''Full Moon'' is a

duet A duet is a musical composition for two performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a harmony, as the performers take turns performing a solo ...

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

Kris Kristofferson Kristoffer Kristofferson (born June 22, 1936) is a retired American singer, songwriter and actor. Among his songwriting credits are "Me and Bobby McGee", " For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Nig ...

and

Rita Coolidge Rita Coolidge (born May 1, 1945) is an American recording artist. During the 1970s and 1980s, her songs were on '' Billboard'' magazine's pop, country, adult contemporary, and jazz charts, and she won two Grammy Awards with fellow musician and t ...

, released in September 1973 on

A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...

. It is the first of three duet albums by the couple, who married weeks before the album's release, and arguably the best. Unlike Kristofferson solo albums, it features several covers. The album was only ever reissued once, on CD in Japan, until an expanded edition was released by Real Gone Music on June 2, 2017.

Background

Only weeks before ''Full Moon''s release, Kristofferson and Coolidge got married. Coolidge had contributed vocals to Kristofferson's previous two albums, including two duets on ''Jesus Was a Capricorn''. At the time Kristofferson was the bigger star, having just topped the country charts with the gospel song "

Why Me Why Me or Why Me? may refer to: Music * Why Me (Kris Kristofferson song), "Why Me" (Kris Kristofferson song), 1973 * Why Me (Styx song), "Why Me" (Styx song), 1979 * Why Me? (Irene Cara song), "Why Me?" (Irene Cara song), 1983 * Why Me? (Linda Mart ...

," and topped the country album charts with its parent album ''Jesus Was a Capricorn''. Coolidge's previous release, 1972's ''The Lady's Not for Sale'', reached number 43 on the U.S. pop charts. (The title track of the album was co-written by Kristofferson.) In 2016 Krisofferson spoke about the album to ''Uncut''s Graeme Thomson: Since they were on different record labels,

Monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, his ...

and A&M came to an agreement to take turns releasing the album, with Coolidge’s A&M going first with ''Full Moon''.

Recording and composition

''Full Moon'' was produced by Coolidge's producer David Anderle. As noted by William Ruhlmann in his

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 databas ...

review of the album, "Despite Kristofferson's greater celebrity, the LP was made with Coolidge's strengths in mind. David Anderle, its producer, was her producer, and it was released on her record label, A&M. The songs were set in her key, with Kristofferson crooning along in an unusually high register. The tempos were mostly slow, emphasizing the dreamy quality of Coolidge's voice." The pair co-wrote two songs for the LP, which was, unsurprisingly, made up of mostly love songs. Although Kristofferson was the hottest writer in country music in the early seventies, ''Full Moon'' contains material from other writers, including Kristofferson keyboardist

Donnie Fritts Donald Ray Fritts (November 8, 1942 – August 27, 2019) was an American session musician and songwriter. A recording artist in his own right, he was Kris Kristofferson's keyboardist for over forty years. In 2008, he was inducted into the Alaba ...

Tony Joe White Tony Joe White (July 23, 1943 – October 24, 2018), nicknamed the Swamp Fox, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known for his 1969 hit "Polk Salad Annie" and for "Rainy Night in Georgia", which he wrote but which was first ma ...

, Larry Murray, and

Tom Jans Tom Jans (February 9, 1948 – March 25, 1984) was an American folk singer-songwriter and guitarist from San Jose, California. He is perhaps best known for his song "Loving Arms" (also known as "Lovin' Arms"), which was recorded initially by Kris ...

. The album was a departure musically for Kristofferson, whose albums became more polished since his debut, and this trend continued with ''Full Moon'', as noted by biographer Stephen Miller: The couple would release two more duet albums in 1974 and 1978.

Reception

Buoyed by the news of their wedding and the Caribbean-flavored single "A Song I'd Like to Sing" reaching the U.S. Top 40 pop chart, as well as the country and easy listening charts, ''Full Moon'' became a number one country album. "From the Bottle to the Bottom" won the Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group in 1974.

Track listing

# "Hard to Be Friends" (Larry Murray) – 3:25 # "It's All Over (All Over Again)" (Coolidge, Kristofferson) – 2:45 # "I Never Had It So Good" ( Roger Nichols, Paul Williams) – 4:08 # "From the Bottle to the Bottom" (Kristofferson) – 4:06 # "Take Time to Love" (

) – 2:55 # "Tennessee Blues" (

Bobby Charles Robert Charles Guidry (February 21, 1938 – January 14, 2010), known as Bobby Charles, was an American singer-songwriter. Early life An ethnic Cajun, Charles was born in Abbeville, Louisiana, United States, and grew up listening to Cajun mus ...

) – 5:20 # "Part of Your Life" (Allan Rich, Margaret Ann Rich) – 3:09 # "I'm Down (But I Keep Falling)" (Coolidge, Kristofferson) – 3:08 # "I Heard the Bluebirds Sing" (Hod Pharis) – 2:48 # "After the Fact" (

Stephen Bruton Turner Stephen Bruton (November 7, 1948 – May 9, 2009) was an American actor and musician. Background Born in Wilmington, Delaware, United States, he moved with his family to Texas at the age of two. He fell into the Fort Worth music scene after ...

) – 5:05 # "

Loving Arms "Loving Arms" is a song written by Tom Jans and first recorded and released by Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge as a duet in 1973 on their album ''Full Moon''. It was covered by Dobie Gray shortly after, and then by a number of artists the ...

" (

) – 3:50 # "A Song I'd Like to Sing" (Kristofferson) – 4:00

Personnel

*Kris Kristofferson, Rita Coolidge – all vocals *

Michael Utley Michael Edward Utley is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer for Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band. He is the musical director of the band. Born in Blytheville in Mississippi County, Arkansas, he graduated from the Univer ...

– keyboards *

Sammy Creason Sammy Lee Creason (27 November 1944 – 21 December 1995) was an American session drummer who played with Tony Joe White, Kris Kristofferson and Bob Dylan amongst others. Life and career Growing up in Jonesboro, Arkansas, United States, he l ...

– drums *

– keyboards *

– guitar *Terry Paul – bass *

Leland Sklar Leland Bruce Sklar (born May 28, 1947) is an American bassist and session musician. Sklar rose to prominence as a member of James Taylor's backing band, which coaleced into a group in its own right, The Section. This group of musicians so frequ ...

– bass *Jerry McGee – guitar, harmonica *

Bobbye Hall Bobbye Jean Hall is an American percussionist who has recorded with a variety of rock, soul, blues and jazz artists, and has appeared on 20 songs that reached the top ten in the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Early career, work for Motown and move to ...

– percussion *

David Bromberg David Bromberg (born September 19, 1945) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter. David Bromberg biographyat Billboard.com An eclectic artist, Bromberg plays bluegrass, blues, folk, jazz, country and western, and rock a ...

– guitar *Nick DeCaro – accordion *David Smith – musician *Gary Scruggs – bass guitar, harmonica *

Randy Scruggs Randy Lynn Scruggs (August 3, 1953 – April 17, 2018) was an American music producer, songwriter and guitarist. He had his first recording at the age of 13. He won four Grammy Awards and was named Musician of the Year at the Country Music ...

– guitar *

Vassar Clements Vassar Carlton Clements (April 25, 1928 – August 16, 2005) was an American jazz, swing, and bluegrass fiddler. Clements has been dubbed the Father of Hillbilly Jazz, an improvisational style that blends and borrows from swing, hot jazz, and ...

– fiddle *

Josh Graves Josh Graves (September 27, 1927 Tellico Plains, Monroe County, Tennessee – September 30, 2006), born Burkett Howard Graves, was an American bluegrass musician. Also known by the nicknames "Buck," and "Uncle Josh," he is credited with introduci ...

–

dobro Dobro is an American brand of resonator guitars, currently owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally ...

Booker T. Jones Booker Taliaferro Jones Jr. (born November 12, 1944) is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and arranger, best known as the frontman of the band Booker T. & the M.G.'s. He has also worked in the studios with many well-known art ...

– keyboards *

Herb Alpert Herb Alpert (born March 31, 1935) is an American trumpeter who led the band Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass in the 1960s. During the same decade, he co-founded A&M Records with Jerry Moss. Alpert has recorded 28 albums that have landed on the ...

– trumpet *Strings arranged by David Campbell and Norman Kurban & performed by the Campbell-Kurban String Section

Production

*Produced by

David Anderle David Anderle (July 9, 1937 – September 1, 2014) was an American A&R man, record producer, and portrait artist. He is best known for his business associations with the Beach Boys during the production of the band's unfinished album ''Smile'' a ...

*Recorded at

Sunset Sound Sunset, also known as sundown, is the daily disappearance of the Sun below the horizon due to Earth's rotation. As viewed from everywhere on Earth (except the North and South poles), the equinox Sun sets due west at the moment of both the spring ...

Studios, Los Angeles, California *Recording engineer:

John Haeny John Haeny is an American-born music producer, recording and mixing engineer, sound designer and academic. From the late 1960s through the late 1980s he recorded, mixed and produced hundreds of albums. He worked with a variety of artists across m ...

*Mixing engineer:

*Mixing assistant: Rick Tarantini *Mastered at Mastering Lab, by Doug Sax *Art direction by Roland Young *Album design by Paula Bard *All photos by Bob Jenkins

Charts

Certifications and sales

References

{{Authority control 1973 albums Kris Kristofferson albums Rita Coolidge albums Albums arranged by David Campbell (composer) Albums produced by David Anderle Albums recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders A&M Records albums Vocal duet albums