Don Williams had a two-year history as a country recording artist when he picked up his first number one single with “I Wouldn’t Want To Live If You Didn’t Love Me.” The song’s development into a hit began at a Red Ace service station in Nashville. Williams had stopped in to put gas in his tank and when he went to pay for it, the attendant recognized his name on the credit card. At that time, Don had racked up four Top Twenty singles: “The Shelter Of Your Eyes,” “Come Early Morning,” “Atta Way To Go” and his most recent, “We Should Be Together,” which had reached #5.
The service station attendant happened to be a struggling young songwriter by the name of Al Turney, who asked Williams if he wouldn’t mind checking out a few of his songs. Don replied in the affirmative, and had Turney send over a tape. It contained demos of four different compositions, and of the four, Williams especially liked “I Wouldn’t Want To Live If You Didn’t Love Me.” Don recorded the song for his third album, appropriately titled “Volume III.”
