Grand Ole Opry's New Star
| Grand Ole Opry's New Star | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | November 1956[1] | |||
| Recorded | January 19, 1954 – August 1956 | |||
| Studio | Gold Star (Houston, Texas) | |||
| Genre | Country | |||
| Length | 34:14 | |||
| Label | Starday SLP-101 | |||
| Producer | Pappy Daily | |||
| George Jones chronology | ||||
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| Singles from The Grand Ole Opry's New Star | ||||
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [2] |
Grand Ole Opry's New Star is the debut studio album released by George Jones in November 1956[1] with Starday Records. Produced by Jones' manager Pappy Daily, the album was recorded during early sessions in 1954, throughout 1955, and other sessions in 1956. It is also the first album to be released on the Starday label, a label only four years old.
Background
Starday Records was an independent record label in Houston that was co-founded by Jones's producer and mentor H. W. "Pappy" Daily and Jack Starnes. Jones's first recording, the self-penned novelty "No Money in This Deal", had appeared in February 1954 and in 1955 he scored his first hit with "Why Baby Why", which would be the lead track on Grand Ole Opry's New Star. The title reflected Jones's 1956 appearance on the Grand Ole Opry, which solidified his emerging status in the country music world.[3] Extant copies of Grand Ole Opry's New Star are rare, and collector's prices are $400 and up.[4]
"Play It Cool, Man" was released as his second single on May 29, 1954 on Starday Records. It is the oldest recording to be included on his debut album in 1956.[5]
Recording and composition
Jones wrote or co-wrote all fourteen songs on the album,[6] which included three of his early top-10 country hits: "Why Baby Why", "What Am I Worth", and "You Gotta Be My Baby".
- Why Baby, Why
Jones and Edwards also collaborated on "Seasons Of My Heart", which would go on to be a hit for Johnny Cash and was also recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis and Willie Nelson. Former Starday president Don Pierce later explained to Jones biographer Bob Allen that "Pappy realized George's strength as a balladeer long before I did. He felt that 'Seasons Of My Heart' was a big song. I knew that, in those days, it took much longer to sell a ballad, because it had to make it on the radio first...I also knew that an upbeat song like 'Why, Baby Why' would be easier to sell directly to the jukebox distributors for the beer-drinkin' trade."[7]
Sound quality
In later years, Jones would have little good to say about the music production at Starday, recalling to NPR in 1996 that "it was a terrible sound. We recorded in a small living room of a house on a highway near Beaumont. You could hear the trucks. We had to stop a lot of times because it wasn't soundproof, it was just egg crates nailed on the wall and the big old semi trucks would go by and make a lot of noise and we'd have to start over again."[8]
Track listing
All tracks are written by George Jones, with additional co-writers as noted.[6][9]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Why Baby Why" | Darrell Edwards | 2:16 |
| 2. | "Seasons of My Heart" | Edwards | 2:51 |
| 3. | "It's OK" | 2:18 | |
| 4. | "Let Him Know" | 2:35 | |
| 5. | "Play It Cool" | 2:33 | |
| 6. | "Hold Everything" | 1:51 | |
| 7. | "Boat of Life" | 2:00 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "You Gotta Be My Baby" | 2:33 | |
| 2. | "What Am I Worth" | Edwards | 2:34 |
| 3. | "Your Heart" | Edwards | 2:40 |
| 4. | "Ragged But Right" | 2:13 | |
| 5. | "Yearning (duet w/ Jennette Hicks)" | Eddings | 2:55 |
| 6. | "Still Hurtin'" | 2:01 | |
| 7. | "Taggin' Along" | Burl Stephens | 2:57 |
References
- ^ a b "November Album Releases" (PDF). American Radio History. Cashbox. November 3, 1956. p. 20. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
- ^ "The Grand Ole Opry's New Star - George Jones". AllMusic. Retrieved July 15, 2025.
- ^ Irwin Stambler; Grelun Landon (2000). Country Music: The Encyclopedia. Macmillan Books. p. 223. ISBN 0-312-26487-9.
- ^ Gary Dowell, Isaiah Evans, Kim Jones, James L. Halperin, ed. (2006). Heritage Music and Entertainment Dallas Signature Auction Catalog. Heritage Capital Corporation. p. 27. ISBN 1-59967-081-X.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link) - ^ Tosches, Nick (July 1, 1994). "The Devil in George Jones". Texasmonthly.com. Retrieved July 15, 2025.
- ^ a b Auction result for this album with high definition images of front and back here, only shows track listing for side one.
- ^ Allen, Bob (1994). "Houston And Nashville: Up The Lost Highway". George Jones: The Life and Times of a Honky Tonk Legend. A Birch Lane Press Book. Carol Publishing Group. p. 89. ISBN 978-1-55972-253-7.
- ^ Gross, Terry (April 26, 2013). "A Conversation With Country Superstar George Jones". npr.org. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
- ^ Various online sites, such as this and this Archived 2008-10-07 at the Wayback Machine, list the same contents but in a different order from the album cover track listing.