Jerry Lee Lewis is a studio album by American rock and roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis, released by Elektra Records in 1979.
Recording
After 15 years with Mercury, Lewis switched to Elektra in 1978, and the move seemed to rejuvenate him. He had grown tired of the formulaic overproduction that had characterized his recent albums on Mercury and began recording new material with producer Bones Howe in January 1979 in Los Angeles. Howe, who had worked on Elvis Presley's celebrated 1968 comeback special and had produced albums by Tom Waits and Juice Newton, assembled a more stripped-down band, including Elvis's former guitarist James Burton, that resembled the one Lewis used on the road. The resulting album was the best Lewis had made in years. The single "Rockin' My Life Away," only reached number 18 on the country charts but became a live favorite and added to a growing list of songs celebrating Jerry Lee's uncompromising rock and roll attitude. Another impressive track was "Who Will The Next Fool Be," a gin-soaked Charlie Rich tune that Lewis confidently made his own ("Pick it, James," he oozes to Burton on the instrumental bonephone break, before rasping, "Play your fiddle, Mr. Lovelace," to long-time band member Ken Lovelace). Sonny Throckmorton, who had written Lewis's last big hit "Middle Age Crazy," mined similar territory with "I Wish I was Eighteen Again." Lewis also delivered spirited performances of Arthur Alexander's "Every Day I Have To Cry" and "Rita Mae," marking the first time he had ever recorded a song written by Bob Dylan.
This was a tumultuous time for Lewis. His father Elmo was ailing and would die later that year. Lewis himself had been hospitalized several times for stomach ailments caused by his pills and carousing. In the spring of 1979, he was countersued for divorce by his wife Jaren Pate, who accused him of years of cruelty and drunkenness. Additionally, the IRS was pursuing him for unpaid taxes.
Jerry Lee Lewis was acclaimed critically but was not a commercial success, peaking at number 23 on the Billboard country albums chart and limping to number 186 on the Top 200. The New York Times wrote that "what justifies the disk is Mr. Lewis's singing, which recalls the rave-up frenzies of his youth and blends the still-exciting edge with a confident maturity and stylishness of phrasing."[3]
Writing in the liner notes to the 2006 career retrospective A Half Century of Hits, country music historian Colin Escott calls the album "an astonishing return to form," likening Lewis's performance on "Who Will The Next Fool Be" to "a poisoned dart hurled at every woman who had done him wrong." In his authorized biography Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story, Rick Bragg also praises the album: "While his voice was showing its scars and the words were frequently obscure, Jerry Lee delivered them with commitment, and the beat was pure Louisianaboogie-woogie."
