Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town / With Pen in Hand - Single

Johnny Darrell scored the first hit version of the Vietnam-era country classic "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town," even though Kenny Rogers' rendition from two years later is the one most often remembered. Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town contains the title hit as well as the minor charter "She's Mighty Gone," composed by Johnny Cash and June Carter. The composer credits for the album read like a who's who of country music with songs by Mel Tillis, Liz Anderson, and Bill Anderson. Darrell interprets the then-recent hits "I'm a Lonesome Fugitive," "Cold Hard Facts of Life," and "Green Green Grass of Home," in addition to lesser-known songs like Don Bowman's "I Must Have Got Something in My Eye." The repertoire and liner notes align Darrell with hard country and future outlaw artists like Porter Wagoner, Merle Haggard, and Johnny Cash, but Darrell's smooth vocals coupled with Bob Montgomery's pop production touches create a mellow style halfway between Haggard and the "crooner country" of Jim Ed Brown and his ilk.