Downtown Country
Encyclopedia
Downtown Country is the sixth studio album by American country
artist, Connie Smith
. The album was released in January 1967 on RCA Victor Records and was produced by Bob Ferguson
. The album featured Smith's major hit singles from 1966, "The Hurtin's All Over," which peaked within the Top 5 on the Billboard Magazine Country chart.
-oriented and featured cover versions of Pop music material as well. Violins, violas, and other orchestral arrangements were incorporated into the album's material to add a more Pop-sounding style. The album consisted of twelve tracks, many of which were cover versions, including Petula Clark
's "Downtown," Elvis Presley
's "It's Now or Never," Sandy Posey
's "Born a Woman," Lynn Anderson
's "Ride, Ride, Ride," and Connie Francis
's "My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own." The album was released on a 12-inch vinyl LP record
with six songs on each side of the record, and was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee
. Reviewed by Allmusic, Downtown Country was a given a rating of four out of five stars.
-penned, "The Hurtin's All Over." Released in September 1966, the song became a major country hit, peaking within the Top 5, reaching #3 on the Billboard Magazine Hot Country Songs
chart in early 1967. In addition, the album itself also reached a peak position. Downtown Country reached a peak of #5 on Billboards Top Country Albums chart, becoming Smith's last Top 5 album. It was Smith's first album to be released in 1967 as well.
Singles
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
artist, Connie Smith
Connie Smith
Connie Smith is an American country music artist. She began her career in 1963 after winning a local talent contest near Columbus, Ohio, which attracted the attention of country songwriter Bill Anderson...
. The album was released in January 1967 on RCA Victor Records and was produced by Bob Ferguson
Bob Ferguson (music)
Robert Bruce "Bob" Ferguson Sr was an American songwriter, record producer who was instrumental in establishing Nashville, Tennessee as a center of country music; movie producer, and Choctaw Indian historian. Ferguson wrote the bestselling songs "On the Wings of a Dove" and "The Carroll County...
. The album featured Smith's major hit singles from 1966, "The Hurtin's All Over," which peaked within the Top 5 on the Billboard Magazine Country chart.
Background
Downtown Country was a departure from Smith's previous albums, as most of the material was more PopPop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
-oriented and featured cover versions of Pop music material as well. Violins, violas, and other orchestral arrangements were incorporated into the album's material to add a more Pop-sounding style. The album consisted of twelve tracks, many of which were cover versions, including Petula Clark
Petula Clark
Petula Clark, CBE is an English singer, actress, and composer whose career has spanned seven decades.Clark's professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II...
's "Downtown," Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
's "It's Now or Never," Sandy Posey
Sandy Posey
Sandy Posey is an American popular singer, who enjoyed success in the 1960s with singles such as her 1966 recording of Martha Sharpe's composition, "Single Girl." She is often described as a country singer, although, like Skeeter Davis her output has varied...
's "Born a Woman," Lynn Anderson
Lynn Anderson
Lynn Rene Anderson is an American country music singer and equestrian known for a string of hits throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, most notably her Grammy Award-winning, worldwide mega-hit, " Rose Garden." Helped by her regular exposure on national television, Anderson was one of the most...
's "Ride, Ride, Ride," and Connie Francis
Connie Francis
Connie Francis is an American pop singer of Italian heritage and the top-charting female vocalist of the 1950s and 1960s. Although her chart success waned in the second half of the 1960s, Francis remained a top concert draw...
's "My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own." The album was released on a 12-inch vinyl LP record
LP record
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
with six songs on each side of the record, and was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
. Reviewed by Allmusic, Downtown Country was a given a rating of four out of five stars.
Release and aftermath
Downtown Country spawned only one single, the Harlan HowardHarlan Howard
Harlan Perry Howard was a prolific American songwriter, principally in country music. In a career spanning six decades, Howard wrote a large number of popular and enduring songs, recorded by a variety of different artists...
-penned, "The Hurtin's All Over." Released in September 1966, the song became a major country hit, peaking within the Top 5, reaching #3 on the Billboard Magazine Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...
chart in early 1967. In addition, the album itself also reached a peak position. Downtown Country reached a peak of #5 on Billboards Top Country Albums chart, becoming Smith's last Top 5 album. It was Smith's first album to be released in 1967 as well.
Side one
- "Ride, Ride, Ride" – (Liz AndersonLiz AndersonLiz Anderson was anAmerican country music singer/songwriter who was one of a wave of a new generation of female vocalists in the genre during the 1960's to write and record her own songs on a regular basis. Writing in The New York Times Bill Friskics-Warren noted, "Like her contemporary Loretta...
) - "DowntownDowntown (Petula Clark song)"Downtown" is a pop song composed by Tony Hatch which, as recorded by Petula Clark, became an international hit – No. 1 in the US and No. 2 in the UK – at the end of 1964.-Original recording:...
" – (Tony HatchTony HatchAnthony Peter "Tony" Hatch is an English composer, songwriter, pianist, music arranger and producer.-Early life and early career:...
) - "It's Now or NeverIt's Now or Never (song)"It's Now or Never" is a popular song recorded by Elvis Presley and published by Gladys Music, Elvis Presley's publishing company, in 1960. The melody of the song is adapted from the Italian standard, "'O Sole Mio", but the inspiration for it came from the song, "There's No Tomorrow", recorded by...
" – (Wally Gold, Aaron SchroederAaron SchroederAaron Schroeder was an American songwriter and music publisher.-Biography:Born Aaron Harold Schroder , he graduated from the school now known as the Fiorello H...
) - "Born a Woman" – (Martha Sharp)
- "Everybody Loves SomebodyEverybody Loves Somebody"Everybody Loves Somebody" is a song written in 1947 by Sam Coslow, Irving Taylor and Ken Lane. By 1964, the song had already been recorded by several artists , but without much success...
" – (Ken LaneKen LaneKermit "Ken" Lane was an American musician from Brooklyn, New York. He was best known to audiences as Dean Martin's pianist on The Dean Martin Show in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but was already well known in the film community before that.With Irving Taylor, Lane co-wrote "Everybody Loves...
, Irving TaylorIrving Taylor (songwriter)Irving Taylor , was a Jewish-American composer, lyricist, and screenwriter. He enlisted in the US Navy the day after Pearl Harbor...
) - "The Night Has a Thousand EyesThe Night Has a Thousand Eyes (song)"The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" is a popular song written by Benjamin Weisman, Dorothy Wayne, and Marilynn Garrett made famous by Bobby Vee on his 1963 Liberty Records album, The Night Has a Thousand Eyes. The popular single hit #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, #2 on the Easy Listening survey, and #9...
" – (Marilyn Garret, Dorothy Wayne, Ben WeismanBen WeismanBen Weisman was an eccentric American composer significant for having written more songs recorded by Elvis Presley than any other songwriter in history. The "Mad Professor" as Weisman was nicknamed by Elvis, worked with the King from 1956 to 1971...
)
Side two
- "It's Gonna Rain Today" – (Dallas FrazierDallas FrazierDallas Frazier is an American country musician and songwriter who had success in the 1950s and 60s.-Biography:Frazier was born in Spiro, Oklahoma but was raised in Bakersfield, California...
) - "My Heart Has a Mind Of Its OwnMy Heart Has a Mind of Its Own"My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own" is a song written by Howard Greenfield and Jack Keller which was a #1 hit for Connie Francis in 1960.-1960 hit:...
" – (Howard GreenfieldHoward GreenfieldHoward Greenfield was an American lyricist and songwriter, who for several years in the 1960s worked out of the famous Brill Building...
, Jack KellerJack Keller (songwriter)Jack Keller A legend in his own right, Jack Keller wrote hit songs in every genre of music over a period of nearly 40 years with success in New York, Los Angeles, and Nashville....
) - "The Hurtin's All Over" – (Harlan HowardHarlan HowardHarlan Perry Howard was a prolific American songwriter, principally in country music. In a career spanning six decades, Howard wrote a large number of popular and enduring songs, recorded by a variety of different artists...
) - "Your Mem'ry Comes Along" – (Paul Tannen, Johnny TillotsonJohnny TillotsonJohnny Tillotson is an American singer and songwriter. He enjoyed his greatest success in the early 1960s, when he scored 9 top-ten hits on the pop, country and adult contemporary billboard charts including "Poetry In Motion" and the self-penned "It Keeps Right On A-Hurtin'"...
) - "It'll Be Easy" – (Jan Crutchfield)
- "My Own Peculiar Way" – (Willie NelsonWillie NelsonWillie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...
)
Sales chart positions
Albums| Chart (1967) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Top Country Albums | 5 |
Singles
| Year | Song | Chart positions |
|---|---|---|
| US Country Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales... |
||
| 1966 | "The Hurtin's All Over" | 3 |