Tammy Graham

Tammy Wynette Graham (born February 7, 1968 in Little Rock, Arkansas^[1]) is an American country music artist. Active as a singer and self-taught pianist since childhood, she first gained attention in her hometown before moving to Las Vegas and subsequently to Nashville, where she was signed to a recording contract with a division of Arista Nashville in 1997, releasing a studio album and charting three singles on the Billboard country music charts that year, including the #37-peaking "A Dozen Red Roses".

Biography

Tammy Wynette Graham was born on February 7, 1968 in Little Rock, Arkansas.^[1] She taught herself how to play the piano at an early age, developing a style which has been described as "rocking boogie-woogie... like Jerry Lee Lewis".^[1] In addition to winning several local talent competitions (some while she was nine years old), she demonstrated piano playing at a music store located in a Little Rock shopping mall.^[1]

By age fourteen, Graham began billing herself as "Little Miss Jerry Lee Lewis". She had also formed a backing band, with whom she toured in both Nashville and Las Vegas; although she recorded several demos while in Nashville, she did not attract the attention of any record labels at the time.^[1] While still in her late teenage years, Graham found work at Caesars Palace, where she soon became a regular;^[1][2] eventually, she was discovered by Danny Morrison, who served as a manager for country singer Joe Diffie at the time. Morrison then recommended Graham to the head of Career Records, a now-defunct division of the Arista Nashville record label.^[2]

Graham was signed to a recording contract with Career in 1996, with her debut single "Tell Me Again" being released that year; it peaked at #63 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts. Her second single, "A Dozen Red Roses", became her only Top 40 hit, with a #37 country peak and #8 Bubbling Under Hot 100 peak. By April 1997, she had released her self-titled album. "Cool Water", the third and final single, reached its high point at #59 on the country charts. The album was met with mixed reviews. Jeffrey B. Remz of Country Standard Time compared her vocals to those of Wynonna Judd and Trisha Yearwood, but said that besides "Cool Water," the album was "middle of the road."^[3] New Country magazine gave it one-and-a-half stars out of five, criticizing Graham for singing "straight over the top" on every song.^[4] Graham was later dropped from Career when the label was merged into Arista Nashville's main division, and has not recorded since.

Discography

Albums

Tammy Graham

Tammy Graham
Studio album by Tammy Graham
Released	April 29, 1997 (1997-04-29)
Genre	Country
Length	33:01
Label	Career Records #18842
Producer	Barry Beckett
Professional reviews
Country Standard Time – (negative)[3] New Country – [4]

Track listing

1. "I Stopped Looking" (Roger Dillon, Bruce Miller) – 3:07
2. "Tell Me Again" (Walt Aldridge, Terry McBride) – 3:23
3. "When the Blues and My Baby Collide" (Bob DiPiero, Paul Nelson) – 3:17
4. "More About Love" (Bill Anderson, Gary Nicholson) – 3:28
5. "Old Heartaches" (Larry Cordle, Larry Shell, Billy Henderson) – 3:09
6. "Little by Little" (Paul Harrison, Bob McDill) – 3:05
7. "A Dozen Red Roses" (Carrie Folks, John Greenebaum, Archie Jordan) – 3:05
8. "Cool Water" (DiPiero, Wendell Mobley) – 3:42
9. "Turnin' Up the Sad Song" (Shara Johnson, John Ramey, Bobby Taylor) – 3:57
10. "Houdini" (Mark Marmore, Mark D. Sanders, Bobby Tomberlin) – 2:43

Singles

References