The classic country songs that producer Billy Sherrill, who died on Tuesday at age 78, helped deliver to the world have become American standards: “Stand By Your Man,” “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” “D-I-V-O-R-C-E,” “Behind Closed Doors,” “Take This Job and Shove It.”
Propelled by narrative flow that tackled broken homes, shattered dreams and terrible bosses, dense with sonic drama and detail, Sherrill’s most famous productions for artists including Tammy Wynette, George Jones, Charlie Rich and Johnny Paycheck contain emotional depths that belie their brevity, and helped define the so-called “countrypolitan” sound of late 1960s and 1970s country music.Over his decades in the music business as both a songwriter and a producer, Sherrill also worked on records by artists including David Allan Coe, Merle Haggard, Elvis Costello, Barbara Mandrell, Ray Charles and dozens of others. Below, a few of his most notable productions.
Tammy Wynette, "Stand By Your Man" (1968). The Wynette-and-Sherrill-penned ode to devotion doesn’t send the most progressive message, but it is his most enduring production. “Stand by your man, give him two arms to cling to,” sings Wynette as angelic voices “ooh” in harmony behind her and a pedal steel moans below. The saving grace? How Wynette punctures the sentiment with a lyrical barb: “And if you love him, be proud of him/ ‘Cause after all, he’s just a man.”
George Jones, "He Stopped Loving Her Today" (1980). A devastating recounting of undying love, this hit was written by Bobby Braddock and Curly Putman. Told from a friend’s perspective, the lyrics detail a heartbroken man whose only reprieve from the suffering comes in death. “I went to see my friend today/ But I didn’t see no tears,” sings Jones, recalling the funeral wake. “All dressed up to go away/ First time I’d seen him smile in years.” Precise arrangements roll through new realms every four bars. Strings shiver as they pass through dark lyrics.
George Jones, "The Grand Tour" (1974). Rich with strings, pedal steel counter melodies and delicate, barely audible rhythms, Sherrill’s wry production on “The Grand Tour” mirrors the lyrical conceit. The story of heartbreak as narrated by the lonely tour-guide protagonist, the song opens with an implied ring of the doorbell and orchestral flourish.
Step right up, come on in
If you'd like to take the grand tour
Of a lonely house that once was home sweet home
I have nothing here to sell you
Just some things that I will tell you
Some things I know will chill you to the bone.
As Jones delivers the last line, grim, darkened, skeletal strings hover below. He then tours the house like the world's most depressed real estate agent.
Tammy Wynette, “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” (1968). Tammy Wynette’s brilliantly rendered hit “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” tackles the end of not only a marriage but a family. With her raspy voice and pitch-perfect phrasing, the singer details a couple’s strategy for end-of-love communication: “Our little boy is four years old and quite a little man,” she sings. “So we spell out the words we don’t want him to understand.” She offers examples: “Watch him smile, he thinks it Christmas or his fifth birthday/ And he thinks C-U-S-T-O-D-Y spells fun or play.” (Wynette had first-hand experience with such troubles and worse. She was married to Jones during the peak of their fame -- and alleged that during that time she endured repeated incidents of domestic violence.)
Charlie Rich, "Behind Closed Doors" (1973). Singer and pianist Rich first gained success as a late-1950s session player for Sun Records. He failed to gain mainstream attention through much of the 1960s until he hooked up with Sherrill and softened his sound. Two of Rich’s biggest hits were a thematic yin-and-yangs: “Behind Closed Doors” and “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World” documented the beginning and the ending of love affairs. The former celebrates secret, lustful nights after the bars close: “No one knows what goes on behind closed doors.” The latter highlights the remorse of a man on the outs with a lover. “Hey, did you happen to see the most beautiful girl in the world? And if you did, was she crying?”
Johnny Paycheck, "Take This Job and Shove It" (1977). Sherrill helped temper country music’s hard edges with strings, but he also worked with grittier outlaws such as David Allan Coe and Merle Haggard. The biggest hit of the bunch? Coe's "... Shove It," as interpreted by Paycheck and produced by Sherrill, remains the rallying cry for disgruntled employees the world over.
Elvis Costello, “Brown to Blue” (1981). An outlier in Sherrill's career was his work with British musician Costello. Seeking to break loose from his "angry young man" persona, Costello commissioned the producer to work on "Almost Blue." A love letter to classic country, Costello and Sherrill helped convey the spirit of Nashville to a generation who only knew Costello for his take on "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding."
Follow Randall Roberts on Twitter: @liledit