Della Joy “Crying Time”

It’s been awhile since I’ve written a review for this website, for no good reason, so that’s not worth talking about. There may be new reviews again regularly, the lord willing, so check back often, and next time bring something to eat. I’ve long since abandoned the alphabetical thing and am now pulling records out of the pile at random. This one by country and western chanteuse Della Joy is actually titled Della Joy sings “Crying Time” and she’s not kidding, as she fairly represents the Buck Owens classic, which you have no doubt heard immortalized by Mr. Owens, Ray Charles, Barbra Streisand, Connie Francis, Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, and many others including Wanda Jackson and Elvis Costello. Yours truly has even performed the song but never recorded it.

Nine other solid tracks fill out this LP, none of which are familiar to me, or credited to anyone. “Mama for a Day” is a little disturbing… how could it not be with that title. Ditto for “Mama Are You Gonna Help Me Hurt.” The style is straight up C&W with gospel overtones, full band including steel guitar and occasionally fiddle that will melt paint. There is no date anywhere on the record or the cover, so I really have no idea, though there are a couple of murky b&w photos of Della Joy on the back holding onto a tree, so maybe that style of posing for photos dates it, I don’t know, but I always thought that was weird.

The front cover shows Della Joy sitting in a park, sitting on a rock, looking pretty happy, wearing white cowboy boots. Brief liner notes mention she is 4 ft. 11 inches tall, and weighs 80 pounds. I don’t know, her hair looks bigger than that. She was born in Crab Orchard, Tennessee (near Crossville, y’all) and moved to Elyria, Ohio at the age of 16. You might recognize Elyria as the home of Les Miles, “The Hat,” coach of the LSU Tigers, and I like to imagine that they dated in high school. Della has performed at Stoney’s Rainbow Lounge in Elyria, Country Jail Lounge in Amherst, Friendly Corner in Norwalk (all in Ohio), and Rockytop in Crossville, TN.

The album is made from solid, indestructible vinyl and is on Ozark Records, though there is no address for the label. Research shows me there is or was an Ozark Records from Clyde, Ohio, but I can’t tell if it’s the same one. The back of the album cover indicates it’s produced by: Record Production Service, 728 16th Ave, So., Nashville, Tennessee, 37203, so there you go. They did a fine job. I could research all of this further but time is not permitting as press time is in five minutes. In conclusion, I think this record will bring you as much “Joy” as it has brought me, unless you hate country and western music, in which case you need an attitude adjustment.