SHOULD I COME HOME (OR SHOULD I GO CRAZY)
JOE ALLEN
One of my favorite songs by one of my favorite singers.
People always ask what cover song I’m going to do on the
next album, so I feel like it’s almost expected of me. We
haven’t purposefully put a cover on each album, but it
does kind of show that this is what I love and this is where
I’m from. And it’s cool to honor the guys who taught me
how to sing like that. Recording a cover is delicate. You
have to recognize what elements make a song so unique
and good and almost concrete them in. Then you take the
things you think could have been better or that you’re
particularly able to step up a bit and add those in. A
harmony singer, more fiddle or a different accent on a
particular word.
MY OLD FRIEND THE BLUES
STEVE EARLE
First time I heard it I thought, this is a guy who’s been in a
motel somewhere for week with nothing but drugs and
hookers. He’s all by himself with a whiskey bottle and he’s
on the verge of death. It’s bad. The only steady thing in his
life is sorrow. Steve Earle has written a classic in a way
that’s not at all a clever lyric. It’s so straight ahead. Four
or five lines put you right there. Some of the best songs
ever written are just like that. Not too wordy, not too
thought out, just direct emotion.
AS COUNTRY AS SHE GETS **
WENDELL MOBLEY/JIM COLLINS/TONY MARTIN
This is really a credit to Byron, who worked around the
clock on what became a short schedule by the time we
found this song. But once we heard it, we had to get it on
this album. It’s about a woman who doesn’t like anything
country but she puts up with it because she likes this guy.
She’ll climb up in a rocking chair on the porch just to be
near him until that first big June bug buzzes by. She likes
to be within spending distance of a mall. I love that line.
HONKY TONK GIRL
JOE NICHOLS/WILL NANCE/STEVE DEAN
We wrote it hoping we could get a George Strait cut and
he actually put it on hold. He held it until the day he was
going to the studio to record and something else came in
and knocked us out. That’s just the way it goes in
Nashville. You’ve got a George Strait cut until the last
minute when some big writer slides one in. I was always
proud of the song and the day he let it go we were a
couple weeks from cutting I said, hey why not. If George
Strait likes it, that’s a pretty good stamp of approval. It
came out pretty fun. It’s a rocking little thing, but I can’t
help but sound a certain way when I sing so it came out
country.
JUST A LITTLE MORE
JOE NICHOLS/DONNY LOWERY
We have to have one of these on every album. On the first
album there were a couple that described my life. On the
second album “No Time To Cry” was a defining song for
me at the time. We wrote it in about half an hour. It was
just spitting out exactly what I felt and what I’ve been
through. Hurting people around me, doing things I shouldn’t
and realizing it. Putting it away. Putting it to rest.
Produced by Brent Rowan
* Produced by Buddy Cannon
** Produced by Byron Gallimore
