Daryle Singletary - Ain't It The Truth
In this week's episode we're featuring the third and final album on Giant Records for Daryle Singletary: "Ain't It The Truth" (1998). One of the 90s finest and loudest voices for traditional country music, Singletary was only with Giant a short time and was dropped from it's roster following this album's three singles lacklustre chart performance. The year before it's release, Giant Records had been restructured and Singletary was rightly nervous about his position - however, when president Doug Johnson saw the Georgia baritone perform Randy Travis' "1982" and Vern Gosdin's "Do You Believe Me Now" at Nashville's Wildhorse Saloon, he was sold. There was genuine label hype around "Ain't It The Truth" - plenty of speak of a "career record" and "The Note" was supposed to be a big smash, but none of that happened. However, Singletary's third and last record for Giant gives us a taste of what was to come: a hardcore country traditionalist slipping into the shoes of a torchbearer for a cause and an artform, which is what he remained until his terribly sad passing in 2018. Sterling stuff from a legend.