Duets: Friends & Memories
Studio album by Juice Newton
Released	October 4, 2010 (2010-10-04)
Genre	Country rock
Length	40:29 (original) 48:17 (deluxe edition)
Label	Fuel Records
Producer	Charles Calello
Juice Newton chronology
The Gift of Christmas (2007) Duets: Friends & Memories (2010) The Ultimate Hits Collection (2011)

Duets: Friends & Memories is a studio album bycountry pop singerJuice Newton. It was released in 2010 byFuel Records and features Newton singing popular tunes from the 1960s to the 1980s, all as duets with other famous performers. Her collaborators includeGary Morris,Frankie Valli,Randy Meisner,Willie Nelson,Glen Campbell,Dan Seals,Melissa Manchester, andEddie Money. The originalCD release of the album contained 10 songs. A later edition featuring two extra tracks is available only fromiTunes.

Juice Newton began her recording career in 1975 but did not achieve major stardom until the release of her 1981 albumJuice. The album was acrossover success and yielded three hit singles, "Angel of the Morning", "Queen of Hearts", and "The Sweetest Thing (I've Ever Known)". The last of these peaked at number one on the Billboard Country Chart.^[1] She followedJuice withQuiet Lies (1982), an album that brought her two more hits, "Love's Been a Little Bit Hard on Me" and "Break It to Me Gently", of which the latter earned her theGrammy Award for Best Country Vocal Performance, Female.^[1][2] Newton's 1985 albumOld Flame was her country breakthrough, spawning three number one hits "You Make Me Want to Make You Mine", "Hurt", and the duet withEddie Rabbitt "Both to Each Other (Friends & Lovers)" and also three additional Top Ten hits: "Old Flame", "Cheap Love", and "What Can I Do with My Heart". After two more albums (Emotion andAin't Gonna Cry) Newton concentrated more on concert performing.^[1]

Newton began the duets project in the mid-1990s. Initially, it was conceived as a double album to be released via a television infomercial. However, legal problems kept it from being officially issued.^[3] Regarding the album, Newton stated:

I started in pop, then crossed over into country. And I actually do some swing music, so that was the first idea. The second ruling factor was when I went to these artists, I asked them if there were songs they liked that they had not had a chance to record. So that was interesting, to let the individual artist pick the song, almost like they do on their record.^[4] For me it was like making three records. These singers are so wonderful and unique — I really wanted to be on my game. I lived with my headphones on, studying the songs and preparing my interpretations."^[5]

The recording of the album used various studios throughout the United States. Newton recorded her duets withGlen Campbell,Randy Meisner, andDan Seals at Loud Recording inNashville,Tennessee. Her songs withMelissa Manchester andFrankie Valli were done at the Saturn Recording Studio inBurbank,California, while Manchester and Valli also recorded at another Burbank studio, O'Henry Sound.Willie Nelson recorded at the Predermails Recording Studios inSpicewood, Texas. The rhythm section and the strings were recorded in Nashville while the horns were done inNorth Hollywood, California.^[6] On working with these artists Newton noted that Valli and Seals were the most difficult because they had to change the key every time the switch was made from male to female parts. She went on to note: "That is a mental challenge, because you have to listen carefully in order to modulate up or down. All the time I was singing with the guys it was more challenging for me".^[4] Sadly, Dan Seals and Newton's long-time collaboratorOtha Young died before the album was released.^[4] Regarding Seals, Newton remarked: "I always admired his vocal style. Dan was such a sweet singer, and always so fun to be around. He was such an easy person, with such a great voice. I was really happy to be able to sing with him before he passed."^[4]

Duets: Friends & Memories was released byFuel Records on October 4, 2010.^[7] Of the ten songs on the album Newton duets with Willie Nelson on two songs that he wrote, "Touch Me" and "Funny How Time Slips Away". The former had been a hit for Nelson in 1962, reaching number 7 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.^[8] The latter was originally recorded by country singerBilly Walker.^[9] For the album's opening number Newton teamed with country music singerGary Morris for "Still the One", the 1976 top five hit forOrleans.^[10] Newton remarked about working with Nelson and Morris by stating: "With Willie, he likes to play his guitar while he sings. He plays it on his fret board, so that was a challenge. With Gary, we pitched the song in the wrong key, so we had to tighten our shorts to do that one."^[4]

Newton recorded two songs with Glen Campbell. The emotional power ballad "Without You" had originally been recorded byBadfinger before becoming a four week #1 hit forHarry Nilsson in 1972.^[11] "Up Where We Belong" had been a 1982 chart-topping hit forJoe Cocker andJennifer Warnes, for the movieAn Officer and a Gentleman.^[12]

Newton duets with Frankie Valli on "The Biggest Part of Me", a number 3 hit forAmbrosia in 1980.^[13] With Randy Meisner she coveredThe Eagles' 1976 hit "Take It to the Limit".^[14]Gary Morris joined Newton for a rendition of the 1976Elvin Bishop song "Fooled Around and Fell in Love" while Dan Seals joined her for a reworking ofHeart's first #1 hit, 1986's "These Dreams".^[15][16] Newton's duet with Melissa Manchester was "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'", the classic song written byPhil Spector,Barry Mann, andCynthia Weil that became a number one hit for theRighteous Brothers in 1965, and has since been covered by many artists.^[17][18]

Following its CD release,Duets: Friends and Memories was made available oniTunes in its original 10-track edition and also in a "deluxe edition" that includes two extra songs.^[19] One of these features Newton again with Randy Meisner, these time in a performance ofNeil Young's 1971 number one hit "Heart of Gold".^[20][21] The other extra song was withEddie Money dueting on "Time After Time",Cyndi Lauper's number one hit from 1984.^[22]

Newton remarked about the album that:

It was just a lot of fun to work with the different people and make everyone comfortable. One of the times I couldn’t find the studio and I didn’t have GPS in my car, so I was trying to find it on my own. All kinds of stuff like that happened, but we got it done! At first you might go "Oh, wow," because you aren’t sure you can sing the song they picked, and then you just look at each other and say, "Oh, yeah." You just have to cowboy up and make it right.^[4]

In his review of the album music critic David Bowling stated:

Juice Newton may be far removed from her seventies and eighties hit days but she has continued to release well conceived and executed albums. It’s nice these duets have finally seen the light of day and hopefully more will be released in the future.^[3]

• 2010 albums
• Juice Newton albums
• Albums produced by Charles Calello

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