"This Is a Love Song" is a song written by

Jim Weatherly James Dexter Weatherly (March 17, 1943 – February 3, 2021) was an American singer-songwriter who wrote mostly pop and country music. He played quarterback at the University of Mississippi while also writing music with his own bands. He subseq ...

. It was first recorded 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 Bill Anderson. It was released as a single in 1979 via

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 wit ...

and became a major hit the same year.

Background and release

"This Is a Love Song" was recorded in September 1978 at

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, located in

Mount Juliet, Tennessee Mt. Juliet (also referred to as Mount Juliet) is a city located in western Wilson County, Tennessee. A suburb of Nashville, it is approximately east of downtown Nashville. Mt. Juliet is located mostly between two major national east-west routes, ...

. The session was produced by

Buddy Killen William Doyce “Buddy” Killen (November 13, 1932 – November 1, 2006) was an American record producer and music publisher, and a former owner of Trinity Broadcasting Network and Tree International Publishing, the largest country music p ...

, who recently became Anderson's producer after many years of working with

Owen Bradley William Owen Bradley (October 21, 1915 – January 7, 1998) was an American musician and record producer who, along with Chet Atkins, Bob Ferguson, Bill Porter, and Don Law, was one of the chief architects of the 1950s and 1960s Nashville sou ...

. Killen would continue producing Anderson until his departure from MCA Records. Six additional sides were cut at the same studio session. This included his major hit " I Can't Wait Any Longer". "This Is a Love Song" was released as a single by MCA Records in February 1979. The song spent 13 weeks on the ''

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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 ...

before reaching number 20 in April 1979. It was Anderson's final major hit as a recording artist in his career. His final top 40 single would be released the following year. In Canada, the single reached number 15 on the RPM Country Songs chart in 1979. It was first released on his 1979 studio album, '' Ladies Choice''.

Track listings

7" vinyl single * "This Is a Love Song" – 3:45 * "Remembering the Good" – 4:20

Chart performance

References

{{Bill Anderson singles 1979 singles 1979 songs Bill Anderson (singer) songs MCA Records singles Songs written by Jim Weatherly