''Bedtime Story'' is a studio album by American

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...

artist,

Tammy Wynette Tammy Wynette (born Virginia Wynette Pugh; May 5, 1942 – April 6, 1998) was an American country music artist, as well as an actress and author. She is considered among the genre's most influential and successful artists. Along with Loretta Ly ...

. It was released in March 1972 via Epic Records and contained 11 tracks. The disc featured both new recordings and cover tunes. Two singles were included:

title track A title track is a song that has the same name as the album or film in which it appears. In the Korean music industry, the term is used to describe a promoted song on an album, akin to a single, regardless of the song's title. Title track may a ...

and " Reach Out Your Hand". Both made top positions on the North American country charts in 1972. The album itself reached the top ten of the American country albums chart following its release.

Background, content and recording

Tammy Wynette was at her commercial peak by 1972. She had a string of number one and top ten singles such as " I Don't Wanna Play House", "

D-I-V-O-R-C-E "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" is a song written by Bobby Braddock and Curly Putman, and recorded by American country music artist Tammy Wynette. It was released in May 1968 as the first single and title track from the album '' D-I-V-O-R-C-E''. Wynette's ve ...

" and her signature " Stand by Your Man". Her success continued through the seventies with a series of more chart-topping singles. Among her chart-topping releases was the song "Bedtime Story" (penned by

Billy Sherrill Billy Norris Sherrill (November 5, 1936 – August 4, 2015) was an American record producer, songwriter, and arranger best known for his association with country artists, notably Tammy Wynette and George Jones. Sherrill and business partner Gl ...

and

Glenn Sutton Royce Glenn Sutton (September 28, 1937 – April 17, 2007) was an American country music songwriter, record producer, and one of the architects of the ''countrypolitan'' sound. Biography Sutton wrote or co-wrote many of Tammy Wynette's early h ...

). The song served as the lead single and name for Wynette's next studio project. Sessions for the project were recorded between October 1971 and January 1972 at the Columbia Studio B, which was located in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

. The sessions were produced by

. ''Bedtime Story'' consisted of 11 tracks. Several of the tracks were new recordings. Two of these recordings were co-written by Wynette herself: "Reach Out Your Hand" and "Take Me Home and Love Me". Other tracks such as "That's When I Feel It", "I Got Me a Man" and "Your Love's Been a Long Time Coming" were all new recordings for the project. Additional material were cover tunes. The song, "If This Is Our Last Time", was originally top 40 country single for

Brenda Lee Brenda Mae Tarpley (born December 11, 1944), known professionally as Brenda Lee, is an American singer. Performing rockabilly, pop and country music, she had 47 US chart hits during the 1960s and is ranked fourth in that decade, surpassed onl ...

in 1970. "Just as Soon as I Get Over Loving You" was a low-charting single for

Jean Shepard Ollie Imogene "Jean" Shepard (November 21, 1933 – September 25, 2016) was an American honky-tonk singer-songwriter who pioneered for women in country music. Shepard released a total of 73 singles to the Hot Country Songs chart, one of which ...

in 1971. " Tonight My Baby's Coming Home" was a top ten single for

Barbara Mandrell Barbara Ann Mandrell (born December 25, 1948) is an American country music singer and musician. She is also credited as an actress and author. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, she was considered among country's most successful music artist ...

in 1971. " Love's the Answer" was a top ten single for

Tanya Tucker Tanya Denise Tucker (born October 10, 1958) is an American country music singer and songwriter who had her first hit, "Delta Dawn", in 1972 at the age of 13. Over the succeeding decades, Tucker became one of the few child performers to mature int ...

in 1972.

Release, reception, chart performance and singles

''Bedtime Story'' was released on March 27, 1972 on Epic Records. It was the thirteenth studio album in Wynette's career. It was originally distributed as a

vinyl LP The LP (from "long playing" or "long play") is an analog sound storage medium, a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specification; and ...

and a

cassette Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette tape (or ''musicassette'', ''audio cassette'', ''cassette tape'', or ''tape''), a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ** Cassette single (or "Cassingle"), a music single in th ...

. When reviewing the compilation ''My Man/Bedtime Story'' (which compiled tracks from this album and her ''My Man'' LP), Stephen Cook of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

praised the songs "I'm Gonna Keep on Loving Him" and "Tonight My Baby's Coming Home". Cook called them "top notch tracks". The album reached the number seven position on the American '' Billboard''

Top Country Albums Top Country Albums is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The 50-position chart lists the most popular country music albums in the country, calculated weekly by Broadcast Data Systems based on physical sales ...

chart in May 1972. It also reached number 133 on the

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of ar ...

albums chart in 1972. Two singles were spawned from the disc. The first was the title track, which was first released by Epic in November 1971. By March 4, 1972, the song reached the number one spot on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs chart. It also climbed to number 72 on the

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streamin ...

. The second single issued was "Reach Out Your Hand", which was issued as the next single in April 1972. The track went to number two on the ''Billboard'' country chart by July 1972. Both singles also topped Canada's ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' Country Tracks chart in 1972.

Track listing

Personnel

All credits are adapted from the

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desc ...

of ''Bedtime Story''. *Bill Barnes – cover, design *Charlie Bragg – engineer *Lou Bradley – engineer *

The Jordanaires The Jordanaires were an American vocal quartet that formed as a gospel group in 1948. Over the years, they recorded both sacred and secular music for recording companies such as Capitol Records, RCA Victor, Columbia Records, Decca Records, Vocal ...

– backing vocals *George McClelland – Cover photography *The Nashville Edition – backing vocals *Billy Sherrill – producer

Charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 1972 albums Tammy Wynette albums Epic Records albums Albums produced by Billy Sherrill