The Essential Skeeter Davis

by Skeeter Davis

Overview

Released in 1995, this 20-song collection by country-pop star Mary Francis Penick, known professionally as Skeeter Davis, features the highlights from her prime years with RCA Records. As the title suggests, this truly is the essential Skeeter Davis album, covering a nearly 20-year period that began with 1953's "I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know," the lone hit by her early duo the Davis Sisters. Recorded with singing partner Betty Jack Davis (unrelated), the song spent eight weeks at number one on the country charts and ranks among the Top 100 country singles of all time. Not long after its release, Betty Jack was killed in a car accident, leaving Skeeter to carry on for a short time singing with Betty Jack's sister Georgia. Thinking she'd had her brief moment in the spotlight, Davis retired from music in 1956 in favor of a domestic life. The break didn't last long, and by 1960 she had paired up with legendary guitarist and producer Chet Atkins, releasing a string of solo hits that would carry her through the next decade. Instead of working with additional singing partners, Davis chose to multi-track her own voice, re-creating the Davis Sisters sound on her own terms; it became her signature, decorating early hits like "Am I That Easy to Forget?" and "(I Can't Help You) I'm Falling Too," and softening her country twang on later pop crossover hits like the wonderful Gerry Goffin/Carole King-penned "I Can't Stay Mad at You" and the orchestrated "Silver Threads and Golden Needles." Of course, her best-known hit 1963's doom-filled romantic ballad "The End of the World" is included here, along with her autobiographical 1971 hit "Bus Fare to Kentucky." Her career would continue through throughout the '80s and into the '90s, but these are the essential tracks that made her a country music legend. ~ Timothy Monger

Product Details

Release Date:	03/28/1995
Label:	Bmg / Bmg / Sony Music / Sony Music Entertainment
UPC:	0886919859720
Rank:	57902

Tracks

1. I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know
2. Set Him Free
3. Am I That Easy to Forget?
4. The One You Slip Around With
5. (I Can't Help You) I'm Falling Too
6. No, Never
7. My Last Date (With You)
8. Optimistic
9. The End of the World
10. Gonna Get Along Without You Now
11. Where I Ought to Be
12. I Can't Stay Mad at You
13. I'm Saving My Love
14. Silver Threads and Golden Needles
15. Mine Is a Lonely Life
16. Let Me Get Close to You
17. Fuel to the Flame
18. What Does It Take (To Keep a Man Like You Satisfied)
19. I'm a Lover (Not a Fighter)
20. Bus Fare to Kentucky

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Skeeter Davis   Primary Artist,Vocals
The Davis Sisters   Primary Artist
Chet Atkins   Guest Artist
Bill Walker   Conductor
Colin Escott   Sequencing

Technical Credits

Colin Escott   Liner Notes
Floyd Cramer   Composer
Jim Glaser   Composer
Milton Kellum   Composer
Cecil A. Null   Composer
Julie Wanca   Design
Bill Walker   Arranger
Susan Eaddy   Art Direction
Paul Williams   Compilation Producer
Dick Reynolds   Composer
Shelby Singleton   Composer
Bill Owens   Composer
Bill Porter   Engineer
Boudleaux Bryant   Composer
Chet Atkins   Producer
Jack Rhodes   Composer
Felton Jarvis   Producer
James Nichols   Digital Transfers
Carl Belew   Composer
Carole King   Composer
Dolly Parton   Composer
Don Robertson   Composer
W.S. Stevenson   Composer
Marie Wilson   Composer
Ronnie Light   Composer,Producer
Justin Tubb   Composer
Jim Malloy   Engineer
Tom Pick   Engineer
Anita Kerr   Arranger,Producer
Chuck Seitz   Engineer
Arthur Kent   Composer
Tommy Strong   Engineer
Alex Zanetis   Composer
Gerry Goffin   Composer
Hal Blair   Composer
Harlan Howard   Composer
Aubrey Freeman   Composer
Skeeter Davis   Composer
Sylvia Dee   Composer