Omnivore Recordings, in conjunction with the Buck Owens Estate, will release Country Singer’s Prayer, Buck Owens’ final Capitol album from 1975, which has remained unissued until now. Street date for CD and Digital isAugust 17, 2018.
By late 1975, Buck’s unequaled success at Capitol Records was finally winding down. His singles were no longer topping the charts, and after the untimely death of bandmate Don Rich the year before, Buck was starting to lose the fire that drove him through an unprecedented run of groundbreaking hits in the ’60s and early ’70s. His contract with Capitol was due to expire at the end of the year, and he and the Buckaroos readied one final album for the label in November 1975.
While several of Buck’s later Capitol recordings had not been topping the charts as before, his last single for them, “Country Singer’s Prayer,” failed to even make a showing.
Likely due to the indifference shown to that last single, the decision was made to shelve this final album, and assign the selection number to what was ultimately Buck’s last Capitol release, Best of Buck Owens, Vol. 6, which did include the last two singles originally intended for Country Singer’s Prayer: “Battle of New Orleans” and the title track.
While Buck would revisit some of these songs with producer Norro Wilson in Nashville after signing to Warner Bros. Records, the original recordings produced at Buck’s Bakersfield studio with the Buckaroos remained in the vault.
Country Singer’s Prayer will finally receive its release some 43 years late, taken from the original LP master tapes, in what was the intended sequence. Also included are the B-sides to Buck’s final two singles from the unissued album.
With new liner notes by Scott B. Bomar featuring interviews with longtime Buckaroos piano playerJim Shaw and Robert John Jones (a.k.a. Rocky Topp), who co-wrote “Country Singer’s Prayer,” this is a fascinating chance to experience Buck’s last intended Capitol album.
Track Listing:
1. John Law
2. Love Don’t Make The Bars
3. He Ain’t Been Out Bowling With The Boys
4. Drifting Away
5. The Battle Of New Orleans
6. Country Singer’s Prayer
7. California Okie
8. A Different Kind Of Sad
9. It’s Been A Long, Long Time
10. How’s Everything
Bonus Tracks:
11. Run Him To The Round House Nellie (You Might Corner Him There)
12. Meanwhile Back At The Ranch ]
Produced at Buck Owens Studios in Bakersfield, California
