits" (Epic, 1999)
This CD is notable because it has several fine middle-ranked '70s hits that didn't make it onto the old, standard-issue George Jones best-ofs, including "Take Me," "Jet Set," "Let's Build A World Together," "God's Gonna Getcha For That" and "Southern California..." These may not be the most classic works to have ever come from the Sherrill studios, but they're definitely worth tracking down. There may be slightly grey sound quality on the mastering of this disc, though.
Tammy Wynette & George Jones "Duets" (Epic, 2008)
Tammy Wynette "The Essential" (Epic Legacy, 2013)
A strong 2-CD retrospective, spanning the career of country queen Tammy Wynette, from her earliest hits with producer Billy Sherrill and chart-topping duets with George Jones to later work in the '70s and '80s, along with a smattering of tracks from the early 1990s. Weighing in at a hefty forty tracks, this collection nearly triples the size of the earlier 2004 Essential set, and almost doubles that of the Definitive Collection, making it the most comprehensive budget-line collection of her work to date. There's plenty of overlap, of course, with the biggest difference being that this best-of drops a few of the more pop-oriented tracks included in the Definitive set (collaborations with artists such as KLF and Sting) and sticks closer to the country stuff. Of course, "country" is a relative term where Wynette's concerned: at the peak of the countrypolitan era, Wynette was a regular chart-topper, and was one of Billy Sherrill's most reliable collaborators, with little of the underlying awkwardness that George Jones sometimes showed among Sherrill's lush, bombastic pop arrangements -- Wynette was an eager pioneer of the new sound, and carved out her own niche as a song stylist. As with other collections of her work, this touches only lightly on the Jones-Wynette duets (there are separate albums that collect that material) and presents her as a solo star whose legacy was truly her own. It also goes far beyond the "sassy" novelty hits she's best remembered for -- "Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad," "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" and "Stand By Your Man" -- and deeply explores her many ballads, swank, subtle material that paved the way for more modern artists such as Reba McEntire, Martina McBride and Sara Evans. An excellent look back at one of the legends of '70s country.
Discography
Tammy Wynette "Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad" (Epic, 1967)
Tammy Wynette & David Houston "My Elusive Dreams" (Epic, 1967)
Tammy Wynette "Take Me To Your World/I Don't Wanna Play House" (Epic, 1968)
Tammy Wynette "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" (Epic, 1968)
Tammy Wynette "Inspiration" (Epic, 1969) (LP)
Tammy Wynette "Stand By Your Man" (Epic, 1969)
Tammy Wynette "The Ways To Love A Man" (Epic, 1970)
Tammy Wynette "Tammy's Touch" (Epic, 1970)
Tammy Wynette "The First Lady" (Epic, 1970)
Tammy Wynette "Christmas With Tammy Wynette" (Epic, 1970)
(Produced by Billy Sherrill)
A countrypolitan Christmas classic, with Tammy and longtime producer Billy Sherrill crafting a solid, relatively understated set in which Sherrill's patented string arrangements find a home for the holidays. Tammy's clearly into it, and sings with all her heart, working though a set of standards -- "Silent Night," "Away In A Manger," etc. -- before landing a couple of home runs with more recent material such as the ultra-bitter "One Happy Christmas" and the back-to-basics clarion call, "Let's Put The Christ Back Into Christmas." As stated elsewhere, Wynette's work with Sherrill doesn't make all country fans happy; but if you like it, this is a mighty fine example of their sound. (PS - if you like country Christmas records,check out my Hillbilly Holiday guide... )
Tammy Wynette "We Sure Can Love Each Other" (Epic, 1971)
Tammy Wynette & George Jones "We Go Together" (Epic, 1971)
Tammy Wynette "Christmas With Tammy" (Epic, 1971)
Tammy Wynette & George Jones "Me And The First Lady" (Epic, 1972)
Tammy Wynette "Bedtime Story" (Epic, 1972)
Tammy Wynette "My Man" (Epic, 1972)
Tammy Wynette & George Jones "Let's Build A World Together" (Epic, 1972)
Tammy Wynette & George Jones "We Love To Sing About Jesus" (Epic, 1972)
Yup. You sure do.
Tammy Wynette "Kids Say The Darndest Things" (Epic, 1973)
George Jones & Tammy Wynette "We're Gonna Hold On" (Epic, 1973)
Tammy Wynette "Another Lonely Song" (Epic, 1974)
Tammy Wynette "Woman To Woman" (Epic, 1974)
Tammy Wynette "I Still Believe In Fairy Tales" (Epic, 1975)
Tammy Wynette & George Jones "George And Tammy And Tina" (Epic, 1975)
Tammy Wynette & George Jones "Golden Ring" (Epic, 1976)
Tammy Wynette " 'Til I Can Make It On My Own" (Epic, 1976)
Tammy Wynette "You And Me" (Epic, 1976)
Tammy Wynette "Let's Get Together" (Epic, 1977)
Tammy Wynette "One Of A Kind" (Epic, 1977)
Tammy Wynette "Womanhood" (Epic, 1978)
Tammy Wynette "Just Tammy" (Epic, 1979)
Tammy Wynette & George Jones "Together Again" (Epic, 1980)
Even with all the years of bad will and bad vibes, sometimes it pays to stick with a winning formula. Some sappy stuff, some classics. And man, could they harmonize!
Tammy Wynette "Only Lonely Sometimes" (Epic, 1980)
Tammy Wynette "You Brought Me Back" (Epic, 1981)
Tammy Wynette "Soft Touch" (Epic, 1982)
Tammy Wynette "Good Love And Heartbreak" (Epic, 1982)
Tammy Wynette "Even The Strong Get Lonely" (Epic, 1983)
Tammy Wynette "Sometimes When We Touch" (Epic, 1985)
Tammy Wynette "Higher Ground" (Epic, 1987)
Tammy Wynette "Next To You" (Epic, 1988)
(Produced by Norro Wilson)
More midtempo, musically mellow material -- grownup themes with professional, by-the-numbers arrangements and too-professional performances by another usual-suspects studio crew. There's nothing wrong here, but maybe not a lot that would stand out to the average listener: sounds pretty much like what came before, but there's not a lot of spark or pizazz involved. Highlights include the Curly Putnam/Max D. Barnes penned "If You Let Him Drive You Crazy (He Will)" which has a familiar war-of-the-sexes retro feel, the mildly raunchy "Thank The Cowboy For The Ride" and "We Called It Everything But Quits." Overall, though, this is a pretty staid, predictable set -- in a way it's nice the label was still bankrolling something this old-fashioned in the late '80s, but she wasn't really offering much to draw inthe younger generation of country fans that were coming up at the time.
Tammy Wynette "Heart Over Mind" (Epic, 1991)
Tammy Wynette/Loretta Lynn/Dolly Parton "HONKY TONK ANGELS" (Columbia, 1993)
(Produced by Steve Buckingham)
Three grand dames of the '60s country scene unite for a sweetly produced set of cover tunes and oldies, with a musical formula much like the Dolly-Emmylou-Linda "Trio" albums. Producer Steve Buckingham does a workmanlike job on this one -- it's relatively understated (which I guess is good), though also not that adventurous. This never really catches fire, but there are some nice moments, such as Loretta's "Wouldn't It Be Great" and Dolly's gospel-tinged "Let Her Fly," as well as the disc's sole single, a rollicking, irresistible version of "Silver Threads And Golden Needles" that has an admittedly county-fair quality to it, but still is pretty durn catchy.
Tammy Wynette "Without Walls" (Epic, 1994)
Tammy Wynette & George Jones "One" (Epic, 1995)
Various Artists "TAMMY WYNETTE REMEMBERED" (Elektra, 1998)
Video
Tammy Wynette "In Concert: 1986" (Rhino, 2001)
Tammy Wynette "Legendary Performances" (Shout Factory, 2008)
Tammy Wynette "Stand By Your Man: In Concert" (Forever, 2008)
Tammy Wynette "Greatest Hits" (Quantum Leap, 2007)
Links
Hick Music Index
Her tumultuous marriage to George Jones aside, Tammy Wynette (1942-1998) was a rather remarkable figure in country music... She hit the charts pretty consistently in the 1960s and '70s, starting with her first big hit, "Apartment #9," which was originally recorded for an indie label in 1967. She was an early protege of producer Billy Sherrill, who helped shape her sound over the next two decades, and who paired her up with ole Possum for several of his biggest countrypolitan hits. But what's most remarkable about Wynette is the extent to which she specialized in sexually subservient, emotional doormat songs, in which the best way for a woman to keep her man is to keep him, um, happy. Feminists criticized her for recording "Stand By Your Man," and while you might think, "oh, that was just a one-off novelty song," indeed, the forget-his-sins, just-keep-yourself-pretty-and-available theme is actually the basis for almost all her major hits. Wynette emerged as a strong woman, though, freeing herself from a destructive, codependent spiral with Jones, while retaining her position as one of the most potent country hitmakers of her time. Here's a quick look at her work...