"Midnight Angel" is a song written by Bill Anthony and Bob Morrison, recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artist

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 ...

. It was released in November 1976 as the first single and title track from the album ''

Midnight Angel ''Midnight Angel'' is the fifth solo studio album by American country music singer, Barbara Mandrell, released in October 1976. The album peaked at number 24 on the Top Country Albums chart. Two singles were released, "Midnight Angel", which peak ...

''. It reached the top 20 of the American country songs chart.

Background and recording

When Barbara Mandrell made the transition from

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

to ABC/Dot Records, she reached greater commercial success with a new style and sound. This was crafted by producer Tom Collins, who helped bring a

Countrypolitan The Nashville Sound originated during the mid-1950s as a subgenre of American country music, replacing the chart dominance of the rough Honky tonk, honky tonk music, which was most popular in the 1940s and 1950s, with "smooth strings and choruse ...

sound that helped her music reach larger audiences. One of the singles she cut during this period was 1976's "Midnight Angel". It was written by Bill Anthony and Bob Morrison. Collins produced the track's recording session in September 1976 in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

. The song was described by writers Mary A. Bufwack and

Robert K. Oermann Robert Karl Oermann is a Nashville-based music journalist and author who is recognized as an authority on country music. Oermann is a long-time regular contributor to the trade publication ''MusicRow'', for which he writes a weekly column. Biog ...

as a "cheating song".

Release and chart performance

"Midnight Angel" was released as a single on ABC/Dot Records on November 29, 1976. It was backed on the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

by the song "I Count You". The track was issued by the label as a seven inch vinyl single. The single spent 12 weeks on America's ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

country songs Country song may refer to: *National anthem, known as a "country song" in some languages * "Country Song" (Jake Bugg song), a 2011 song by British singer songwriter Jake Bugg * "Country Song" (Pink Floyd song), an untitled song by Pink Floyd from th ...

chart, peaking at number 16 by February 1977. In Canada, the single climbed to the number 31 position on the ''

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 chart. The song was released on Mandrell's second ABC/Dot studio album which was also titled ''

''. The album was also released in November 1976.

Track listing

7" vinyl single * "Midnight Angel" – 2:48 * "I Count You" – 2:19 7" vinyl single (Denmark) * "Midnight Angel" – 2:48 * "Slippin' Around Again" – 2:53

Charts

References

{{Barbara Mandrell songs 1976 singles 1976 songs ABC Records singles Dot Records singles Barbara Mandrell songs Song recordings produced by Tom Collins (record producer) Songs written by Bob Morrison (songwriter)