Love Me Little, Love me Long / Country Life

Released in 1969 on the vanity imprint Ann Records, this 45-rpm single represents a distinct era of American song-poem production. Rodd Keith, a prolific and eccentric figure in the song-poem industry, composed and arranged these tracks, utilizing the studio-for-hire model that allowed aspiring lyricists to have their poems set to music by professional session musicians. The production captures the idiosyncratic, lo-fi aesthetic typical of Keith’s output, characterized by unconventional chord progressions and a raw, earnest delivery.

The record features vocals by Gail Dobrywoda, who was one of several singers frequently employed by Keith during this period. The songs, Love Me Little, Love Me Long and Country Life, reflect the eclectic and often surreal creative output of the song-poem genre, which sat on the fringes of the mainstream music industry. While these records were originally marketed directly to the lyricists who commissioned them, they have since been re-evaluated by collectors and music historians as fascinating snapshots of mid-century outsider music and amateur songwriting culture.