Best Always is the nineteenth studio album released by American country artist Crystal Gayle. The album was released in 1993 on Branson Entertainment and was co-produced by Gayle as well. The album was her first to be released on an independent label and contained a mix of re-recordings of some of Gayle's songs and cover versions of songs originally recorded by others.
Background During the early 1990s, Crystal Gayle had been recording for the major labels Capitol and Liberty Records. After 1992, she departed from these labels and began recording for smaller labels. The first independent label she recorded under was Branson Entertainment, which Best Always was released through. The album contained cover versions of songs Gayle had previously recorded. Examples of this included Gayle's former hits from 1970s and 80s, "When I Dream" and "Ready for the Times to Get Better". Best Always also featured cover versions of songs Gayle had not yet recorded. Among these were "Crazy" by Patsy Cline and Irving Berlin's "Always".
Critical reception and release The album received 2 out of 5 stars from Allmusic.
Best Always was officially released in July 1993 via Branson Entertainment. The album was released in both cassette and compact disc versions. In later editions, the album was released via Southpaw Music Productions.
Track listing
Personnel All credits are adapted from Allmusic.
Musicians Crystal Gayle – lead vocals, backing vocals Charles Cochran – acoustic piano, keyboards Dean Slocum – acoustic piano, keyboards Chris Leuzinger – acoustic guitar, electric guitars Mike Loudermilk – acoustic guitar, electric guitars Jay Patten – acoustic guitar, mandolin, saxophones Duncan Mullins – bass Tony Newman – drums Kenny Malone – percussion Buddy Spicher – fiddle, viola Jim Ferguson – backing vocals
Creative Ron Keith – photography Kent Wells – graphic design Technical John Donegan – producer Crystal Gayle – producer Jay Patten – producer Joe Scalfe – engineer David Sinko – engineer John "JD" Dickson – additional engineer Ronny Light – additional engineer Steve Tillisch – mixing Paula Montondo – mix assistant Glenn Meadows – mastering at Masterfonics (Nashville, Tennessee)
References