After her song \u201cDon\u2019t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue\u201d blew up the charts, every song pitched to Crystal Gayle had the word \u201cblue\u201d in it.<\/p>\n
The year was 1977, and Gayle\u2019s country music career was heating up. Her 1975 song \u201cWrong Road Again\u201d performed well, hitting No. 6 on the Billboard chart, but then songwriter Richard Leigh came along and helped propel her into a singer heard around the world. First came his \u201cI\u2019ll Get Over You,\u201d the 1976 single that became Gayle\u2019s first No. 1 hit. But it was the epochal song about brown eyes a year later, also by Leigh, that sealed her reputation as a hitmaker.<\/p>\n
Gayle will perform Sunday at Phil Long Music Hall at Bourbon Brothers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I first heard it I knew I wanted to sing it,\u201d Gayle said from home in Nashville, Tenn. \u201cI went into the studio and it was the very first take. I did record it again, but what we chose to put out was the first take. I knew it was a special song. The pianist came up with the piano sound that put everyone in a certain mood and it fell together.\u201d<\/p>\n
That song, off her fourth album, \u201cWe Must Believe in Magic,\u201d earned her a Grammy Award and helped her cross over from country to pop country. Rolling Stone ranked the song No. 109 last year on its list of 200 greatest country songs.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou never know what a song is going to do,\u201d Gayle said. \u201cI wanted it to be the first single of the album. I had to do a lot of talking with the studio. They always want to lead with an up-tempo song, and this was a ballad. I\u2019m sure they were glad I talked them into it.\u201d<\/p>\n
What makes the success of the songs even more serendipitous was the chance meeting of Gayle and Leigh years before.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe both booked a telethon in Bristol, Tenn.,\u201d she said. \u201cThat was the first time I met him. We were both talking about going to Nashville and trying to get into the business, and little did I know our paths would cross and he\u2019d write two big hits for me.\u201d<\/p>\n