80's Ladies

80's Ladies
Studio album by K. T. Oslin
Released	June 30, 1987 (1987-06-30)
Recorded	1986–1987
Studio	The Music Mill, Nashville, TN
Genre	Country
Length	33:51
Label	RCA
Producer	Harold Shedd
K. T. Oslin chronology
80's Ladies (1987) This Woman (1988)
Singles from 80's Ladies
"Wall of Tears" Released: December 1986 "80's Ladies" Released: April 25, 1987 "Do Ya" Released: August 1987 "I'll Always Come Back" Released: January 30, 1988
Alternative cover
Vinyl cover version of the album

80's Ladies is the debut studio album by American country music artist K. T. Oslin, released on June 30, 1987 by RCA Records Nashville. The album marked her second major label debut, which shot her successes to the mainstream country after her first failed attempt with Elektra, a Warner subdivision, had folded with two singles released there in 1982. Ultimately rushing forward with her depressive state, she made her second and final effort to sign with another major label. Coming in meeting with RCA Records executives, she ultimately signed with the label at 45 years old.

Commercially, the record had topped the Billboard country chart, along with peaking at number 68 on the main Billboard 200, making it her highest-charting peak in her discography. It was certified platnium in the United States by RIAA and gold in Canada. Four singles were released on that latter, with her self-titled single, being praised by fans and critics penned as a major signature hit, eventually winning the title at the 1987 Grammy Awards for Best Female Country Vocal Performance, becoming the first female to win "Song of the Year" at Country Music Association Awards and ACM Awards's top female vocalist and music video of the year. The album also features many major award nominations throughout 1988.

In the late '70s to early '80s, Oslin wrote county songs that brought the attention to SESAC, while also finding herself singing with Guy Clark's self-titled album.^[1] Diana Petty, a Nashville executive for SESAC, advised Oslin to acquire a major label contract. By 1979, Oslin was signed with Elektra via a "singles-only" contract through Petty's support.^[2] Only two singles were issued on the label, which later flopped to commercial failure, with the song "'Clean Your Own Tables' managed to get on the charts" at a timeline from "about a minute and a half... died a firery death"^[3] to "about 15 minutes," Oslin recalled.^[4] Eventually, she was dropped by Elektra in 1982, but she however returned to New York and commercially returned to work, which she found unsatisfying. Continuing writing compositions, she won as "Most Promising Country Music Writer" by SESAC that same year.^[5] She made her appearance on a live radio broadcast in 1984 to establish more musicians through her compositions.^[6] Oslin fell into a depressive state deemed by her commercial losses as a result, after "several '4 AM anxiety attacks' questioning her decision." Positively, Petty's words of encouragement followed due to Oslin's extensive work with Judy Rodman, Dottie West, Gail Davies and The Judds.^[1][4]

Eventually, the support led Oslin to make a final effort to regain a recording contract. By the beginning of 1986,^[7] she borrowed $7,000 from her aunt, lost 40 pounds, and temporarily acquired a Nashville nightclub, inviting music executives to a one-time live showcase, expecting a phone call for a decision.^[4] "The next morning, I sat waiting for the phone to ring. It did not," she recounted.^[4]

Through her musical connections, Oslin contacted Nashville producer Harold Shedd, who had recently been successful recording Alabama.^[4] Shedd convinced Oslin to record three of her original tunes and he eventually became her full-time production collaborator.^[4] Through Shedd's connections with RCA Nashville, primarily Alabama's contract with the label, Oslin met RCA executive Joe Galante, who believed that Oslin had potential due to her outstanding composition and voice.^[6] At age 45, Oslin was signed officially to RCA in 1986.^[1]

After signing with the label, Oslin immediately commenced songwriting, which was later composed with eight tracks for her debut album. Tracks like "Younger Men", "Dr., Dr." and "Lonely But Only for You" were written earlier somewhere back between 1982 through 1985 before Oslin revived her solo career.^[8] The rest of the tracks (except "Wall of Tears", which was written by Richard Leigh and Peter McCann) were written by Oslin along with co-writers, notably Rory Bourke ("Two Hearts", "Lonely But Only for You"), Jerry Gillespie ("Dr., Dr.", "Old Pictures") and Charlie Black ("Lonely But Only for You").^[8]

During the months of mid-1986 to early 1987, the album was recorded at The Music Mill in Nashville, Tennessee. Harold Shedd, with whom Oslin had negotiated before, produced the album.^[8] Alongside Oslin providing lead vocals and keyboards, various musicians have played on the album's composition. In the studio, David Briggs (who was an elite core for Nashville country musicians) and Gary Prim provided additional keyboards on the record. Bruce Dees, Steve Gibson and Brent Rowan (also plays acoustic guitar) recorded guitar parts stem tracks; notably the track "Dr., Dr." had guitar overdubs that compromise on the approach. Eddie Bayers, Larrie Londin and James Stroud filled in drum tracks to fill in the rhythm more notably, following the bass parts recorded by Mike Brignardello and Larry Paxton. Sam Levine played saxophone parts on the album, with his work being notable in the track, "I'll Always Come Back". Terry McMillan, who also is a solo artist for the song "Love is a Full Time Thing", plays the harmonica tracks. Joe Scaife adds the backing vocals while Costo Davis provides the synthesizer, noting most of his work appears on the album. Jim Cotton and Joe Scaife recorded the album alongside George W. Clinton and Paul Goldberg, being assistant engineers to help match the sound. The album was then mixed and edited by Milan Bogdan, and mastered by Hank Williams.^[8]

80's Ladies was recorded digitally using a digital 32-track X850 Mitsubishi PCM tape recorder.^[8]

80's Ladies sound was compromised to a "blend of pop and southern-blues-and-rock" release.^[7] AllMusic journalist Rodney Batdorf describes it as "a new voice in country music",^[9] crediting her voice as the major narration to "a whole generation of women about the social changes".^[10]

According to Oslin, the title track for the same name took her approximately a year to write the lyrical arrangements, starting it off as a "little [show] piece at the time", working it as a song where she had actually never envisioned it as a single neither she had it known to be a major hit.^[11] Lyrically, the album's material is largely known about Oslin's autobiographical career in music, to which many fans were made aware of, but Oslin denied.^[7]

80's Ladies was released on June 30, 1987 by RCA Nashville and BMG Music.^[12] The album debuted on the US Billboard Top Country at number 15^[13] on August 8, 1987,^[14] making it the highest debut release for a female country artist since Loretta Lynn's Loretta Lynn Sings debuted at number 18 dating back to January 1964.^[15] 80's Ladies peaked at the top spot for one week on February 27, 1988 in the country chart.^[16] The album debuted at number 145 on the US Billboard chart on December 12, 1987,^[17] before peaking at number sixty-eight on March 26, 1988 during Oslin's career peak,^[18] making her album the highest spent on the country chart for 148 weeks and her second-highest on the main chart behind her proceeding This Woman, spending for 32 weeks,^[16] and by March 22, 1988, it had been certified gold by the RIAA for sales of over 500,000 copies in the US, before eventually certified platinum on May 23, 1989 for 1,000,000 copies.^[12] Despite the album having only charted in the US, it was eventually certified gold in Canada for selling over 50,000 in that country.^[19] In retrospect, Oslin has become "the oldest breakthrough artist in country music history."^[20]

"Wall of Tears"/"Two Hearts" (titled as "Two Hearts Are Better Than One") was released as the first single in December 1986 and reached number 40 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for fifteen weeks^[21] but failed to penn itself to become a major hit. Her second and most successful single, "80's Ladies" was released on April 25, 1987, and reached number seven on Billboard Country Singles, charting for twenty-one weeks on that chart,^[21] and number four on RPM Canadian Country Tracks, becoming her smash hit that won Oslin her first "Song of the Year" at the Country Music Association Awards^[22] and nominated at the Academy of Country Music Awards^[23] as well as becoming the first female artist to receive one. She was also brought honors for winning the title of Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance in 1988.^[24]

"Do Ya" was also released in August 1987 and peaked at the top spot on Billboard Country Singles^[21] as well as number three in Canada. It was Oslin's longest-charted single at that time for twenty-five weeks.^[21] The song also received numerous nominations at the CMAs, notably on single and song accolades.^[22] "I'll Always Come Back" was also released on January 30, 1988, and again earned the top spot for both the United States^[25][21] and Canada.

Music videos were produced for "80's Ladies" and "I'll Always Come Back", both produced by Marc W. Ball and directed by Jack Cole and John Lloyd Miller,^[26] which the "80's Ladies" video had won for ACM's "Country Music Video of the Year", while "I'll Always Come Back" has been nominated for that same accolade.^[23]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[27]
Billboard	(favorable)[28]
Chicago Tribune	(favorable)[28]
Christgau's Record Guide	B[29]
Country Music People	[30]
High Fidelity	(favorable)[31]
Indianapolis Star	(favorable)[32]
MusicRow	[33]
People	(favorable)[28]
Stereo Review	(favorable)[34]
The Christian Science Monitor	(favorable)[35]
The Philadelphia Inquirer	[36][28]
The Washington Post	(favorable)[28]

80's Ladies was met with positive reviews ranging from country to contemporary music critics. Ralph Novak from People commented the album "as wryly funny, tuneful and all-around enjoyable as country music gets." He further viewed the songwriting as reflecting "a Kristofferson-like blend of cynical and romantic," giving kudos on Oslin's performance.^[28] A review from The Philadelphia Inquirer noted Oslin that she was able to compose music that "addresses marriage, divorce, motherhood and middle-age dating in a way" that was elusive the country genre "in a long time," and compared the record's self-titled song "tradition[ally]" to Merle Haggard's Okie from Muskogee as a "rabble-rouser."^[36][28] MusicRow's magazine staff wrote 80's Ladies as "the best sign of country music's renewed health... new artists who come from nowhere and quickly redefine the field to fit their vision," giving positive impressions in Oslin's songwriting "proving how just flexible a rigid form can become in an intelligent writer's hands,"^[33] while Billboard's Gerry Wood described the songs as a fundamental perspective "with sass and sagacity."^[28]

Critic Robert Christgau described 80's Ladies as "asserts[ing] herself only when she writes a song all by her lonesome on tracks," as he voiced the opinion of songwriters launching their singing careers "in the prime of life." However, he gave the second half of the album a "dreck", describing the dramatic qualities "down to the last overripe chord change." Despite the understatement, he approved Oslin's vocal style and concluded the review with a 'B'.^[29] Country Music People staff, writing for the album, addressed the qualities they were fond of, similarly Oslin's voice as "strong and gusty" and her productive songwriting, but felt that Shedd's production is similar to all the songs combined.^[30] AllMusic's Rodney Batdorf felt the songwriting "remained the same" but was "given a new viewpoint," while giving 80's Ladies containing "a few weak tracks", he concluded his review by declaring it "an [a] exciting, fresh change."^[9]

Joe Sasfy, writing for The Washington Post, quoted Oslin as "a can't-miss country star," adding to "proof that Nashville's future doesn't depend on fiddles and steel guitars so much as on singer-songwriters who can make you feel they're singing your life."^[28] Tulsa World reviewers declared it "the voice of experience", giving it as an example to Oslin's songwriting contribution "are good ones--tough and poetic, full of heartbreak, tenderness and intelligence."^[28] Nashville-based music journalist Robert K. Oermann, writing in Gannett newspapers, approached the singer's debut by stating: "introduced[ing] to a major new recording personality", while praising the eponymous song as "a warm, earthy, good-humored anthem that is 'real' as anything Patsy Cline or Dolly Parton ever sang."^[28] A Stereo Review writer commented on the performance as "the real stuff" while calling the recording for 80's Ladies as "sparkling". He leaned on the style as "Oslin is really more Southern rock-and-blues than country, influenced more by Chuck Berry than Ernest Tubb," right after playing "Wall of Tears," and added that there was significant usage of humorous themes "often in tandem", accessing "Younger Men" as an example. He positively gave the production as "topnotch", concluding that the album should be "impossible to ignore".^[34]

Credits are adapted from liner notes.^[8]

• Oermann, Robert K.; Bufwack, Mary A. (2003). Finding Her Voice: Women in Country Music: 1800–2000. Nashville, Tennessee: The Country Music Press & Vanderbilt University Press. ISBN 0-8265-1432-4.