Roy Orbison's Sun Recordings Roy Orbison. Orbison, still in Texas began writing with Joe Melson, who led a group in Midland called the Cavaliers. Together they wrote the hit "Uptown," which sold better than any single since "Ooby Dooby". Looking for a follow-up, Melson showed Orbison a piece of a song he had been working on called "Only the Lonely". This song was the "first song that truly probed the frightening potential of Orbison's voice." In the early sixties Orbison reached his first peak period from 1961-1964. Despite the lack of commercial success Orbison looked back at his time at Sun Records as an
What Kind of Love of "Billboard" magazine reviewed the song favorably, calling it the "first step in a major effort to immerse this rock-influenced country star into the pop and AC realm. She goes on to say that "twangy instrumentation a la Tom Petty and the late Roy Orbison (with whom this song was penned), combined with an appealing vocal, makes a strong argument for play at these and album rock formats." From "Life Is Messy" liner notes. "What Kind of Love" debuted at number 75 on the U.S. "Billboard" Hot Country Singles & Tracks for the week of June 27, 1992. Mike Walker