Margaret

You would never guess from looking at the album cover, but Margaret is Margaret Whiting's country album, sort of. After a long hit-making career with Capitol Records, Whiting moved to Dot and recorded Margaret as her second album for the label. While it is true that the 12 songs are well-known country hits, Whiting's approach is pure pop, and, apart from the listener's familiarity with the material, nothing in the production betrays the origins of the songs. Rosemary Clooney's recording of "Half As Much" is an obvious model, a supposition supported by Whiting's own rendition of the song. Hank Williams and Eddy Arnold are the two primary song sources, with over half the album consisting of songs written by or associated with Williams. All of the songs had previously been made into pop hits by various artists, so Whiting was breaking no new ground with her interpretations. Despite her many duets with singing cowboy Jimmy Wakely during her Capitol years, Whiting did not record many country songs, so Margaret is an interesting oddity but offers no surprises.