Country Style/Dean 'Tex' Martin Rides Again

by William Ruhlmann Reprise Records may have been surprised at the commercial success of Dean Martin's album of country-oriented songs, Country Style, which spent four weeks in the Billboard LP chart in the spring of 1963, and the label lost no time sending Martin back to the recording studio to cut a follow-up. This time, Marty Paich was handling the charts and the baton, but the approach was much the same. Martin took on songs associated with Hank Williams, George Morgan, Eddy Arnold, and others. The songs may have been Nashville products technically, but Paich got no closer to real country music than the countrypolitan style; he still managed to fill up his sound with a typical orchestra and backup singers, not steel guitars or country fiddles, even if there was a twangy electric guitar solo on "Corrine Corrina." This was country music by way of Hollywood. But that suited Martin, who sounded as at ease as ever. If there was any criticism to be made of his approach, it was that he brought little sense of emotional turmoil to some of the romantic laments here. Songs like "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love With You)" and "Take Good Care of Her" were full of the unvarnished heartbreak typical of country expression, but Martin didn't sound as put out as the lyrics would have indicated. Maybe that was one reason why country radio ignored this album and its predecessor.