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While Beyoncé fans found out on Wednesday when the Cowboy Carter tracklist was unveiled that there would be a song called “Jolene” on the album, the finished product is not exactly a Dolly Parton cover.
In fact, Bey keeps the simple string-plucking production almost identical to Parton’s 1973 original on her new “Jolene,” but she’s updated almost all the lyrics to tell a brand-new story of the infamous other woman. We discover the lyrical changes almost immediately, when Beyoncé sings in the second line, “I’m warning you, don’t come for my man,” in place of Parton’s “I’m beggin’ of you, please don’t take my man.”
The biggest musical shift comes in Beyoncé’s new bridge, which has a melody that isn’t used in Dolly’s song and includes a choir of voices backing up Queen B. The bridge switches from the song’s minor key to an optimistic major as Beyoncé confidently sings: “I sleep good happy, ’cause you can’t dig up our planted seeds.”
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Below, find the new lyrics to Beyoncé’s “Jolene,” as well as her lyric video, and Parton’s original “Jolene” lyrics.
BEYONCÉ’S NEW “JOLENE LYRICS”
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, JoleneI’m warning you, don’t come for my manJolene, Jolene, Jolene, JoleneDon’t take the chance because you think you can
You’re beautiful beyond compareTakes more than beauty and seductive staresTo come between a family and a happy manJolene, I’m a woman tooThе games you play are nothing newSo you don’t want no hеat with me, JoleneWe’ve been deep in love for 20 yearsI raised that man, I raised his kidsI know my man better than he knows himself (what)I can easily understand why you’re attracted to my manBut you don’t want this smoke, so shoot your shot with someone else (you heard me)
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, JoleneI’m warning you, woman, find you your own manJolene, I know I’m a queen, JoleneI’m still a Creole banjee bitch from Louisianne (don’t try me)
There’s a thousand girls in every roomThat act as desperate as you doYou a bird, go on and sing your tune, Jolene (what)I had to have this talk with you‘Cause I hate to have to act a foolYour peace depends on how you move, Jolene
Me and my man crossed those valleysHighs and lows and everything betweenYou did roll in like tumbling weedsI sleep good happy, ’cause you can’t dig up our planted seedsI know my man’s gonna stand by me breathing in my gentle breeze
I crossed those valleysHighs and lows and everything betweenGood deeds roll in like tumbling weedsGood and happy, ’cause you can’t dig up them planted seedsJolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, JoleneI’ma stand by her, she gon’ stand by me, Jolene
I’ma stand by him, he gon’ stand by meI’ma stand by her, she gon’ stand by meI’ma stand by him, he gon’ stand by me, Jolene
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DOLLY PARTON’S ORIGINAL “JOLENE” LYRICS
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, JoleneI’m beggin’ of you, please don’t take my man(Jolene)Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, JolenePlease don’t take him just because you can
Your beauty is beyond compareWith flaming locks of auburn hairWith ivory skin and eyes of emerald green(Jolene)Your smile is like a breath of springYour voice is soft like summer rainAnd I cannot compete with you, Jolene (Jolene)
He talks about you in his sleepAnd there’s nothing I can do to keep from cryingWhen he calls your name, Jolene (Jolene)And I can easily understandHow you could easily take my manBut you don’t know what he means to me, Jolene (don’t take him)
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, JoleneI’m begging of you, please don’t take my manOh, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, JoleneOh, please don’t take him just because you can (don’t take him)
You could have your choice of menBut I could never love againHe’s the only one for me, Jolene (he’s the only one)I had to have this talk with youMy happiness depends on youWhatever you decide to do, Jolene
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, JoleneI’m begging of you, please don’t take my man(Don’t take him, don’t take him, don’t take him)Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, JolenePlease don’t take him just because you can (just because you can)Jolene, Jolene (please don’t take him, please don’t take him, Jolene)Jolene
Jolene
He’s the only one for meJoleneJolene, JoleneJolenePlease don’t take him just because you can
Lyrics licensed & provided by LyricFind
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Dolly Parton
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There’s a new sheriff in town, and her name is Cowboy Carter. On Friday (Mach 29), Beyoncé finally unleashed her eighth solo studio album in its entirety. The Grammy winner first introduced her Cowboy Carter era with a pair of country singles — “16 Carriages” and Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper “Texas Hold ‘Em” — released […]
Little Big Town and Sugarland are the latest performers who are set to collaborate on a world-premiere performance during the upcoming CMT Music Awards, when the awards show airs from Moody Center in Austin, Texas, on April 7 on CBS. Little Big Town and Sugarland last shared the CMT Music Awards stage 15 years ago, when they were joined by Jake Owen for a rendition of “Life in a Northern Town.”
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The performance coincides with Little Big Town’s 25th anniversary as one of country music’s most successful groups. The group made their Grand Ole Opry debut in May 1999, and were inducted in October 2014. They released their debut, self-titled album in 2002; that same year, they issued their debut song “Don’t Waste My Time,” which reached No. 33 on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart (now Hot Country Songs). They earned their first No. 1 on that chart in 2012 with “Pontoon,” and have earned two more No. 1s on that chart: “Better Man” and “Girl Crush.”
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The performance will mark four-time CMT Music Awards winners Little Big Town’s 13th CMT Music Awards performance. Their previous performances have included “Macon” with Jamey Johnson in 2010 and premiering what would become a signature summertime anthem, the two-week Billboard Hot Country Songs No. 1 “Pontoon,” in 2012. The group teamed with Keith Urban in 2013 to cover Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain,” offered up “Day Drinking” in 2014 and teamed with Pharrell Williams in 2016 for “One Dance,” among other performances.
Additionally, the performance also marks Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush reuniting for their first CMT performance together since 2011. Since the release of Sugarland’s debut album (the outfit initially launched as a trio) in 2004 with Twice the Speed of Life, they have earned five Billboard Hot Country Songs chart No. 1s: “Want To,” “Settlin’,” “Already Gone,” “All I Want to Do: and “It Happens.”
Four-time CMT Music Awards winners Sugarland earned their first CMT Music Awards accolade in 2005, for breakthrough video of the year for “Baby Girl.” In 2011, they offered up a rendition of “Stand Up” to draw attention to American Red Cross Tornado Relief efforts, and honored victims of devastating tornadoes that struck earlier that year. Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush, as a duo, offered up a rendition of their hit single “Babe” in 2018. Nettles has also been honored for her advocacy work and championing of women in the music industry, LGBTQ+ community and other unrepresented groups, and thus received the inaugural CMT Equal Play Award at the 2020 CMT Music Awards.
Little Big Town and Sugarland join previously-announced CMT Music Awards performers including Bailey Zimmerman, Cody Johnson, Jelly Roll, Keith Urban, performer and host Kelsea Ballerini, Lainey Wilson, Megan Moroney, Jordan Davis (who teams with group NEEDTOBREATHE), as well as Old Dominion, Sam Hunt and Trisha Yearwood.
As well as airing on CBS, the CMT Music Awards will also be available to stream live and on demand via Paramount+. As previously announced, CMT Storytellers: Little Big Town will premiere on Friday, April 5 at 8 p.m. ET as part of “CMT Awards Weekend.”
Saddle up, y’all! Cowboy Carter season is finally in full effect. Beyoncé‘s eighth solo studio album hits digital streaming platforms midnight local time on March 29, and if the success of “Texas Hold ‘Em” is anything to go by, the new LP will add several new hits to Queen Bey’s collection of Billboard smashes.
Beyoncé’s chart history doesn’t begin with “16 Carriages,” or even “Break My Soul.” From girl group anthems by way of Destiny’s Child to era-defining releases such as 2003’s “Crazy In Love” or 2016’s Lemonade, her storied career has impacted practically every Billboard ranking.
She first topped the Billboard Hot 100 with her Grammy-winning group Destiny’s Child. The group — which featured an ever-evolving lineup including Kelly Rowland, Michelle Williams, LeToya Luckett and LaTavia Roberson — reached the chart’s apex with four different songs: 1999’s “Bills, Bills, Bills” (one week), 1999’s “Say My Name” (three weeks), 2000’s “Independent Women, Part I” (11 weeks) and 2001’s “Bootylicious” (two weeks).
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With Dangerously In Love, her Billboard 200-topping debut solo studio album, Beyoncé collected her first few solo Hot 100 chart-toppers, including her Jay-Z-assisted “Crazy in Love,” which spent eight weeks at No. 1. That album, which also featured the Hot 100 No. 1 hit “Baby Boy” (with Sean Paul), became the first of Beyoncé’s seven solo studio albums to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Should Cowboy Carter also debut atop Billboard’s marquee albums chart, Beyoncé will have launched all of her solo studio albums at No. 1.
Throughout her career, Queen Bey has collected nine solo Hot 100 No. 1 hits, including 2008’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” (four weeks), 2006’s “Irreplaceable” (10 weeks) and 2024’s “Texas Hold ‘Em” (two weeks). Upon release, “Texas” made history as the first song by a Black woman to top Hot Country Songs. Beyoncé has spent 46 cumulative weeks atop the Hot 100, the third-most amongst women behind Mariah Carey (93 weeks) and Rihanna (60 weeks).
Needless to say, Beyoncé’s Billboard chart history is one fit for a queen.
After the video, catch up on more Billboard Explains videos and learn about Peso Pluma and the Mexican music boom, the role record labels play, origins of hip-hop, how Beyoncé arrived at Renaissance, the evolution of girl groups, BBMAs, NFTs, SXSW, the magic of boy bands, American Music Awards, the Billboard Latin Music Awards, the Hot 100 chart, how R&B/hip-hop became the biggest genre in the U.S., how festivals book their lineups, Billie Eilish’s formula for success, the history of rap battles, nonbinary awareness in music, the Billboard Music Awards, the Free Britney movement, rise of K-pop in the U.S., why Taylor Swift is re-recording her first six albums, the boom of hit all-female collaborations, how Grammy nominees and winners are chosen, why songwriters are selling their publishing catalogs, how the Super Bowl halftime show is booked and more.
The Cowboy Carter era is almost upon us, and just a day before Beyoncé’s long-awaited country album is released on Friday (March 29), we’ve gotten a glimpse on the star-studded appearances on the project.
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The 27-track album will feature collaborations with Miley Cyrus, Post Malone and Shaboozey, according to Entertainment Weekly. Additionally, Dolly Parton, Linda Martell and Willie Nelson will appear in interludes on the album’s conceptual KNTRY radio station. Cowboy Carter also includes contributions from Black country artists such as Rhiannon Giddens, Tanner Adell, and Willie Jones.
Earlier this week, Bey shared a graphic filled with what appears to be song titles from the March 29-slated record, modeled after a Western-style poster. “Cowboy Carter and the Rodeo Chitlin’ Circuit,” reads a banner at the top.
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Alongside the names of previously released singles “16 Carriages” and the Billboard Hot 100-topping “Texas Hold ‘Em,” the post also features the following titles: “Ameriican Requiem,” “Blackbiird,” “Protector,” “My Rose,” “Bodyguard,” “Daughter,” “Spaghettii,” “Alliigator Tears,” “Smoke Hour II,” “Just for Fun,” “II Most Wanted,” “Levii’s Jeans,” “Flamenco,” “Ya Ya,” “Oh Louisiana,” “Desert Eagle,” “Riiverdance,” “Tyrant,” “II Hands II Heaven,” “Sweet Honey Buckin’” and “Amen.”
Cowboy Carter marks the second act of Beyoncé’s 2022 album, Renaissance. In a March 19 Instagram post, Beyoncé both stressed that Cowboy Carter is “a continuation of Renaissance” and acknowledged the Billboard chart history she made with “Texas Hold ‘Em.” “I feel honored to be the first Black woman with the number one single on the Hot Country Songs chart,” she shared. “That would not have happened without the outpouring of support from each and every one of you. My hope is that years from now, the mention of an artist’s race, as it relates to releasing genres of music, will be irrelevant.”
Dolly Parton had to have this talk. The country icon spoke out after Beyoncé unveiled the tracklist to her upcoming country album Cowboy Carter on Wednesday (March 27), which revealed that she has a song titled “Jolene” on the set. The country superstar shared Bey’s announcement to her Instagram Stories later on Wednesday with a […]
Kacey Musgraves’ Deeper Well album makes a splash on Billboard’s charts (dated March 30), as the set debuts at No. 1 on Top Album Sales, Top Country Albums, Americana/Folk Albums, Vinyl Albums, Top Current Album Sales and Tastemaker Albums.
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With 66,000 copies sold in the tracking week ending March 21 in the U.S., according to Luminate, Deeper Well notches Musgraves her biggest sales week ever. And, of that sum, vinyl sales account for 37,000 – her biggest sales week on vinyl, the largest vinyl week of 2024, and the fourth-largest week for a country album on vinyl since Luminate began tracking sales in 1991. (The only bigger sales weeks on vinyl for country sets were all registered by Taylor Swift’s re-recordings.)
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Also in the top 10 of the new Top Album Sales chart: Justin Timberlake’s Everything I Thought It Was starts at No. 2 while The Black Crowes’ Happiness Bastards bows at No. 5.
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Top Country Albums and Americana/Folk Albums rank the week’s most popular country and Americana/folk albums, respectively, by equivalent album units. Vinyl Albums tallies the top-selling vinyl albums of the week. Top Current Album Sales ranks the week’s top-selling new/current albums (non-catalog/older titles). Tastemaker Albums ranks the week’s best-selling albums at independent and small chain record stores.
Of Deeper Well’s 66,000 sold, physical album sales comprise 48,000 (37,000 on vinyl, 11,000 on CD and negligible sum on cassette) and digital album sales comprise 18,000.
Deeper Well’s first-week sales were supported by its availability across nine vinyl variants, including eight different-colored versions and exclusive editions for Amazon, Spotify and Target. Deeper Well was also issued in four different CD versions, three different digital editions (two were exclusive to her webstore – one with a bonus track, and another with the same bonus track an alternate cover art) and as a cassette tape.
Deeper Well is Musgraves’ second No. 1 on Top Album Sales, fifth leader on Top Country Albums, third on both Americana/Folk and Vinyl Albums and second on both Top Current Album Sales and Tastemaker Albums.
At No. 2 on Top Album Sales, Justin Timberlake’s Everything I Thought It Was debuts with 41,000 copies sold. It’s the sixth consecutive top two-charting effort for Timberlake, the entirety of his full-length studio albums. Of the 41,000 sold, physical sales comprise 27,000 (15,000 on CD and 12,000 on vinyl) and digital album sales comprise 14,000.
Everything’s first-week sales were aided by its availability across four different vinyl variants (including exclusives for Amazon, Target and his webstore), four different deluxe CD boxed sets (each with a piece of branded clothing and a CD) and a standard CD.
Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine falls 1-3 (13,000; down 84%) after debuting atop the tally a week ago. Taylor Swift’s chart-topping 1989 (Taylor’s Version) rises 6-4 with 10,000 sold (up 14%).
The Black Crowes collect its first top 10 in 16 years as Happiness Bastards enters at No. 5 with 9,000 sold. The band was last in the top 10 with 2008’s Warpaint, which debuted and peaked at No. 5 on the March 22, 2008-dated list. The new album sold 3,500 on vinyl, 2,500 on CD and about 3,000 copies via digital download. All told, Happiness is the fourth top 10-charting effort, and 16th total entry, on Top Album Sales for The Black Crowes.
Three former No. 1s are next up on the list: Swift’s Lover (7-6 with nearly 9,000; up 16%), TWICE’s With YOU-th (4-7 with nearly 9,000; down 15%) and Swift’s Folklore (10-8 with 7,000; up 7%). LE SSERAFIM’s Easy falls 8-9 with just over 6,000 (down 16%) and Swift’s chart-topping Midnights rises 12-10 with 6,000 (up 13%).
In the week ending March 21, there were 1.207 million albums sold in the U.S. (up 0.9% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 901,000 (down 0.9%) and digital albums comprised 306,000 (up 6.7%).
There were 437,000 CD albums sold in the week ending March 21 (down 7.8% week-over-week) and 458,000 vinyl albums sold (up 6.5%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 5.229 million (down 30.8% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 5.489 million (down 47.9%).
Overall year-to-date album sales total 1 million (down 36.1% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 10.773 million (down 40.8%) and digital album sales total 3.566 million (down 16%).
Beyoncé seemingly unveiled the long-awaited tracklist to her new album Cowboy Carter, which arrives on March 29, and Megan Thee Stallion remains a loyal member of the BeyHive.
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“Sweet honey buckinnnn,” Meg wrote on her Instagram Stories, reposting Bey’s post and referencing one of the song titles. “Can’t wait to hear what that sounds like!”
The superstar shared a graphic filled with what appears to be song titles from the March 29-slated record, modeled after a Western-style poster. “Cowboy Carter and the Rodeo Chitlin’ Circuit,” reads a banner at the top.
Alongside the names of previously released singles “16 Carriages” and the Billboard Hot 100-topping “Texas Hold ‘Em,” the post also features the following titles: “Ameriican Requiem,” “Blackbiird,” “Protector,” “My Rose,” “Bodyguard,” “Daughter,” “Spaghettii,” “Alliigator Tears,” “Smoke Hour II,” “Just for Fun,” “II Most Wanted,” “Levii’s Jeans,” “Flamenco,” “Ya Ya,” “Oh Louisiana,” “Desert Eagle,” “Riiverdance,” “Tyrant,” “II Hands II Heaven,” “Sweet Honey Buckin’” and “Amen.”
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Both artists were born in Texas and raised in Houston, and Meg has long looked up to the “Break My Soul” singer before they eventually collaborated for a Hot 100 chart-topping remix of Meg’s “Savage” in 2020. “Y’all don’t know how many times I cried this weekend,” Meg said in a TikTok in September, shortly after taking the stage with her hero. “Y’all don’t understand — Beyoncé is my idol, like I genuinely love Beyoncé with my whole f—ing heart.”
Beyoncé has seemingly unveiled the long-awaited tracklist to her new album Cowboy Carter, which includes two tracks titled “Jolene” and “The Linda Martell Show” though it’s unclear if those two songs are collaborations with the country icons.
The superstar shared a graphic filled with what appears to be song titles from the March 29-slated record, modeled after a Western-style poster. “Cowboy Carter and the Rodeo Chitlin’ Circuit,” reads a banner at the top.
Alongside the names of previously released singles “16 Carriages” and the Billboard Hot 100-topping “Texas Hold ‘Em,” the post also features the following titles: “Ameriican Requiem,” “Blackbiird,” “Protector,” “My Rose,” “Bodyguard,” “Daughter,” “Spaghettii,” “Alliigator Tears,” “Smoke Hour II,” “Just for Fun,” “II Most Wanted,” “Levii’s Jeans,” “Flamenco,” “Ya Ya,” “Oh Louisiana,” “Desert Eagle,” “Riiverdance,” “Tyrant,” “II Hands II Heaven,” “Sweet Honey Buckin’” and “Amen.”
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The listing also features a nod to “Dolly P” as well as the name of Parton’s iconic hit “Jolene” — which Bey has been rumored to cover with an assist from the country legend on Cowboy Carter for weeks. Another piece of the poster reads “Smoke Hour Willie Nelson,” possibly hinting at a duet with yet another influential country star.
The graphic also lists “The Linda Martell Show,” a nod to the first Black female country soloist to perform at the Grand Ole Opry.
Billboard has reached out to reps for Beyoncé, Parton and Nelson.
Minus the names of Parton and Nelson, Cowboy Carter — which will serve as a sequel of sorts to Bey’s 2022 album Renaissance — there are 26 titles on the poster. Fans couldn’t be happier about the possibility of the Grammy winner dropping more than two dozen songs in a matter of days, with many Hive members taking to social media to share their excitement.
“BEYONCÉ HAS REVEALED THE COWBOY CARTER TRACKLIST GET UPPP! WHAT TRACK ARE Y’ALL CLAIMING😭😭😭!?” asked one ecstatic listener on X.
“BEYONCÉ REVEALED THE COWBOY CARTER TRACKLIST OMG YALL!!!!!” wrote another person.
See Beyoncé’s possible tracklist teaser, plus fan reactions, below.
babe, wake up, Beyoncé just dropped the tracklist of Cowboy Carter.— Desmond. (@vincentdesmond_) March 27, 2024
so many things to unpack with this Cowboy Carter tracklist (Jolene! the Linda Martell show!! a Beyoncé x Willie Nelson collab!!!) BUT DON’T THINK I DIDN’T SEE THAT ACCORDION. Tejano Beyoncé confirmed??? pic.twitter.com/4da73rwO6A— Cat Cardenas (@catrcardenas) March 27, 2024
When Riley Green played football for Jacksonville State in Alabama from 2007-2009, he was known to hang out with a fellow quarterback he found amusing.
“We were in football practice, and we’d be real hot,” Green remembers. “We’re miserable, and he’d say, ‘Man, I can’t wait to get out of practice and get down to Weiss Lake in Centre, Alabama, down the road and sit down on the pier and have a cooler of Keystone next to me.’ I always thought that was so funny because that’s really cheap beer, and it’s not like you would brag about drinking Keystone. I just love that character in songs, being specific about things that you would almost be proud of that aren’t that nice.”
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That character is the protagonist in “Damn Good Day to Leave,” an energetic heartland-rocker that turns a breakup into a shoulder shrug and a day well-spent. It fit the mood of the day when he wrote it in March 2022 at 50 Egg Music with Nick Walsh, Erik Dylan (“There Was This Girl”) and Jonathan Singleton (“Beer Never Broke My Heart,” “Out in the Middle”).
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Green brought the “Damn Good” title and set the tone for a breezy day of work. “It was a really easy song to write, because we all kind of got the idea right off the top,” he says.
They kicked in from the beginning, writing it in a linear fashion over a classic arena-rock chord progression. They also wrote it with classic instrumentation. “No laptops, none of that,” says Walsh. “Four guys, four guitars. Just made it happen.”
“Damn Good Day to Leave” cast the end of a relationship counterintuitively in the opening verse, recounting the darker textures that one typically associates with a split: rain, getaway taillights breaking for the horizon and Hank Williams singing train songs. That’s Hank Senior, not Hank Jr.
“That was the epitome of the sad, I’m-blue-and-lonely, he-left-me type song,” Green says. “Everything he did had that kind of vibe to it, you know, so I thought that was a good little reference in the song.”
But the text quickly set those dark images aside. As the woman leaves, the protagonist sees nothing but blue skies: “You picked a damn good day to leave me,” he sings in a line that overlaps two sections.
“It feels like the end of that verse and also feels like the beginning of the chorus at the same time,” notes Walsh. “It just bleeds together so perfectly that you can’t really tell, which is kind of a cool thing.”
The chorus employs the cooler of Keystone and a fishing trip while the guy adjusts to his newfound freedom. In the process, his enjoyment in the split feels reminiscent of Brad Paisley’s “I’m Gonna Miss Her (The Fishin’ Song),” Old Dominion’s “I Was on a Boat That Day,” Luke Combs’ “When It Rains It Pours” and Mike Ryan’s current “Way It Goes.”
The writers didn’t see the subject matter’s similarities at the time, but they wouldn’t have shied away from them either.
“We’ve got four or five country song [topics] that work over and over and over again,” Singleton says. “They work for a reason: because that listener believes that every time.”
Verse two introduced a familiar male/female argument over the TV. The protagonist recognizes his ex-girlfriend won’t be interrupting the big game anymore, and it set up one extra piece for the bridge, where they returned to TV watching — no more episodes of The Bachelorette. Green now has the freedom to watch John Wayne marathons.
“The toughest part of trying to write for radio is to write something that’s universally personal,” suggests Dylan. “And I feel like this song is universally personal because everybody has went through a breakup of some sort, female or male. I think women are going to love this song, too. Because we did make it funny enough, and there’s some moments in the song, I think a girl will roll her eyes and laugh.”
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“Damn Good Day to Leave” was ideal for Green. It incorporated an interesting melody that stayed within a short span. “I don’t live in a place that’s very rangy,” he says. “I try to sing things that sing well and sing easy.”
“Damn Good Day” was also written in a way that let Green establish his personality in the performance. “His delivery is very interesting,” says Singleton. “If you’re not giving him a chance as a songwriter to kind of sort that out on his own — even if you kind of have a lyric going on and you know how it goes in your head — because he’s such a stylist, when he does it, it kind of comes out different. Even if you play it a certain way, he’ll go ‘Oh, you mean like this?’ And every time, if you’re not saying, ‘Yeah, that’s it,’ then you’re doing the wrong thing.”
They made a guitar/vocal work tape — Green intentionally stayed away from a demo, leaving space for producer Dann Huff (Keith Urban, Kane Brown) to interpret it later. They ultimately decided it needed a strong slide-like sound, and Huff brought in former Southern California studio musician Dan Dugmore to play lap steel during the tracking session rather than waiting to overdub him later. Dugmore had a prominent place in the sound of the performance, and he gave it a little extra personality, punctuating the Hank Senior reference with a train-whistle sound. He also gave a unique lift at the end of the intro, just before Green starts singing.
“There’s a little reverb on it and a little delay, but he’s just taking the bar, just going, ‘Whoop!’ ” says Huff. “It’s kind of the opposite. Guitar players [usually] slide down the neck; he’s sliding up the neck.”
Drummer Jerry Roe provided spacious punch, much like Kenny Aronoff on John Mellencamp’s 1980s recordings or Max Weinberg on ’80s Bruce Springsteen cuts. Green delivered the lead vocal later in just two or three takes, and when he sings, “I guess I’ll miss The Bachelorette/Well, what a shame,” on the bridge, it’s OK if it sounds more like “I guess I’ll miss the bass, the red whale/What a shame.”
“You need to go to North Alabama,” Dylan quips. “You’ll understand all the words.”
Huff had Green change “Damn good day to leave” once near the end of the vocal, just to do something different. That move came in handy later. One radio station wanted “damn good day” changed to something else before they would play it, so Nashville Harbor president/CEO Jimmy Harnen asked Huff if there were options.
“I thought he was punking me,” says Huff. Fortunately, that one alteration near the end of the song worked, and Huff flew it into the rest of the single. “So,” Huff notes, “there’s one station in America playing, ‘It’s a mighty fine day to leave.’ ”
Nashville Harbor officially released “Damn Good Day” to country radio via PlayMPE on Feb. 14. It debuted at No. 57 on the Country Airplay chart dated March 30.
“We definitely thought it had tempo and felt like it could be radio, but it really wasn’t decided as a single until Jimmy started playing it for some radio PDs and folks,” Green says. “Everybody was like, ‘Hey, when can we play this?’ As an artist and songwriter with a record deal, that’s something you kind of dream of.”
It even beats a cooler of Keystone.