Back in the day (as they say) when Old Burl was singing the songs that America loved, the record companies often released albums with cover pictures illustrating the song rather than a photo of the singer. And even though Burl Ives was quite a looker I imagine that the woman in the lavendar tafetta dress was a "model", i.e. someone who the record company exec in charge of the project wanted to get close to. Do you remember seeing a goatee along with the dress. . .?