“The Bluest Eyes in Texas”
Restless Heart
Written by Tim DuBois, Dave Robinson, and Van Stephenson
Radio & Records
#1 (1 week)
July 22, 1988
Billboard
#1 (1 week)
August 20, 1988
“The Bluest Eyes in Texas” is Restless Heart’s best pop record so far.
It’s also its best country record so far. They’ve cracked the code here, incorporating pure pop elements with subtle country instrumentation that recalls the Eagles when they were in “Peaceful Easy Feeling” mode.
The harmonies are on another level, likely due to that beautiful combination of ripening talent and growing ambition that we see so often on an artist’s third album. The answer back in the chorus – “Where did I go wrong?” – burrows into my mind each time I hear it, and will be playing on a loop in my head for the rest of the day.
They don’t quite get the tempo right. The whole song’s a couple of beats too slow. But it’s their strongest single we’ve seen at the top so far, with one more to go before the decade is out.
“The Bluest Eyes in Texas” gets a B+.
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I remember listening to a podcast about 90’s country and they had Larry Stewart on as a guest to talk about Restless Heart. He had mentioned that due to their contemporary pop country sound that they had a hard time getting work in Texas. He had mentioned that people down in Texas “hated” the band down there and it wasn’t until they recorded this song that they were finally well received in Texas. He said then everyone started calling them to play in Texas.
Restless Heart performed at my county fair the first week of August 1988, the very time this song was burning up country radio. Ever since then I’ve felt a kinship with this band. I enjoyed their unapologetic country-pop sound in their first two albums but they took it to the next level here and the band became one of my favorite country acts of my boyhood. Coincidentally, or perhaps not, the co-writers of this song telegraphed the emergence of what would be another of my favorite country groups a few years later.
“Bluest Eyes” is a remarkable slice of 80s country-pop, simultaneously sugary and haunting, packing a punch with the harmonizing and guitar work. Again, I’m an amateur when it comes to anything to do with musical performance so I’m gonna plead ignorant to the assertion of the tempo being off and a couple of beats too slow. It sure sounds good to me. While I agree that this is their best #1 so far, it’s still not my favorite Restless Heart song. Given that you say there’s only one #1 left from them this decade, it looks as though the song I speak of never reached the penthouse. I knew it didn’t on Billboard, but I’d hoped Radio and Records would save it.
Grade: A
This song gets by on beautiful sonic builds and gorgeous harmonies, despite really not having much heft to it lyrically.
A classic country-pop confectionary that predictably left me wanting more.
Restless Heart never landed with me, but this song was so beautiful it momentarily made me reconsider my militant stance on traditionalism as a teenager.
It’s been fun for me to confront my historical villans from this era and see artists’ significance and influence beyond my own personal historical biases against them.
In fact, I like to believe this ’80s feature has provided the same opportunity to reconsider the merits of many of the decade’s unfairly maligned stars.