Album Review - Conway (1978)

Boogie Grass Band

I've Just Got To Know (How Loving You Would Be)

She's A Woman All The Way

Julie

One Night Honeymoon

Your Love Had Taken Me That High

I've Been Around Enough To Know

My Woman Knows

That's All She Wrote

You Were Named Co-Respondent

Conway's final Owen Bradley produced album, 1978's Conway, shows his readiness to step outside the boundaries of the traditional sound that had so far defined his country career.

It's still there on songs like I've Just Got to Know and My Woman Knows, but the sexy One Night Honeymoon has an edgier vibe he would continue to explore in years to come as he took on the role of co-producer on his albums. The bluegrass-tinged Boogie Grass Band, the album's first cut and lead single which pays homage to Bill Monroe and the Allman Brothers, became a concert staple for years to come. (It's also my least favorite song Conway ever recorded, simply because bluegrass music isn't my cup of tea.) This record also features Conway's version of I've Been Around Enough to Know, a song that became Dukes of Hazzard star John Schneider's first #1 in 1984.

Not to be confused with his #1 hit single Julia from 1988, Julie tells the story of a man whose love (possibly even his first love as the lyrics lead me to believe she was more experienced than him) has left him behind to start a new life. It ends with a wish that every man had a girl like Julie "sleeping softly in his soul." The vulnerability in Conway's voice is the perfect fit for this song, my personal favorite on the album.

Ending with the humorous You Were Named Co-Respondent, Conway marks the end of an era with a hint of new beginnings.