Country Songs for City Folks
Country Songs for City Folks | ||||
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Studio album by Jerry Lee Lewis | ||||
Released | 1965 | |||
Recorded | August–September 1965 in Nashville, Tennessee | |||
Genre | Country | |||
Length | 16:02 (Side A) 16:19 (Side B) 32:21 (Total) | |||
Label | Smash | |||
Producer | Shelby Singleton | |||
Jerry Lee Lewis chronology | ||||
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Country Songs for City Folks is the fifth studio album by Jerry Lee Lewis released on the Smash label in 1965.
Background
After leaving Sun Records in 1963 for Smash, Lewis embarked on what is often referred to as his "wilderness years," characterized by constant touring and periodic recording dates that produced albums which failed to make any significant impact in the charts. In 1965, producers Shelby Singleton and Jerry Kennedy opted to cut a country-themed album on Lewis under the title Country Songs for City Folks, although the title was about as far as the concept went; the songs were straight forward readings of recent chart hits that featured Lewis's trademark piano style and soulful singing. In the early 1960s, country stars such as Marty Robbins, who released Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs in 1959, and Lewis's fellow Sun contemporary Johnny Cash, who began recording a string of themed albums beginning with Ride This Train in 1960, had pioneered the "concept album" in country music, and this approach was taken with Lewis.
Recording
As Joe Bonomo observes in his book Jerry Lee Lewis: Lost and Found, part of the reason for the lack of original tunes on the album was that "Jerry Lee's iffy chart life had had the predictable consequence of few songwriters knocking on his door," and that the collection of recent hits "infused the album with a contemporary feel, but underscored the crass 'covers' feel of the enterprise." Nonetheless, the album foreshadows Lewis's re-emergence as a country megastar later in the decade, as he gives committed readings to songs from a genre that he had demonstrated a mastery of when he took "You Win Again" to number 4 in 1957. Country Songs for City Folks might be best remembered for introducing Welshman and Lewis fan Tom Jones to the song "Green Green Grass of Home"; after hearing Jerry Lee's rendition, he rushed into the studio and recorded his own version, which became an international hit.
Jerry Lee's younger sister Linda Gail Lewis sings on the Gold-rush saga "North to Alaska".
Reception
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Record Mirror | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Country Songs for City Folks did not crack the Billboard chart, although it did rise to number 39 on the country albums chart when it was released again under the title All Country in the wake of Lewis's comeback four years later. Bruce Eder of AllMusic calls it "an astoundingly good country album," singling out the performances on Willie Nelson's "Funny How Time Slips Away" and Hank Thompson's honky-tonk lament "The Wild Side of Life." In 2009, biographer Joe Bonomo observed that the lesser tracks on the album betray Smash's conservatism, citing the "innocuous folk-pop" of "Walk Right In" and "King of the Road" and the "superfluous" versions of "Ring of Fire" and a third recording of "Crazy Arms." In 2014, Lewis admitted to biographer Rick Bragg, "That was a hangup for me, tryin' to do a song that's already been a multimillion seller. You don't tackle somethin' like that. That wasn't Jerry Kennedy's fault. That was my fault. I said, 'I wanna do 'Detroit City.' 'Cause I can beat the original on it.'"
Track listing
Side A
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Green, Green Grass of Home" | Curly Putman | 2:43 |
2. | "Wolverton Mountain" | 2:59 | |
3. | "Funny How Time Slips Away" | Willie Nelson | 2:58 |
4. | "North to Alaska" (featuring Linda Gail Lewis) | Mike Phillips | 2:01 |
5. | "The Wild Side of Life" |
| 3:12 |
6. | "Walk Right In" |
| 2:09 |
Total length: | 16:02 |
Side B
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "City Lights" | Bill Anderson | 2:28 |
2. | "Ring of Fire" |
| 2:17 |
3. | "Detroit City" | 2:47 | |
4. | "Crazy Arms" |
| 2:31 |
5. | "King of the Road" | Roger Miller | 2:16 |
6. | "Seasons of My Heart" |
| 4:00 |
Total length: | 16:19 |
References
- ^ Jones, Peter; Jopling, Norman (5 March 1966). "Jerry Lee Lewis: Country Songs For City Folk" (PDF). Record Mirror. No. 260. p. 8. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 April 2022. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
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- Jerry Lee Lewis
- Jerry Lee's Greatest!
- Golden Hits of Jerry Lee Lewis
- The Return of Rock
- Country Songs for City Folks
- Memphis Beat
- Soul My Way
- Another Place, Another Time
- She Still Comes Around
- Sings the Country Music Hall of Fame Hits, Vol. 1
- Sings the Country Music Hall of Fame Hits, Vol. 2
- The Golden Cream of the Country
- She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye
- In Loving Memories: The Jerry Lee Lewis Gospel Album
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- Touching Home
- Would You Take Another Chance on Me?
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- Odd Man In
- Country Class
- Country Memories
- Jerry Lee Keeps Rockin'
- Jerry Lee Lewis
- When Two Worlds Collide
- Killer Country
- My Fingers Do the Talkin'
- I Am What I Am
- Young Blood
- Last Man Standing
- Mean Old Man
- Rock & Roll Time
- Together (with Linda Gail Lewis)
- Million Dollar Quartet (with Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley)
- The Survivors Live (with Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins)
- Class of '55 (with Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Roy Orbison)
- Live at the Star Club, Hamburg
- The Greatest Live Show on Earth
- By Request: More of the Greatest Live Show on Earth
- Live at the International, Las Vegas
- Last Man Standing Live
- Jamboree (1957)
- American Hot Wax (1978)
- Great Balls of Fire! (1989)
- Dick Tracy (1990)
- Original Golden Hits, Vol. 1
- Original Golden Hits, Vol. 2
- Rockin' Rhythm and Blues
- A Taste of Country
- Best of Jerry Lee Lewis
- All Killer, No Filler: The Anthology
- A Whole Lotta...Jerry Lee Lewis: The Definitive Retrospective
- "Another Place, Another Time"
- "Baby Baby Bye Bye"
- "Baby, Hold Me Close"
- "Break-Up"
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- "Chantilly Lace"
- "Cold, Cold Heart"
- "Come as You Were"
- "Crown Victoria Custom '51"
- "Crazy Arms"
- "Don't Let Me Cross Over" (with Linda Gail Lewis)
- "Down the Line"
- "End of the Road"
- "Fools like Me"
- "Great Balls of Fire"
- "Hi-Heel Sneakers"
- "High School Confidential"
- "How's My Ex Treating You"
- "I Can't Seem to Say Goodbye"
- "I'll Make It All Up to You"
- "I'm on Fire"
- "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry"
- "In the Mood"
- "Invitation to Your Party"
- "It'll Be Me"
- "Jackson" (with Linda Gail Lewis)
- "Lewis Boogie"
- "Me and Bobby McGee"
- "Meat Man"
- "Money (That's What I Want)"
- "Old Black Joe"
- "Once More with Feeling"
- "One Has My Name (The Other Has My Heart)"
- "One Minute Past Eternity"
- "Pen and Paper"
- "She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye"
- "She Still Comes Around (To Love What's Left of Me)"
- "She Was My Baby (He Was My Friend)"
- "Sixteen Candles"
- "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"
- "Seasons of My Heart"
- "Sweet Little Sixteen"
- "Teenage Letter"
- "There Must Be More to Love Than This"
- "To Make Love Sweeter for You"
- "Touching Home"
- "Turn On Your Love Light"
- "What's Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made a Loser Out of Me)"
- "What'd I Say"
- "When He Walks on You (Like You Have Walked On Me)"
- "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On"
- "Who's Gonna Play This Old Piano?"
- "Wild One"
- "Would You Take Another Chance on Me"
- "You Win Again"
- Jamboree (1957)
- High School Confidential (1958)
- Be My Guest (1965)
- 33⅓ Revolutions per Monkee (1969)
- American Hot Wax (1978)
- Myra Gale Brown (cousin/wife)
- Linda Gail Lewis (sister)
- Mickey Gilley (cousin)
- Carl McVoy (cousin)
- Jimmy Swaggart (double first cousin)
- Discography
- Great Balls of Fire!
- Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind
- Walk the Line
- Jerry Kennedy
- Kenny Lovelace
- Mack Vickery