Remember When Brenda Lee Released Her First Country Album in 1973?

Most people know Brenda Lee as a country music superstar who also happens to be part of their soundtrack to Christmas every year. A member of the Country Music Hall of Fame since 1977, Lee rose to fame while still a teenager, thanks to “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree”, which Lee released when she was just 13 years old.

Interestingly, two years before Lee released “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree”, she released “One Step At A Time”. Her third single, “One Step At A Time” became Lee’s first charting hit, reaching the Top 15 at country radio. But after “One Step At A Time”, Lee didn’t have another country hit until 1971, with “If This Is Our Last Time”. 

By the time Lee released “If This Is Our Last Time”, she had become a rock star, with hits like “Fool No. 1”, “Everybody Loves Me But You”, “All Alone Am I”, and more. Neither “If This Is Our Last Time” or “Misty Memories”, Lee’s next single, was on an album. But in 1973, Lee released Brenda. The record became Lee’s first official foray into country music, where she would stay for the remainder of her lengthy career.

Brenda Lee’s Success With ‘Brenda’ in Country Music

Lee is due a lot of credit for the success of Brenda, but so is her producer, Owen Bradley. It’s Bradley who produced some of her hit pop singles and whom Lee tapped when she was ready to make a change.

Lee’s Brenda includes “Always On My Mind”, a song that would later become a big hit for Willie Nelson in 1982. Lee’s version of “Always On My Mind” did not do well at radio for Lee. But “Nobody Wins”, Lee’s second single from Brenda, became a Top 5 hit. That song was written by Kris Kristofferson, who included it on his own Jesus Was a Capricorn record.

Surprisingly, Lee’s publisher asked her to come listen to Kristofferson’s Jesus Was A Capricorn, thinking she would like the title track. Instead, she chose “Nobody Wins”.

“That was my first legitimate country hit,” Lee recalls. “I told Kris, ‘You started the walk for me to the Country Music Hall of Fame!’” 

After Brenda, Lee became a country music superstar and never looked back. Her many country hits include “Big Four Poster Bed”, “He’s My Rock”, her “Broken Trust” collaboration with The Oak Ridge Boys, and more. Lee’s final country hit at radio came in 1984, with “A Sweeter Love”.

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