Crystal Gayle Returns With First New Album In 16 Years

Crystal Gayle is set to release her first new album in nearly 16 years, You Don’t Know Me, on Sept. 6. With a pre-sale beginning August 9, the new album is being released by Southpaw Musical Productions, and was co-produced, recorded and mixed by Crystal’s son Christos Gatzimos. On the new collection, the acclaimed stylist explores the classics of country legends like George Jones, Patsy Cline, Buck Owens and Eddy Arnold on tunes like “Hello Walls,” “Walkin’ After Midnight,” and “You Don’t Know Me.”

“This wasn’t a stretch at all,” said Gayle of the new album. “This project is a labor of love that my son, Christos, and I produced together. It is filled with country classics that I grew up singing. They are very much a part of my history and I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time. I feel very lucky to have known and worked with many of the artists who had the original hits.”

The project’s opening track, “Ribbon Of Darkness,” was written by Gordon Lightfoot and originally released in 1965 as a single by Marty Robbins. The song holds a special place in Crystal’s heart because it was the first song she performed at her Grand Ole Opry debut. Another popular classic country hit on the album, “Crying Time,” was penned and recorded by Buck Owens, whom she sang with very early in her career.

And the album’s closing track, “Put It Off Until Tomorrow” brings Crystal together with her sisters Peggy Sue Wright and icon Loretta Lynn for a highly anticipated first-ever recorded trio of them together. The song also just happens to be co-written by another female powerhouse legend, Dolly Parton.

“Loretta and Peggy made this album very special by singing “Put It Off Until Tomorrow” with me. It is a song that we have performed together throughout the years. This is the one and only trio performance on record. We’ve done the Boston Pops together. We performed together in Lake Tahoe and Reno and a few things like that. But we’ve never actually made a record together. Peggy Sue still comes out on the road with me, singing backup harmonies. I recorded the track, then Patsy, Loretta’s daughter, asked her to sing on my album. Loretta is such an incredible singer. She got through the song right away and then went, “What’s next?” We should have recorded the whole album together! Loretta had her stroke not long after we recorded this.”

Track Listing:
1. Ribbon Of Darkness (Gordon Lightfoot)
2. You Win Again (Hank Williams)
3. Please Help Me I’m Falling (Don Robertson, Hal Blair)
4. Am I That Easy To Forget (Carl Belew, W.S. Stevenson, Shelby Singleton)
5. Hello Walls (Willie Nelson)
6. You Never Were Mine (Jay Lee Webb)
7. Just One More (George Jones)
8. There Goes My Everything (Dallas Frazier)
9. That’s The Way Love Goes (Lefty Frizzell, Sanger D Shafer)
10. Cryin’ Time (Buck Owens)
11. I’ve Seen That Look On Me A Thousand Times (Harlan Howard, Shirl Milete)
12. Walkin’ After Midnight (Alan Block, Donn Hecht)
13. You Don’t Know Me (Eddie Arnold, Cindy Walker)
14. Put It Off Until Tomorrow featuring Loretta Lynn and Peggy Sue (Dolly Parton, Bill Owens)
BONUS TRACK: I Cried The Blue (Right Out of My Eyes)

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Lorie Hollabaugh

Hollabaugh, a staff writer at MusicRow magazine, has over 20 years of music business experience and has written for publications including American Profile, CMA Close Up, Nashville Arts And Entertainment, The Boot and Country Weekly. She has a Broadcast Journalism and Speech Communication degree from Texas Christian University, (go Horned Frogs), and welcomes your feedback or story ideas at [email protected].

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