Since recently I got stuck with country somehow - it simply feels right here in the countryside where I spend my vacation - I was listening mostly guys so just to make sure there is a lady around, I checked out 3 CD box "Tears Of Fire 25th Anniversary Collection" by one of the genre's crowned queens Tammy Wynette. Like so many people, I know that particular song that she would forever be remembered and associated with, however in her time she had sold millions of LP albums and hit singles so out of curiosity I decided to give her proper listening and to find out what was all the fuss about.
3 CD box of remastered, classic material is probably heaven sent for hardcore fans, though they will always complain why their particular favorite B side of single is not included. Like with so many other artists, CD box treatment means that we are treated with necessary run trough decades and whole LP albums worth of material are represented with only one song per album. My initial reservation that this might be overkill of the similar sound proved wrong because it turned out Wynette had really good luck with producers and songwriters indeed, not to mention that she was naturally gifted with one of the most expressive voices in 20th century recorded popular music. Since I was familiar with her music really only casually this CD box served as a truly eye-opening introduction, apparently she was much, much more than that song and suddenly I find myself thinking that even that famous "suffering housewife" idea might be empowering in itself, if one see it as a conscious choice, not as a weeping doormat complain.
Starting with early demo recording, this CD box truly dives into Wynette's wast discography and craftily shows just why and how this lady found herself in a company of such legends as Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton - while each if them is unique and highly individual artist with particular style (and Cline might forever stand as a Titan above them all for the simple fact that she cleared the path for everybody else who followed) Tammy Wynette comes across as a Goddess of domestic suffering, a suburban divorcee who wipes her hands on her apron before turning to a inquisitive daughter who still don't understand what exactly divorce means. If it sounds corny, so be it, it is a genre where hamming it up means finding one's true voice and success.
I was warned that Wynette started strong in late 1960s and somehow lost focus later, but according to this CD box its actually not exactly true. Yes, she did have a very good start thanks to producer Billy Sherrill who served as her Pygmalion and basically created her music persona but it went both ways because it surely didn't hurt him to have been associated with best-selling female artist of the time. Once I went trough obligatory run of the late 1960s massive hits, I discovered that Wynette actually became female counterpart of Charlie Rich (who accidentally also used same producer) and her later recordings became very moody and sophisticated ("Woman To Woman" was far cry from twang of "Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad" and the quiet intensity of her performance is still mind-blowing). For that reason I found second disc (covering roughly 1970s) the most enjoyable, because once you are done with best-selling melodrama hit singles, some of these mid-70s recordings are startling in their powerful dignity. The last CD (1980s and beyond) is not bad by any means since Wynette's voice remained unchanged power of nature but as aesthetic of the decade changed, the focus shifted more on generic production that was not good fit for her particular sound and she started to seem somehow anonymous - sharing the same destiny with so many veterans who valiantly tried to keep up with the times and ended up defeated by synthesizers. The very last song that closes this CD box is incredibly beautiful "Precious Memories" that is light years away from 1980s radio-fodder (and gimmicky collaboration with The KLF) and along with several tracks from her 1969 gospel album, this might be probably closest to real Virginia Wynette Pugh from Mississippi.
Even though for the most of her career Wynette stayed firmly in a comfort zone of her specific genre and its limitations (after all, it is somewhat firmly mapped music landscape with its rules and subjects) Tammy Wynette comes across as incredibly gifted, sensitive and powerful vocalist with unique voice - strangely enough, she is the most effective not when she soars but when she tones it down and calmly reflects at all those innumerable problems of relationships. Cynicism aside, once you get swept away with the sheer beauty of her voice and her serious approach (all those music melodramas might sound corny but you can bet she deeply understood them and probably lived trough them) it does feel therapeutic. I bet that people who themselves got divorced and had to protect small children from all emotional scars did probably think of her as a someone they can connect on a spiritual level. And yes, I think she was a stunningly beautiful woman, which has nothing to do with the music but it does makes you daydream about what kind of person she might have been. In my opinion she was the classiest of them all.
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