"heartaches and tears" was recorded a year before its official release in two separate recording sessions. the first took place on may 8, 1961 and the second took place the following day. this was the second of shepard's albums to not be recorded in california, instead being recorded in nashville, tennessee at the bradley film and recording studio. "heartaches and tears" was produced by nashville a&r man, marvin hughes. although it was not the first session of shepard's that hughes produced, it was the first album to be completed by him. all previous releases had been recorded under the direction of west coast producer ken nelson. session musicians used for the production of "heartaches and tears" consisted of the a-team. this group of background musicians played on recordings for most nashville-based artists during the late 1950s and 1960s. they would appear in many of shepard's albums during the sixties decade. unlike shepard's previous release ("got you on my mind"), the songs on the record were mainly new material. examples of this included songs such as, "i don't remember", "would be satisfied", and "i'd like to know where people go". however, a cover version of "jealous heart" appears at the end of the album. the tracks on the release were written by some of nashville's well-known songwriters, including jack rhodes and marijohn wilkin.