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Stars of the Grand Ole Opry
Stars of the Grand Ole Opry
Studio album by Jan Howard
Released	May 1981
Studio	Pete's Place
Genre	Country
Label	First Generation
Producer	Pete Drake
Jan Howard chronology
Singles from Stars of the Grand Ole Opry
	"Living and Loving Hondo"; Released: 1981;

Stars of the Grand Ole Opry is a studio album by American country music artist Jan Howard. It was released in May 1981 via First Generation Records and was a collection of ten tracks. Seven of the songs were new recordings, while three were re-recordings of Howard's most popular singles. The album part of a veteran-artists program crafted by the First Generation label to market music towards middle-aged audiences. It was re-released several times and was reviewed by Billboard magazine.

Background

The ex-wife of country songwriter Harlan Howard, Jan Howard got her own recording contract after her husband discovered her singing skills. In the 1960s, Howard had a string of charting US country songs including the top ten releases "Evil on Your Mind", "Bad Seed" and the chart-topping "For Loving You". Howard left her career for a brief period before returning to it in the mid 1970s. Among the albums released following her return was Stars of the Grand Ole Opry.^[2] Howard was approached by First Generation records creator Pete Drake to make an album with his label and she agreed to it.^[3] The project was among several by other veteran-era country artists that were meant to cater to middle-age audiences. Other artists who released albums with the same title were Charlie Louvin and Jean Shepard.^[4]

Recording and content

Stars of the Grand Ole Opry was produced entirely by Pete Drake at his Nashville, Tennessee recording studio called Pete's Place.^[3] The project was a collection of ten tracks^[1] that included both new material and re-recordings.^[4] Among the new tracks was Howard's self-composed "The Life of a Country Girl Singer" and Johnny Cash's self-composed "Cowboy's Last Ride". Other new songs included "Memories for Sale", "Let Me Be Her Tonight", "Now That He's Gone" and "Keepin' the Feelin' Alive". Re-recordings that Howard cut for the project were "Evil on Your Mind", "Bad Seed" and "The One You Slip Around With".^[3]

Release, critical reception and singles

Stars of the Grand Ole Opry was released in May 1981 by First Generation Records and was the fifteenth studio album of Howard's music career. The album was originally offered as a vinyl LP with five songs on each side of the record.^[3] It was later re-issued as a compact disc in 1998 by First Generation.^[5] It was later released digitally to online platforms such as Apple Music.^[6] First Generation planned to mail 5,000 brochures to US country music retailers in its original distribution. The album series was also promoted through a television marketing campaign.^[4] It was further promoted in a television special that aired in August 1981 titled Country Music Celebration.^[7] One single was issued from the album: "Living and Loving Hondo". It was released in 1981.^[8] The album series was reviewed by Billboard magazine after its original 1981 release. The publication praised Howard's "Memories for Sale", writing that she turned the recording "into a poptorch masterpiece" and also praised "The Life of a Country Girl Singer", calling it "canonical hillbilly".^[9] AllMusic later reviewed the compact disc version and gave it four out of five stars.^[1]

Track listing

Side one^[3]
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Living and Loving Hondo"	Rick Beresford	2:59
2.	"Cowboy's Last Ride"	J.R. Cash	3:01
3.	"Now That He's Gone"	Rick Beresford Harlan Sanders	2:41
4.	"Memories for Sale"	Linda Hargrove Pam Rose Mary Ann Kennedy	3:28
5.	"Let Me Be Her Tonight"	Mary Ann Kennedy Pam Rose Don Goodman	3:10

Side two^[3]
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"The Life of a Country Girl Singer"	Jan Howard	3:05
2.	"Evil on Your Mind"	Harlan Howard	2:20
3.	"Bad Seed"	Bill Anderson	2:49
4.	"The One You Slip Around With"	Harlan Howard Fuzzy Owen	2:12
5.	"Keepin' the Feelin' Alive"	Rick Beresford	3:14

Personnel

All credits are adapted from the liner notes of Stars of the Grand Ole Opry.^[3]

Musical personnel

Randy Best – engineering
Hayword Bishop – drums
Jimmy Capps – guitar
Jimmie Crawford – steel guitar
Pete Drake – steel guitar, producer
Johnny Drake – engineering
Bobby Emmons – piano
Jan Howard – lead vocals
Bill Hullett – guitar
The Jordanaires – background vocals
Shane Keister – piano
Jerry Kroon – drums
Bob Moore – bass
Al Pachucki – engineering
Hargus "Pig" Robbins – piano
Pete Wade – guitar
Tommy Williams – fiddle

Release history

Region	Date	Format	Label	Ref.
United States	May 1981	Vinyl LP	First Generation Records	^[3]
	September 28, 1999	Compact disc		^[5]
	circa 2010	Music download		^[6]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Jan Howard [First Generation]: Songs, reviews, credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
^ McCloud, Barry (1995). Definitive Country: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Country Music and Its Performers. Berkeley. ISBN 0399521445.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Howard, Jan (May 1981). "Stars of the Grand Ole Opry (liner notes)". First Generation Records. FGLP-GOOS-03 (LP).
^ ^a ^b ^c Kirby, Kip (April 18, 1981). "9-Volume'Opry Stars' LP Series Is Launched By First Generation" (PDF). Billboard. p. 45. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
^ ^a ^b Howard, Jan (September 28, 1999). "Stars of the Grand Ole Opry (liner notes)". First Generation Records. FGCD-03 (compact disc).
^ ^a ^b "Jan Howard: Stars of the Grand Ole Opry by Jan Howard". Apple Music. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
^ "1st Generation Acts in Special". Billboard. August 8, 1981. p. 50. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
^ Howard, Jan (1981). ""Living and Loving Hondo"/"The One You Slip Around With" (7" vinyl single)". First Generation Records. FGS-005.
^ "Closeup" (PDF). Billboard. June 27, 1981. p. 80. Retrieved 18 July 2024.