''Morning Sun'' is the twenty-first solo studio album released 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

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 ...

. The album was released in March 1990 on

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

. It was Mandrell's second studio release for the Capitol label.

Background and content

''Morning Sun'' was recorded in June 1989 at the Groundstar Recording Lab and the Music Mill, both 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 ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The album consisted of 10 tracks of new material. The album's fifth track "

Crazy Arms "Crazy Arms" is an American country song which was a career-making hit for Ray Price. The song, released in May 1956, went on to become a number 1 country hit that year, establishing Price's sound, and redefining honky-tonk music. It was Price's ...

" was a cover version of the single by

Ray Price Noble Ray Price (January 12, 1926 – December 16, 2013) was an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His wide-ranging baritone is regarded as among the best male voices of country music, and his innovations, such as prope ...

. Price and Mandrell sang the song as a duet. The album also included the track " Do You Know Where Your Man Is", which country artist

Pam Tillis Pamela Yvonne Tillis (born July 24, 1957) is an American country music singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. She is the eldest child of country singer Mel Tillis. After recording unsuccessful pop material for Elektra Records, Elektra ...

would later record for her album, ''

Homeward Looking Angel Homeward Looking Angel is the third studio album by American country music artist Pam Tillis. The album was a #23 album on the Billboard charts. This album produced four singles for Tillis on the Hot Country Songs charts: the Top Five hits "Shake ...

'' and would become a Top 20 single. The album's style is mainly traditional country music, with fiddles and steel guitars featured. The album was originally released on a

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. It employs the Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard and was capable of hol ...

upon its release in 1990.

Release

''Morning Sun'' spawned three singles between 1989 and 1990. The lead single, "You Wouldn't Know Love (If It Looked You in the Eye)" was released in November 1989. The song failed to chart on the United States' ''

Billboard Magazine ''Billboard'' (stylized in lowercase since 2013) is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events and styles related to th ...

Hot Country Singles & Tracks 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, but did peak at #81 on the Canadian ''

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 early March 1990. The single became Mandrell's final single to chart in Canada and any other singles chart. The album's second and third singles "You've Become the Dream" and "The Nearness of You" were released in 1990, but both failed to reach the ''Billboard'' and ''RPM'' country singles charts. The album was released in April 1990 and also failed to chart, not reaching the ''Billboard''

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.

Critical reception

A review in ''

People The term "the people" refers to the public or Common people, common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. I ...

'' was mostly negative, criticizing Mandrell's singing voice as "stiff" and "whiny" on certain tracks. The reviewer thought that the "Crazy Arms" cover was the only song on which she "get much emotion across".

Track listing

#"The Nearness of You" (Hoagy Carmichael / Ned Washington) #" Do You Know Where Your Man Is" – (Carol Chase, Dave Gibson, Russell Smith) #"I'm Not Your Super Woman" (

L.A. Reid Antonio Marquis "L.A." Reid (born June 7, 1956) is an American record executive, A&R representative, and record producer who served as president and CEO of Arista Records from 2000 to 2004, as well as chairman and CEO of the Island Def Jam Mus ...

Babyface Babyface or Baby Face can refer to: Nicknames * Lester Joseph Gillis a.k.a. Baby Face Nelson, an infamous 1930s bank robber * Roosevelt "Baby Face" Willette (1933–1971), an American hard bop and soul-jazz musician * "Baby Face", Jimmy McLarnin ...

Daryl Simmons Daryl L. Simmons is an American R&B record producer and songwriter. Best known for his production work with L.A. Reid and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, Simmons was credited on the majority of albums by their label LaFace Records, as well as sev ...

) #"Trying Times" - (Keith Palmer, Sharon Palmer) #"

" – (Ralph Mooney, Chuck Seals) #*with

#"You Wouldn't Know Love (If It Looked You in the Eye)" (Hank Cochran / Dave Kirby) #"Baby I Hate" (Keith Stegall / Steve Davis) #"It's Over for the Last Time Again" (Musick, Palmer, Barker) #"Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People" (

Keith Stegall Robert Keith Stegall (born November 1, 1955) is an American country music recording artist and record producer. Active since 1980, Stegall has recorded two major-label studio albums: 1985's ''Keith Stegall'' and 1996's ''Passages'', although he ...

Roger Murrah Roger Alan Murrah (born November 20, 1946) is an American songwriter and independent music publisher who has written hits for artists including Waylon Jennings, Alan Jackson, Al Jarreau, and Alabama.

Sales chart positions

;Singles

References

{{Authority control 1990 albums Barbara Mandrell albums Capitol Records albums Albums produced by Tom Collins (record producer)