Thanks For The Music

Two-time CMA and ACM Female Vocalist of the Year Janie Fricke announces Real Gone Music release of 'It Ain't Easy: The Complete Hits', available now. This 41-track, 2 CD compilation spans from 1977 to 1989, including not just her solo smashes such as "What're You Doing Tonight," "It Ain't Easy Being Easy," "He's A Heartache (Looking For A Place To Happen)," and "Tell Me A Lie," but also her chart-topping duets with Charlie Rich (“On My Knees”), Merle Haggard (“A Place to Fall Apart”), Larry Gatlin ("From Time To Time") and Johnny Duncan ("Come A Little Bit Closer"). As an added bonus, Janie penned the liner notes, which are accompanied by previously unseen photos and she autographed 100 booklets for fans who order 'It Ain't Easy: The Complete Hits' through Real Gone Music.

"It is with thankfulness and sheer pride to see this project appear at a time in my life when I least expected such a special gift," says Janie Fricke. "The team who researched my recordings worked many hours to come up with choice songs from my recorded repertoire. As I look back to those years of hours spent in the studio with the best producers, musicians and engineers, I never dreamed that it would become a pretty package all wrapped up, presented to me and the world in 2019."

Raised on a farm in Indiana, Janie Fricke began singing in church, and later turned that talent into a career which began as one of the marketing industry's most successful jingle singers. Long before her success as a country artist, millions of people became familiar with Fricke’s voice through ads for United Airlines, Coca-Cola, 7-Up, McDonald's and Red Lobster. She soon became a session singer where she was singing background in the studio with some of the biggest country stars of the late 70’s and early 80’s, including Loretta Lynn, Eddie Rabbitt, Crystal Gayle, Ronnie Milsap, Barbara Mandrell, and Mel Tillis.

After a string of duets with such greats as Merle Haggard and Moe Bandy, Fricke landed a solo recording contract in the early 80's and scored several hit singles, including "Don't Worry 'Bout Me Baby," "He's a Heartache" and "You're Heart's Not In It." She won CMA's coveted "Female Vocalist of the Year” in 1983 and '84 and has been nominated for three Grammy Awards. She has been credited with over 1,600 album projects and scored 36 hit singles.

In recent years, Sony Music Entertainment made four of Fricke’s classic albums available to fans on Spotify, Apple Music and other digital platforms via the Legacy Digital Vault campaign, including The First Word In Memory, The Very Best of Janie Fricke, Black & White and Saddle in the Wind! The collection of albums features the 18-time chart-topper's biggest hits, including "It Ain't Easy Being Easy," "Tell Me a Lie," "She’s Single Again” and more. Legacy Recordings also released The Essential JANIE FRICKE to all digital service providers earlier this year.

In addition, Fricke put a bluegrass spin with some fresh interpretations to many of her beloved tunes with the release of Country Side of Bluegrass. The 13-track collection was produced by Bil VornDick, whose credits also include Alison Krauss, Bela Fleck, and Marty Robbins, and features some of the finest pickers in the industry.

Janie Fricke 'It Ain't Easy: The Complete Hits' Track Listing Disc 1: 1. What're You Doing Tonight 2. Come A Little Bit Closer (with Johnny Duncan) 3. Stranger (with Johnny Duncan) 4. Baby It's You 5. Please Help Me, I'm Falling (In Love With You) 6. On My Knees (with Charlie Rich) 7. Playing Hard To Get 8. Love Your Troubles Away For A While 9. Let's Try Again 10. But Love Me 11. Pass Me By (If You're Only Passing Through) 12. He's Out Of My Life (with Johnny Duncan) 13. Down To My Last Broken Heart 14. Pride 15. I'll Need Someone To Hold Me (When I Cry) 16. Do Me With Love 17. Don't Worry 'Bout Me Baby 18. It Ain't Easy Being Easy 19. You Don't Know Love 20. He's A Heartache (Looking For A Place To Happen) 21. Tell Me A Lie

Disc 2: 1. Let's Stop Talkin' About It 2. If The Fall Don't Get You 3. Your Heart's Not In It 4. A Place To Fall Apart (with Merle Haggard) 5. The First Word In Memory Is Me 6. Who Cares (with Ray Charles) 7. All I Want To Do In Life (with George Jones) 8. She's Single Again 9. Somebody Else's Fire 10. Easy To Please 11. Always Have, Always Will 12. When A Woman Cries 13. Are You Satisfied 14. From Time To Time (It Feels like Love Again (with Larry Gatlin and The Gatlin Brothers) 15. Baby You're Gone 16. Where Does Love Go (When It's Gone) 17. I'll Walk Before I'll Crawl 18. Heart 19. Give 'Em My Number 20. Love Is One Of Those Words

Janie Fricke On Tour: AUG 17 - The New Granbury Live / Granbury, Texas SEP 07 - Private Event / Centerville, Texas OCT 05 - Confederate Square / Gonzales, Texas NOV 02 - Sweetwater Municipal Auditorium / Sweetwater, Texas NOV 16 - Orange Blossom Opry / Weirsdale, Fla. FEB 20 - Leo J. Welder Center for the Performing Arts / Victoria, Texas FEB 21 - New Brauntex Theater / New Braunfels, Texas FEB 22 - Dosey Doe Big Barn / Spring, Texas JUN 21 - Dick Clark's American Bandstand Theater / Branson, Mo. JUL 10 - Blue Gate Theatre / Shipshewana, Ind.

About Janie Fricke: A two-time CMA & ACM Female Vocalist of the Year, Fricke has hit the #1 spot on the Country charts an astounding 18 times. She was named Billboard Magazine Top Female Vocalist, was the First Female Voice on the Moon, and was named the UK's Country Music Round Up's Most Popular International Female Solo Act. Her music has reached Gold and Platinum sales status worldwide, and the talented and personable Indiana native has recorded numerous jingles for Coca-Cola, Pizza Hut and United Airlines. Janie has released 25 albums and 36 hit singles, and she remains one of the most-beloved entertainers in the Country field. For more information, go to www.janiefricke.com.