It’s been another great year in country music…and as we get ready for 2009, we’re looking back at some of the highlights of 2008.
IN JUNE…
• Montgomery Gentry released Back When I Knew It All, featuring their pair of number-one hits, “Back When I Knew It All” and “Roll with Me.” (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Carrie Underwood hit number-one with her song, “Last Name,” from her Carnival Ride CD, which also features her number-one hits, “So Small,” “All-American Girl” and “Just a Dream.” (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Brad Paisley kicked off his Paisley Party tour.
• Kenny Chesney hit number-one with his song, “Better as a Memory,” from his Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates CD, which also features “Never Wanted Nothing More,” “Don’t Blink” and “Shiftwork.” (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Sara Evans married former college football star, Jay Barker.
• Brad Paisley released the video for “Waitin’ on a Woman.” The video features acting legend Andy Griffith, and would go on to win the Music Video of the Year at the 2008 CMA Awards. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Montgomery Gentry hit number-one with their song, “Back When I Knew It All,” from their album of the same name. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
008 HIGHLIGHTS: June" width="16" height="14" /> Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry talk about the 11 songs featured on their new CD, Back When I Knew It All. (:16)
Eddie: “It really tells what we think about on life, I think — all the way from beginning to end.”
Troy: “Our songs are about everyday people. Our songs deal with daily happenings. And I think, because of that, people can identify with our songs, and that’s why they get such a big kick out of them.”
008 HIGHLIGHTS: June" width="16" height="14" /> Carrie Underwood talks about her number-one hit, “Last Name” — one of four songs on her Carnival Ride CD that she co-wrote. (:37)
“‘Last Name’ we wrote, literally, in 30 minutes tops. I had a story, actually, of somebody that I had met and I kind of befriended, and I didn’t know his last name. And so we ran with that and took it in a completely different direction about this crazy girl that does all kinds of stuff that she regrets or is gonna regret later. So it’s quite comical, and it’s just kind of goofy, and I think it’ll be kind of a, you know, kind of a sassy thing that we can have fun with on stage and people can sing about and be goofy with.”
008 HIGHLIGHTS: June" width="16" height="14" /> Kenny Chesney says his number-one hit, “Better as a Memory,” reminds him of himself during an earlier time in his life and career. (:37)
“I am that guy in ‘Better as a Memory.’ I think this is a letter that I’ve written three or four times in my life to people, because at that point in my life when I wrote those letters, I was in such a focused period. I was in a very zoned-in…I was a very zoned-in person on doing this out here, and you know, like the old Mac Davis song, ‘Baby Baby Don’t Get Hooked on Me,’ you know, this is kind of that song, but in a more…in a little bit deeper of a way, you know, because when I wrote those letters, I was better as a memory than as their man, I promise you.”
008 HIGHLIGHTS: June" width="16" height="14" /> Brad Paisley explains that Andy Griffith is more than the perfect fit for the lead role in his video for “Waitin’ on a Woman” — he’s a part of Brad’s life. (:45)
“He has influenced my life more than most people that I grew up with — more than most people that I actually knew my whole life. I mean, his TV show, The Andy Griffith Show, was for me — without a doubt — one of the most influential things I have ever had in my life. I mean, it…it’s a big deal to me! I watch it. When I wrote an introductory letter to him, one of the things I said was, he’s helping to raise my son…and that’s a big deal. He really is. I mean, you could do far worse than to use The Andy Griffith Show as a guide for the way to handle the issues that come up with your little boy.”
008 HIGHLIGHTS: June" width="16" height="14" /> Montgomery Gentry say they try to fill their albums with great songs, start to finish, like their number-one hit, “Back When I Knew It All.” (:27)
Eddie: “I never want to go out and buy a CD that I hear, and I go in and I play it, and I bought it for this song here, and that’s all there is on it. And the rest of it totally sucks. I mean, ’cause then you’ve spent 15, 16 dollars or whatever on a CD, plus the gas to go down there…”
Troy: “Yeah.”
Eddie: “So, I’m ready to find the artist, and I’m ready to take him out behind the building somewhere and go, like, ‘Okay, I want my money back!’ So, you know, that’s why we try to make the album where you can listen to it from beginning to end, and they used to do that.”