The 1990s gave us some of today’s favorite country artists and most memorable songs. Artists like Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Clint Black, and Randy Travis rose to fame during the decade. At the same time, tracks like “Chattahoochee,” “Fancy,” “Like the Rain,” and “Diggin’ Up Bones” were all over the radio. Plenty of hits from the ’90s are still in heavy rotation with country fans decades later. However, not every hit song from the era had that kind of longevity. In fact, many country songs from the 1990s disappeared without a trace.
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Break out your Brushpopper shirts and dust off your line dancing skills because we’re going back in time. These songs topped the country charts in the 1990s but have seemingly fallen through the cracks since the decade ended. Just because they’re not at the top of every ’90s country playlist doesn’t mean they deserve to be forgotten, though.
“A Jukebox with a Country Song” by Doug Stone
Written by Gene Nelson and Ronnie Samoset, Doug Stone released “A Jukebox with a Country Song” as the second single from his 1991 sophomore album I Thought It Was You. It went to the top of the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, giving Stone his second No. 1.
Stone released some of the best country songs of the 1990s. Many of those songs, including “A Jukebox with a Country Song,” are criminally overlooked today. This song, along with “I’d Be Better off (In a Pine Box),” “Why Didn’t I Think of That,” and “Take a Letter Maria,” are among the many tracks he released that deserve a little more appreciation.
Talk about a 1990s country song that seemingly disappeared —and most certainly didn’t deserve to.
“My Second Home” by Tracy Lawrence
Tracy Lawrence co-wrote “My Second Home” with Kenny Beard and Paul Nelson for his 1993 sophomore album Alibis. It was the third single and third consecutive No. 1 song from the album. This is a toe-tapper about a man who sees the bar as his second home until his wife kicks him out, and it becomes his only home.
Lawrence had so many hit country songs in the 1990s that a few were bound to fall through the cracks. Songs like “Time Marches On,” “I See It Now,” “Texas Tornado,” and “Alibis” were major hits that may have overshadowed some of his other work. This is among the many that deserve a second look.
“If I Could Make a Living” by Clay Walker
Written by the powerhouse team of Alan Jackson, Keith Stegall, and Roger Murrah, Clay Walker released “If I Could Make a Living” as the lead single and title track from his 1994 album. It added another No. 1 to Walker’s list.
This song may not fit the twang-heavy country mold of the 1990s, but it’s still great. “If I Could Make a Living” is an admittedly cheesy love song but the amount of charm that Walker brings to his vocal delivery makes it fun. That alone makes it worth revisiting.
“Old Enough to Know Better” by Wade Hayes
Wade Hayes co-wrote this honky tonking barnburner with Chick Rains and released it as the lead single and title track from this 1994 debut album. “Old Enough to Know Better” topped the country chart in 1995, giving Hayes his only No. 1 single.
This song embodies what was so great about country music in the 1990s. It opens with a fiddle solo, has plenty of twangy guitar and it’s all about having a good time, accepting the consequences, and doing it again. It’s also one of those songs that sounds like it was written with dance floors in mind. “Old Enough to Know Better” and Hayes deserve to come up more often in conversations about country music from the ’90s.
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