{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox album | name = Country Fever | type = studio | artist = Rick Nelson | cover = Country Fever.jpg | released = April 17, 1967 | genre = Country, country rock, bluegrass | length = 28:53 | label = Decca | producer = Charles "Bud" Dant | prev_title = On the Flip Side | prev_year = 1966 | next_title = Another Side of Rick | next_year = 1967 | misc = {{Singles | name = Country Fever | type = studio | single1 = Alone | single1date = October 1966 | single2 = Take a City Bride | single2date = April 1967 }} }} '''''Country Fever''''' is the fifteenth studio album by American singer Rick Nelson, and his ninth for Decca Records,<ref name="AllMusic">{{cite web |last=Unterberger|first=Richie|title=Rick Nelson - "Country Fever" - Album Ratings & Reviews|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/country-fever-mw0000838251|access-date=2023-10-08|publisher=Allmusic}}</ref> released on April 17, 1967. The album features Nelson's composition of "Alone" and a cover of Bob Dylan's "Walkin' Down The Line", Nelson's earliest Dylan cover.
The Single from the album, "Take a City Bride", debuted on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts, in the issue dated June 10, 1967, peaking at number 58 during its five-week stay.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Whitburn |first=Joel |url=https://archive.org/details/joelwhitburnstop0000whit_j3j5/page/254/mode/2up |title=Joel Whitburn's top country singles, 1944-1993 |date=1994 |publisher=Record Research |isbn=0898201004 |location=Menomonee Falls, Wisc. |pages=254}}</ref>
The sessions also produced a couple of numbers taken from old Sun Records by Elvis Presley; "Mystery Train", which was included on the album.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Selvin |first=Joel |url=https://archive.org/details/rickynelsonidolf00selv/page/170/mode/2up |title=Ricky Nelson: Idol for a Generation |date=1990 |publisher=Contemporary Books |isbn=978-0-8092-4187-3 |location=Chicago |pages=170}}</ref> He sampled the classic country catalog, including "You Win Again," "Funny How Time Slips Away," and "(I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle Blow." "Alone" was a self-penned tune while "Walkin' Down the Line" was the first Bob Dylan song that he recorded.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Homer |first=Sheree |url=https://archive.org/details/ricknelsonrocknr0000home/page/86/mode/2up |title=Rick Nelson, Rock 'n' Roll Pioneer |date=2012 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-6060-1 |location=Jefferson, N.C. |pages=86}}</ref> These songs formed a kind of semi-autobiographical trilogy, as he sketched himself as a desolate but determined loner.<ref name=":0" /> Jimmie Haskell arranged the album and Charles "Bud" Dant produced it, this was the last of fifteen consecutive Nelson studio LPs, produced by Charles "Bud" Dant.
The album was released on compact disc by Ace Records on June 23, 1998 as tracks 12 through 24 on a pairing of two albums on one CD with tracks 1 through 12 consisting of Nelson's 1966 album, Bright Lights and Country Music.<ref>{{cite web |title=Bright Lights & Country Music/Country Fever |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/bright-lights-country-music-country-fever-mw0000039748 |access-date=15 September 2024 |work=allmusic.com |publisher=}}</ref> Bear Family included the album in the 2008 ''For You: The Decca Years'' box set.<ref>{{cite web |title=For You: The Decca Years |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/for-you-the-decca-years-mw0000495779 |access-date=29 November 2024 |website=AllMusic}}</ref>
== Reception == {{Music ratings | rev1 = AllMusic | rev1score = {{rating|3|5}}<ref name="AllMusic"/> | rev4 = ''Record Mirror'' | rev4score = {{rating|4|5}}<ref name="NRM" /> | rev3 = ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' | rev3score = {{rating|4|5}}<ref name=":1">{{cite book |last1=Larkin |first1=Colin |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofpo0000unse_v3u2/page/1020/mode/2up |title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |date=2007 |publisher=Omnibus Press |isbn=9781846098567 |page=1020 |access-date=22 August 2024}}</ref> | rev2 = ''Billboard'' | rev2score = {{rating|4|5}}<ref name=":02">{{cite magazine |date=April 29, 1967 |title=Pop Spotlight & Special Merit Picks: Country Fever |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CCgEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA48&dq=rick%20nelson%20country%20fever%20billboard%201967&pg=PA48#v=onepage&q=rick%20nelson%20country%20fever%20billboard%201967&f=false |magazine=Billboard |page= |pages=48 |volume=79 |issue=17 |editor=}}</ref> }} ''Cash Box'', in its Pop Best Bet Album review, stated, "Nelson faithfully translates the lyrics in a voice that is both mellow and sincere.<ref name=":132">{{Cite magazine |date=April 29, 1967 |title=Cashbox Album Pop Best Bets Reviews: Country Fever |url=https://archive.org/details/cashbox28unse_39/page/n31/mode/2up |magazine=Cash Box |pages=31 |volume=28 |issue=39}}</ref>
Richie Unterberger of AllMusic said that "''Country Fever'' continued the country direction of Nelson's previous album, Bright Lights & Country Music, and the approach of each record was similarly weighted toward interpretations of country classics", giving it three-star rating<ref name="AllMusic" />
''Record Mirror'' described the album as "one of his consistent performances" and stated that "His own composition is more than honky-tonk can rare with treatments by long-time country greats, giving it four-star ratings.<ref name="NRM">{{Cite magazine |last1=Jones |first1=Peter |last2=Jopling |first2=Norman |date=23 September 1967 |title=Peter Jones new albums reviewed by Norman Jopling: Bumper Month for L.P.'s' Albums issued by Sinatra, Geno, John Mayall, Johnny Cash, Rick Nelson, Gene Vincent,Tony Hatch, King Curtis, Ventures, 5th Dimension, Proby, Ben E. King, Slim Whitman, Jefferson Airplane, Julie Andrews, Francoise Hardy & David Garrick |url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Record-Mirror/60s/67/Record-Mirror-1967-09-23.pdf |access-date=20 May 2024 |magazine=New Record Mirror |page=8 |issue=341}}</ref> ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' and ''Billboard'' also gave the album four-star ratings as well.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":02" /> == Track listing ==
=== Side one === {{Track listing | title1 = Take a City Bride | length1 = 1:57 | writer1 = Gib Guilbeau | title2 = Funny How Time Slips Away | length2 = 2:56 | writer2 = Willie Nelson | title3 = The Bridge Washed Out | length3 = 1:47 | writer3 = Mel Melshee, Jimmy Louis, Sandra Smith, Slim Williamson | title4 = Alone | length4 = 2:38 | writer4 = Rick Nelson | title5 = Big Chief Buffalo Nickel (Desert Blues) | length5 = 2:01 | writer5 = Jimmie Rodgers | title6 = Mystery Train | length6 = 2:26 | writer6 = Junior Parker }}
=== Side two === {{Track listing | title1 = Things You Gave Me | length1 = 1:52 | writer1 = Glen Hardin | title2 = Take These Chains from My Heart | length2 = 2:36 | writer2 = Hy Heath, Fred Rose | title3 = (I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle | length3 = 2:38 | writer3 = Hank Williams, Jimmie Davis | title4 = Walkin' Down the Line | length4 = 2:23 | writer4 = Bob Dylan | title5 = You Win Again | length5 = 2:50 | writer5 = Hank Williams | title6 = Salty Dog | length6 = 2:35 | writer6 = Zeke Morris, Wiley Morris }}
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{Ricky Nelson}} {{Authority control}}
Category:1967 albums Category:Ricky Nelson albums Category:Decca Records albums