Soul of Country Music

Background and release

Soul of Country Music consisted of twelve tracks, all of which were cover versions of country music songs. The album begins with Melba Montgomery's "Don't Keep Me Too Long." Other songs included on the album are, Wynn Stewart's "It's Such a Pretty World Today," Jack Greene's "There Goes My Everything" and Jean Shepard's "If the Teardrops Were Silver." The album was reviewed by Allmusic critic, Dan Cooper, who gave it three out of five stars, claiming the album has, "More of the same unearthly sound, but this has Smith covering -- at times burying -- other singers' hits." He also called her version of Rex Griffin's "The Last Letter," "to die for." Upon its release in 1967, Soul of Country Music reached a peak position on the Billboard chart. The album reached #7 on Billboard Magazine's Top Country Albums chart that year, becoming Smith's last album to peak in the Top 10.

Side one

1. "Don't Keep Me Lonely Too Long" – (Melba Montgomery)
2. "Surely" – (Peggy Whittington)
3. "Last Letter" – (Rex Griffin)
4. "Burning Bridges" – (Walter Scott)
5. "I'm Your Woman" – (Jean Chapel)
6. "There Goes My Everything" – (Dallas Frazier)

Side two

1. "It Only Hurts for a Little While" – (Mack David, Fred Spielman)
2. "Family Bible" – (Walt Breeland, Claude Gray, Paul Buskirk)
3. "If Teardrops Were Silver" – (Don Wayne)
4. "Walk Through This World with Me" – (Kay Savage, Sandy Seamons)
5. "It's Such a Pretty World Today" – (Dale Noe)
6. "Touch My Heart" – (Aubrey Mayhew, Johnny Paycheck)

Personnel

Sales chart positions