Misty Blue - C&W Hit Versions

C&W Hit Versions

Montgomery wrote the song for Brenda Lee; he recalls: "I wrote 'Misty Blue' in about twenty minutes. It was a gift and it was perfect for Brenda Lee, but she turned it down. Her producer Owen Bradley loved the song and as he couldn’t push her to do it, he cut it country style with Wilma Burgess." Burgess recorded the song in a 24 March 1966 session at the Columbia Recording Studio in South Nashville; after another track from the same session, "Don't Touch Me", was released to become a #12 C&W hit that summer, "Misty Blue" was released in October 1966 to spend most of December 1966 and January–February 1967 in the C&W Top Ten with a peak of #4 becoming Burgess' career record.

Eddy Arnold recorded "Misty Blue" in a Chet Atkins-produced session at the RCA Victor Studio on 20 April 1966; included on the June 1966 album release The Last Word in Lonesome, Arnold's "Misty Blue" had a belated single release in May 1967 to introduce The Best of Eddy Arnold compilation album. Besides virtually matching Burgess' success with the song—Arnold's version peaking at C&W #3—Arnold's "Misty Blue" became the first version of the song to crossover to the pop field reaching #57 on the Billboard Hot 100 in June 1967 and rising as high as #3 Easy Listening: the single's pop chart peaks in Cash Box and Record World were respectively #20 and #48.

Billie Jo Spears had a #5 C&W hit with "Misty Blue" in 1976 after the Dorothy Moore pop/soul hit version had revived interest in the song.