Diamond Rio

My topic of choice this week is Diamond Rio. I realized last week that it has been a long time since Diamond Rio released a CD of new Country Music. July 2002 was when “Completely” hit shelves. Since then there have been a few compilation and gospel releases but nothing new that got me to enjoy them in the beginning, neo-traditional country music and bluegrass.

10. "Walkin' Away"

What I like about this song is the line “We've still got it good no matter how bad it gets. Even after all this time the slipper still fits”. Even if they are fighting, no matter how bad it gets, she is still his Cinderella. And as long as they have chosen to stay together, that indicates how strong they are together. Walking away solves nothing.

9.  "You'll Find Me"

Unlike the song at #10, this song is about a woman walking away. The man realizes that without her he can’t survive. He needs to evaluate himself and his history with her to find her. The harmonies of the group on this song is what makes it for me.

8. "Meet in the Middle"

For years, I thought this song was performed by Billy Dean. The song is about compromise. But it also lays out it in story how they would literally meet halfway at a tree between the two’s houses. They have memories involving that tree.  

7. "Sweet Summer"

On the chorus for this song, the group’s voice all melds together so well. It lays out a perfect story.  Its just a fun song.

6. "Redneck Love Gone Bad"

The thing I love about this song is the “how about that” manner in which it is sung.  And what makes it even better is songwriter Shannon Lawson said that it was inspired by something that happened in hometown.

5. "Night Is Fallin' In My Heart"

I had not heard this song before getting the band’s first Greatest Hits in 2006. I would listen to the album while also playing Tony Hawk American Wasteland. Oddly enough it fit perfectly together. The laid back sound of the song with the skateboarding in Los Angeles.

4. "Make Sure You've Got It All"

The chorus is so heartbreaking. The narrator wants to make sure that since his woman is leaving him, she has everything that could possibly remind him of her.

3. "Beautiful Mess"

His life is falling apart. Shoes on the wrong feet, salt in the coffee. Can’t eat, can’t sleep. It is a wonderful feeling, at least from his end. It’s a sweet addiction. The sound is so smooth. And the story seems so familiar. Too familiar.

2. "It's All in Your Head"

The reason I like this song is it reminds me of Pro Wrestling. It sounds like a promo. The way Marty Roe tells the story is amazing. The story itself sounds like very little I have heard in Country Music.

1. "You're Gone"

Songwriter Paul Williams said of this song in 1998 “It just seemed like what we should write about are the people who are no longer in our lives who had a positive effect on us. And it just poured out of us. The people that pass through our lives-we remember what they say to us, and we remember how they touch us.” I understand this story perfectly. Several times over the past few years there have been people in my life that affected it so greatly that for one reason or another I cannot tell them how they meant to me. The same thing could be said about the Diamond Rio song “One More Day”, which I have not listed. The difference between the two is that song, while good does not stand close to the power of this song in my opinion. That song  is about getting another shot with someone. To get another shot with someone, you first must lose them. This song is that loss. The piano that starts the song is just the beginning of the strong instrumental work that affirms the power of it. This song is Diamond Rio on all cylinders and I believe it should be the song that defines them as a group.