Forgotten Hits – Country Universe

Forgotten Hits: John Michael Montgomery, “Friends”

April 24, 2010 Kevin John Coyne 10

Friends
John Michael Montgomery
#2
1996

Written by Jerry Holland

Every once in a while, I read something that sparks a post. This week, it was The Boot’s countdown of the Ten Best Friend Songs in Country Music.

As I scanned the list, I saw expected gems like Tim McGraw’s “My Old Friend”, along with curious selections such as Shania Twain’s “Come On Over.” Even #2 on the list was questionable: Garth Brooks’ “Friends in Low Places” is as much about friendship as “The Dance” is about the Fox Trot.

Left off the list completely is the country song that I think best describes the nature of friendship. John Michael Montgomery’s “Friends” may not have the scope and death of Plato’s Lysis, but it captures the essence of friendships as well as anything else I’ve seen this side of ancient Greek philosophy.

Forgotten Hits: Sammy Kershaw, "Yard Sale"

March 17, 2010 Kevin John Coyne 6

Yard Sale
Sammy Kershaw
#17
1992

Written by Larry Bastian and Dewayne Blackwell

Great country songs can find heartache in the most mundane places. For George Jones, it was “a lip print on a half-filled cup of coffee that you poured but didn’t drink.” For Sammy Kershaw, a nineties star heavily influenced by the Possum, it was a family picnic table of discounted items.

“They’re sorting through what’s left of you and me,” he sings, and like in the Jones classic “A Good Year For the Roses,” it’s the steady observation of sights and sounds that tell the story. As he notes that there must be half the town on the grass and on the sidewalk, he muses, “Ain’t it funny how a broken home can bring the prices down?”

Forgotten Hits: Suzy Bogguss, “Hey Cinderella”

February 27, 2010 Kevin John Coyne 25

Hey Cinderella
Suzy Bogguss
#5
1994
Written by Matraca Berg, Suzy Bogguss, and Gary Harrison

There’s a term that has gathered strength over the past decade: the quarter-life crisis. It describes that phase in life where the idealism of what you thought your life would be collides with what reality has in store for you. Reconciling the two is needed to get beyond this point of life, and adulthood completely sets in once such reconciliation has been accomplished.

Forgotten Hits: George Ducas, “Lipstick Promises”

February 23, 2010 Kevin John Coyne 7

Lipstick Promises
George Ducas
1994
Peak: #9
Written by George Ducas and Tia Sellers

One hit wonders were once an anomaly in country music. The nineties changed that, as the massive commercial success of the genre inspired more labels to get into the game. The result was more artists than country radio could ever play regularly, so even a breakthrough top ten hit was no longer enough to get radio to automatically give the next single a shot.

George Ducas was one of the earliest casualties of this new era. With a voice like Dwight Yoakam with a touch of Raul Malo, Ducas showed tremendous promise as a singer-songwriter. There’s a beautiful melancholy to his performance of “Lipstick Promises.” It’s the tale of a man who has been blinded by beauty and ends up being burned by his unfaithful lover.

Forgotten Hits: Clint Black, “Burn One Down”

February 11, 2010 Kevin John Coyne 17

Burn One Down
Clint Black
1992
Peak: #4
Written by Clint Black, Frankie Miller, and Hayden Nicholas

One of Clint Black’s greatest singles didn’t quite make it into golden oldie rotation, sandwiched as it was between two bigger hits from his third album The Hard Way, the #2 kick-off “We Tell Ourselves” and the #1 hit “When My Ship Comes In.” Both of those singles fit the climate of 1992 radio perfectly, as the format was beginning to be a bit more aggressive in its incorporation of pop and rock flavor into the new traditionalist sound.

There’s nothing new traditionalist about “Burn One Down.” This baby is old traditionalist, something that could have been released as is during the heyday of Haggard and not sounded out of place, the digital clarity being the only clear indication that this came out in the CD era. It’s very rare to hear anything like this today that isn’t either a self-conscious or ironic throwback.