I remember sitting at home checking my e-mail. Then I saw a message that I could not pass up. Crystal Gayle was releasing a studio album for the first time in sixteen years. I still remember her big breakout. I was still in grade school, with my parents first taking notice of her. During those mid-1970s, Crystal Gayle was still in her 20s, a real beautiful woman with very long, flowing hair down her back and almost touching the floor. There was no ignoring her outward appearance, and of course her voice was exceptional. Yes, there was a lot to like about Crystal Gayle, and it wasn’t long before the young country music star grew larger in popularity. However, there was so much more to learn about her, and we all soon found out a lot.
Crystal Gayle was born Brenda Gail Webb on January 9, 1951, in Paintsville, Kentucky. She is the fourth daughter and last child of eight born to Clara Marie “Clary” and Melvin Theodore “Ted” Webb (1906 – 1959). Mr. Webb was a coal miner and subsistence farmer. Webb’s family moved north to Wabash, Indiana, when she was four. Four years later, her father died of black lung disease. Though a shy child, Brenda would sing along with country and pop songs on the radio, and she was encouraged by her mother to sing for visitors to their house. Inspired by the success of her sister Loretta Lynn, she learned to play the guitar and sing backup in her brothers’ folk band. While still in high school, she began to tour with her sister for a few weeks each summer.
Yes, in case you forgot or didn’t know, Crystal Gayle is the younger half sister of Loretta Lynn. That family fact possibly was a good thing early on in Gayle’s career, but the young singer still needed to find her own voice. She would not be able to have a long musical career on the merits of being Loretta Lynn’s sister alone.
After graduating from Wabash High School in 1970, young Brenda Gail signed with Decca Records, her sister’s label. However, since there was already a singer named Brenda Lee with Decca Records, she was asked to change her first name. Loretta Lynn suggested the name “Crystal” after seeing a sign for the Krystal hamburger restaurant chain. Brenda Gail Webb thus became Crystal Gayle. In 1970 she married Bill Gatzimos, her high-school sweetheart; they have two children and a grandson.
Gayle’s debut single, “I’ve Cried (The Blue Right Out of My Eyes)”, was released in 1970 and peaked at number 23 on Billboard’s country singles chart. Written by Loretta Lynn, it was performed in a style similar to that of her sister. Decca asked for more records like Lynn’s, who wrote more of her early singles. This approach failed to establish Gayle, despite regular appearances on Blake Emmons’ television show The Country Place.
This is part of the problem a family becomes a very successful star. The inclination is to push him/her down the same path. When it does not work, some just give up. However, Crystal Gayle provided us with different lesson for working with young artists.
She left Decca and signed with United Artists, where she teamed with the producer Allen Reynolds, who offered her the creative freedom she wanted and helped her develop her own style and phrasing. Her first single, “Restless,” cracked the country top 40, but was subsequently pulled out of circulation because of similarities to the Rolling Stones song, “Torn and Frayed.” Gayle’s first album, Crystal Gayle, was released in 1974 and produced her first top-ten country hit, “Wrong Road Again” (number 6). By 1976, she had the first of her 20 number one country singles with “I’ll Get Over You”, which also became her first single on Billboard’s Hot 100 (number 71) and adult contemporary chart (number 40).
Gayle recalled what her sister Loretta Lynn had said: “‘You record what I couldn’t record — you do MOR, middle of the road’, “and that was the best advice I could get. I don’t think I ever would have made it if I went down the road and did the music my sister did. I would only have been compared to her.”
While preparing this post, I thought about the young country music stars of today. The style of music they are recording and how they are attracting fans normally not drawn to country music. I realized this was much like Gayle when she broke out with music unlike her sister Loretta Lynn. It worked then and today.
Reynolds encouraged her to record the jazz-flavored ballad, “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue”. The song became the most successful of Gayle’s career, spending four weeks atop the country chart. Gayle earned a Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance and the song also earned a Grammy as Country Song of the Year for its writer, Richard Leigh.
The song helped her album, We Must Believe in Magic, become the first by a female country artist to be certified platinum. She toured worldwide, including Britain with Kenny Rogers and China with Bob Hope, where she became the first person to record a performance on the Great Wall of China.
After the success of “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue”, Gayle and her record producers leaned more toward crossover music with each new release. For the next ten years, she would have her greatest success. Gayle was awarded “Female Vocalist of the Year” for two years by the Country Music Association Awards (1977 and 1978) and for three years by the Academy of Country Music (1976–1977 and 1979).
Gayle has enjoyed a very long and productive career. You Don’t Know Me: Classic Country is studio album number twenty-four. I wonder if Crystal Gayle thought that she might have a career that produced twenty-four studio albums back in the 1970s. Everyone hopes, but it’s hard to predict that type of success and longevity.
You Don’t Know Me is a special album for a number of reasons. First, it has been in the making for several years. n a 2017 interview, Gayle stated intentions to record an album of classic country material. The project was first titled Am I That Easy to Forget. I’m happy she decided on the name change. Second, You Don’t Know Me was co-produced by Gayle and her son, Chris Gatzimos. Thar had to make this album a matter of pride for Gayle’s entire family. The album’s fourteenth track “Put It Off Until Tomorrow” features Gayle’s siblings Loretta Lynn and Peggy Sue. It is the first time the siblings have recorded together.
I listened to the album a while back and entirely to prepare for this post. That’s normal for me. I also listened to a lot of Crystal Gayle’s hits from years past. That brought back memories. Why not? That’s what classic music is supposed to do. Please download or stream You Don’t Know Me when you get a chance. It was created for the enjoyment of music fans worldwide.