Nashville Anthems: Dissecting 80s & 90s Country Music

We start to round out the 90s with a lighthearted, neotraditional turn from a pre-I-Hope-You-Dance Lee Ann Womack.  It's her hilarious late-1998/early-1999 hit: "I'll Think of a Reason Later". The slightly tongue-in-cheek lyrics set the stage, but how does Womack charm us with her down-to-earth delivery of them? And what does the Dolly Parton have to do with it?

1997 takes us back to a moment in time when it made sense for a Nicholas Cage movie to have two different divas record the same Diane Warren song for it. And we're taking advantage of the opportunity for a two-fer, as we look at both Trisha Yearwood's & LeAnn Rimes's parallel hits: 1997's "How Do I Live". Though the different renditions seemed like a big deal at the time, we admit that in hindsight, the two are nearly interchangeable, and neither is particularly "country" in any meaningful sense. But what does that fact tell us about Diane Warren's composition? And if this song doesn't follow many of the typical distinctives we've found in country music, what does it do that made it work at the time?

Here's a bonus mini-episode on Dwight Yoakam's haunting 1993 hit "A Thousand Miles from Nowhere," by request from A Symposium of Popular Songs. Enjoy!

We take on anthem of feminine coming-of-age in Deana Carter's debut single, 1996's "Strawberry Wine". I bet you still remember all the words to this karaoke-friendly chorus, but how does this song use sensory imagery to support its strong atmosphere of rural innocence? And why was Deana Carter perfect for it?

John Michael Montgomery ushers in the mid-90s by perhaps sticking to the formula, with his 1995 hit "I Can Love You Like That". But can he? Despite the MOTR leanings, where do we see some nuanced relatability in this post-Cyrus-pre-Shania artifact that's pure country?

We move toward the mid-90s with a song at which I defy you not to smile: Neal McCoy's 1994 hit "Wink". McCoy's down-to-earth charisma meets its perfect vehicle in this quintessential product of Nashville. But just why do we find this cut so irresistible? And with all those forces in the mix, who's really winking at whom here?

We return to a country music icon by taking on his debut single and (at least for the 90s) his signature song: Toby Keith's "Should've Been a Cowboy". Keith struck a chord in 1993 with the mid-20th-century western nostalgia that permeates the lyrics, but how does his specific take on this theme depart from some others we've covered that trod similar ground? And how does that take bring some needed nuance to our understanding of Toby Keith the man and persona, before "How Do You Like Me Now"?

We celebrate our freedom by revisiting a song, dance, and mullet that exploded onto the country music scene like none has before or since: Billy Ray Cyrus's unforgetable 1992 smash "Achy Breaky Heart". This one falls into the "Where were you when...?" category, but what exactly is there instrinsic in this song that made us all collectively stand up and start line dancing seemingly overnight? And is it okay to want to again?

Our first selection from a standout year takes us to another standout voice from the early 90s: this time it's 1992 CMA Horizon Award winner Suzy Bogguss, with her 1992 hit "Aces". Melton makes no bones about his deep appreciation for this piece of music, but how do Bogguss's singing and her and Jimmy Bowen's production give appropriate life to Cheryl Wheeler's composition about the precise tipping point of a failing relationship?

It's vintage Lorrie Morgan in her 1991 hit: "We Both Walk". This is a song that sounds "off" for all the best reasons. But how does the unsettling tone combine with Loretta Lynn-style attitude to give us a nuanced perspective on a classic country trope? And what does Tammy Wynette have to do with it?