A sticker on the original vinyl warned buyers that they were about to hear country music. Almost Blue, the sixth studio album by Elvis Costello and the fifth with his band The Attractions, was not going to be a comfortable listen for anyone expecting another sharp-edged new wave record. The album arrived in shops on October 23, 1981, and Costello was suddenly singing songs by Hank Williams and George Jones.
From new wave to Nashville country
The idea came from a rough patch. After the commercial disappointments of Get Happy!! and Trust, Costello wanted to step away from his own material and sing other people's songs. He imagined a collection of melancholy tunes across different styles, but the pull of country took over. The work of Gram Parsons with The Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers influenced his decision. So did a meeting in Nashville a year earlier with producer Billy Sherrill, who said he would work with Costello if he ever decided to make a country album. Costello had already recorded a duet with George Jones in 1979, the song "Stranger in the House". He also drew inspiration from the work of Merle Haggard and the Louvin Brothers.
Sherrill got his wish, though he did not seem happy about it. The sessions ran from May 18 to May 29, 1981, at CBS Studio A in Nashville. Costello and Sherrill clashed from the start. The producer thought the material was dated and suggested other songs, even pushing Costello to record his own 'Too Far Gone'. Sherrill called the project 'an Englishman's whim' and, according to Costello, spent time behind the mixing desk comparing pistols with engineer Ron Reynolds. The Attractions, with Steve Nieve on keyboards, Bruce Thomas on bass and Pete Thomas on drums, mostly disliked Sherrill, though Nieve and Pete Thomas had no problem with country itself. Sherrill suggested other songs, including "Heartbreak Hotel". John McFee of The Doobie Brothers played pedal steel guitar and added extra guitar overdubs for an authentic country sound.
Twelve days of sessions and song choices
Costello was not in good shape during those twelve days. He felt ill, looked pale and drank heavily, and the strain of his personal life seeped into the song choices. 'Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down' was one of the tracks that reflected that mood. Most songs were captured in one or two takes, and more than twenty-five were recorded in total. Sherrill rejected the non-country 'Tears Before Bedtime', but in the final days he picked out 'Good Year for the Roses' and 'Sweet Dreams' as potential hits, adding string arrangements and backing vocals from Nashville Edition to those two. More than twenty-five songs were recorded in total. The song "Success", performed by Loretta Lynn, was recorded at the insistence of Steve Nieve.
The album itself was pure blue in every sense. All twelve tracks shared a melancholy tone, including three George Jones songs: 'Brown to Blue', 'Good Year for the Roses' and 'Color of the Blues'. Gram Parsons' 'Hot Burrito No. 1' appeared under the title 'I'm Your Toy'. The cover paid homage to Kenny Burrell's Midnight Blue from 1963, with Costello photographed without his glasses, a hand covering his face as if hiding tears. Four colour variants kept the blue base, and that warning sticker made the genre shift impossible to miss. All twelve songs on the album reflect a blue, melancholy mood. The second single, "Sweet Dreams", was released in December 1981 and reached number 42 in the UK.
The album performed well commercially, at least at home. 'Good Year for the Roses' came out as a single in September 1981 and climbed to number 6 on the UK Singles Chart, while the album itself climbed to number 7 on the UK Albums Chart and number 50 in the United States. But critics were split, arguing over whether Costello's voice belonged in country music at all.
What Almost Blue really did was open a door. Costello had never made an album without his longtime producer Nick Lowe before, and this record proved he could walk into a foreign studio, fight with a legend like Sherrill, and still come out with something coherent. In 2016, Rolling Stone called the album a forerunner of his later unexpected musical detours. The record has been reissued repeatedly with bonus tracks, but the original warning sticker remains a reminder of the album's country direction.