''Morning Sun'' is the 21st solo studio album released 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

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 ...

. The album was released in March 1990 on Capitol Records. It was Mandrell's second studio release for the Capitol label.

Background and content

''Morning Sun'' was recorded in June 1989 at the Groundstar Recording Lab and the Music Mill, both 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 ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The album consisted of 10 tracks of new material. The album's fifth track "

Crazy Arms "Crazy Arms" is an American country song which was a career-making hit for Ray Price. The song, released in May 1956, went on to become a number 1 country hit that year, establishing Price's sound, and redefining honky-tonk music. It was Price's ...

" was a cover version of the single by Ray Price. Price and Mandrell sang the song as a duet. The album also included the track "

Do You Know Where Your Man Is "Do You Know Where Your Man Is" is a song written by Dave Gibson, Russell Smith and Carol Chase, and recorded by American country music artist Pam Tillis. It was released in August 1993 as the fourth single from the album '' Homeward Looking Ang ...

", which country artist

Pam Tillis Pamela Yvonne Tillis (born July 24, 1957) is an American country music singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. She is the daughter of country music singer Mel Tillis and ex-wife of songwriter Bob DiPiero. Tillis recorded unsuccessful ...

would later record for her album, ''

Homeward Looking Angel Homeward Looking Angel is the third studio album by American country music artist Pam Tillis. The album was a #23 album on the Billboard charts. This album produced four singles for Tillis on the Hot Country Songs charts: the Top Five hits "Shake ...

'' and would become a Top 20 single. The album's style is mainly traditional country music, with fiddles and steel guitars featured. The album was originally released on a

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Oc ...

upon its release in 1990.

Release

''Morning Sun'' spawned three singles between 1989 and 1990. The lead single, "You Wouldn't Know Love (If It Looked You in the Eye)" was released in November 1989. The song failed to chart on the United States' ''

Billboard Magazine ''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the musi ...

'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart, but did peak at #81 on the Canadian ''

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 early March 1990. The single became Mandrell's final single to chart in Canada and any other singles chart. The album's second and third singles "You've Become the Dream" and "The Nearness of You" were released in 1990, but both failed to reach the ''Billboard'' and ''RPM'' country singles charts. The album was released in April 1990 and also failed to chart, not reaching the ''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.

Critical reception

A review in ''

People A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prope ...

'' was mostly negative, criticizing Mandrell's singing voice as "stiff" and "whiny" on certain tracks. The reviewer thought that the "Crazy Arms" cover was the only song on which she "get much emotion across".

Track listing

#"The Nearness of You" (Hoagy Carmichael / Ned Washington) #"

" – (Carol Chase, Dave Gibson, Russell Smith) #"I'm Not Your Super Woman" (

L.A. Reid Antonio Marquis "L.A." Reid (born June 7, 1956) is an American record executive, A&R representative, and record producer. He is the founder and served as co-chairman of Hitco Entertainment. He also previously served as the chairman and CEO of Ep ...

Babyface Babyface or Baby Face can refer to: Nicknames * Lester Joseph Gillis a.k.a. Baby Face Nelson, an infamous 1930s bank robber * Roosevelt "Baby Face" Willette (1933–1971), an American hard bop and soul-jazz musician * "Baby Face", Jimmy McLarnin ...

Daryl Simmons Daryl L. Simmons is an American R&B musician, songwriter and record producer, who worked with the production duo of L.A. Reid and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds. In 1977–1980 Daryl, with Manchild (band) recorded 2 soul & funk albums & the mino ...

) #"Trying Times" - (Keith Palmer, Sharon Palmer) #"

" – (Ralph Mooney, Chuck Seals) #*with Ray Price #"You Wouldn't Know Love (If It Looked You in the Eye)" (Hank Cochran / Dave Kirby) #"Baby I Hate" (Keith Stegall / Steve Davis) #"It's Over for the Last Time Again" (Musick, Palmer, Barker) #"Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People" ( Keith Stegall,

Roger Murrah Roger Alan Murrah (born November 20, 1946) is a songwriter and independent music publisher who has written hits for artists including Waylon Jennings, Alan Jackson, Al Jarreau, and Alabama.

Sales chart positions

;Singles

References

{{Authority control 1990 albums Barbara Mandrell albums Capitol Records albums Albums produced by Tom Collins (record producer)