Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue

Description

Written by Richard Leigh in 1977, "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue" was to be the biggest hit of Crystal Gayle's career and won her the 1978 Grammy for best female country performance. The song became Gayle's signature piece throughout her career, and in 1999, it was recognized by ASCAP as one of the ten most-performed songs of the 20th century.

The lyric is pure country, but the song has a jazzy feel to it when compared to many other country songs of that era. We'll learn about a dozen chords, some that might not normally show up in a typical country style song. We'll also be learning a strum that has a jazzy swing feel to play this classic AABA form.

While we look at the details section by section, we will also be thinking about playing/pacing in a way that supports the message/emotional content of the lyric - especially important when we go solo from a produced track. When you've completed this tutorial you will have a great country classic to add to your repertoire!