"'What're You Doing Tonight'" is a song written by

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 ...

that was 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 Janie Fricke. It was released as her debut solo single in August 1977 and reached chart positions in both the United States and Canada. It was the first single from Fricke's debut album '' Singer of Songs''.

Background and recording

Janie Fricke had gone from a studio background singer and commercial jingle performer to a recording artist in 1977. After being heard on a single by country artist Johnny Duncan, she signed her own contract with

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 ...

in 1977. Under the production of producer

Billy Sherrill Billy Norris Sherrill (November 5, 1936 – August 4, 2015) was an American record producer, songwriter, and arranger best known for his association with country artists, notably Tammy Wynette and George Jones. Sherrill and business partner Gle ...

, Fricke recorded her first single "What're You Doing Tonight". It was composed by Nashville songwriter

. The song was recorded at the Columbia 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 ...

under the direction of Sherrill. The session took place in June 1977. Also cut during the same session was the track "We're a Love Song".

Release, chart performance and reception

In August 1977, "What're You Doing Tonight" was released as a single on Columbia Records. 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 Fricke's self-composed tune "We're a Love Song". It was issued as a seven inch vinyl single and was the debut single released in her career. It became Fricke's first single to reach the American ''

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 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. Spending 13 weeks on the survey, the single peaked at number 21 in November 1977. On Canada's ''

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 Songs chart, the single reached the top 20, peaking at number 14. "What're You Doing Tonight" was later included on Fricke's debut studio album called '' Singer of Songs''. The album was released on Columbia in May 1978. At the

20th Annual Grammy Awards The 20th Annual Grammy Awards were held February 23, 1978, and were broadcast live on American television. They were hosted by John Denver and recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1977. Award winners *Record of the Year **Bil ...

, Fricke was nominated for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. She would be nominated three more times for the same award in her career.

Track listing

7" vinyl single * "What're You Doing Tonight" – 2:49 * "We're a Love Song" – 3:17

Charts

Accolades

! , - , 1978 ,

, Best Female Country Vocal Performance , , , -

References

{{Janie Fricke singles 1977 debut singles 1977 songs Columbia Records singles Janie Fricke songs Song recordings produced by Billy Sherrill Songs written by Bob McDill