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Tupelo Honey

Warner Bros. CD 1950
(Originally released November, 1971
Remastered re-issue released January 28, 2008)

1. Wild Night (3:29)
2. (Straight to Your Heart) Like a Cannonball (3:37)
3. Old Old Woodstock (4:14)
4. Starting a New Life (2:06)
5. You're My Woman (6:40)
6. Tupelo Honey (6:53)
7. I Wanna Roo You (Scottish Derivative) (3:22)
8. When that Evening Sun Goes Down (3:02)
9. Moonshine Whiskey (6:45)
   
   Bonus Tracks (on the 2008 remastered re-issue)
10. Wild Night (alternate take)
11. Down By The Riverside

Musicians:
Janet Planet: Vocal/Vocal (Background)
Luis Gasca: Trumpet
Connie Kay: Drums
Stephen Barncard: Engineer
David Brown: Engineer
Bill Church: Bass
Stuart "Boots" Houston: Flute/Vocal/Vocal (Background)
Mark Jordan: Piano
Gary Malaber: Percussion/Drums
John McFee: Guitar (Steel)
Van Morrison: Guitar/Harmonica/Keyboards/Saxophone/Vocal/Producer
Bruce Royston: Flute
Rick Schlosser: Drums
Ellen Schroer: Vocal/Vocal (Background)
Jack Schroer: Piano/Arranger/Saxophone
Doc Storch: Engineer
Ted Templeman: Organ/Producer

Review by Scott Thomas:
Tupelo Honey successfully marries His Band's sense of bliss and merriment with the perfectionism of Moondance. The solution is rhythm; not the funky city grooves of R&B and soul, but the foursquare rhythms of country music as conveyed through jangling acoustic guitars. To make the transition complete, jazz-oriented keyboardist Jeff Labes is replaced by honky-tonker Mark Jordan, John Platania's eclectic improvisations are supplanted by Ronnie Montrose's countrified licks, the sax section remains mostly idle, and steel guitarist John McFee is often front and center. Production-wise, co-producer Ted Templeman's preference for dense rhythm tracks is much in evidence.

From a thematic standpoint, Tupelo Honey is far more lyrically integrated than its predecessor as the singer celebrates, in detailed and endearing sketches, the joys of country living ("Old Old Woodstock"), the charms of his comely wife ("Tupelo Honey"), and the joys and worries of fatherhood ("You're My Woman").