Tammy Wynette

While it is true that the late country songstress Tammy Wynette recorded during her later years with husband George Richey as her producer, that material never touched what she did in the 1960s and '70s with Billy Sherrill. Stand by Your Man: The Best of Tammy Wynette is easily the best single-disc collection of Wynette's work as a solo artist and in duet with her then-husband George Jones. There are 20 whopping tracks here, and all of them were hits. There are many obvious choices, like the title cut, "Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad" and "D-I-V-O-R-C-E," "Golden Ring," "We're Gonna Hold On," "Kids Say The Darndest Things," and "The Ways to Love a Man." But there are some tracks that are less obvious choices, such as "Singing My Song," "Near You," with Jones, "Woman to Woman," and "Good Lovin' (Makes It Right)" (both written by Sherrill), and "Run, Woman, Run." There is a surprise in the batch as well, with the KLF Communication team's electronic remake -- with Wynette's participation -- of "Justified and Ancient" from 1992, which was an international club hit. This is a solid and flawless collection for novices or longtime fans. And it's cheap to boot! ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide