This You Tube album was recorded live at Gilley's Honky Tonk near Pasadena in 1981, and was originally a radio show from the Westwood One Radio Network. They were normally an hour to half an hour in length and aired weekly on select affiliate radio stations. Ronnie did several shows like this at Gilley's back in the 80s and this is but one.
Radio shows like this were meant to air only once and then be discarded and destroyed by the radio stations, which makes these recordings incredibly rare. Private collectors (such as myself) saved a few and usually that is the only way these get heard. To see that Ronnie had one of these, minus commercials uploaded to You Tube was a pleasant surprise.
It remains to be seen if he will release some of the other Gilleys shows in the coming weeks or days.
It was not announced by Ronnie or his team on any official pages ahead of time. When the newly uploaded playlist was discovered, it was however promoted on The Milsap Fan Blog Facebook and Instagram as well as the RonnieMilsap1943 Facebook and Instagram to let fans know that Ronnie had something new to fans out there. It showed up shortly after Ronnie returned home from a gig at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas. I have to wonder if it was a spur of the moment thing decision to put it on You Tube.
There are eight tracks crammed onto this release.
It begins with a rocked up version of "What A Difference You Made In My Life". One of Ronnie's trademark hits medleys follows. That medley consists of "Pure Love", "(I'm A) Stand By My Woman Man", "Nobody Likes Sad Songs", "Why Don't You Spend The Night" and "It Was Almost Like A Song".
The third track is a medley of hits by The Eagles. It includes "Take It Easy", "Lyin' Eyes", "Life In the Fastlane", "New Kid in Town", "Desperado" and "Heartache Tonight".
The rest of the digital album includes"Santa Barbara", "I Can Almost See Houston From Here", a two song Rolling Stones cover medley including "Honky Tonk Women" and "Jumpin' Jack Flash", "What Goes on When the Sun Goes Down" and the grand finale: a two song medley of "Fire" (a "Ring of Fire" adaptation) and "Great Balls of Fire".
Ultimately it's worth a listen, especially to hear "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and the Eagles medley since Ronnie only performed these songs live and never recorded them onto any hard copy album. (Except the records these Gilleys shows were pressed onto that were available to radio markets only and not the general public.)
Additionally, on November 25, Ronnie's standalone Christmas song "Till the Season Comes 'Round Again" which was a track on a multiple artist compilation of holiday songs by Capitol Records was also re-released. The song appeared on Ronnie's You Tube Channel with a "Kids Country Christmas" title. I have only been able to find this on You Tube as well. This song never originally appeared on Ronnie's Christmas album "Christmas With Ronnie Milsap", which was also brought back into print recently and made available to purchase on CD by Craft Recordings.
It will be interesting to see what else Ronnie puts out there soon, since these were all pleasant surprises to find.
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