In the Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad) Songwriting Credits by Dolly Parton

Released February 3, 1969, on RCA Victor, the album was recorded at RCA Studio B in Nashville across three sessions in September and October 1968. Bob Ferguson produced the record. Most tracks were written by Parton herself, though the album included covers of Tom T. Hall's 'Harper Valley PTA,' Bobby Braddock and Curly Putman's 'D-I-V-O-R-C-E,' Bob Ferguson's 'The Carroll County Accident,' and John D. Loudermilk's 'It's My Time.' The album features traditional country instrumentation (steel guitar, fiddle, banjo, and piano), and Rolling Stone later noted the self-penned title track marked the first time on record that the songwriter addressed her hardscrabble Smoky Mountain childhood head-on. The album peaked at number 15 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart, and Billboard's February 1969 review predicted it would be a big hit LP, praising Parton's empathy on the title song.