“My Heart Skips A Beat” reached #1 in May and logged a three-week stay at the summit. Then, in an unprecedented event, “Together Again” knocked “My Heart Skips A Beat” out of the top spot on June 6th, marking the only time in country music history that the “B” side of a record replaced the “A” side at number one. After two weeks at the top, “Together Again” fell and “My Heart Skips A Beat” returned to #1 for four more weeks, marking a non-consecutive total of seven.
“Together Again,” the ballad that Buck Owens had tossed aside, was now one of his biggest hits. Yet, the man with the happy face and sly grin never seemed comfortable singing “Together Again” on stage. It always looked as though he was a bit uneasy having to stand still and sing so seriously about love. He “retired” the song from his concert performances shortly after the frenzy about it had diminished following its initial chart run, although Ray Charles recorded “Together Again” on the pop side a couple of years later and went into the Top 20 with it.
In 1976, a one-time opening act for rocker Gram Parsons was looking for a song that would propel her to the top of the country charts. Emmylou Harris had based her operations out of California and recorded for a West Coast label, but she really felt more at home in Music City. She possessed one of the purest voices in music, but because of her rock background and West Coast ties, Harris was considered an outsider in Nashville. She understood the industry’s fear, but it was actually her rock mentor’s advice that led her to pursue a change in her musical direction to country. Before he died in 1973, Gram Parsons pointed out to Emmylou that in rock, the music’s message was often secondary, while in country it was almost always the primary ingredient of a song.
