''The Girls Get Prettier'' is a

studio 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 ...

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 the ...

singer–songwriter

Hank Locklin Hank Locklin (born Lawrence Hankins Locklin; February 15, 1918 – March 8, 2009) was an American country music singer-songwriter. He had 70 chart singles, including two number one hits on ''Billboard''s country chart. His biggest hits included ...

. It was released in May 1966 via

RCA Victor Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...

and was produced by

Chet Atkins Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), known as "Mr. Guitar" and "The Country Gentleman", was an American musician who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson, helped create the Nashville sound, the country music s ...

. It was Locklin's thirteenth studio recording in his music career and contained two singles, one of which became a top forty hit in 1966. The album consisted of 12 tracks and received mixed reviews from music publications.

Background and content

Hank Locklin had his biggest career hits during the 1960s, beginning with "

Please Help Me, I'm Falling "Please Help Me, I'm Falling" is a 1960 song written by Don Robertson and Hal Blair and first recorded by Hank Locklin. The single was Locklin's most successful recording and was his second number one on the country charts. "Please Help Me, I'm F ...

" in 1960. He continued having several more hits with "We're Gonna Go Fishin'," "Flyin' South" and 1965's "The Girls Get Prettier." The latter hit prompted the recording and release of a studio album of the same name in 1966. The project was recorded mostly in January 1966 at the RCA Victor Studio 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 ...

. Sessions were produced by

with vocal accompaniment from

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 ...

. ''The Girls Get Prettier'' consisted of 12 tracks. The title track was composed by well-known Nashville songwriter,

Harlan Howard Harlan Perry Howard (September 8, 1927 – March 3, 2002) was an American songwriter, principally in country music. In a career spanning six decades, Howard wrote many popular and enduring songs, recorded by a variety of different artists. C ...

. It also included a song written by another Nashville writer,

Cy Coben Seymour "Cy" Coben (4 April 1919 – 26 May 2006) was an American songwriter, whose hits were recorded by bandleaders, country singers, and other artists such as The Beatles, Tommy Cooper and Leonard Nimoy. Biography Early life Coben was born ...

. Most of the album's remaining tracks were cover versions of songs made famous by other artists. This included " My Happiness," "I Loved You a Thousand Ways" and "Before I Met You." The album also includes Locklin's 1955 hit "

Why Baby Why "Why Baby Why" is a country music song co-written and originally recorded by George Jones. Released in late 1955 on Starday Records and produced by Starday co-founder and Jones' manager Pappy Daily, it peaked at 4 on the ''Billboard'' country c ...

," which was also made successful in a different version by its composer,

George Jones George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for his long list of hit records, including his best-known song "He Stopped Loving Her Today", ...

Release and reception

''The Girls Get Prettier'' was released in May 1966 via RCA Victor Records. It was Locklin's thirteenth studio project in his 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 a ...

, containing six songs on each side of the record. It was later made available for digital and streaming services on sites including

Apple Music Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Apple M ...

. ''The Girls Get Prettier'' became Locklin's first album to enter 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 ...

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 a ...

chart. It spent ten weeks on the latter chart and peaked at number 26 in July 1966. The record included two singles. The first was the album's title track, which was first issued as a single in October 1965. It spent nine weeks on the ''Billboard''

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, reaching number 35 in February 1966. Its second single was "There's More Pretty Girls Than One." Released in July 1966, the single failed to chart. The album was reviewed favorably by ''Billboard'' magazine in 1966. The publication called the music "sincere" and stated that longtime Locklin fans would enjoy the album as a whole. It only received 2.5 out of 5 stars from

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 ...

Track listing

Vinyl version

Digital version

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 desce ...

of ''The Girls Get Prettier''. Musical and technical personnel * Chet Atkins – producer * Chuck Bettis – recording engineer * Hank Locklin – lead vocals *

Jim Malloy James Malloy (May 23, 1932 – May 18, 1972), was an American racecar driver. Born in Columbus, Nebraska, Malloy's family moved to Englewood, Colorado, where he attended grade school and high school. Malloy lettered in football and baseba ...

– recording engineer

Chart performance

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Girls Get Prettier, The 1966 albums Albums produced by Chet Atkins Hank Locklin albums RCA Victor albums