George Strait/Lee Ann Good News, Bad News

[smack]

Just downloaded it, cuz I thought it was a good pairing....2 very traditional country singers. Was pretty good, but very slow beat. Think it'll be a hit?

[bamafan2102]

I hope this song is never released because it will end Lee Ann Womacks album.

[musicbuff78]

I dont have Lee Ann's album but I dont recall that song being on there. If it's not, how would it end her album?

[Zazie]

steelo said:

I dont have Lee Ann's album but I dont recall that song being on there.  If it's not, how would it end her album?

It's not on the album. But here are two bad scenarios:

1. The release of the duet kills the chart run of He Oughta Know That because radio won't play 2 current songs featuring Lee Ann. That failure makes her label reluctant to send a third song to radio.

2. The label delays so long in releasing a third song, hoping the duet will run its course, that it decides there won't be a sales boost coming, and scraps the release.

I can see a good possible outcome, too, based on the duet going #1 and boosting Lee Ann's radio career. But I think most Lee Ann fans are waiting for something to go wrong.

[Marv]

It's on George's new CD, which came out on Tuesday.

Since Ms. Womack's new CD is loaded with potential singles, releasing this great song as a single wouldn't hurt her CD at all.

Her CD is the best one I've heard this year.

[sudsinthebucket]

This song is very good I do think.

I've always liked George and love Lee Ann so I was thrilled to read of a duet with them.

I also hope that this does not negatively affect Lee Ann's album singles.

[Marv]

There is NO reason for radio NOT to play two songs simultaneously by Lee Ann Womack or any other country artist; if the song is good enough, then just play it, period!!!!

There's also no reason for this duet to have a negative impact on the sales for Ms. Womack's CD either; country fans are passionate loyal if anything else, and Mr. Strait and Ms. Womack are two of the most respected artists out there.

There was an ENORMOUS amount of buzz on Nashville's Music Row anticipating Ms. Womack's CD.

Suffice it to say, the CD certainly met, and has certainly exceeded the buzz about it prior to being released, and her label, country radio, and her fans have to be absolutely delighted. This is the best CD by any female vocalist in quite a while, in my opinion.

[bamafan2102]

Radio barely plays her single now. It will not run it's course before George's single does, so releasing that song will kill HOKTBN. I heard the duet today and have to say I don't really like it. It's not as good as anything on her album. George's album is kind of bland. I know he has his style, but it really is boring to me.

[Zazie]

marv said:

There is NO reason for radio NOT to play two songs simultaneously by Lee Ann Womack or any other country artist; if the song is good enough, then just play it, period!!!!

You don't think there's a reason, and I don't think there's a reason, but if radio thinks there's a reason then they won't play her. You're writing about what radio SHOULD do, but I was trying to comment on what radio is likely to do. And even if radio is willing, there's a further question of whether her label believes it will happen.

[Marv]

Zazie, I certainly do see your point, and I'm a HUGE fan of Ms. Womack. But the fact that there are SOME PDs who won't play the duet because of the presence of HOTKTBN is just one of the many problems plaguing radio.

Having two of best practitioners of traditional country music on the planet singing a wonderful song is NO release for any PD to stop playing Lee Ann's current single; the format needs FAR more females on the air right now, and Ms. Womack is unquestionably among the very best female vocalists out there.

her body of work over the past decade can certainly stand up to that of ANY female vocalist out there, as her greatest hits CD certainly demonstarted.

There are FAR too many PDs who allow the record companies to lead them by the nose in deciding when to play any given single, or any standout CD track.

I've had some problems with RJ Curtis of KZLA here in LA, but the fact that there are songs which KZLA plays two or three times a day that were never released as singles (with Tim McGraw's rollicking 'Telluride' and Keith Urban's raucous 'You Look Good In My Shirt' at the top of the list) should be PLENTY of inspiration for other PDs NOT to be led blindly by what the labels choose to release.

I'm sure there are plenty of stations out there which are playing SEVERAL songs from Mr. Strait's new CD, but playing any of them should NO deter them from playing 'HOTKTBN'; the format DOES need more women for balance, anc considering the chart successes earlier this year for Jo Dee Messina, LeANN Rimes & Reba McEntire, Ms. Womack certainly deserves similar chart successes as well, at least from where I sit.

I would think that Strait's label would choose to release the duet as the next single, instead of another song from Strait's new CD, but apparently that's not going to be the case, at least until 'You'll Be There' runs out of gas and/or goes recurrent, which is still at least 4-6 weeks from happening.

[Zazie]

I'd rather live in a world you were in charge of than the one we currently inhabit, Marv, at least as far as music is concerned. I am always surprised by freefalling, for instance -- why does everybody decide at the same time that it's time to stop playing Lot of Leavin' Left to Do, or If Heaven? And why do they play it forever and ever, amen, before making that decision? In the big markets, anyway, so many folks making the same decisions looks like "playing it safe" to me, and I don't like it, but that's how it is. Playing 2 Lee Ann songs in rotation at the same time, that's not playing it safe.

I have liked Lee Ann since the first day I heard Never Again, Again and, although I didn't care for her pop-sounding material as much, I think she's the best of the current crop of women singers accepted by country radio. (She isn't Patty Loveless or Alison Krauss yet, but she's very close, and they aren't threats to hit the top 10 on their own.) So it's not disrespect for Lee Ann that makes me say what I've been saying. It's disrespect for radio.

For what it's worth, a lot of George Strait fans don't seem to like the duet much, so maybe it wouldn't be a good choice as a radio release. I haven't even heard it yet, so I have no opinion.

[whynotnow]

The duet is beautiful.. as is the whole album... My station claims that the next release is Oh What a Perfect Day and played it as a Make It or Break it choice... It received 100 percent approval... I love every song on the album so I'm OK with any release they want to do.

[gsfan]

"Oh What A Perfect Day" is a great song. I wouldn't be upset if that was the next single. But, I like the whole CD. "She Let Herself Go" would be a great single, too.

[Marv]

These corporate owners, as I've stated before, are FAR more concerned with pleasing Wall Street via a constant increase in their stock price.

An overreliance on research and consultants is a guarantee of safe and dull radio.

It's a wonder that standout country stations such as WFMS in Indianapolis & KUZZ in Bakersfield are still as exceptional as they've always been, in spite of being under the VERY heavt thumbs of clueless micromanagers who don't know what makes GREAT and COMPELLING radio.

I love Ms. Womack a LOT, and her CD is neck-and-neck with Trace Adkins's equally exceptional 'Songs About Me' CD as the best CD of the year, IMHO.(In My Humble Opinion).

But until these corporate owners take their handcuffs of their PDs, quit assigning a single PD to program SEVERAL stations (a recipe for disaster if there ever was one), and allow PDs to use their GUTS instead of sticking to a pre-printed playlist from some research dweeb somewhere, then radio will continue to be what it has become over the past several years; far too safe, way too overloaded with commercials, and far too much syndication and voicetracking.

George Starit has had upward of FORTY #1 singles, but I barely hear more than half of them; that's disgraceful, and the same could be said for AJ, B&D and lots of other country megastars.

[firedancer]

Wow, just heard this duet. LOVE IT!!! And usually it takes me a few listens to get into a song. I don't know what it'll for either artsits careers. All I know is on first listen, I think this song is killer, as are both the vocals. And to think, this whole summer I thought radio wasn't playing ballads.

[spunkyspider]

Vocally, this song is FABULOUS for George. He does a great performance. LeAnn's melody line on her verse is too jumpy.

I think the song bites - they never sing TOGETHER for one thing and I feel like the song never really climaxes. I say - bad song, great voices.

[Zazie]

This song needs a third voice, with the two singers together, that resolves the story line. And it has other problems too, but I'm glad to hear George and Lee Ann on the same song nevertheless. Could have been a lot better.

Well, I meant to say "third verse" there. My fingers weren't hooked up to my brain.

[kyhomeg]

I love George and the new album, but this single just misses something, their voices don't go well together IMO and it just misses something. They seem like they recorded it in different places at different times and there is just not that passion there for the song. I've noticed there is alot of George fans on his board that doesn't want it to be released and are not thrilled with it.

[Marv]

Even if it isn't released as a single, there are undoubtedly SOME country stations that will play it.

A great song from a great CD, and two quintessential country singers who represent the genre as well as anyone else out there.

[bamafan2102]

Someone is playing it, it's at 78 on mediabase this week.

[Zazie]

bamafan2102 said:

Someone is playing it, it's at 78 on mediabase this week.

If it gets a few spins at a couple of big-city stations, it might make it onto the Billboard chart. I'd like to see that happen.