COUNTRY MUSIC Advice went long way for Gayle

She put her career on hiatus so she could raise her children.
By JOHN BENSON
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
Sibling rivalry is one thing; career advice is another.
For singer Crystal Gayle, being the younger sister of country music legend Loretta Lynn was a double-edged sword. Sure, people paid attention, but for the wrong reasons. They wanted to hear Loretta Lynn version 2.0, while Gayle wanted to establish a career.
"My sister gave me the best advice, she said, 'Quit singing my songs. We have one Loretta Lynn; we don't need another,'" said Gayle, calling from her home in Nashville. "And that's true. I needed to get out on my own and make it on my own. And she knew that in order for me to succeed, I had to have a totally different sound and I needed to find a label, which I did later, that believed in me as an artist and not just because I was the sister of Loretta Lynn."
Less than a decade after receiving this sisterly advice, Gayle, born Brenda Gail Webb, would be on her way with her first No. 1 country single, "I'll Get Over You." Overall, 16 more chart toppers would follow.
Hit song
It was the long-haired singer's 1977 release "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue" that would catapult her into the adult contemporary stratosphere of superstar singers.
For the younger set, just think Celine Dion's "Titanic" hit "My Heart Will Go On," only Gayle's song received airplay on every station, from country and pop to blues and adult contemporary. It was ubiquitous, and to this day it defines Gayle's success.
"It opened so many doors that I had to turn down so much because I couldn't do it all," Gayle said.
"I was only one person. But that song, everybody in the world wanted to have it on their show. Songs like that don't come around very often, and I just feel very lucky that I got a hold of it."
While famed producer Allen Reynolds gets credit for finding the Richard Leigh song, which was about to be pitched to West Coast artists, Gayle takes credit for realizing the musical climate of the late '70s and convincing her record label to release it as a single.
She said at the time, many artists would comb through new albums to find good songs not yet released to radio with the idea of recording the tracks themselves.
"I just thought I'd really like this as one of my singles," Gayle said. "It wasn't like, 'This is going to be huge, let's just put this out.' It just happened to be a song that I just loved and I wanted it to be the first one out of the box."
Coming back
Even though the spotlight no longer shines as bright on Gayle's recording career, she doesn't seem to mind.
In fact, her perceived fall into obscurity was the direct result of having children and wanting to be there for her family.
Whereas her sister recently returned to the limelight by working with garage-rock musician Jack White of The White Stripes for her Grammy Award-winning album "Van Lear Rose," Gayle pointed out her unlikely recording team experience came in the early '70s when she worked with Tom Waits for the long forgotten soundtrack to Francis Ford Coppola's feature film "One from the Heart."
Today, Gayle is hard at work on a new DVD concert release and studio album, both of which are due out next year.
She also averages around 50 concert dates a year, including a Warren Civic Music Association show Monday at the Packard Music Hall.
"We have fun on stage," Gayle said. "My sister Peggy Sue will be on the show, and we'll get out there, hear some old songs, songs you are familiar with and some new things. But to me, the most important part is having fun."