| The Truth About Men - Cut By Cut | |
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1. Drinkin' Bone (Casey Beathard / Kerry Kurt Phillips): Casey's one of my favorite writers. He's writing things that are right up my alley. It's always something that I feel like I identify with, and if I were a great writer like him, I would have written it myself. The uniqueness of "Drinkin' Bone" is that the title makes it sound like a drinking song, but when you really listen to the song, it's a guy who used to drink, but now he's decided he ain't gonna drink anymore 'cause it just gets him in trouble. That's pretty representative of the truth.
2. You Feel Good (Tom Shapiro / Bob DiPiero): This immediately struck me as such a unique song, and the first line, right off the bat, grabs your attention even if you're not listening: "I like sleeping in the nude." Now that may gross a lot of people out, but hopefully a few people will like it (laughs). I just love the whole feel and groove of the song. I believe we nailed that one. It's been one of my favorites since the beginning.
3. How'd I Wind Up in Jamaica (Casey Beathard / Michael P. Heeney): That's another one Casey wrote that had the feel I was looking for. This song is the answer to "Ten Rounds of Jose Cuervo." Clay Walker put it on hold before I got to it. I kept asking Clay every time I'd see him if he was going to cut it. I'd say, "Well, if you change your mind, just remember old T-Byrd would like to have it." Finally, he called me one day and said, "Man, we could only cut four sides and so 'Jamaica' is yours." His loss was my gain.
4. Tiny Town (Keith Stegall): It's a great song that reflects how a lot of people grew up in little rural towns. What I love about "Tiny Town" is every time I hear it, unless I'm driving down the road, I close my eyes and it takes me to a unique place. It's one of those songs that musically and lyrically takes you away for three and a half minutes. I love it when things affect you like that. It says a lot of things that bring back memories in my mind, of childhood and of growing up.
5. The Truth About Men (Tim Johnson / Rory Lee / Paul Overstreet): I started performing the song live before it ever hit radio, and when you can do a song that people have never heard, and by the second pass on the chorus they're singing along, then you know it's definitely catchy. It's so unique in that there are not a whole lot of songs for guys, and they really dig this song. The women love this thing as much as the guys do, just because it's the truth. They love to be able to say I told you so. I liked it right off the bat, first pass.
6. Making Memories of Us (Rodney Crowell): This is the first Rodney Crowell song I've ever recorded. It's a song about life and love: loving your family, wanting to build your life and look into the future and see yourself 30 years from now. It has some of the most unique ways of describing that: "I want to honor your mother, I want to learn from your pa / I want to steal your attention like a bad outlaw." That line really caught my ear. Then there's: "In a cabin by a meadow where the wild bees swarm," which painted a picture for me. It's just beautiful. Every line in that song is like a little portrait.
7. That's What Keeps Her Getting By (Bobby Huff / Shane Minor / Danny Wells): I love the whole groove of the song, but most of all I love the single-mom story. There are so many mothers out there raising their kids on their own. I know from absolute first-hand experience how hard it is to raise kids when there are two of you. I can't imagine doing it by yourself. That song is kind of a tribute to single moms, because they never lose their perseverance and their determination to give their children a great life. It must be a lonely job, but they do it. That's the love of a mother, to get things done like that.
8. When You Go (Casey Beathard / Marla Cannon-Goodman / Michael P. Heeney): This is the same trio that wrote "Ten Rounds." This song might be what happens if you go ten rounds too many times. The whole song is just a start-to-finish visual of what it's like to break up and to move out. The unique thing about this song is that there's really no chorus, it's just a series of verses and a little bridge. It has the ultimate closing line, too. "She just took a deep drag off that Marlboro Light / And said, "Shut the door behind you when you go." It's definitely over. That song just killed me when I first heard it.
9. Baby Put Your Clothes On (Bill Anderson / Buddy Cannon / Paul Overstreet): Groove, groove, groove-that was the whole thing on that song. Lyrically, it's good, and it's cute, but it's the groove that got me. That song, from start to finish, just grooves its tail off. I love songs that make you move like that. The crowd loves it live. They start dancing and moving in their seats or standing up-wherever they're at.
10. Somewhere I Wanna Go (Tony Martin / Mark Nesler / Tom Shapiro): This could possibly be one of the greatest ballads I've ever heard in my life. It's Mark Nesler and Tony Martin and Tom Shapiro, and of course Mark's one of my oldest buddies. We grew up together, and the first time I ever sang into a microphone, recording, it was in Mark's little studio behind his house when I was about 17. I believe this is right up there with "The Keeper of the Stars," though they're two different songs. One is a true-love song; this one is a true lost-love song. When I first heard the demo and again when I was recording it, and even today it raises goosebumps on my neck. It's like that line in "You Feel Good," "I like that little itch on my neck / When a song won't let me go." That's what that one does to me.
11. Ten Rounds With Jose Cuervo (Live) (Casey Beathard / Marla Cannon-Goodman / Michael P. Heeney): [RCA Label Group Chairman] Joe Galante suggested the live version of "Ten Rounds" for the album. It had never been available to the public except on radio. We cut it in El Paso, Texas down at the Far West Rodeo, which is a big club there. It sounds so good. It makes me want to cut a whole live album, 'cause it was so effortless. My band sounds great on it, and the "liveness" of this version really comes across. It feels like you're sitting right there in the middle of it.
Album cover, used with permission of RCA
