For those unaware, Victoria Hallman began her career at the age of four; recording her first record when she was six, and appearing on The Steve Allen Show while still in grammar school.

She would soon open for Bob Hope, and eventually become part of Buck Owens’ touring band. Owens brought her to Hee Haw, and subsequently took her into the studio in 1981 to record a solo album.

Backed by The Buckaroos, and co-produced by Buckaroo Jim Shaw, Buck and Victoria recorded a successful album they were both happy with, but due to life and career challenges for both, fell through the cracks and disappeared. Or, so everyone thought.

In 2006, Victoria and Shaw decided to look for the tapes for the release, but they were nowhere to be found. Over a decade later, Hallman joined the Authors Guild after writing her book Hollywood Lights, Nashville Nights: Two Hee Haw Honeys Dish Life, Love, Elvis, Buck & Good Times In The Kornfield, where she was contacted by a record collector who had found an acetate with her name on it. It was the lost album!

Forty years later, From Birmingham To Bakersfield finally sees the light of day! Produced for release by Hallman, Grammy® nominee Randy Poe (also author of Buck ‘Em: The Autobiography Of Buck Owens), and multi-Grammy® winner Cheryl Pawelski, with Mastering and Restoration by multi-Grammy® winner Michael Graves, the release sounds as fresh as it did when it was first recorded.

In addition to the album, three bonus demo tracks from 1980 are included—recorded with a band that included James Burton on guitar, Hal Blaine on drums, and bassist Emory Gordy, Jr.

1. You’re My Favorite Song
2. Bottle Up My Tears
3. Lay Your Heart On Mine
4. How’s Everything
5. Please Please Me
6. Just A Breath Away
7. Rainy Day Games
8. His Way Alone
9. 24 Hour Woman
10. Sexy Movies
11. Under The Influence Of Love (Demo) [Bonus Track]
12. Close Enough For Me (Demo) [Bonus Track]
13. Mama Tried (Demo) [Bonus Track]

This unissued, sumptuously-crafted, Buck Owens-produced album from 1982 opens on the swirling and twirling delights of You’re My Favorite Song and the drum-led, funky guitar grooves within Bottle Up My Tears and then proceeds to bring us the lushly orchestrated Lay Your Heart On Mine, the countrified balladry within How’s Everything, the joyously-hued Please Please Me, and then we are brought forth one of my own personal favorites, the dulcetly-curated Just A Breath Away.

Along next is the free flowing Rainy Day Games and the mid-tempo pop ballad His Way Alone, and they are in turn followed by the upbeat 24 Hour Woman, the album rounding out on the buoyant fun felt within Sexy Movies, the three bonus demo tracks now attached being the twanging Under The Influence Of Love, the yearning ballad Close Enough For Me, the album now closing on the fiddle-tastic Mama Tried.

The packaging contains photos, ephemera, and liner notes from Poe featuring new interviews with Victoria about her career and the discovery of this lost piece of Country Music history.

Available on LP for Record Store Day 2023, the CD and Digital will be available April 28, 2023. So, get ready to take the journey From Birmingham To Bakersfield!

Official Purchase Link