Catalog Number (s): NL-89851

Released: 1986

Peaked: Didn’t Chart

Singles Released From Album: None

President of the International Federation of Country Music Compilation & Research: Bill Williams & Gary Wallington (WW Promotions)

Series Direction: Lee Simmonds
Side One: Track 2 with Jim Reeves, Tracks 6 & 9 with Don Gibson.
Side Two: Track 5 with Don Gibson; Track 8 with Jimmy Dean.

Side One

• 1. LET ME OFF AT THE CORNER (Larry Kronber – Lou Meridith)
• 2. LOVE IS NO EXCUSE (Justin Tubb)
• 3. GETTIN’ MARRIED HAS MADE US STRANGERS (Peter Udell – Gary Geld)
• 4. WOULD YOU HOLD IT AGAINST ME (Dottie West – Bill West)
• 5. MOMMY, CAN I STILL CALL HIM DADDY (Dottie West – Bill West)
• 6. THERE’S A STORY (GOIN’ AROUND) (Don Gibson)
• 7. PAPER MANSIONS (Ted Harris)
• 8. FOREVER YOURS (Dottie West)
• 9. RINGS OF GOLD (Gene Thomas)
• 10. LAST TIME I SAW HIM (Michael Masser – Pamela Sawyer)

Side Two

• 11. HERE COMES MY BABY (Dottie West – Bill West)
• 12. BEFORE THE RING ON YOUR FINGER TURNS GREEN (Boudleaux Bryant – Felice Bryant)
• 13. WHAT’S COME OVER MY BABY (Dottie West – Bill West)
• 14. LIKE A FOOL (Yvonne Devaney)
• 15: SWEET MEMORIES (Mickey Newbury)
• 16. COUNTRY GIRL (Dottie West – Red Lane)
• 17. RENO (Ruby Allman)
• 18. SLOWLY (WEbb Pierce – Tommy Hill)
• 19. HOUSE OF LOVE (Kenny O’ Dell)
• 20. COUNTRY SUNSHINE (Dottie West – Billy Davis)

Liner Notes

Dottie West was born in McMinnville, Tennessee on October 11, 1932. She spent her early years working on the family farm and helping her mother look after the rest of the family; she was one of ten children. From an early age she took an interest in music and was given her first guitar when she was only four. She started to write songs while she was still in junior school and at the age of twelve she had made her debut on local radio. By the time she was in her teens Dottie’s parents had split up and her mother had moved the family to town. While Mom worked in a burger joint, Dottie prepared the meals for the family. After leaving school she enrolled at Tennessee Technological University College at Cookesville to study music. At a freshman talent contest she sang with a band which featured electronics student Bill West on steel guitar. The two were married on June 8, 1952 and, after gaining their degrees, they moved to Cleveland. Over the next new years Bill worked as an electrician and the pair augmented their income with live performances and local television and radio work. In the early Sixties, while the Wests were visiting Nashville, Dottie met some executives from Starday Records. On the strength of a successful audition she signed a contract with the company and the family moved to Nashville. Asa result of her recording activities and her appearances in the Country Music Capitol Dottie became a popular attraction on the country entertainment scene. In May 1962 she cut four tracks at a session for Atlantic who released a single of Roger Miller’s composition I Think I’ll Pick Up My Heart and Go Home. Finally, a phone call from Chet Atkins led to a contract with RCA victor and the start of a fruitful association that lasted thirteen years and established Dottie west as one of America’s leading female country and western vocalists. In November 1963 “Let Me Off At The Corner” gave Dottie her first US Billboard country chart hit. It was the first of over thirty solo successes with RCA Victor; she also charted for the company with such duet successes as “Love Is No Excuse” In 1964 with Jim Reeves, “Rings Of Gold”, “Sweet Memories”, “There’s A Story” (1969), “Till I Can’t Take It Anymore” (1970) all with Don Gibson and “Slowly” (1971) with Jimmy Dean. Her success was due, in no small part, to her ability to select suitable material. This was a reflection of Dottie’s own skill as a songwriter, a craft that she had begun to develop as a schoolgirl. After their arrival in Nashville Dottie and Bill had benefited greatly from the advice of many leading composers including Roger Miller. In 1963 their composition “Is This Me” gave Jim Reeves a Top 5 country hit and spent over five months on the chart. In 1964 the duo’s composition “Here Comes My Baby” won Dottie the Grammy award for the best female country and western performance of the year; subsequently the song has become a country standard, recorded by a wide range of top stars including Eddy Arnold, Perry Como and Ray Price. Dottie’s comprehensive musical talent attracted the attention of the world famous Coca Cola soft drink company for whom she was commissioned to write and perform a number of advertising jingles. She won a Clio award, given for the best nationally broadcast radio and television commercials. Asa result of the wide media television exposure of the Coke adverts she picked up the image of Coca Cola’s country sunshine country girl and it was a great boost to her career. In 1973 she reached the No.2 spot on the US Country charts with Country Sunshine which she had written with Bill Davis. Apart from Davis and Bill West, Dottie also formed a successful writing partnership with Red Lane – in 1968 Dottie had a hit with the duo’s Country Girl and, in 1971, Merle Haggard recorded their excellent “One Row At A Time”. In the mid Seventies Dottie joined United Artists and soon chalked up a string of solo hits. A chance studio meeting, in 1978, with stablemate Kenny Rogers resulted in a best selling duet album and a number one single “Every Time Two Fools Collide”. It was the first of a number of successes for the duo who have had several hit singles and two gold albums. They won the Country Music Association’s Duo of the Year awards in 1978 and 1979. Quite apart from her success as a singer and a writer Dottie West has built up a strong following with her live performances. She joined the Grand Ole Opry in the mid Sixties and remained a regular right through to the Eighties. She has toured throughout the United States and Canada and appeared on television with such stars as Jimmy Dean, Carl Smith and Faron Young. In 1972 she appeared with Bill Anderson’s Po Boys as a late substitute for Jan Howard at Wembley’s International Festival of Country Music. Her unrehearsed set met with such a success that she returned the following year and gained four standing ovations. On April 5, 1978 Dottie and Kenny hosted an NCB television spectacular at Pontiac Michigan’s Silverdome which , with an attendance of 80,000, is still reckoned to be the biggest indoor country show of all time. On this album you will find twenty of Dottie West’s greatest U.S. Billboard Top Thirty country hits. The selection highlights Dottie’s work as a soloist and a duet artist and also features the talents of such great country stars as Jim Reeves, Don Gibson and Jimmy Dean. A number of songs were written by Dottie West and are a testament to her writing skill. Above all the collection highlights the highly individual vocal style and magnificent phrasing which has put Dottie West at the top of her profession.

 

Bill Williams