Stand By Your Man
Tammy Wynette's third album (released in early 1969) certainly doesn't mess with the image Wynette was solidifying with the title song, her fourth solo No. 1 country single. Virtually every tune is about a broken family, the biggest tearjerker in a whole set of 'em being "Don't Make Me Go to School," which tells the story from a fourth-grade child's point of view. On "There's Quite a Woman," one of two bonus tracks, Wynette worries about whether her daughter will be able to cut it as a mom and wife. For all its limited scope (and interest), the CD does recall how much of her early work managed a '40s and '50s pop feel, despite stone country songs and instrumentation. And Wynette's voice already has that irresistible throb, though it's not as expansive as it would become, and producer Billy Sherrill has to hide her shortcomings under bombastic production.--John Morthland