Soul of Country Music

Soul of Country Music is the ninth studio album by American country artist, Connie Smith. The album was released in December 1967 on RCA Victor Records and was produced by Bob Ferguson. With no singles spawned from the album, Soul of Country Music contained cover versions of popular country music songs.

Soul of Country Music
Studio album by Connie Smith
Released	December 1967
Recorded	May 24–25, 1967 (RCA Victor Studio)
Genre	Country
Length	31:33
Label	RCA Victor
Producer	Bob Ferguson
Connie Smith chronology
The Best of Connie Smith (1967) Soul of Country Music (1967) I Love Charley Brown (1968)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

Background and release

Soul of Country Music consisted of twelve tracks, all of which were cover versions of country music songs. The album begins with Melba Montgomery's "Don't Keep Me Too Long." Other songs included on the album are, Wynn Stewart's "It's Such a Pretty World Today," Jack Greene's "There Goes My Everything" and Jean Shepard's "If the Teardrops Were Silver." The album was reviewed by Allmusic critic, Dan Cooper, who gave it three out of five stars, claiming the album has, "More of the same unearthly sound, but this has Smith covering -- at times burying -- other singers' hits." He also called her version of Rex Griffin's "The Last Letter," "to die for."[2] Upon its release in 1967, Soul of Country Music reached a peak position on the Billboard chart. The album reached #7 on Billboard Magazine's Top Country Albums chart that year, becoming Smith's last album to peak in the Top 10.[3]

Track listing

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Don't Keep Me Lonely Too Long"	Melba Montgomery	2:29
2.	"Surely"	Peggy Whittington	2:21
3.	"Last Letter"	Rex Griffin	4:02
4.	"Burning Bridges"	Walter Scott	2:31
5.	"I'm Your Woman"	Jean Chapel	2:42
6.	"There Goes My Everything"	Dallas Frazier	2:55

Side two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"It Only Hurts for a Little While"	Mack David, Fred Spielman	2:09
2.	"Family Bible"	Walt Breeland, Claude Gray, Paul Buskirk	3:17
3.	"If Teardrops Were Silver"	Don Wayne	2:10
4.	"Walk Through This World with Me"	Kay Savage, Sandy Seamons	2:20
5.	"It's Such a Pretty World Today"	Dale Noe	2:23
6.	"Touch My Heart"	Aubrey Mayhew, Johnny Paycheck	2:14

Personnel

• Dorothy Dillard – background vocals
• Ray Edenton – guitar
• Buddy Harman – drums
• Russ Hicks – steel guitar
• Priscilla Hubbard – background vocals
• Roy Huskey Jr. – bass
• Louis Nunley – background vocals
• Charles Justice – fiddle
• Dean Porter – guitar
• Hargus "Pig" Robbins – piano
• Connie Smith – lead vocals
• Lamar Watkins – guitar
• William Wright – background vocals

Sales chart positions

Albums

Chart (1967)	Peak position
U.S. Top Country Albums	7

References

1. Allmusic review
2. Cooper, Dan. "The Soul of Country Music > Review". allmusic. Retrieved 2009-08-10.
3. "Charts & awards > Billboard albums". allmusic. Retrieved 2009-08-10.