No Charge (album)

Melba Montgomery first rose to commercial success in the 1960s recording as a duet partnership with George Jones. Their first single together, "We Must Have Been Out of Our Minds", reached the top five of the country charts in 1963. It was followed by several more top 40 singles and established Montgomery's persona as a duet partner. After Jones, Montgomery recorded with Gene Pitney and had a top 20 duet with Charlie Louvin in 1971.[3] However, success as a solo artist eluded her. Montgomery began working with producer Pete Drake in the seventies, who helped her move to Elektra Records in 1973. From there, she would reach the peak of her solo career with the single, "No Charge".[4]

The album for which the single was named was recorded in January 1974. The sessions were held at Pete's Place, a Nashville, Tennessee studio owned by producer Pete Drake.[5] The disc contained a total of 12 tracks.[1] Two of the album's tracks were co-written by Montgomery herself: "My Feel Good Sure Feels Fine" and "Love, I Need You".[5] The title track was penned entirely by Nashville songwriter, Harlan Howard. Recorded as a recitation, the song described the love between a mother and a child.[4] Billboard magazine described the album's production to embody both contemporary country sounds, along with traditional elements.[2]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

No Charge was released in April 1974 on Elektra Records. It was the second studio album of Montgomery's issued on Elektra and her nineteenth album overall. It was distributed as a vinyl LP, with six songs on each side of the record.[5] Following its release, No Charge peaked at the number 14 position on the American Billboard Top Country Albums chart. It was Montgomery's first solo LP to make the chart. Her previous studio albums to chart were duet discs with other artists. It was also her highest-charting solo album in her career.[6]

Billboard magazine positively commented that Montgomery "never sounded better nor has a better collection of tunes" been "assembled".[2] AllMusic would later rate the album four out of five stars.[1] The title track was the disc's only single, issued in February 1974.[7] The song became her only single to reach the number one spot on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.[8] It also climbed to number 39 on the Billboard Hot 100[9] and number one on Canada's RPM country chart.[10]

All credits are adapted from the liner notes of No Charge.[5]