Tupelo Honey

Prior to the Tupelo Honey recording sessions, Morrison had recorded demo tracks in Woodstock for an upcoming country music album. Some of the tracks planned for Tupelo Honey did appear on the album, but other more traditional country songs like "The Wild Side of Life", "Crying Time" and "Banks of the Ohio" were abandoned. Morrison decided to move from Woodstock when the lease on his house expired and the landlord wanted to move back in. He explained to Richard Williams in Melody Maker that the release of the 1970 film Woodstock about the Woodstock Festival had altered the quaint character of the community: "Everybody and his uncle started showing up at the bus station, and that was the complete opposite of what it was supposed to be." In April 1971, before he began recording on the planned album, Morrison and his family moved to Marin County, California, where his wife, Janet Planet, had family living close by. The Morrisons' new home was in a rural setting situated on a hillside close to San Francisco amid redwood trees. With the move, Morrison abandoned the idea of a full country album and exchanged some of the intended material for songs he had written earlier. Morrison was under pressure by Warner Bros. Records to produce chart singles and two albums within a year. == Recording ==

Due to the location of the recording sessions of Tupelo Honey, having moved from New York to California, the only musicians from Morrison's previous band that could work with him were saxophonist Jack Schroer and his wife Ellen (who contributed backing vocals). However, two of the three percussionists on the album had recorded with him in the past; Connie Kay contributed drums to Astral Weeks, and Gary Mallaber played drums and vibraphone on Moondance. On this album, Kay played drums on four songs, and new recruit Rick Shlosser was used for the remaining tracks, while Mallaber played percussion and vibraphone. Biographer Howard DeWitt was convinced that Morrison's music benefited from his move to California, as he comments that "the musical explosion in Marin County also added a great deal to Van's music. In particular, Ronnie Montrose's guitar work made Tupelo Honey a rock classic." Mark Jordan and John McFee made up the rest of the rhythm section. The first recording sessions took place in the spring of 1971 at the Wally Heider Studios in San Francisco and continued for three weeks. Only four of the songs recorded were chosen for Tupelo Honey: "Wild Night"; "Moonshine Whiskey"; "I Wanna Roo You" and "Like a Cannonball". Rick Shlosser and John McFee played on these tracks, but were dropped from the second sessions. Engineer Stephen Barncard remembered that "We'd get the band rehearsed, then Ted Templeman would go to the hotel, pick up Van ... We did one or two takes, he'd go back to the hotel and the band would go on to the next tune." Morrison relocated in the late spring of 1971 to the Columbia Studios, San Francisco to record a second session of tracks for the album. The vocals on the album were always live after rehearsing each song five or six times, according to saxophonist and flautist "Boots" Houston, who further commented that when Morrison and the band went into the studio: "we would then just play a whole set straight through without repeating anything. We would have played maybe twenty songs and Van would go back and cut out the songs he didn't want. The only time we'd go back would be to overdub backing vocals or horns." Ted Templeman remarked that he had to go through three engineers during the recording of the album, due to Morrison's "ability as a musician, arranger and producer": "When he's got something together, he wants to put it down right away with no overdubbing ... I've had to change engineers who couldn't keep up with him." == Composition and themes ==

The rural setting in Marin County furnished the backdrop for the domestic bliss associated with the album, Although Morrison said that the songs on the album "had been hanging around for awhile" and according to biographer Steve Turner they were written in Woodstock, The album opens with "Wild Night", a hybrid of R&B, soul and country music influences, which uses a moderate time signature and features the lead guitar playing of Ronnie Montrose. The song's intro was created, according to Montrose, when "One afternoon I was messing around with what is now the intro on the record, [Van] stopped me and ... said ' ... that thing you just played ... that's the intro, don't forget it. This guitar-driven intro in Clinton Heylin's opinion made it one of Morrison's most memorable singles. "Old Old Woodstock" is a tribute to Morrison's previous life in upstate New York. The theme of domestic bliss is encapsulated in this song, as it shows a strong sensitivity towards children and family life. Howard Dewitt comments that "It is a moving and compelling look at a satisfying period in Van's life." Musically the song contains the music genres jazz and folk. Janet Planet served as the inspiration for the song and also performed backing vocals on the recording. Jon Landau describes "Starting a New Life" as "both the simplest and lyrically the most significant cut on the album as Van spells out with perfect clarity the statement of Tupelo Honey: it expresses his need to take stock of himself, to see how far he has come, to record the support of those who have helped him get there, and together with them to 'start a new life. As perhaps a last-minute decision Morrison added this song to the album in place of "Listen to the Lion", just before it was released. Both songs have the same melody and chord progression, and are in time. Uncut reviewer David Cavanagh wrote: "On an album where the vocals are exultant to say the least, this song sees Morrison use larynx, diaphragm, teeth and tongue to find new ways of enunciating the lines 'she's as sweet as Tupelo honey' and 'she's all right with me', seemingly in ever-increasing adoration." Greil Marcus called the song "a kind of odyssey" evoking Elvis Presley (whose hometown was Tupelo, Mississippi), and "the most gorgeous number on the album" that "was too good not to be true." "I Wanna Roo You (Scottish Derivative)" is a country-flavoured waltz that prominently features John McFee's steel guitar and Ronnie Montrose's mandolin. The "Scottish Derivative" subtitle refers to the word "roo" featured in the song, which is a Scottish slang word for "woo". "When That Evening Sun Goes Down" is described by Erik Hage as a "hootenanny flavored" tune driven by "barrel-house honkey-tonk piano". Like "Wild Night", it was first recorded in Autumn 1968 and on various other recording sessions by Morrison before its release on Tupelo Honey. (earlier in 1971 Morrison had worked with the Band in Woodstock). The song fluctuates between a slow and a fast time throughout. During the coda it accelerates to an abrupt ending. "Moonshine Whiskey" combines country rock and soul in a song that Morrison once spoke of as having been written for "Janis Joplin or something." (Joplin lived in Woodstock around the same time as Morrison.) There is also a comic element to the song with Morrison imitating fish blowing bubbles. == Packaging ==

The title of the album derives from the varietal honey produced from the flowers of the tupelo tree found predominantly in Florida. The photos on the album were taken by Michael Maggid, a friend of Morrison's then wife Janet Planet, in the town of Fairfax. The original LP was released in a gatefold sleeve. The cover photograph showed Planet, riding bareback on a horse, with Morrison walking alongside. The gatefold and back cover photographs showed Morrison perched upon the fence of the horse's paddock, with his wife standing to his right and a black-and-white kitten on the fence to his left. This rural setting depicting a bygone era was in vogue on album covers at the time as rock artists moved from cities to rural communities. The Band, CSNY, and Grateful Dead had similar themes on album covers in 1969 and 1970. Morrison later complained of the cover, explaining that, "The picture was taken at a stable and I didn't live there. We just went there and took the picture and split. A lot of people seem to think that album covers are your life or something." == Release ==

Tupelo Honey was first released on LP in October 1971 on Warner Bros. Records. The album reached number 27 on the Billboard 200, which was the highest position reached in the US by any of Morrison's albums at that point. However it failed to reach any of the charts across Europe. By the middle of 1974 Tupelo Honey had sold well over 350,000 copies (50,000 more than Moondance), Three singles were released from the album. The first, "Wild Night", with a rare alternative take on "When That Evening Sun Goes Down" as the B-side, The single fared slightly better in The Netherlands, peaking at number 24. was the third single from the album and only reached number 119, just outside the Billboard Hot 100. The album was reissued on CD in 1990 by Polydor Records. Another CD reissue was released in 1997 by Polydor and Mercury Records. It was also reissued on vinyl, but without the bonus tracks. As of 2025, the album has been long out of print on CD, vinyl and is unavailable on any streaming service with the exception of the album's title track and "Wild Night" which were featured on various Morrison compilation albums throughout his career. == Critical reception ==

Tupelo Honey was well received by critics upon the album's release. Jon Landau wrote in Rolling Stone: "Tupelo Honey is in one sense but another example of the artist making increased use of the album as the unit of communication as opposed to merely the song or the cut. Everything on it is perfectly integrated." ZigZag magazine reviewer John Tobler, who also reviewed the album just after its release, gave the album high praise, saying "If all music were as good as this, there wouldn't be any reason to make any more, because this is the real thing." Critic Dave Marsh called it "the perfect album for Van: he does everything...so incredibly well. There isn't a bad cut on it, of that I'm really sure." Robert Christgau from The Village Voice voiced reservations in his praise of the album, writing that it was "almost as rich in cute tunes as The Shirelles' Greatest Hits, but I worry that domestic bliss with Janet Planet has been softening Van's noodle more than the joy of cooking requires." Morrison's biographers were less impressed by the album. Johnny Rogan commented: "Tupelo Honey was no masterpiece but it was a considerable improvement upon His Band and the Street Choir. At a time when the rock élite were seduced by the lovelorn laments and steel guitars of country rock, Morrison emerged with a work that offered a soulful romantic veneer without lapsing into banal sentimentality." == Aftermath ==

In 2009, music journalist Erik Hage wrote that Tupelo Honey "has become one of Morrison's most likeable albums, but the very elements that make it appealing to many—the homey feeling, the personal odes to married life—also make it a complacent album for an artist who had been pushing forward and challenging boundaries for the past few years." Morrison was expected to tour to promote the album, but at this time he had developed a phobia about performing that was especially problematic when appearing before large audiences. John Platania was playing in concerts with Morrison and spoke of noticing his confidence ebbing away: "There were many times when he literally had to be coaxed on stage. His motto was 'The show does not have to go on'. He would create the choice of whether he would go on stage or not." Morrison announced before an impending performance at a larger venue that he was retiring from performing live. After regaining his confidence by making regular and informal performances at a small club near his home (the "Lion's Share" in San Anselmo California), he began to tour coast-to-coast again in 1972. Morrison's response Morrison said afterwards that he "wasn't very happy" with it. "It consisted of songs that were left over from before and that they'd finally gotten around to using. It wasn't really fresh. It was a whole bunch of songs that had been hanging around for a while. I was really trying to make a country and western album." He commented further that he seldom listened to it and had a bad taste in his mouth for both His Band and the Street Choir and Tupelo Honey. == Track listing ==

Musicians • Van Morrison – rhythm guitar, harmonica, vocals, backing vocals • Ronnie Montrose – electric and acoustic guitars, mandolin, backing vocals • John McFee – pedal steel guitar • Bill Church – bass • Ted Templeman – organ on "Tupelo Honey" • Mark Jordan – piano, electric piano • Jack Schroer – alto, tenor and baritone saxophones • Luis Gasca – trumpet • Bruce Royston – flute • "Boots" Houston – flute, backing vocals • Ellen Schroer – backing vocals • Janet Planet – backing vocals • Rick Shlosser – drums • Connie Kay – drums on "Starting a New Life", "Tupelo Honey", "When That Evening Sun Goes Down" and "Old Old Woodstock" • Gary Mallaber – percussion, vibraphone Production • Producers: Van Morrison, Ted Templeman • Engineers: Stephen Barncard, David Brown, Doc Storch • Remixing: Lee Herschberg, Donn Landee • Remastering: Ian Cooper • Art direction: Ed Thrasher • Photography: Michael Maggid • Horn arrangements: Van Morrison, Jack Schroer • Flute arrangements: "Boots" Houston on "Like a Cannonball", Bruce Royston on "Tupelo Honey" == Charts ==

Weekly charts Singles == Notes ==