Saturdance

‘Man’ Alive

June 23, 2012 0 Comments

Saddle up, y’all, because country music legend Tammy Wynette is back in the clubs.

Twenty years after Wynette teamed up with British acid house duo The KLF for the brilliantly bonkers “Justified & Ancient,” which nodded to her signature song, “Stand By Your Man,” the late singer’s 1968 classic has been officially remixed by Dave Audé. (I had the pleasure of interviewing this past April.)

“Stand By Your Man,” which won a Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance (Female) in 1970, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999, and was added to the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress in 2010. Controversial from the start, the song’s historical value was only raised in 1992 when Hillary Clinton referenced it during her husband’s successful run for president. Responding to allegations of Bill’s extramarital affairs, she told 60 Minutes‘ Steve Kroft, “I’m not sitting here like some little woman standing by my man like Tammy Wynette.” Ms. Wynette was not pleased, and initially refused Clinton’s subsequent apology until Burt Reynolds (one of Wynette’s exes) intervened to help mend fences.

Wynette passed away in 1998 at 55. The new remix of “Stand By Your Man” was commissioned to coincide with the celebration of what would have been her 70th birthday this year, and I like what Dave Audé has done with the track. His re-do may not be everyone’s cup of tea shot of whiskey, though I imagine everyone can agree that the new single’s cover art is truly terrible (I mistook Wynette for a man in drag). But if “Stand By Your Man” were ever to take off again, one imagines Pride Weekend is prime time.

Purchase Tammy Wynette – “Stand By Your Man” (Dave Audé Remix) via iTunes, Amazon MP3.