"The Door is Always Open" is a country song written by

Dickey Lee Royden Dickey Lipscomb (born September 21, 1936), known professionally as Dickey Lee (sometimes misspelled Dickie or Dicky), is an American pop/country singer and songwriter, best known for the 1960s teenage tragedy songs " Patches" and "Laurie ( ...

and

Bob McDill Robert Lee McDill (born April 4, 1944) is a retired American songwriter, active from the 1960s until 2000. During his career he wrote or co-wrote 31 number one country hits. His songs were also recorded by popular artists of the 1970s, 1980s an ...

. First recorded by Tennessee Pulleybone for

JMI Records JMI Records (Jack Music International) was an American record label founded in 1971 by Jack Clement, and was primarily active until 1974, when the catalog was sold to ABC-Dot Records. It was notable for having been the record label that first sign ...

, it went to number 75 on the

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart in 1973. A version by

Lois Johnson Lois Johnson Scoggins (May 15, 1942 – July 7, 2014) professionally known as Lois Johnson was an American country music singer. She was from Maynardville, Tennessee. She recorded for different labels between 1969 and 1978, charted twenty singl ...

, also in 1975, went to number 70 on the country music chart.Whitburn, pp. 211-212 It was the

Dave & Sugar Dave & Sugar was a pop-styled American country music trio which enjoyed its peak success in the mid- to late-1970s. The trio consisted of lead singer Dave Rowland and initially on backing vocals, Vicki Hackeman and Jackie Frantz. Over time, the ...

version, released in 1976, that was released to radio and became known to audiences. That July, the song was the group's first number one hit on the ''

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 ...

Hot Country Singles Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart.Whitburn, p. 115

Chart performance

Tennessee Pulleybone

Lois Johnson

Dave & Sugar

Other versions

Waylon Jennings Waylon Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He pioneered the Outlaw Movement in country music. Jennings started playing guitar at the age of eight and performed at age f ...

later cut it as an album track for his 1975 album '' Dreaming My Dreams''. *

Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, actress, philanthropist, and businesswoman, known primarily for her work in country music. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton made her album d ...

performed the song in a November 1976 episode of her variety show ''

Dolly! ''Dolly'' is an American variety show starring Dolly Parton broadcast in first-run syndication from September 13, 1976 to March 7, 1977. Background In the mid-1970s, Parton was approached by Bill Graham, president of Show Biz, Inc., the same co ...

''. *A Dutch translation "De deur staat altijd open" by duo Frank & Mirella was a minor Dutch hit during the summer of 1976. *

Jamey Johnson Jamey Johnson (born July 14, 1975) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Signed to BNA Records in 2005, Johnson made his debut with his single " The Dollar", the title track to his 2006 album '' The Dollar''. He was dropped from ...

covered his own version of the song on his 2008 album ''

That Lonesome Song ''That Lonesome Song'' is the second studio album by American country music singer Jamey Johnson. Initially released to digital retailers in 2007 without the promotion of a record label, the album was physically released on August 5, 2008 (see ...

''.

References

1975 singles 1976 singles Waylon Jennings songs Dave & Sugar songs Jamey Johnson songs Songs written by Dickey Lee Songs written by Bob McDill RCA Records singles 1975 songs {{1970s-country-song-stub