Jimmy Dean left Columbia for RCA in 1966 and immediately charted a Top Ten hit with "Stand Beside Me," a bland effort that probably owes most of its success to the RCA promotional machine.
Jimmy Dean Is Here! is his inaugural album for the label, and it includes "Stand Beside Me" plus 11 other songs produced by
Chet Atkins, who approached the project as though he was making an
Eddy Arnold record. Don Law,
Dean's producer at Columbia, arguably had a better sense of
Dean's strengths, because his flaccid crooning under
Atkins' tutelage is as appealing as a soggy biscuit. On "I Got Your Word (You Got Mine),"
Dean sounds tired and even slurs his words in a poor imitation of
Dean Martin. The mood throughout is almost dreary, and it is no coincidence that
Dean never recaptured his former glory. ~ Greg Adams