''Killer Country'' is the 37th studio album by

Jerry Lee Lewis Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as "rock & roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis made ...

, released on

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the 1 ...

in 1980.

Recording

''Killer Country'' was produced by

Eddie Kilroy Eddie Kilroy is a country music producer. Currently he has a show on XM Satellite Radio's Willie's Place. Early life Alva Dave Moore who later took the stage name Eddie Kilroy when he was a disc jockey in Houston, was born in Louisiana, and, as ...

, who had been involved with resurrecting Lewis's career back in 1968 when " Another Place, Another Time" hit the country charts. The single "Thirty-Nine and Holding" would rise to number 6, Lewis's first Top 10 country hit since "Middle Age Crazy" in 1977 and his last to date. However, it is Lewis's version of " Somewhere Over the Rainbow" that is often singled out for praise; although it only reached number 18 on the charts, Lewis altered the spirit of the song much like he had years earlier when he recorded a

boogie-woogie Boogie-woogie is a genre of blues music that became popular during the late 1920s, developed in African-American communities since 1870s.Paul, Elliot, ''That Crazy American Music'' (1957), Chapter 10, p. 229. It was eventually extended from pian ...

version of "

Me and Bobby McGee "Me and Bobby McGee" is a song written by American singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson and originally performed by Roger Miller. Fred Foster shares the writing credit, as Kristofferson wrote the song based on a suggestion from Foster. A posth ...

," his ravaged voice giving the usually optimistic

Judy Garland Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The ...

classic a forlorn vulnerability. "It had a certain feeling to it," Lewis told biographer Rick Bragg in 2014, "like a religious undertone. A something that you seldom ever can hear." The album also features Jerry Lee's first ever recording of "

Folsom Prison Blues "Folsom Prison Blues" is a song by American singer-songwriter Johnny Cash. Written in 1953, it was first recorded in 1955 for his debut studio album '' Johnny Cash with His Hot and Blue Guitar!'' (1957), appearing as the album's eleventh track. T ...

The Caribou sessions

Sometime before the release of ''Killer Country'', Lewis went to the Caribou Ranch recording studio in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

and cut more than thirty songs from a wide variety of genres, but Elektra rejected them. Extensively bootlegged, many Lewis's aficionados praise the recordings as some of his best. Lewis's relationship with Elektra soon soured when its Nashville division was taken over by

Jimmy Bowen James Albert Bowen (born November 30, 1937) is an American record producer and former rockabilly singer. Bowen brought Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood together, and introduced Sinatra to Mel Tillis for their album, ''Mel & Nancy.'' Early life ...

. Lewis and Bowen did not get on, to say the least; in the liner notes to the 2006 box set ''A Half Century of Hits'',

Colin Escott Colin Escott (born August 31, 1949) is a British music historian and author specializing in early U.S. rock and roll and country music. His works include a biography of Hank Williams, histories of Sun Records and The Grand Ole Opry, liner notes ...

recounts, "Instead of appreciating the chance to work with someone from his era, Bowen saw no chance of recouping the $300,000 Lewis was to be paid for his next four albums. In his autobiography Bowen says he offered Lewis $350,000 to leave the label, then tells an astonishing tale of sending some of his guys to mollify Lewis, only to have him pull a gun on them. 'Then he muttered something about killing me,' Bowen writes. If anything, the story became even more bizarre as Bowen sent a crew to tap Lewis's phone to gather evidence, only to find the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

already tapping it for other reasons."

Track listing

" (

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...

) #"I'd Do It All Again" (Jerry Foster,

Bill Rice Wilburn Steven Rice (born April 19, 1939 in Datto, Arkansas) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Rice charted six singles between 1971 and 1978, including the Top 40 hit "Travelin' Minstrel Man", but is better known for his songw ...

) #"Jukebox Junky" (Danny Morrison, David Kirby) #"Too Weak to Fight" (Chuck Howard) #"Late Night Lovin' Man" (Rick Klang) #"Change Places with Me" ( David Wilkins, Maria A. Kilroy) #"Let Me On" (

Layng Martine Jr. James Layng Martine Jr. (born March, 1942) is an American songwriter whose compositions have appeared on the country and pop music charts over a four-decade span beginning in the late 1960s. His songs, "Way Down" and "Rub it In", have each been re ...

) #"Thirty-Nine and Holding" (Foster, Rice) #"Mama, This One's for You" (

Ray Griff John Raymond David Griff (April 22, 1940 – March 9, 2016) was a Canadian country music singer and songwriter, born in Vancouver and raised in Toronto. His songwriting credits reached over 2500 songs, many of which were recorded by Nashville's t ...

) #" Over the Rainbow" (

E.Y. Harburg Edgar Yipsel Harburg (born Isidore Hochberg; April 8, 1896 – March 5, 1981) was an American popular song lyricist and librettist who worked with many well-known composers. He wrote the lyrics to the standards "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" ( ...

Harold Arlen Harold Arlen (born Hyman Arluck; February 15, 1905 – April 23, 1986) was an American composer of popular music, who composed over 500 songs, a number of which have become known worldwide. In addition to composing the songs for the 1939 film ...

)

Personnel

*Jerry Lee Lewis - vocals, piano *David Kirby, Duke Faglier - electric guitar *Steve Chapman - acoustic guitar *

Kenny Lovelace Kenneth Lovelace (born August 18, 1936) is an American guitarist and singer best known for his former tenure with Jerry Lee Lewis. Life Lovelace was born in Cloverdale, Montgomery, Cloverdale, Alabama. He grew up in a small village 12 miles from ...

- fiddle, electric guitar * Bobby Thompson - banjo, acoustic guitar *Russ Hicks, Stu Basore - steel guitar *Bobby Dyson - bass guitar *Bunky Keels - electric piano, organ *Jimmy Isbell - drums, percussion *The Lea Jane Singers - backing vocals *John Gobe, Rex Peer, Terry Mead - horns *

Shelly Kurland Sheldon "Shelly" Kurland (June 9, 1928 – January 6, 2010) was a violinist and musical arranger who worked as a session musician in Nashville and provided arrangements for a number of prominent country musicians. Life and career Sheldon Kurlan ...

- strings *

Billy Strange William Everett Strange (September 29, 1930 – February 22, 2012) was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and an actor. He was a session musician with the famed Wrecking Crew, and was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Mus ...

- string arrangements {{Authority control Jerry Lee Lewis albums 1980 albums Albums arranged by Billy Strange Elektra Records albums