Sherrill added drama to country
The country songs that producer Billy Sherrill, who died on Tuesday at age 78, helped deliver have become standards: “Stand By Your Man,” “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” “D-I-V-O-RC-E,” “Behind Closed Doors,” “Take This Job and Shove It.”
Propelled by narrative flow that tackled broken homes, shattered dreams and terrible bosses, dense with sonic drama and detail, Sherrill’s most famous productions for artists including Tammy Wynette, George Jones, Charlie Rich and Johnny Paycheck contain emotional depths that belie their brevity and helped define the so-called countrypolitan sound of the late 1960s and 1970s.
Over his decades in the music business as both a songwriter and a producer, Sherrill also worked on records by artists including David Allan Coe, Merle Haggard, Elvis Costello, Barbara Mandrell and Ray Charles. Below, a few of his most notable productions.
Tammy Wynette, “Stand By Your Man” (1968). The Wynette-and-Sherrillpenned ode to devotion doesn’t send the most progressive message, but it is his most enduring production. “Stand by your man, give him two arms to cling to,” sings Wynette as a a pedal steel moans below. The saving grace? How Wynette punctures the sentiment with a lyrical barb: “And if you love him, be proud of him / ’Cause after all, he’s just a man.”
George Jones, “He Stopped Loving Her Today” (1980). A devastating recounting of undying love, this hit was written by Bobby Braddock and Curly Putman. Told from a friend’s perspective, the lyrics detail a heartbroken man whose only reprieve from the suffering comes in death. “I went to see my friend today / But I didn’t see no tears,” sings Jones, recalling the funeral wake. “All dressed up to go away / First time I’d seen him smile in years.” Precise arrangements roll through new realms every four bars. Strings shiver as they pass through dark lyrics.
Charlie Rich, “Behind Closed Doors” (1973). Singer and pianist Rich first gained success as a late-1950s session player for Sun Records. He failed to gain mainstream attention through much of the 1960s until he hooked up with Sherrill and softened his sound. Two of Rich’s biggest hits were a thematic yin-and-yangs: “Behind Closed Doors” and “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World” documented the beginning and the ending of love affairs.