Two-time CMA Female Vocalist of the Year Janie Fricke is celebrating the 35th anniversary of three #1 hits including "Let's Stop Talking About It," Your Heart's Not In It" and "A Place To Fall Apart" with Merle Haggard. Throughout the course of 1984, "Let's Stop Talking About It," written by Deborah Allen, Rafe Van Hoy and Rory Bourke was released in January, "Your Heart's Not In It," written by Tom Shapiro, Michael Garvin and Bucky Jones was released in August and "A Place To Fall Apart," Written by Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson and Freddy Powers was released in October. All three of these songs spent a week at the top of Billboard's Hot Country Chart, adding to her total of 28 Top 40 hits.
"I have great memories performing these songs and still sing many in my shows" says Janie Fricke. "It was an important decade in country music and I am proud to have been a part of it."
Janie Fricke along with Bobby Bones, Blanco Brown, Hannah Brown, Deana Carter, Kristin Chenoweth, Jim Gaffifan, Vince Gill, Kathy Mattea, Martina McBride, Craig Morgan, Jennifer Nettles, Madelaine Petsch, Midland, J.B. Smoove, Pam Tillis, Morgan Wallen and Trisha Yearwood is set to present at the 53rd Annual CMA Awards on Wednesday, November 13, hosted by Carrie Underwood and special guest hosts Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton.
"I’m thrilled beyond words to be invited to present an Award this year at the CMA’s. As the show is watched my millions of viewers, I can once again connect to the industry on a special night of entertainment," said Fricke. "It reaches out to the many generations throughout time, and touches all with great music and memories. I am so proud to have won CMA Female Vocalist two years in a row, and thrilled that one is on display at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, along with the costume I wore while performing for President Reagan, at Camp David. These memories are priceless and hard to believe! Blessings from above!"
Real Gone Music recently released 'It Ain't Easy: The Complete Hits', available now. This is a 41-track, 2 CD compilation that spans from 1977 to 1989 and includes not just her solo smashes such as "What're You Doing Tonight," "It Ain't Easy Being Easy," "He's A Heartache (Looking For A Place To Happen)," and "Tell Me A Lie," but also her chart-topping duets with Charlie Rich (“On My Knees”), Merle Haggard (“A Place to Fall Apart”), Larry Gatlin ("From Time To Time") and Johnny Duncan ("Come A Little Bit Closer"). As an added bonus, Janie penned the liner notes, which are accompanied by previously unseen photos and she autographed 100 booklets for fans who order 'It Ain't Easy: The Complete Hits' through Real Gone Music.
Raised on a farm in Indiana, Janie Fricke began singing in church, and later turned that talent into a career which began as one of the marketing industry's most successful jingle singers. Long before her success as a country artist, millions of people became familiar with Fricke’s voice through ads for United Airlines, Coca-Cola, 7-Up, McDonald's and Red Lobster. She soon became a session singer where she was singing background in the studio with some of the biggest country stars of the late 70’s and early 80’s, including Loretta Lynn, Eddie Rabbitt, Crystal Gayle, Ronnie Milsap, Barbara Mandrell, and Mel Tillis.
After a string of duets with such greats as Merle Haggard and Moe Bandy, Fricke landed a solo recording contract in the early 80's and scored several hit singles, including "Don't Worry 'Bout Me Baby," "He's a Heartache" and "You're Heart's Not In It." She won CMA's coveted "Female Vocalist of the Year” in 1983 and '84 and has been nominated for three Grammy Awards. She has been credited with over 1,600 album projects and scored 36 hit singles.
In recent years, Sony Music Entertainment made four of Fricke’s classic albums available to fans on Spotify, Apple Music and other digital platforms via the Legacy Digital Vault campaign, including The First Word In Memory, The Very Best of Janie Fricke, Black & White and Saddle in the Wind! The collection of albums features the 18-time chart-topper's biggest hits, including "It Ain't Easy Being Easy," "Tell Me a Lie," "She’s Single Again” and more. Legacy Recordings also released The Essential JANIE FRICKE to all digital service providers earlier this year.
In addition, Fricke put a bluegrass spin with some fresh interpretations to many of her beloved tunes with the release of Country Side of Bluegrass. The 13-track collection was produced by Bil VornDick, whose credits also include Alison Krauss, Bela Fleck, and Marty Robbins, and features some of the finest pickers in the industry.
Janie Fricke 'It Ain't Easy: The Complete Hits' Track Listing
Disc 1:
1. What're You Doing Tonight
2. Come A Little Bit Closer (with Johnny Duncan)
3. Stranger (with Johnny Duncan)
4. Baby It's You
5. Please Help Me, I'm Falling (In Love With You)
6. On My Knees (with Charlie Rich)
7. Playing Hard To Get
8. Love Your Troubles Away For A While
9. Let's Try Again
10. But Love Me
11. Pass Me By (If You're Only Passing Through)
12. He's Out Of My Life (with Johnny Duncan)
13. Down To My Last Broken Heart
14. Pride
15. I'll Need Someone To Hold Me (When I Cry)
16. Do Me With Love
17. Don't Worry 'Bout Me Baby
18. It Ain't Easy Being Easy
19. You Don't Know Love
20. He's A Heartache (Looking For A Place To Happen)
21. Tell Me A Lie
Disc 2:
1. Let's Stop Talkin' About It
2. If The Fall Don't Get You
3. Your Heart's Not In It
4. A Place To Fall Apart (with Merle Haggard)
5. The First Word In Memory Is Me
6. Who Cares (with Ray Charles)
7. All I Want To Do In Life (with George Jones)
8. She's Single Again
9. Somebody Else's Fire
10. Easy To Please
11. Always Have, Always Will
12. When A Woman Cries
13. Are You Satisfied
14. From Time To Time (It Feels like Love Again (with Larry Gatlin and The Gatlin Brothers)
15. Baby You're Gone
16. Where Does Love Go (When It's Gone)
17. I'll Walk Before I'll Crawl
18. Heart
19. Give 'Em My Number
20. Love Is One Of Those Words
Janie Fricke On Tour:
NOV 16 - Orange Blossom Opry / Weirsdale, Fla.
FEB 20 - Leo J. Welder Center for the Performing Arts / Victoria, Texas
FEB 21 - New Brauntex Theater / New Braunfels, Texas
FEB 22 - Dosey Doe Big Barn / The Woodlands, Texas
JUN 21 - Dick Clark's American Bandstand Theater / Branson, Mo.
JUL 10 - Blue Gate Theatre / Shipshewana, Ind.
DEC 04 - The New Granbury Live / Granbury, Texas (Christmas Show)
For Janie Fricke's most up-to-date tour schedule, visit: janiefricke.com
