Tupelo Honey  by Van Morrison

In 1971, Van Morrison was living in the U.S.A. There, in the spring and summer of that year, he wrote the songs that would make up his fifth studio album. The songs were written while he lived in Woodstock, New York, and he went to California in San Francisco for the recordings. In collaboration with producer Ted Templeman, he created another fine album, Tupelo Honey. The tupelo is a plant that grows in the southeastern states of the U.S.A., and from it comes a unique variety of honey.

The songwriter, although not abandoning his British musical influences, embraces the magic of American folk, country, and rock music and builds songs like Wild Night and Tupelo Honey. Van Morrison settled in the U.S.A. with his wife, Janet Rigsbee Minto, and enjoyed a quiet family life with her while during that period, his daughter, Shana Morrison, was just born. The couple separated two years later.

The album was promoted mainly in the U.S.A., where it reached No. 27 on the Billboard and its sales turned it into gold. In Great Britain, it didn't manage to enter the charts. The creator himself believes that Tupelo Honey was not what he had in mind to make and he was not pleased with the result since his initial plan was to create a country-western album (!)