Nashville Anthems: Dissecting 80s & 90s Country Music

As we close in our 100th episode (this is #97), we tackle another listener request, and one of Melton's all-time favorites, Collin Raye's gut-wrenching 1994 hit "Little Rock".  Raye delivers a wallop of emotion with Tom Douglas's poignant lyrics taking center stage, as we don't know whether to cheer or cringe at what this recovering alcoholic is proclaiming. But does he believe what he's saying? And if so, what's so diminuitive about this guy's new foundation?

Faith Hill showcases her powerful and versatile vocal stylings on her plaintive 1998 hit "Let Me Let Go". Vince Gill's harmony vocals don't hurt a bit either, but what are we to do with all these unorthodox chords? And what does Ray Charles have to do with it?

By request, we're finally chasing down thoroughbred Texas honky-tonker Tracy Lawrence, and his 1995 hit "Texas Tornado".  Steel guitar and soaring strings collide on this Bobby-Braddock-penned, Tracy-Lawrence-produced amalgation. But how does Braddock's wild chord progression pick this chorus up, spin it round, and put us right back down again where we started from?

Also, if you're into this sort of thing, you can find Melton's other podcast here: Propaniacs: A King of the Hill Podcast.

By request, it's the smooth sounds of Blackhawk's 1994 hit "Every Once in a While". The instrumentation, the vocals, and the overall sound are all Blackhawk. But how do all these things lend support to these lyrics' understated confidence?

And while you're at it, why not roll over to Melton's other podcast, Propaniacs: A King of the Hill Podcast? He publishes an episode every now and then...

The requests keep coming in, and this time it's Reba & Vince's 1993 powerhouse ballad, "The Heart Won't Lie". In the canon of country duets, this one holds a unique place. Conway & Loretta this ain't, but how does this arrangement fit the adult contemporary context leading up to it, and what does Disney have to do with it?

It's about time.  In this special July 4th episode, we finally tackle 90s icon Martina McBride, and arguably her signature song, 1994's "Independence Day". Rarely has a song been so committed in every aspect to its interwoven themes of justice and judgment, and from so many different angles and perspectives that we had to bring in a PhD to help us unravel them! (Seriously.) Dr. Victoria Reynolds Farmer joins Nashville Anthems as our first ever guest! So you're going to want to stick around to the very end of this one. Or else.

By request, we take on a classic one-hit-wonder (in the U.S. anyway). It's Michelle Wright with 1992's "Take It Like a Man". Rarely has a song done more with a single note than this one does with the note G. But this cut is much more than a just G thing. How does this catchy number shift seamlessly between eye-rolling frustration and empowered assertion?  And how do Wright's outstanding vocals tie it all together?

Here's the video we mention in the episode, in which Wright tells the story of the song's composition. Start at 6:37.

In the first of a trilogy of feminine perspectives in the 90s, we tackle Shania Twain's lighthearted 1997 hit "Don't Be Stupid".  Twain puts a twist on stereotypical gender roles, and not for the first time, but how does her protagonist's response to her man's stereotypical suspicion give us a perfect example of Twain's brand of 90s feminine empowerment?

We follow one "Pure Country" hit with another: 1992's "I Cross My Heart".  George Strait doffs the pyrotechnics (or something like that) and gets intimate in this one, but how do these rolling harmonic and melodic hills frame this speaker's specific message of commitent?  And what about that key change??

George Strait takes us back to his acting days, with 1993's "Heartland". Strait's signature honky-tonk style sounds right at home on this Texas-sized arena stage, but how do this song's lyrics try to take us somewhere else? And what tensions might this song encapsulate between the journeys of "Dusty" and real-life George Strait?