THE LINER NOTES

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When the label, Lynn and producer Glenn Sutton gathered in the control room at CBS Records to hear the final takes for this 1973 release, it was immediately clear what the single and the title track would be.

 

In one of Sutton’s most poignant and personal songs, he’s given the love of his life one of the great ballads of her career. Deeply touching, Lynn’s vocal is both simple and elegant, framed with Sutton’s signature Countrypolitan production style, giving it a classic pop feel reminiscent of Dinah Shore and Rosemary Clooney. The perfect centerpiece for this standout ninth LP from her extraordinary Columbia catalog; an eleven-song set that features some of Sutton’s tightest and most fluid production, layering virtually every track perfectly for Lynn’s vocal.

 

And in one case, perfectly for his own. For the hard core collector, ‘Keep Me In Mind’ is the only album out of the entire Lynn Anderson catalog of recordings that includes a duet with one of country music’s most prolific writers and producers, and the guy that went home with her every night. Buoyant, honest and touching, “A Perfect Match” is the rare uptempo duet that works—on every level; a testament to their talent and love for each other in two verses and a chorus.

 

But it’s the last track in this latest collection that fully captures Sutton’s gift in composing stories tailored for his wife and partner. Like her take on Ian Tyson’s “Someday Soon”, “Rodeo Cowboy” reveals the very essence of who and what Lynn Anderson is. Channeling Tom T. Hall, Mickey Newberry and Bobbi Gentry, Sutton has crafted less of a song than a long-form verse; a tale weaving two distinct, intertwined stories into one; two stories that can both be read on the face of a silver belt buckle; a memento that brought to the heart a simple, but lasting message…

 

Keep me in mind.

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J Buck Ford