Tammy Wynette - Womanhood (1978/2019)

It is probably appropriate that Tammy Wynette seems to be the only performing artist to ever release an album entitled Womanhood. The title song of this 1978 release, yet another hit from the clever songwriter Bobby Braddock, has become something of a legend, although not quite on the popularity level of the eternal "Stand by Your Man"." Unlike that Wynette anthem, "Womanhood" hands out the kind of advice most parents probably wish rabbis and priests were giving to adolescent girls. As good as Braddock is, though, he should have written another verse for this song; nothing quite lives up to, or down to, the opening line rhyming the name "Patricia" with "tried to kiss ya." Over the decades since this album was originally released, Wynette collectors may have found it both easier and more satisfying to get their hands on "Womanhood" via various live or greatest-hits collections. One greatest-hits package was even roundly criticized for not including the song. It isn't that the original album is horrible, it is just simply typical, not only of Wynette's album output but of producer Billy Sherrill as well. He may often put a lot of attention into individual tracks, but his concept of an album is almost a rebellion against the big thinking of the late '60s, a throwback to the time when an LP would be stamped out just as soon as some kind of minimum standard of playing time and content had been reached. In this case, the entire album is short of a half-hour. This would of course be just fine if the ten songs featured were all masterpieces, but most of them are more like duds. If Sherrill is following any philosophy with this presentation, it is the old music business advice that the first 30 seconds of a side or demo tape is all that matters. There is no denying that the opening of "Womanhood" is spellbinding -- the bass part alone could be transplanted to a grindcore album without a moan of dissent from headbangers. "I'd Like to See Jesus on the Midnight Special" creates almost as much interest kicking off the flip side of the LP, evoking the bizarre era in which a song entitled "Nobody Likes to Play Rhythm Guitar Behind Jesus" was actually played on the radio. As for the rest of the first side, a listener can immediately become suspicious just because the vapid rock critic Robert Christgau praised it so highly at the time of its release. He did point out the substitution of Wolfman Jack for John the Baptist in "I'd Like to See Jesus on the Midnight Special," but this is only the beginning of the confusion possible when listening to this song years after the late-night television show that inspired it has been largely forgotten. The guitarists' references to the traditional song of the same name will undoubtedly feed the confusion, making it seem as if Wynette wants Jesus Christ to take a ride on the mysterious train that prisoners utilize to escape from their fate. What she really wants is to have him stroll on-stage and boogie. Likewise, when the show's host, Wolfman Jack, is mentioned in the lyrics, later generations may think the country diva is singing about the monster with the full-moon love-hate relationship. This all adds up to subject matter more diverse -- perhaps more broad would be appropriate if one wanted to make a "Womanhood" pun -- than the usual Wynette number. But the usual is where the rest of the album's material goes, including a dreary ballad sung from the point of view of a rich, loveless country star, and it isn't Patty Loveless. The session pickers, all uncredited, do the best they can with this material. Pedal steel students might be interested in this release simply because their instrument is panned all the way to one side and, to bring up another kind of Womanhood, is mastered as loud as the guitar of Jimi Hendrix on Electric Ladyland.