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┌────────┐
────┤ Info ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
└────────┘
Artist | Linda Martell
Title | Color Me Country
Genre | Country Format | Album
Source | CDDA Time | 27:37
Label | Plantation Records Store | 2014
Catalog | PCD9 Rip | 2016
Bitrate | 230 kbps Size | 48.04 MB
Freq | 44.1 kHz Encoder | Lame 3.98.4
┌────────┐
────┤ Tracks ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
└────────┘
01. Bad Case Of The Blues 2:31
02. San Francisco Is A Lonely Town 3:04
03. The Wedding Cake 2:32
04. Tender Leaves Of Love 2:49
05. I Almost Called Your Name 2:08
06. Color Him Father 2:41
07. There Never Was A Time 2:52
08. You're Crying Boy, Crying 2:22
09. Old Letter Song 2:38
10. Then I'll Be Over You 1:55
11. Before The Next Teardrop Falls 2:05
┌────────┐
────┤ Notes ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
└────────┘
Linda Martell was one of the few African-American women to become a popular
country music singer. She was born in Leesville, South Carolina and started
out singing R&B in Columbia clubs. She got her start in country music in
1969 when she signed with Shelby Singleton's Plantation label. That summer
she made the Top 25 with "Color Him Father," which helped her become the
first black woman to appear on the Grand Ole Opry. In 1970 she scored two
Top 60 hits with "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" and "Bad Case of the
Blues," and never again appeared on the country music charts.
Once you get past Charley Pride and Stoney Edwards, you'd be hard-pressed
to name an African-American country music star of the '60s and '70s (or any
decade, for that matter), but for a brief moment Linda Martell seemed
poised to crack two glass ceilings at once. Martell was the first
African-American woman to sing on the Grand Ole Opry, and she managed to
land two singles in the Country & Western Top 40 in 1969 before she quit
the music business to raise a family. "Color Me Country" was Martell's
first and only album, and while it's by no means a lost classic, it's a
fine set of songs from a singer who clearly had the talent for bigger
things. The set includes Martell's versions of "Color Him Father" and
"Before the Next Teardrop Falls," both of which hit the Billboard C&W
charts, and her rich, smooth voice does wonders with the Winstons' hit
about accepting your new stepdad (which fares well in a subtle C&W
arrangement fortified with pedal steel) as well several brokenhearted
weepers on board ('I Almost Called Your Name' could almost pass for a
classic Patsy Cline number).
Martell even displays some credible yodeling skills on the leadoff track,
"Bad Case Of The Blues", and "There Never Was A Time" is a heart-tugging
tale of hard times that shows a strong Merle Haggard influence and shows
Martell could handle a broadly emotional tune without sounding sappy or
overly theatrical. Martell also had a career as an R&B singer, but "Color
Me Country" clearly aims to sell her to the C&W market, so she doesn't get
to show off her soulful side on this set, but as a country vocalist, she
was clearly above average, and with better promotion and production (Shelby
Singleton, Jr.'s studio skills are average at best), she might have become
the female Charley Pride. That was not to be, but "Color Me Country" makes
it clear that wasn't because of a lack of talent, and this is a fascinating
and entertaining curio from a forgotten country music pioneer.
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