I’ve got this complex “chance operation” generator that I use to pick the music I listen to on daily basis. This method involves a pair of dice, a set of Scrabble tiles and a bunch of playing cards and it’s really, really geeky.
Recently, this music selection method informed me that I needed to listen to Diamond Duet–Our Tenth Anniversary Album by Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty. Inspired by this choice, and in need of some proper music that would inspire me to do some housecleaning and/or finishing touches on my upcoming book, Surreal Record Hop, I decided that I’d listen to all of my Loretta/Conway duet LPs. Since many of these are probably available at a thrift shop near you, I’m now going to provide a quick chronological overview of the Loretta/Conway discography (at least those titles within it that I own), in case you should encounter any of these records during your upcoming thrifting expeditions.
First, some basic country music history. Both Conway and Loretta were at the top of their games when they first began to record duets in 1970. This collaboration was big, people: imagine if Lady Gaga and Justin Timberlake decided to spend the next ten years recording duet albums, in addition to their solo albums. That’s how big the creative union of Conway and Loretta was. In fact, Conway and Loretta may have even been a bigger deal than a hypothetical GaGaLake (TimberGaGa?) partnership would be.
These albums have the classic sound and feel of 1960s-into-’70s era country music. This is due not only to Conway and Loretta’s talents but also to expert production by the legendary Owen Bradley and the best-in-the-business Nashville session players who perform on the records.
First up is the 1970 duo debut, We Only Make Believe. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about the first track, a new version of Twitty’s iconic “It’s Only Make Believe.” Conway & Loretta can’t top the overall feel of the original, but their version of the song is just fine. From there, the album is a template of the duo albums to follow: a selection of weepy ballads, such as “We’ve Closed Our Eyes to Shame” and “Will You Visit Me on Sunday,” (in which the Loretta character is spending a last evening with the Conway character, who is going to be hanged in the morning); and lighter tunes, including “Don’t Tell Me You’re Sorry” and “Pickin’ Wild Mountain Berries.” Contains the Conway/Loretta classic, “After The Fire Has Gone.”
1971′s Lead Me On proved to be a worthy followup. When I asked my older son what was happening on the cover of the album, in which Conway & Loretta stand solemnly in the moonlight, Jimmy replied “He’s about to tell her he’s a werewolf.” I think Jim might be right about that, though none of the songs explicitly mention the lycanthropic leanings of either Loretta or Conway. But there are plenty of songs about lovin’ and cheatin’ and how much Loretta and Conway love lovin’ and cheatin’, though they do feel somewhat conflicted about the cheatin’.
I started the day with four Conway/Loretta albums. Then, after listening to the first two records, my younger son Chris and I went to lunch and stopped at the local Goodwill store, where I scored the following two albums, for just a quarter apiece:
Country Partners, from 1974, opens with a great Conway-penned breakup song “As Soon As I Hang Up The Phone,” with Conway’s vocals actually recorded over the phone for maximum heart-tugging effect. According to the liner notes for Lynn’s excellent Honky Tonk Girl compilation: “At the end of the first take, Conway hung up the phone a little too hard; at least Loretta thought so. She was so upset, she ran to the booth where he was and told him not to ever hang up like that on her again.”
On the lighter side, Country Partners includes a fun cover of Jim Stafford’s “Spiders and Snakes.”
United Talent (1976) is another winner and even includes a Bobby Bare-penned topical number, “God Bless America Again,” that seems oddly relevant these days, in a “the more things change the more they stay the same” kind of way. But mostly the songs are about cheatin’ and lovin’.
Diamond Duet, a weak 1979 effort (tellingly not produced by Bradley) seems to be the point at which Conway and Loretta’s creative partnership ran out of gas. The album goes for a more adult contemporary sound and covers of “Hit the Road Jack” and “Baby Don’t Get Hooked On Me” just don’t quite satisfy. I’m thinking this may have been the last joint Conway/Loretta effort though the two remained friends: when Conway became seriously ill he was brought to the same hospital where Loretta’s husband was recovering from open-heart surgery. Conway passed on during that hospital visit, but Loretta was able to see him before he died.
One final album from my collection is the perfect place to start your exploration of Conway & Loretta’s work: The Very Best of Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty (1979) is an excellent “one stop shopping” collection of the pair’s biggest hits, including the transcendent and oddly sexy “You’re The Reason Our Kids Are Ugly,” a song that name checks Ruth Buzzi. The back cover of The Very Best of… conveniently features an “Other Conway & Loretta albums you’ll enjoy” photo montage that includes the records I haven’t heard yet. But I have a feeling you’ll be able to find some of them at your favorite thrift shop, in the event that I’ve stoked your interest.
At the end of the day, I was hugely satisfied by my day of lovin’, cheatin’ and thriftin’ with Loretta & Conway. Here’s a set list of some of their best duets:
“It’s Only Make Believe”
“We’ve Closed Our Eyes to Shame”
“Will You Visit Me On Sunday?”
“Don’t Tell Me Your Sorry”
“Pickin’ Wild Mountain Berries”
“After the Fire Has Gone”
“Lead Me On”
“As Soon as I Hang Up the Phone”
“Spiders and Snakes”
“God Bless America Again”
“You’re The Reason Our Kids Are Ugly”
“Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man”
Rich Wilhelm is a writer/editor, as well as an amateur photographer/videographer and a lifelong record collector. Rich is a veteran blogger whose thoughts on a wide variety of topics can be found at The Dichotomy of the Dog (http://marimbadog.livejournal.com), and he is the author of the forthcoming Surreal Record Hop—Seven Years as a Cool and Strange Music Correspondent. Rich lives with his wife Donna, his sons Jimmy and Chris, and their dog Jolie, in Phoenixville, Pa.
Like Lovin’, Cheatin’ and Thriftin’ with Conway and Loretta? Check out Rich’s other articles, Thrift Shop Record Hop and A New Life for Old Records. Genius!
Hi there. I'm Nicole. I live in New York City, in a small apartment full of strange little things. In addition to running Thrift Store Confidential 
