Shout Factory, in association with the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, has released another title in their Archive Series: Legendary Performances: Tammy Wynette. Featuring 15 of her best known songs culled from appearances on television shows and specials from 1967 to 1981, Legendary Performances: Tammy Wynette is a terrific introduction for newcomers to the indeed legendary "First Lady of Country Music." A couple of interesting extras are included, as well, along with a detailed, informative booklet running down the history of all the songs (and the shows from which the video clips were pulled) included here.

I'm sure most people, regardless of their music preferences, could name at least one Tammy Wynette song; certainly D-I-V-O-R-C-E or Stand By Your Man are ubiquitous, both in actual play and reference, in our general pop culture. I'm certainly no country music expert, but I enjoy the genre and I have a couple of her "greatest hits" collections, so I was looking forward to this disc - and it didn't disappoint. As with the earlier Johnny Cash disc I reviewed this past November, Shout Factory and the CMHFM have found some fascinating stuff here which should please long-time fans of Wynette, as well.

The disc opens with a very young (24 years old) Tammy appearing on The Stonemans syndicated music show, singing Loretta Lynn's #1 chart-topper, Don't Come Home a-Drinkin' (With Lovin' On Your Mind), a song Tammy had included on her debut album, Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad. Being a dedicated viewer of Hee Haw and The Porter Wagoner Show when I was growing up, I always loved seeing those patently fake "homey" backdrops these kinds of shows would concoct for their singers, usually in the form of a front porch mock-up - like the one shown here. Having seen Tammy perform on TV later in her career, it's rather remarkable to see this performance, right before she broke through into the big time, and see her stage persona already relatively intact. She's certainly soft-spoken and demur when speaking to emcee Bob Jennings (and perhaps a tad nervous), but then she always came over as refined and ladylike in later interviews. Performing, though, she's straight-ahead and direct, connecting right with the camera and the audience with no embellishments or flourishes, and that style of performing would following right on through during a three decade career.

Spiffed up with a bouffant and looking decidedly more at ease, Tammy shows up on The Bill Anderson Show to sing one of my favorites, the finger-snapper Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad, a naughty little song about a woman getting the better of her philandering man ("If you like 'em painted up, powdered up, then you're gonna be glad, 'cause this good girl is gonna go bad!"), with step-daughter Donna Chapel singing harmony. It was Wynette's first big hit, and she follows it up on "Whispering" Bill's show with one of her all-time classics, I Don't Wanna Play House. With that plaintive whine of the steel guitar in the background, Tammy alternates between surprising strong declarations and an almost barely heard whisper here, and it's quite effective.

Singing one of her two best known songs, D-I-V-O-R-C-E, at the second Country Music Association Awards (where hosts Dale Evans and Roy Rogers make a joke about divorcing), Tammy looks fairly glam here, but unfortunately, the audio quality for this, one of her standards, is inferior to the other offerings here on the Legendary Performances: Tammy Wynette, robbing the viewer of the impact of this great song. Her signature song, Stand By Your Man, is performed here on The Wilburn Brothers Show, a syndicated country music show from 1968. Sitting on a porch swing in one of those great mocked-up homey sets, Tammy sits motionless, with the exception of one tapping foot, as she nails the song that set so many feminists' teeth on edge.

Certainly after those signature tunes, the highlight of Legendary Performances: Tammy Wynette are the clips featuring husband (and then ex-husband) George Jones. Their first duet here is taken from an appearance on 1974's Pop! Goes the Country syndicated series, hosted by Ralph Emery. Jones and Wynette were married for six years (1969-1975), and during that period, they garnered quite a bit of press for their duet work, particularly when the songs seemed to amplify what the audience suspected was going on in their marriage. Watching them perform We Loved it Away, it's amazing to hear the blending of two such seemingly different styles of vocalizing mesh into something much bigger than the individual parts. They're perfection as a duet. Jones, acknowledged by many other famous singers (including quite a few who have no connection with country music) as one of the finest singers to ever lay down a track, is clearly taken with Wynette's delivery, and he plays to her, not the other way around (just watch his face as he looks at her, lighting up at her approval). My favorite duet of theirs, the sublime Golden Ring, is given an almost jaunty rendering here, with the singers clearly enjoying each other's company. Other highlights here include their duet on We're Gonna Hold On (even though they both look a little worse for wear), and Tammy's solo on the heartbreaking 'Til I Can Make It On My Own.

Here are the 15 songs performed by Tammy Wynette for Legendary Performances: Tammy Wynette, in the order of their appearance:

Don't Come Home A-Drinkin' (With Lovin' On Your Mind)
The Stonemans, 1967

Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad
The Bill Anderson Show, 1967

I Don't Wanna Play House
The Bill Anderson Show, 1967

D-I-V-O-R-C-E
Country Music Association Awards, 1968

Stand By Your Man
The Wilburn Brothers Show, 1969

Reach Out Your Hand
Country Music Association Awards, 1972

We Loved It Away (with George Jones)
Pop! Goes the Country, 1974

Woman to Woman
Pop! Goes the Country, 1974

'Til I Can Make It On My Own
Johnny Cash and Friends, 1976.

Golden Ring (with George Jones)
Country Music Hit Parade, 1977

You and Me
Country Music Hit Parade, 1977

Near You (with George Jones)
Country Music Hit Parade, 1977

He Was There (When I Needed You)
The Tammy Wynette Special, 1980

We're Gonna Hold On (with George Jones)
The Tammy Wynette Special, 1980

Cowboys Don't Shoot Straight (Like They Used To)
Country Comes Home, 1981

The DVD:

The Video:
The full-frame, 1.33:1 video transfer for Legendary Performances: Tammy Wynette obviously varies according to the source materials used for the various clips. Some look quite good (the later clips, for the most part), while earlier clips can be a little fuzzy or soft. Video glitches are not uncommon, but considering the rarity of some of these clips, and the relatively primitive nature of video captures at that time, overall, the video fidelity of Legendary Performances: Tammy Wynette is quite good.

The Audio:
There can be problems with the audio tracks for Legendary Performances: Tammy Wynette, and for the same reasons as the video: problems that originate in the source materials. For the most part, though, the two-track mono mix gives adequate coverage.

The Extras:
In addition to the excellent notes on all the songs, written by Michael Gray on a three-page tri-fold pamphlet, a couple of additional extras fill out the Legendary Performances: Tammy Wynette disc. Tammy Wynette's Hall of Fame Induction, running 7:32, is taken from the September 23, 1998 broadcast of the CMA Awards. Pam Tillis and Lorrie Morgan sing a medley of Tammy's songs. Two interviews with Tammy are also included here: with Dick Heard (3:50) and Lee Greenwood (3:24) have Tammy discussing her life and career. And for die-hard fans of the legendary singer, there is video from Wynette's marriage to George Richey, taken in Florida in 1978.

Final Thoughts:
Shout Factory and Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville have another winner in their Archive Series with Legendary Performances: Tammy Wynette. The "First Lady of Country Music" is served well here with some interesting clips from various television programs she appeared on from 1967 to 1981, and all of her big hits are covered. For fans of the singer, I recommend Legendary Performances: Tammy Wynette.