Eventually, his family and friends at his record label persuaded him, and Jackson debuted “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)” live at the 35th Annual CMA Awards that November, receiving an emotional standing ovation. Jackson started the song as a way for him to make sense of what was happening in the wake of the attacks, and when the song was finished, he was reluctant to release it to the public - because of its very personal nature and because he didn’t want anyone to think he was exploiting tragedy. Written after the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001, “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)” stands as one of the most poignant “of the people” songs ever written. Merle Haggard, “If We Make It Through December”.In the two weeks following, "Travelin' Soldier" dropped to Number Three, then off the charts completely. The song peaks on a Friday night at the football game, when the young man's name is read over the loudspeaker as the crowd is asked to pray for the "list of local Vietnam dead." We find our young waitress "crying all alone under the stands," and it's clear that she's crying not only for her lost love, but for her dashed hopes of "never more to be alone, when the letter said, the soldier's coming home." Shortly after it topped the charts, controversy erupted when Natalie Maines said she was ashamed President Bush was from their home state of Texas. Robison released the initial version of the song - the tragic love story of two lonely teenagers whose budding romance is trampled under the weight of the Vietnam War - in the mid-Nineties, but it became a chart-topping hit in 2003 after the Dixie Chicks re-recorded it when it again became relevant. Vince Gill, “Go Rest High on That Mountain”Īustin-based singer-songwriter Bruce Robison was inspired to write "Travelin' Soldier" after a friend was activated for duty in the first Iraq war.After opening with the line "Don't be so sad," the song becomes increasingly tragic, detailing the last moments of a failing relationship before winding down to the closing chorus, "Hear the whisper of the raindrops blowing soft against the window/And make believe you love me one more time/For the good times." Price was immediately taken by these lyrics, but Columbia initially released his take on them as a B side for the honky-tonk "Grazin' in Greener Pastures." Nevertheless, by the end of 1970 "For the Good Times" had become the biggest country song of the year, and in the years following it would become a pop standard covered by artists like Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Cash and Michael Jackson, who sang it for his mother at her 50th birthday party. Though Ray Price first met Kris Kristofferson when the latter was a janitor at Columbia Studios, the singer wouldn't remember the songwriter's name until he heard his "For the Good Times" demo between sets during an 1969 tour. After the dude gets shot in his attempt to escape, the lady points his empty gun at his attackers, ensuring that she will suffer the same fate. A Marty Robbins-esque gunfighter ballad, the song tells the story of a pair of Mexican bandits who lose their life to a posse of bounty hunters attempting to bring them back to Texas. In 1983 and '84, Charles recorded his first two country albums since the second Modern Sounds, and in March of 1985 Willie Nelson duet "Seven Spanish Angels" gave him his first Number One since 1966. When Ray Charles' career reached its late-Seventies nadir, the then 50-year-old singer found that Nashville, of all places, hadn't forgotten about him: Clint Eastwood duet "Beers to You" reached the country Top 50, a Loretta Lynn Opry gig was a rowdy hit and his fall 1980 Hee Haw appearance was so successful that Buck Owens joked, "You keep hangin' around here, and you'll get on steady." As it turned out, that's exactly what happened.
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