Maps of Music

We Only Make Believe (1971)

Where the lyrics of We Only Make Believe take you, and where it was really made.

This was the first studio album the two singers made together, and it became the first of ten albums they would release as a duo.

Key places

Recording sessions at Bradley's Barn (1970)

Recording site Bradley's Barn — The album was recorded over three days, 9 to 11 November 1970, at Bradley's Barn in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. The site is listed as the recording place for the album. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• We Only Make Believe: first collaborative studio album by Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn
• Released February 1, 1971 by Decca Records
• First of ten albums the duo would release together
• Opens with a cover of Twitty's solo hit It's Only Make Believe
• Contains tracks written by Lynn, including Don't Tell Me You're Sorry
• Also includes I'm So Used to Loving You, another Twitty composition

Background

• It's Only Make Believe was co-written by Twitty and Jack Nance
• Lynn wrote two tracks for the album
• The album's only single, After the Fire Is Gone, was released in January 1971
• The single reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot Country Singles chart
• The album therefore arrived with a hit single already in circulation

Recording

• Sessions ran on 9, 10 and 11 November 1970
• Location: Bradley's Barn in Mount Juliet, Tennessee
• Owen Bradley produced the album
• Jim Williamson was the engineer
• Session players included Ray Edenton, John Hughey and Hargus Robbins, with The Jordanaires on backing vocals

Cover

• Photography credited to Larry Barbier

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Early life

• Born Loretta Webb on April 14, 1932, in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky, the oldest daughter in a coal miner's family.
• Married Oliver Vanetta "Doolittle" Lynn in 1948 at age 15; the marriage lasted almost 50 years until his death in 1996.
• Began singing in local clubs in the late 1950s and formed her own band, the Trailblazers.

Career

• Signed with Zero Records in 1960; her first release was "Whispering Sea" and "I'm a Honky Tonk Girl".
• Joined Decca Records through the Wilburn Brothers; joined the Grand Ole Opry on September 25, 1962.
• Scored a string of hits from the 1960s, including "You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My Man)" and "Don't Come Home A-Drinkin'".
• Wrote songs on women's issues such as birth control ("The Pill") and double standards ("Rated 'X'"), many inspired by her own marriage.
• Recorded five No. 1 duets with Conway Twitty between 1971 and 1975.
• Her 1976 autobiography Coal Miner's Daughter became a bestseller and inspired the 1980 Oscar-winning film starring Sissy Spacek.
• Named Artist of the Decade for the 1970s by the Academy of Country Music, the only woman to win this honor.
• Released Van Lear Rose (2004), produced by Jack White, which won the Grammy for Best Country Album.
• Had a stroke in 2017 and broke her hip in 2018, which ended her touring after 57 years.
• Died on October 4, 2022, at age 90, at her home in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Billboard (issue dated February 20, 1971): called After the Fire Is Gone the hit on the LP and said the duo had established themselves as a major country duo
• Billboard: named It's Only Make Believe and Pickin' Wild Mountain Berries as standout tunes and said the album was bound to sell big
• Cash Box (February 13, 1971): called the two singers among the most highly acclaimed country singers and said the LP would establish them as one of the most popular and talented country duos of all time
• Record World: said the album was the one everyone had been anticipating for weeks, and expected rock-a-billy fans to react strongly to side two, cut one

Records

• US Billboard Hot Country LPs: No. 3
• US Billboard Top LPs: No. 78, the duo's highest-charting album on that chart
• RIAA: Gold certification in 1988
• Single After the Fire Is Gone: No. 1 on US Billboard Hot Country Singles, No. 56 on the Hot 100, No. 4 on the RPM Country Singles chart in Canada

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The album's first track is a cover of Twitty's solo hit It's Only Make Believe, which he co-wrote with Jack Nance.
• Billboard singled out Pickin' Wild Mountain Berries as having definite hit appeal.
• The Jordanaires provided background vocals on the album.
• Record World expected rock-a-billy fans to react strongly to cut one on side two.
• Cash Box predicted the LP would place the duo among the most popular and talented country duos of all time.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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