''The Bradley Barn Sessions'' is a duet album released in 1994 by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

artist

George Jones George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American Country music, country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for a long list of hit records, and is well known for his distinctive voice an ...

Recording

The concept behind ''The Bradley Barn Sessions'' was to place Jones in the hands of traditionalist country producer Brian Ahern, record at

Owen Bradley William Owen Bradley (October 21, 1915 – January 7, 1998) was an American musician, bandleader and record producer who, along with Chet Atkins, Bob Ferguson, Bill Porter, and Don Law, was a chief architect of the 1950s and 60s Nashville sou ...

's legendary Bradley's Barn studios, compile a selection of the singer's greatest hits, and have him sing duets with not just some of the biggest names in country but also

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom.S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, ''iarchive:cambridgecompani00frit, The Cambridge Companion to Pop ...

as well. Although the album – Jones' fourth for MCA – did not break the top twenty on ''Billboard''s country albums chart, peaking at 23, it features the first recorded duet between the singer and his ex-wife

Tammy Wynette Tammy Wynette (born Virginia Wynette Pugh; May 5, 1942 – April 6, 1998) was an American country music singer and songwriter, considered among the genre's most influential and successful artists. Along with Loretta Lynn, Wynette helped bring a ...

since their 1981 LP Together Again. The only single release from the album was " A Good Year for the Roses", a collaboration with

Alan Jackson Alan Eugene Jackson (born October 17, 1958) is an American country music singer-songwriter. He is known for performing a style widely regarded as "neotraditional country", as well as writing many of his own songs. Jackson has recorded 21 studi ...

. As Jones noted in his autobiography two years later, "After the duets album was released, radio didn't know what to do with it...Alan was white-hot on the radio, and programmers wanted his voice. But some didn't want his if they had to take mine. The vast majority of Alan's other single records have gone to number one. His duet with me was his first not to crack the top 50." It actually peaked at number 57. In June 1995, the song won the Music City News Country Awards "Vocal Collaboration of the Year". In addition to a who's who of past and present country stars, the album boasted two significant contributors from outside the country music field. The first was

Mark Knopfler Mark Freuder Knopfler OBE (born 12 August 1949) is a British musician. He was the lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of the rock band Dire Straits from 1977 to 1995, and he is the one of the two members who stayed during the band's existence ...

, primarily known as leader and guitarist for the rock band

Dire Straits Dire Straits were a British rock band formed in London in 1977 by Mark Knopfler (lead vocals, lead guitar), David Knopfler (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), John Illsley (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Pick Withers (drums, percussion). Th ...

. A big country fan who had recorded an album with

Chet Atkins Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), also known as "Mister Guitar" and "the Country Gentleman", was an American musician who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson (musician), Bob Ferguson, helped create the Nash ...

in 1990, Knopfler played guitar and sang background on a remake of Jones's first number one country hit from 1959, " White Lightning", and can be heard laughing as Jones hams it up on the vocal. The other rock musician who sang with Jones was

Keith Richards Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943) is an English musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who is an original member, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-principal songwriter of the Rolling Stones. His songwriting partnership wi ...

of the

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

on " Say It's Not You", which originally appeared on Jones's 1967 album ''If My Heart Had Windows''. In a 2004 interview that was posted on his website, Richards said of the meeting, "That was a great experience...To sing with George – and get away with it! – was amazing. What a possum." In a 1996 ''Rolling Stone'' interview Jones confessed to Chuck Dean, "I'll be honest with you: I love Keith Richards more than anything as a person. He's a character – just fun to be around." An hour-long documentary-style special was filmed in late 1994 to promote the duet album. It aired in 1995 on

The Nashville Network The Nashville Network, usually referred to as TNN, was an American country music-oriented cable television network. Programming included music videos, taped concerts, movies, game shows, syndicated programs, and numerous talk shows. On September ...

. Among the guests were the duet partners, Tony Brown, Brian Ahern, and Owen Bradley. Several unreleased tracks recorded during this album's sessions were later included on Jones' 2008 duets album '' Burn Your Playhouse Down''.

Reception

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

calls ''The Bradley Barn Sessions'' "a stilted, nearly lifeless album. The production is too clean and polished, lacking any of the grit of true honky tonk records. Furthermore, songs like "A Good Year for the Roses" suffer from the stringless, stripped-down arrangements.

Track listing

Personnel

* Brian Ahern – rhythm guitar (track 1), bass (track 10), acoustic guitar (tracks 2, 5 – 7, 9, 11) *

Eddie Bayers Eddie Bayers (born January 28, 1949) is an American session drummer who has played on 300 gold and platinum albums. He received the Academy of Country Music 'Drummer of the Year Award' for fourteen years, has three times won the Nashville Music ...

– drums (tracks 1 – 3, 5, 7 – 10) * Richard Bennett – acoustic guitar (tracks 1, 4, 6, and 11) *

James Burton James Edward Burton (born August 21, 1939, in Dubberly, Louisiana, United States) is an American guitarist. A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 2001 (his induction speech was given by longtime fan Keith Richards), Burton has also ...

– electric guitar (tracks 5 and 11) *

Jerry Douglas Gerald Calvin Douglas (born May 28, 1956) is an American Dobro and lap steel guitar player and record producer. He is widely regarded as "perhaps the finest Dobro player in contemporary acoustic music, and certainly the most celebrated and prol ...

– resonator guitar (tracks 1 – 4, 8, and 9) * Paul Franklin – steel guitar (tracks 5, 7, and 10) *

Vince Gill Vincent Grant Gill (born April 12, 1957) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He played in a number of local bluegrass music, bluegrass bands in the 1970s, and from 1978 to 1982, he achieved his first mainstream attention after ta ...

– guitar (tracks 4, 6, 7, and 10) * Glen D. Hardin – piano (tracks 2, 3, 7 – 9) *

Emmylou Harris Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, bandleader, and activist. She is considered one of the leading music artists behind the country rock genre in the 1970s and the Americana (music), Americana genre ...

– acoustic guitar (track 5) * Randy Howard – mandolin (track 11) * John Hughey – steel guitar (tracks 4 and 6) *

David Hungate David Hungate (born August 5, 1948) is an American retired bass guitarist noted as a member of the Los Angeles pop-rock band Toto from 1976 to 1982 and again from 2014 to 2015, and the son of judge William L. Hungate. Along with most of his ...

– bass (tracks 4, 6, and 11) * John Jennings – electric guitar (tracks 3 and 9) *

– electric guitar (track 10) * Mac McAnally – acoustic slide guitar (track 1), acoustic guitar (tracks 2, 3, 5, 7 – 10) *

– electric guitar (track 5) * Hargus "Pig" Robbins – piano (tracks 1 and 10) *

Brent Rowan Brent Rowan (born May 28, 1956, in Waxahachie, Texas) is an American session musician and record producer who works primarily in country music. Active since the 1970s, Rowan began working with John Conlee through the recommendation of record produ ...

– electric guitar (tracks 2 and 8) *

Leon Russell Leon Russell (born Claude Russell Bridges; April 2, 1942 – November 13, 2016) was an American musician and songwriter who was involved with numerous bestselling records during his 60-year career that spanned multiple genres, including rock a ...

– piano (tracks 4 – 6, 11) * Ricky Skaggs – harmony vocals (tracks 4 and 8), fiddle (tracks 1, 2, 5 – 11), acoustic guitar (tracks 3 and 4) * Tommy Spurlock – steel guitar (tracks 2, 3, 8, 9, and 11), resonator guitar (track 7) * Harry Stinson – drums (tracks 4, 6, and 11) *

Marty Stuart John Marty Stuart (born September 30, 1958) is an American country music, country and bluegrass music singer, songwriter, and musician. Active since 1968, Stuart initially toured with Lester Flatt, and then in Johnny Cash's road band before be ...

– electric slide guitar (track 1), mandolin (tracks: 2 – 10) * Glenn Worf – acoustic guitar (track 3), acoustic bass (tracks 1, 2, 5, 7–10)

Special Thanks

* Nancy Jones * Tony Brown * Renee White * Owen Bradley * Michael Sales * Bob Bradley * Glen D. Hardin * Ricky Scaggs * Tommy Waco Spurlock * Greg Humphrey * Joyce Write * Julie Ballweg * Marsha Southerland * Pee Wee Johnson * John Spencer * Scott Dorsey Photographer Fritz Hoffman {{DEFAULTSORT:Bradley Barn Sessions 1994 albums George Jones albums MCA Records albums Vocal duet albums Albums produced by Brian Ahern (producer)