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| Sings the Country Music Hall of Fame Hits, Vol. 1 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1969 | |||
| Recorded | Columbia Studios, Nashville, Tennessee | |||
| Genre | Country | |||
| Length | 30:39 | |||
| Label | Smash | |||
| Producer | Jerry Kennedy | |||
| Jerry Lee Lewis chronology | ||||
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Sings the Country Music Hall of Fame Hits, Vol. 1 is the 10th album by Jerry Lee Lewis released on Smash Records in 1969.
After his resurgence on the country charts, Lewis and producer Jerry Kennedy opted to record two albums worth of classic country songs in four sessions spread over two days as a way to fulfill his obligation to his record label, Smash, for 1969. As country music historian Colin Escott notes in his essay for the 1986 retrospective The Killer: The Smash/Mercury Years, "Not only did this avoid the problem of screening new material but it also gained Jerry some instant credibility in his new found quest to be viewed as a country artist." The album includes country standards such as "Sweet Dreams", made famous by Patsy Cline, and the classic Hank Williams lament "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry". The duet "Jackson" features Linda Gail Lewis. Critics have often cited the rushed nature of the sessions as a reason for the album's uniform feel when compared to Lewis's previous albums Another Place, Another Time and She Still Comes Around , but in truth the tight schedule likely had little impact since Lewis would usually record no more than two takes of a song if he could get away with it. The album soared to number 2 on the Billboard country albums chart.
It was during this period that Lewis appeared at the Toronto Peace Festival in front of twenty thousand people, sharing the bill with John Lennon and Alice Cooper as well as fellow rock and roll icons Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, and Little Richard. Lewis also appeared in a television special called The Many Sounds of Jerry Lee, which showcased "the Killer" performing an array of diverse music.
The album appeared on the Billboard 200 on May 10, 1969, staying for ten weeks and reaching a peak position of #127. [1]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "I Wonder Where You Are Tonight" | Johnny Bond | 2:39 |
| 2. | "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" | Hank Williams | 2:48 |
| 3. | "Jambalaya" | Williams | 2:13 |
| 4. | "Four Walls" |
| 2:43 |
| 5. | "Heartaches by the Number" | Harlan Howard | 2:34 |
| 6. | "Mom and Dad's Waltz" | Lefty Frizzell | 2:09 |
| 7. | "Sweet Dreams" | Don Gibson | 3:07 |
| 8. | "Born to Lose" |
| 2:24 |
| 9. | "Oh, Lonesome Me" | Gibson | 2:49 |
| 10. | "You've Still Got a Place in My Heart" | Leon Payne | 2:25 |
| 11. | "I Love You Because" | Payne | 2:24 |
| 12. | "Jackson" (with Linda Gail Lewis) | 2:24 | |
| Total length: | 30:39 | ||
Jerry Lee Lewis was an American pianist, singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as "rock 'n' roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock 'n' roll and rockabilly music, Lewis made his first recordings in 1952 at Cosimo Matassa's J&M Studio in New Orleans, Louisiana, and early recordings in 1956 at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee. "Crazy Arms" sold 300,000 copies in the Southern United States, but it was his 1957 hit "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" that shot Lewis to worldwide fame. He followed this with the major hits "Great Balls of Fire", "Breathless", and "High School Confidential".
"Chantilly Lace" is a 1958 rock and roll song by The Big Bopper. It was produced by Jerry Kennedy, and reached No. 6 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Bruce Channel covered the song on his 1962 album, Hey! Baby. The song was also covered by Jerry Lee Lewis in 1972.
"From a Jack to a King" is a country music song. Originally a crossover hit for artist Ned Miller, who also wrote "Dark Moon", "A Falling Star", and many other country songs. It has been covered extensively by country music artists.
"High School Confidential" is a 1958 song written by Jerry Lee Lewis and Ron Hargrave as the title song of the MGM movie of the same name directed by Jack Arnold.
Another Place, Another Time is the eighth album by the musician Jerry Lee Lewis, released in 1968 by Smash Records. It was Lewis's "comeback album" and features a stripped down, "hardcore" country sound that yielded two top five country hits, his first major chart success in a decade.
She Still Comes Around (To Love What's Left of Me) is the ninth album by Jerry Lee Lewis. It was released on Smash Records in 1969.
Together is a duet album by Jerry Lee Lewis and his sister Linda Gail Lewis. The album was released in 1969 on the Smash record label.
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