Maps of Music

The Ways to Love a Man (1970)

Where the lyrics of The Ways to Love a Man take you, and where it was really made.

The album took its name from a 1969 song, and that same title track went on to top the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.

Key places

Recorded at Columbia Studio B in Nashville (1970)

Recording site Nashville — Sessions for the album were conducted at Columbia Studio B in Nashville, Tennessee, between January and November 1969. The point uses the city center, not the exact building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• The Ways to Love a Man: studio album by American country artist Tammy Wynette
• Released January 26, 1970 on Epic Records
• Seventh studio album of Wynette's career
• 11 tracks, mixing original songs and cover recordings
• The title track was the album's only single included
• The title track became a number one country song in North America

Background

• Wynette reached her peak commercial success during the late sixties
• She had a string of number one country singles, including 'I Don't Wanna Play House', 'Take Me to Your World' and 'D-I-V-O-R-C-E'
• Her signature tune 'Stand by Your Man' describes how housewives accept their husband's behavior
• The 1969 song 'The Ways to Love a Man' was penned by Billy Sherrill, Glenn Sutton and Wynette herself
• The song's production and story line were echoed in Wynette's follow-up releases
• The song inspired the title of Wynette's next studio album

Recording

• Produced by Billy Sherrill
• Sessions conducted at Columbia Studio B in Nashville, Tennessee
• Recording sessions took place between January and November 1969
• Three covers of previously recorded songs
• Covers include Johnny Mathis's pop song 'The Twelfth of Never' and George Jones's 'I'll Share My World with You', which Jones originally had as a number two country song in 1969
• Margie Singleton's 'Enough of a Woman' is also included
• Wynette and husband George Jones co-wrote 'I Know' and 'These Two'
• The pair had married during this period

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · pt.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Early life

• Born Virginia Wynette Pugh on May 5, 1942, in Itawamba County, Mississippi.
• Raised by her mother, stepfather and maternal grandparents; picked cotton on the family farm as a child.
• Married Euple Byrd at age 17; divorced in 1965.

Formation

• Moved to Nashville in 1966 and signed with Epic Records, produced by Billy Sherrill.
• Debut single "Apartment No. 9" (1966) reached number 44 on the US country chart.

Career

• Twenty singles topped the US country chart, including "Stand by Your Man" and "D-I-V-O-R-C-E".
• Joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1969 and won two Grammy Awards.
• Recorded numerous duets with George Jones before their divorce in 1975.
• Returned as a solo headliner and continued charting into the 1980s.
• Collaborated with KLF on "Justified and Ancient" (1991) and with Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton on Honky Tonk Angels (1993).
• Died April 6, 1998, in Nashville at age 55.

Legacy

• Estimated 30 million records sold worldwide; inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1998.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic rated The Ways to Love a Man four out of five stars.
• Erlewine compared the album's production and songs to Stand by Your Man, noting that it followed the same formula
• Erlewine said the production was more pop-influenced than that of its predecessor
• Erlewine concluded that the sustained mood is appealing, even seductive, but a shade less compelling than the immediate predecessor
• David Cantwell of Rolling Stone praised the versatility of Wynette's vocal delivery
• Cantwell reviewed the album in his 2020 piece highlighting '12 Classic Country Albums Turning 20 in 2020'

Reappraisal

• Critics and journalists gave the album a positive reception in the years that followed

Records

• Billboard 200: peaked at number 83 in 1970
• Billboard Top Country Albums: reached number three by June 1970
• Title track topped the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart by October 1969
• Title track reached number 81 on the Billboard Hot 100
• Title track reached number 18 on the Billboard adult contemporary charts
• Title track topped Canada's RPM country chart
• Originally offered as a vinyl LP with five songs on Side A and six on Side B
• A similar version was also released as a cassette

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Glenn Sutton said Wynette contributed nothing to the composition of 'Singing My Song' but kept a writing credit, theorizing she may not have liked the song and figured the credit would make her like it more.
• 'Singing My Song' first appeared on Wynette's 1969 compilation Tammy's Greatest Hits.
• Wynette and George Jones married during the recording period and would eventually record as a duet team.
• Margie Singleton released her own version of her composition 'Enough of a Woman' as a single in 1971.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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