Maps of Music

Who Says God Is Dead! (1968)

Where the lyrics of Who Says God Is Dead! take you, and where it was really made.

This gospel album by a country star was recorded in a barn studio in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, and released with no singles.

Key places

Bradley's Barn in Mount Juliet (1967)

Recording site Bradley's Barn — The album's recording sessions began on June 28, 1967, at Bradley's Barn studio in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. Two more sessions followed there on December 18 and 19. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Who Says God Is Dead!: eleventh solo studio album and second gospel album by American country music singer-songwriter Loretta Lynn
• Released January 29, 1968, by Decca Records
• An inspirational album built from hymns, spirituals and gospel numbers
• Lynn's solo output at this point was already long-running, and this album added to it as a religious release

Background

• Second gospel album by Lynn
• Tracks include the hymns "The Old Rugged Cross" and "In the Garden"
• Gospel standards "I Believe" and "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" are included
• Lynn's own songs, such as the title track and "Mama, Why", sit alongside traditional and written-for-hymn material
• No singles were released from the album

Recording

• Sessions began June 28, 1967, at Bradley's Barn studio in Mount Juliet, Tennessee
• Two more sessions followed on December 18 and 19, 1967, at the same studio
• Owen Bradley produced the album
• Lynn sings lead vocals; The Jordanaires and the Anita Kerr Singers provide background vocals
• Floyd Cramer plays piano, Lloyd Green plays steel guitar, and Junior Huskey plays bass
• Grady Martin plays lead electric guitar, with Billy Sanford and Jerry Stembridge on guitar; Larry Estes plays drums
• Ernest Ray Lynn sings duet vocals on "Mama, Why?"

Sources: it.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, in its February 17, 1968 issue, called the album another beautiful religious LP from the darling of the country music field, and singled out the title track and "I Believe", "In the Garden" and "The Old Rugged Cross" for praise
• Cash Box, in its February 10, 1968 issue, described the set as another collection of inspirational tunes in Lynn's inimitable style
• Cash Box said country soul is the keynote of the set, with hymn-like spirituals such as "I Believe" placed beside rousing gospel numbers such as "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands"
• Cash Box called the album a heck of a catalog piece and said there was no doubt about its saleability

Records

• Peaked at No. 44 on the US Billboard Hot Country LPs chart
• That position was Lynn's lowest on the chart until the mid-1980s
• No singles were released, so initial sales were low

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• No singles were released from the album, so its early sales were low, despite Lynn's strong run on the country charts at the time.
• Ernest Ray Lynn, not a studio singer, sings the duet on "Mama, Why?".
• The album was recorded in two stages: a June 1967 session and a December 1967 pair of sessions, all at Bradley's Barn.
• Owen Bradley, who produced the album, ran the Bradley's Barn studio where it was recorded.
• The album sits between the mid-1960s run of country hits and Lynn's later chart years, and its position stayed Lynn's lowest on the chart until the mid-1980s.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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