onto the Billboard Hot 100. His "Mr. Lovemaker" also reached No. 2 on the US country singles chart in 1973. But with the popularity of Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings in the mid-1970s, Paycheck changed his image to that of outlaw, with which he was to have his largest financial success. His producer Billy Sherrill helped revive his career by significantly changing his sound and image. Sherrill was best known for carefully choreographing his records and infusing them with considerable pop feel. The Paycheck records were clearly based on Sherrill's take on the bands backing Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson on records. A member of the Grand Ole Opry, Paycheck is best remembered for his 1977 hit single, "Take This Job and Shove It", written by David Allan Coe, which sold over two million copies and inspired a motion picture of the same name. "Colorado Kool-Aid", "Me and the IRS", "Friend, Lover, Wife", "Slide Off of Your Satin Sheets", and "I'm the Only Hell (Mama Ever Raised)" were other hits for Paycheck during this period. He received an Academy of Country Music Career Achievement award in 1977. The most successful of his later singles, released during his appeal, was "Old Violin", which reached No. 21 on the country chart in 1986. His last album to chart was "Modern Times" in 1987. He continued to release albums, the last of which, Remembering, appeared in 2002. He continued to perform and tour until the late 1990s. Shortly before his retirement, in 1997, he was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry; in a rare exception to protocol, Opry general manager Bob Whittaker personally invited Paycheck to join instead of having another member do the invitation. Record companies With his producer, Aubrey Mayhew, Paycheck co-owned his record company, Little Darlin' Records. Paycheck's recordings by Little Darlin' featured the pedal steel guitar work of Lloyd Green. By the end of the 1960s, Little Darlin' Records folded. Mayhew and Paycheck soon created Certron Records, a newly formed recording company owned by Certron (a manufacturer of audio and video tape). The label was able to sign Bobby Helms, Ronnie Dove, Clint Eastwood, Pozo-Seco Singers (as Pozo Seco), and Paycheck. After the move to Certron, the label was unable to make a profit and closed by 1972. In the late 1990s, after decades ignored, Little Darlin' recordings received recognition by country music historians for their distinctive and sharp-edged