The Start of their Duets

During the late ‘60s, Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn spent a great time together when England hosted the first Wembley Country Music Festival. While the Wembley concerts have since become huge annual events, that first one was particularly special because it marked the beginning of the Twitty/Lynn duets.

The great Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn sang together often during that trip. They discovered that they had similar musical tastes. Twitty swapped road stories with both Lynn and her husband Mooney. It became apparent that their personalities were quite compatible. Their musical styles were discovered to be close and their voices complimented each other to a tee. They began searching for songs which might be potential hit singles.

Recording the Song a Year after its Writing

Thereafter, Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn have found their first in an L. E. White composition called “After The Fire Is Gone.” White was working for Twitty’s publishing company that time. He showed the song to his employer soon after writing it. Conway Twitty was initially unimpressed. He didn’t pay much attention to “After The Fire Is Gone” for about a year.  Then one night, Twitty called White at home and saying:

“Boy, I’ve found this song that would be a big hit for Loretta and me.”

Apparently, he didn’t realize it was the same song L. E. had showed him earlier.

The Composition

White had written “After The Fire Is Gone” while visiting the resort town of Gatlinburg, Tennessee. He was at a hotel which had a huge fireplace but the fire had gone out. As L. E. and others observed this, he overheard someone said:

“Boy, it sure looks cold in there, doesn’t it?”

After that, he thought:

“There’s nothing as cold as ashes after the fire is gone.”

He found a pen and jotted down the line, later building a song around that hook.

The Success

After Conway Twitty was finally on board with “After The Fire Is Gone,” they took it into the studio on November 10, 1970. Conway & Loretta’s record shipped just after New Year’s. It debuted on Billboard’s Hot Country Singles chart on February 6th and reached No. 1 in its eighth week.It held that position for two weeks.

“After The Fire Is Gone” marked the beginning of a string of twelve Twitty/Lynn singles with five of them making it to number one. It is the most chart-toppers of any mixed duet in country music history.