Melodyland

(“The (second) country one”)

**This is a discography for Melodyland/Hitsville Records – other Motown labels are listed here. If you’re looking for a full list of every Motown single, try the Master Index instead!**

Motown had shut down its first dedicated Country & Western subsidiary, Dallas-based Mel-o-dy Records, back in 1965, but Berry Gordy never stopped wondering if there was a way back into the lucrative market.

In 1974, Motown took the plunge and opened a new country imprint, Melodyland Records. Their “big name” marquee signing was Pat Boone, who was joined on the new label by the likes of T.G. Sheppard, Dorsey Burnette, Ronnie Dove, Jud Strunk and Jerry Naylor.

At the start of 1976, a legal challenge from another label already using the “Melodyland” name forced Motown to change their country label to “Hitsville Records” instead. The newly-renamed label was not a huge commercial success, and closed its doors in May of 1977.

Here’s a list of the Melodyland/Hitsville Records singles that have been covered on Motown Junkies so far.

MELODYLAND/HITSVILLE RECORDS: 45 DISCOGRAPHY (incomplete)

(this is just a placeholder, we’re not at 1974 yet!)

(Click a song title to read a full review of that side. NB: The coloured numbers after each title indicate the highly subjective mark out of ten I gave that song on the day I happened to write about it. They weren’t intended to be taken too seriously.)

1 thought on “Melodyland”

  1. Ed Pauli said:

    Of all the artists, T G Sheppard was a complete unknown when this label was established, but it turned out that his Devil In the Bottle became the biggest hit the label had ( a possible cause may have been his friendship with Elvis–who could’ve had THE COLONEL pull a few strings..)
    Berry Gordy never gave up on Dorsey Burnette and thus gave him a second chance. Jerry Naylor was the leader of the post Buddy Holly 60s Crickets on Liberty. Jud Strunk was best known as a sometime country comic/singer whose Daisy a Day was a folk/Country/pop hit for MGM in 1973- his BIGGEST PARAKEETS IN TOWN in my opinion is THEEEEE worst Motown record ever. Ronnie Dove had several hits for Diamond records aided by the likes of Ray Stevens, Link Wray, Bobby Darin, and Neil Diamond–but he never had a top ten hit.
    Pat Boone — oh well , he DID have some sort of country sound but I’ve never forgiven him for what he did to Little Richard LOL!!

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