''Bedtime Story'' is a

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by American

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

artist,

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 ...

. It was released in March 1972 via

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...

and contained 11 tracks. The disc featured both new recordings and cover tunes. Two

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

were included:

title track A title track is a song that has the same name as the album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-t ...

and " Reach Out Your Hand". Both made top positions on the North American country charts in 1972. The album itself reached the top ten of the American country albums chart following its release.

Background, content and recording

Tammy Wynette was at her commercial peak by 1972. She had a string of number one and top ten singles such as "

I Don't Wanna Play House "I Don't Wanna Play House" is a song written by Billy Sherrill and Glenn Sutton. In 1967, the song was Tammy Wynette's first number one country song as a solo artist. "I Don't Wanna Play House" spent three weeks at the top spot and a total of ...

", "

D-I-V-O-R-C-E "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" is a song written by Bobby Braddock and Curly Putman, and recorded by American country music artist Tammy Wynette. It was released in May 1968 as the first single and title track from the album '' D-I-V-O-R-C-E''. Wynette's ...

" and her signature "

Stand by Your Man "Stand by Your Man" is a song recorded by the American country music artist Tammy Wynette, co-written by Wynette and Billy Sherrill. It was released on September 20, 1968, as the first single and title track from the album '' Stand by Your Man''. ...

". Her success continued through the seventies with a series of more chart-topping singles. Among her chart-topping releases was the song "Bedtime Story" (penned by

Billy Sherrill Billy Norris Sherrill (November 5, 1936 – August 4, 2015) was an American record producer, songwriter, and arranger associated with country artists, notably Tammy Wynette and George Jones. Sherrill and business partner Glenn Sutton are regar ...

and

Glenn Sutton Royce Glenn Sutton (September 28, 1937 – April 17, 2007) was an American country music singer-songwriter, record producer, and one of the architects of the countrypolitan sound. Biography Sutton was born in Hodge, Louisiana, and grew up in C ...

). The song served as the lead single and name for Wynette's next studio project. Sessions for the project were recorded between October 1971 and January 1972 at

Columbia Studio B Quonset Hut Studio is the nickname given to Bradley Studios, an independent recording studio complex established in 1954 in Nashville, Tennessee by brothers Harold and Owen Bradley. The first commercial recording studio facility in what would la ...

(the "Quonset hut studio"), which was located in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. The sessions were produced by

. ''Bedtime Story'' consisted of 11 tracks. Several of the tracks were new recordings. Two of these recordings were co-written by Wynette herself: "Reach Out Your Hand" and "Take Me Home and Love Me". Other tracks such as "That's When I Feel It", "I Got Me a Man" and "Your Love's Been a Long Time Coming" were all new recordings for the project. Additional material were cover tunes. The song, "If This Is Our Last Time", was originally top 40 country single for

Brenda Lee Brenda Mae Tarpley (born December 11, 1944), known professionally as Brenda Lee, is an American singer. Primarily performing rockabilly, pop, country and Christmas music, she achieved her first ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' hit aged 12 i ...

in 1970. "Just as Soon as I Get Over Loving You" was a low-charting single for

Jean Shepard Ollie Imogene "Jean" Shepard (November 21, 1933 – September 25, 2016), was an American country singer who was considered one of the genre's first significant female artists. Her commercial success ran from the 1950s to the 1970s while also be ...

in 1971. "

Tonight My Baby's Coming Home "Tonight My Baby's Coming Home" is a song written by Billy Sherrill and Glenn Sutton, and recorded by American country music artist Barbara Mandrell. It was released in November 1971 as the first single from the album '' The Midnight Oil''. It was ...

" was a top ten single for

Barbara Mandrell Barbara Ann Mandrell (born December 25, 1948) is an American retired country music singer and musician. She is also credited as an actress and author. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, she was considered among country's most successful mus ...

in 1971. " Love's the Answer" was a top ten single for

Tanya Tucker Tanya Denise Tucker (born October 10, 1958) is an American country music singer and songwriter who had her first hit, "Delta Dawn", in 1972 at the age of 13. During her career Tucker became one of the few child performers to mature into adulthood ...

in 1972.

Release, reception, chart performance and singles

''Bedtime Story'' was released on March 27, 1972 on Epic Records. It was the thirteenth studio album in Wynette's career. It was originally distributed as a

vinyl LP The LP (from long playing or long play) is an analog sound storage medium, specifically 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 specificati ...

and a

cassette Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette (format) (or ''cassette tape''), a format that contains magnetic tape for audio, video, and data storage and playback * Compact Cassette, a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ...

. When reviewing the compilation ''My Man/Bedtime Story'' (which compiled tracks from this album and her ''My Man'' LP), Stephen Cook 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 ...

praised the songs "I'm Gonna Keep on Loving Him" and "Tonight My Baby's Coming Home". Cook called them "top notch tracks". The album reached the number seven position on 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 advertis ...

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 ...

chart in May 1972. It also reached number 133 on the

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists. Sometimes, a rec ...

albums chart in 1972. Two singles were spawned from the disc. The first was the title track, which was first released by Epic in November 1971. By March 4, 1972, the song reached the number one spot on the ''Billboard''

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 along with digital sales and streaming. ...

chart. It also climbed to number 72 on the

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), ...

. The second single issued was "Reach Out Your Hand", which was issued as the next single in April 1972. The track went to number two on the ''Billboard'' country chart by July 1972. Both singles also topped Canada's ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

'' Country Tracks chart in 1972.

Track listing

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 cassette j-cards. Origin Liner notes are descended from the prog ...

of ''Bedtime Story''. *Bill Barnes – cover, design *Charlie Bragg – engineer *Lou Bradley – engineer *

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, Vo ...

– backing vocals *George McClelland – Cover photography *The Nashville Edition – backing vocals *Billy Sherrill – producer

Charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 1972 albums Tammy Wynette albums Epic Records albums Albums produced by Billy Sherrill