Country Music in the 90’s: The Year is 1993

Bobby’s ’90s country countdown hits 1993, the year country music felt bigger than ever. Garth Brooks was selling millions with In Pieces, Alan Jackson turned “Chattahoochee” into a signature ’90s anthem, and Reba delivered one of the decade’s most dramatic duets with “Does He Love You.” Bobby also gets into Brooks & Dunn’s Hard Workin’ Man era, Toby Keith’s arrival with “Should’ve Been a Cowboy,” Trisha Yearwood’s “Walkaway Joe,” Clint Black, Little Texas, Billy Ray Cyrus, and more. Plus, he shares past conversations with artists like Billy Ray, Clint, Reba, Kix Brooks, and Ronnie Dunn and takes a few detours into Jurassic Park, Mrs. Doubtfire, Home Improvement, and the pop culture that made 1993 feel massive!

Follow on Instagram: @TheBobbyCast

Follow on TikTok: @TheBobbyCast

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:13):
Welcome to another episode of the 90s podcast. On this episode,
I'll be diving deep into one of the most important
years in country music history. I'm talking about 1993. This
year was the year when legends cemented their legacy, newcomers
burst onto the scene, and country music wasn't just popular,
it was mainstream. So let's rewind the tape and relive

(00:38):
the top 10 events that made 1993 unforgettable. Number 10.
Let's kick it off where we left off in 1992
with Billy Ray Cyrus. Now, we got to start with
a reminder of just how massive Billy Ray was leading
into 1993. His debut single, Achy Breaky Heart, dropped in 1992.
It exploded. It was everywhere. It wasn't just a country hit.

(01:02):
It was also a pop hit. And I remember going
down to Parthenas, which was a little gas station at
the bottom of Mountain Pine where we could use food stamps.
And I would go down and we'd get hamburgers made
by Parthena. And they had Achy Breaky Heart t-shirts. It
was the only t-shirt I had ever seen sold at

(01:23):
Parthena's gas station. And there were some pink ones and
there were some blue ones. And they had a heart
on it with like a crack down the middle. And
it said Achy Breaky Heart. That's right. It was everywhere.
Achy Breaky Heart topped the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.
It crossed over onto the pop charts. It sold like crazy.
The songs music video. went into heavy rotation on CMT
and even on MTV. And most importantly, it ignited line dancing.

(01:49):
Think about this. Before Billy Ray, line dancing was a thing, sure.
But it was a niche. After Billy Ray and after
Achy Breaky, it was like baseball, a national pastime. By 1993,
you couldn't go to a wedding, a high school dance,
or a honky-tonk without somebody trying to rope you into
a line dance. Local news stations were running how-to tutorials.

(02:09):
Fitness instructors were teaching line dancing as cardio. Even people
who had never worn cowboy boots a day in their
life were suddenly stomping in unison to Billy Ray. This
was not just a hit song. This was a cultural takeover.
And unlike anything mainstream had seen since John Travolta and
the urban cowboy days. This was basically a huge TikTok

(02:30):
trend way before TikTok was ever even a thing. So
when the calendar flips to 93, Billy Ray was faced
with a big challenge. Could he keep it going? Or
would he be remembered as a one-hit wonder with a
great haircut and some big ol' arms? Sophomore album, It
Won't Be the Last, comes out in July of 1993.
The title itself felt like a message to the critics.

(02:53):
I'm not done yet. And it was true. The album
debuted at number one on the Billboard Top Country Album chart,
proving the fans were still in with Billy Ray. It
went platinum, selling over a million copies. And remember, this
was a time when people had to physically go to
the store. Like, start the car. Put it in D.
Drive it. And then pay an inordinate amount of money

(03:16):
for a CD or a tape that had a bunch
of songs where only like four of them were good. Yeah,
that's right. People were pulling it out for Billy Ray.
And by pulling it out, I mean the cash. The
lead single, In the Heart of a Woman, was the
centerpiece of it all. It climbed all the way to
number three on the Billboard country chart. Now, it didn't
have the cultural earthquake effect of Achy Breaky Heart, but

(03:37):
nothing ever does. But it did show that Billy Ray
had more than one trick up his denim sleeve. He
could deliver heartfelt ballads and boot scootin' barn burners and
other songs like Somebody New and Words by Heart also
made it on the charts. Again, they weren't monsters, but
they were enough to keep him in the mix and
keep him on the radio all through 1993. His live shows, massive.

(03:57):
In 1993... Billy Ray was still touring like a man
on fire. Thousands at his concerts. Obviously, it was electric.
This wasn't some flash in the pan playing small bars.
Billy Ray was selling out arenas. And if you looked
at the concert, it was a mix of country concert,
a little bit of pop spectacle, a little bit of

(04:19):
Bieber fever, except way before Bieber fever, where people were
just screaming the whole time. He had a mullet. People
were cutting their hair in mullets. They were wearing his clothes.
They were wearing denim shirts with their arms all cut out.
I love a sleeveless shirt, so that would have been
perfect for me. And there was the media circus because
Billy Ray was on everything. He was on magazine covers

(04:39):
left and right, People, Rolling Stone, even fashion spreads. He
was on talk shows, variety shows, late night shows. He
did the episode of The Nanny. Remember that, where she
was in line trying to get an autograph? I mean,
Billy Ray was a household name. But just like anything
that catches on and gets really famous... Criticism follows. Country

(05:01):
traditionalists weren't happy about it. Some argued that Billy Ray
was too flashy, too pop-friendly, too gimmicky. They saw him
as a departure from the George Strait school of just
sing the song. But here's what the critics missed. Billy
Ray was expanding the audience. He was pulling in fans
who had never even thought to give country music a
chance before. He made it accessible, he made it fun,

(05:22):
sometimes a little goofy. But he brought people in, and
once they were in, They checked out other artists as well.
They loved the mullet, right? That was his thing. Business
in the front, party in the back. And people still
talk about it today. Billy Ray, number one mullet in
country music ever. Morgan Wallen probably second, but Billy Ray,

(05:42):
number one. Now here's something that a lot of people forget.
Billy Ray was also a family man during all of this.
In 1992, just before Achy Breaky blew up, his daughter,
Destiny Hope Cyrus, was born. Miley. So in 1993... While
Billy Ray was selling out stadiums, he was also a
new dad. The balance between mega-fame and fatherhood gave him

(06:03):
a bit of an everyman appeal that the fans connected with. Legacy-wise,
Billy Ray's momentum in 1993 did something really important for
country music. He kept the genre in mainstream conversations. He
blurred the line between country and pop culture in a
way that paved the road for Shania, Faith, McGraw, all
the crossover stars who came later. Without Billy knocking down

(06:24):
that door, the 90s country boom may not have been
so explosive. So was Billy Ray in 93 still riding
the achy, breaky heart wave? Yeah, of course he was.
But he was also proving he had a little more
to offer. He wasn't just a novelty act. He was
a bona fide star. And he had the sales, he
had the tour, he had the hits to back it up.

(06:45):
And love him, or roll your eyes at him, can't
ignore him. In 1993... Billy Ray Cyrus said, I'm not
going anywhere. I was talking with Billy Ray once, and
I asked him when he knew he wanted to move
to Nashville and pursue music full time.

Speaker 2 (07:01):
My first trip came about 1981. A couple demos and
a picture or two and thinking, man, that's it. I'm ready.
My goal was to be a singer, songwriter, and that
God would give me the wisdom and vision to use
my music to represent his light and his love in
this world. All I need is a record deal. 81
became 82.

Speaker 1 (07:18):
Two, three. three, four.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
And during 84, the bar I was playing in Arlington, Ohio,
burnt to the ground. And I saw it on the
news and I went over there and everything had melted.
And I'm going through with a flashlight and the water's
dripping off the ceiling and the place has melted. The drum,
everything's gone. But this little Bible that I'd found in
the floor had parted into the middle from the heat.

(07:43):
And I shine my flashlight on it and I said,
with every adversity lost, the seed to something better. And
I stood there in the darkness saying, man, this is
God telling you. Every time you go to Nashville, they say,
you're rock and roll. You're not country enough. You're rock
and roll. So I said, this is God telling you,

(08:03):
you need to move to LA. You love rock and roll.
And so I'm, Next couple weeks, I left out of
Ohio and I moved to L.A., got out there and
found everybody telling me I was too country. And certainly
with my name didn't help at all, Billy Ray. Billy Ray,
you got a mullet, you wear a cowboy hat, and
you look and say I'm country. Surely you're country. I said, no,

(08:25):
I love rock and roll. But unfortunately, I didn't get
any jobs or a record deal. And the point being,
out of desperation, I got a job at Baby Toy Towns.
I did sell Pat Benatar a baby stroller and some stuff,
and that was as close to making it as I'd came.
But as Thomas Edison said, every time you fail, you
eliminate that one way that won't work, therefore being one

(08:46):
way closer to the one way that will. And I
failed way more times than I ever succeeded, like by far,
way more times of failure. And In some ways, California, too,
was just an extension of all my failures in Nashville.
But I took what I learned from L.A. and a
couple of years later in L.A. in my darkest moments said, OK,
now go back. Go back to Nashville with what you've

(09:07):
learned here and use everything you've learned and just persistences
to the quality of the character of man, what carbon
is to steel. Just keep be a jackhammer. It's not
the force of the jackhammer that breaks the concrete. It's
the repetition. Just keep going. Persistence. 1989, in one week,
I wrote three of the songs off the album Some

(09:29):
Gave All, including Some Gave All. I'd met a Vietnam
veteran in Huntington, West Virginia, at the little bar I
played that night. And that song happened to be the
song that I played for Harold Shedd when, after 10
years of being told no, for the first time, somebody
said yes.

Speaker 1 (09:45):
Number nine. Okay, let's take a step over to the calm, cool,
collected cowboy of the early 90s, Clint Black. Now, if
Billy Ray was the spark that set the world dancing,
Clint Black was the anchor that kept country music steady
and grounded in its roots. during the 1993 boom. He
was part of that legendary class of 89, that golden

(10:06):
crop of artists, Garth, Alan Jackson, Travis Tritt, Clint, who
together reshaped the genre for the 90s. Each of those
guys brought something different to the table. Garth was the showman.
Alan Jackson was the laid-back poet, Travis, the outlaw with
a soft side, and Clint, the craftsman, the songwriter, the

(10:28):
man in the black hat who never seemed to lose
his cool. By the time 1993 rolled around, Clint had
already released three successful albums. His debut, Killin' Time, Monster,
Put Yourself in My Shoes in 1990 kept the momentum alive.
The hard way in 1992 proved he could deliver hits consistently.

(10:49):
But when he dropped his fourth album, No Time to Kill,
July 1993, fans and critics were eager to see if
he could keep the streak alive. Spoiler, he did. And
he kept it very alive. He brought it to life.
Bring me to life. That's a bad Evanescence impression. Alright,

(11:11):
let's break down the album. No Time to Kill. It
wasn't just good. It was awesome. It was stacked. The
title track, No Time to Kill hit number three on
the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. It is classic Clint Black.
Sharp lyrics, smooth delivery, catchy as heck, not cheesy. Then
came State of Mind, which shot up to number two. Breezy,

(11:34):
almost jazzy, showing Clint could step just slightly outside the
traditional sound while still keeping it country. But The Crown Jewel,
a good run of bad luck. Released in early 94,
but recorded as part of the 93 album, the song
not only went to number one, but also ended up

(11:55):
on the soundtrack for the Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster
movie Maverick. Clint was even in the movie. Imagine this.
You're in a movie theater, 1994, watching a big Hollywood western,
and there he is, Clint Black, looking as natural as
ever in Hollywood. Other singles from his album kept the
radio going. Half the Man hit number four. We Tell

(12:15):
Ourselves was a top ten song. In all, No Time
to Kill produced five top ten hits. That's the kind
of run you usually only see from the greatest hits packages.
But this was brand new material. Hot off the presses
in 1993. Let's talk sales for a second. The album
went double platinum, moving over two million copies. And I
said earlier, people had to get in their cars, right?

(12:37):
We did all that already? That's huge by any standard.
But in the 90s, when Garth Brooks was outselling everyone
on the planet, Keeping pace with Garth was no small feat.
Clint Black, boom, he was in the mix. Now, while
Clint's records were climbing charts, his tours were doing the same.
In 1993, he was headlining across the country, often alongside

(12:59):
fellow alumni from that class of 1989. His shows weren't
flashy like Garth flashy. He wasn't swinging from ropes. He
wasn't smashing guitars. Clint would walk out, signature black cowboy hat,
guitar in hand, and just deliver. He didn't need pyro.
He had his voice, his songs, his guitar. Fans knew

(13:19):
they were watching a real craftsman at work. Clint also
had another card up his sleeve in 1993, his personal life.
In 1991, he had married actress Lisa Hartman and the
media ate it up. Think of it as Taylor and Travis,
but like way back then. They were Nashville's golden pair. Clint,

(13:40):
the stoic cowboy songwriter. Lisa, the glamorous Hollywood actress. They
were on red carpets everywhere. They were at award shows together.
They were smiling for the cameras. They were showing that
country music could have its own star couple every bit
as captivating as anything Los Angeles was producing. And speaking
of award shows, 1993, another strong year for Clint. He

(14:02):
scored nominations across the board. CMAs, ACMs, American Music Awards.
Now he didn't sweep like Vince Gill did that year,
but his presence was steady. A reminder of that he
was one of the pillars holding up that entire 90s boom.
One thing that often gets overlooked is Clint's guitar playing.
Holy crap, can he play. Because he wasn't just a singer-songwriter.

(14:24):
He brought songs who you couldn't play along if you
were just a middle-of-the-road guitar player. He was playing leads
on this stuff. On stage, he'd break into solos that
showed he could handle the lead, boys. I got this one.
Some people have unique ways of learning the guitar and
remembering guitar solos. I was talking to Clint Black about
this one time and asked him, how do you remember

(14:45):
solos when you're on stage? And then we got into
the first song he ever learned on guitar. So here's
a bit of that conversation.

Speaker 3 (14:51):
I didn't, you know, learn the best way I learned
with chord shapes. And then I learned the scales and
the foundational stuff so well. So it took me a
long time to adapt to being able to see things
to play on the guitar. So When I'm soloing, I'm

(15:13):
just working around. Some of it's just familiar stuff that
I've played a bunch, and some of it is just
seeing the chord and seeing the shape of the chord
and knowing how the notes are connected. It's not the
best way to go about it.

Speaker 1 (15:34):
Do you remember the first song you ever learned on guitar?

Speaker 3 (15:37):
Yeah, it would have been Redneck Mother. By Ray Wiley Hubbard.

Speaker 4 (15:41):
Nice.

Speaker 1 (15:42):
And while Clint was never the flashiest guy in the room,
he had a sly sense of humor. I can tell you.
When I hang out with him, I gotta go in
with armor. Because he's gonna come, and he's gonna come
cutting and hilarious. In interviews back then, he'd poke at
his own man in black image, saying he wore black
because it was slimming, or it made the laundry easier.

(16:03):
And he was always funny. People loved it. It made
him feel approachable, his self-deprecating style... And that was pretty
cool because he was selling millions of records. He didn't
have to be approachable. The legacy of Clint Black in 1993.
I think it's balance. At a time when country music
was exploding into the mainstream with big personalities and crossover hits,

(16:24):
Clint kept the genre grounded. He delivered traditional country songwriting
with just enough modern polish to keep it grounded and
to sound fresh. He showed you that you could be
hugely successful without a bunch of gimmicks, without a bunch
of explosions, without chasing the pop trends. Just write great

(16:45):
songs and then sing the heck out of them. And
don't forget, his influence lasted well beyond 93. Artists like
Brad Paisley and then later generations of country music singers
and songwriters often cite Clint as a model, as someone
who blended musicianship, songwriting, consistency, all into a long, respected career.
In short, or in long, Clint Black in 1993 was

(17:09):
the steady heartbeat of the country boom. While the world
danced to Billy Ray and went wild at Garth concerts,
Clint was there, wearing the black hat, reminding everyone that
he was the foundation of country music. Great stories, clever lyrics,
guitar parts, out the eardrums, and with the album No
Time to Kill, he did it again. He killed it again.

(17:32):
The Bobbycast. We'll be right back. Number eight. Okay, let's
head south, way south, for a little band that made
a big impact in 1993. And by little, I mean
the band Little Texas. Now, Little Texas had been building

(17:55):
momentum since the early 90s, but in 1993, they hit
their stride. And boy, did they with that song, God
bless Texas with his own hands. What a jam. The
song was everywhere. It was upbeat. It was fun. It
was It was celebratory of the Lone Star State. And
even a guy like me from Arkansas, I was singing it.

(18:16):
I didn't always love it. I love the song. I
didn't always love singing about Texas. But it was a jam.
You could not sing it. You didn't have to be
from Texas to love it. But if you were from Texas,
it was like your own anthem. The song climbed to
top five on the Billboard country chart. And it was
played at football games like crazy, at barbecues, at rodeos.
If there were Texans there, dang it, they played this song.

(18:37):
The music video, which... You may remember, and I remember,
because I was a 12-year-old boy. Yeah, I was full
of sunshine and cowboy hats and swagger and, well, a
lot of women in bikinis. That's right. That is right.
Thank you, Little Texas. But in 1993, it wasn't just

(18:59):
about one song for Little Texas. Their album, Big Time,
released that year, produced multiple hits, including what might have
been great song, ballad, It's kind of the softer side
of Little Texas. They had a bunch of rowdy anthems, yeah.
Did I mention they had a video with a lot
of people in bikinis? Yeah. Yeah, they had that. 12-year-old

(19:21):
me thanks you. But what might have been was an
excellent song. On tour, Little Texas drew a crowd of
younger fans at their shows because they were a part
of the new wave of country music. The country music
that had, like, put a little rock in there, still
had a lot of country heart. I mean, they weren't
traditionalists like George Strait, but they definitely weren't pop country either.

(19:42):
They found a sweet spot right in the middle. And
in 1993, magic. The legacy of 1993 for Little Texas
is clear. It was the year they went from rising
stars to headliners. And even today, yeah, I still sing
it when it comes on. God bless Texas. One of
those songs that lives on. Games, barbecues. You should pause

(20:06):
this and go watch the video. Okay, I'll move on.
Number seven. Let's talk about one of the purest voices
to ever come out of the speakers. I'm talking about
the voice from Trisha Yearwood. Now, if you rewind just
a couple of years or episodes in the series, Trisha
burst onto the scene in 1991 with, She's in love
with the boy. That was her debut single. The song

(20:27):
went to number one, made her a household name. Sweet story,
you know, love, small town love. And fans loved it because,
They were in small towns, and it felt authentic to
their stories. It was something you'd overhear your uncle talking about,
or people on a porch talking about. You know, things
that happen in a small town. But here's the thing.
Every breakout artist faces the same challenge. After the debut success,

(20:51):
can you keep it going? In 1993, Trisha had her answer,
and it came in the form of one of the
most unforgettable heartbreak songs of the decade. That song, Walk
Away Joe. And the song wasn't just a hit, it
was a statement. Written by Vince Melamed and Greg Barnhill,
Walk Away Joe tells the story of a young woman
who falls hard for a charming drifter, only to be

(21:11):
left behind when he inevitably moves on. It's about bad
choices and broken promises and that all-too-familiar of, dang, that stings,
when the person you trusted the most was never really
yours to keep. It's kind of a song that makes
you nod your head and say, yep, been there. Even
if your Joe didn't actually wear cowboy boots. But here's
what made Walk Away Joe a little different than those

(21:33):
other breakup songs. It was Trisha, duh. She sang it
with a voice that was equal parts strength and vulnerability.
It wasn't whiny. It wasn't over the top. Just honest.
And that honesty cut right to the bone. Critics at
the time said she had one of the most pure,
unforced voices in country music. And listening to Walk Away Joe,

(21:54):
you understood exactly what they meant. Heck, take a second.
Pause this. Go listen to it now. You'll hear it.
But you've probably heard it for 20, 30 years at
this point. And if that wasn't enough... That song had
a secret weapon. Don Henley. Yeah, from the Eagles. The drummer,
the singer, he came in to sing harmony vocals. And
you can listen and hear like that ghostly echo. That's

(22:16):
Don Henley. That's the shadow of Joe himself haunting the song.
Having Henley on the track in 1993 was huge. It
was Nashville saying, hey, yeah, we're country, but we're also
big league in this thing in American music. It was
a bridge between classic rock royalty and Nashville tradition. That song,
Walk Away Joe, climbed to number two on the Billboard

(22:38):
Hot Country Songs chart, stopping just short of number one.
But in the long run, it became one of Trisha's
most defining songs. It earned her a Grammy nomination. It
cemented her status as one of the leading ladies in
90s country. Now, the music video was excellent. It featured
this unknown actor by the name of Matthew McConaughey. He

(22:58):
played the role of Joe. Yep, before he was winning
Oscars and Doing alright, alright, alright. Matthew McConaughey was the
smooth-talking heartbreaker in a Trisha Yearwood video. Go to YouTube.
Watch the video. Heck, pause it again. That's two pauses
this episode. Go watch the video. Looking back, it feels
like destiny. Here was a future movie star cutting his

(23:19):
teeth in the world of 90s country music videos. The
video itself told the story vividly. Matthew McConaughey was Joe,
drifting one scene to the other. You know, good-looking guy.
Got all the moves. Leaving broken hearts in his wake.
It added a cinematic flair that fit perfectly with Trisha's dramatic,
emotional performance. CMT ran the video all the time in 1993,
and every time it came on, they got calls. Or letters.

(23:43):
People were glued to the screen. The song was great,
and it was freaking Matthew McConaughey. But Trisha wasn't just
about one single.

Speaker 5 (23:50):
No.

Speaker 1 (23:50):
Her second album, Hearts and Armor, which Walk Away Joe
came from, was excellent. Released in late 92... It carried
into 93 with a lot of critical acclaim. Wrong Side
of Memphis, You Say You Will, Excellent Ballad. The album
was praised for a lot of reasons. It was mature,
it was soulful, it was authentic. Qualities that became and

(24:11):
still are Trisha's trademarks. In 1993, Trisha was also hit
in the road. She toured all the time, often opening
for Garth Brooks, yes, who would later become her husband.
But at the time, they were friends, tourmates, and occasional collaborators.
Her live shows were electric and not because she jumped
around or was much of a spectacle, but because her

(24:32):
voice was electric. People walked away saying, dang, she sounds
even better live. And in an era before auto-tune and
vocal tricks, man, that mattered and was a bit rare.
Award season also gave her plenty of recognition. Trisha was
nominated at the CMAs and ACMs. Now, she did not
win Entertainer of the Year that year, like Vince Gill

(24:53):
or Garth. But she was carving out a spot in
a very male-dominated industry where only the best female voices,
you know, Reba, Wynonna, Patti Loveless, could hold their ground.
And Trisha wasn't just holding her ground. She was thriving.
Here's something else from 1993 that made it special for Trisha.
She wasn't chasing trends. Now, Billy Ray was pushing country

(25:16):
into pop culture, and Brooks and Dunn were filling stadiums
with boot-stomping anthems. Trisha leaned into classic, timeless storytelling. She
built her career not on flash, but on substance, and
fans appreciated that. Let's not forget the cultural ripple effect
as well. By having Don Henley on her record and
Matthew McConaughey in her video, Trisha positioned herself at the

(25:38):
crossroads of country and mainstream entertainment. Now, she wasn't trying
to cross over in the pop sense, but she was
proving that country artists could collaborate with rock icons and
showcase rising Hollywood talent. It gave her this broader relevance
without watering down the country roots. So what's the legacy
of Trisha Yearwood in 1993? Well, Walk Away Joe became

(26:00):
one of those songs that's still played today on classic
country radio, that's still covered by contestants on singing shows,
that's still referenced when people talk about the golden era
of 90s country. More importantly, it's cemented Trisha as more
than just a promising newcomer. It showed she had staying power,
she had artistry, she had a voice that would carry
her through decades of music, and, as it turned out,

(26:23):
into a Hall of Fame-level career. In 1993, Trisha Yearwood
wasn't just chasing hits, she was building a legacy. And
Walk Away Joe was the proof. Number six, number six,
number six. If you turned on country radio in early 1993,
there's a good chance you heard a new voice out
of Oklahoma singing about wishing he'd been a cowboy. That

(26:46):
was Toby Keith, and the song was, very obviously, Should
Have Been a Cowboy. It was his very first single,
released on February 12, 1993. and it ended up doing
what every artist dreams of. It not only hit number
one on the country charts, but it eventually became the
most played country song of the entire 1990s. That is
not a bad debut. But it wasn't like Toby with

(27:08):
some overnight Nashville discovery. He had spent years working in
the Oklahoma bar circuit after long days with a real
job in the oil fields. He was hauling gear, music gear,
town to town. He was writing songs. He's playing for
very small crowds and hoping one day someone in Nashville...
would actually pick up the phone. When Mercury Records finally did,

(27:28):
Toby knew exactly what he wanted to lead with, the
song about cowboys and daydreams. The idea came from a
night out with friends when a friend in the group
missed a chance to ask a woman to dance. Someone joked,
should have been a cowboy. Toby laughed and scribbled that
line down and turned it into something universal. A little nostalgic,
a little funny, and completely singable. You know, that's what

(27:51):
made should have been a cowboy work. It wasn't trying
too hard. It was simple. It was confident. It was
full of small details that made people smile. You know,
with the Gene Autry and Roy Rogers nods, with the
Lone Ranger reference. It wasn't just about wanting to be
a cowboy. It's just about wanting to live life on
your own terms. When the song hit radio, DJs jumped

(28:13):
on it. It sounded fresh, but familiar. Like something you'd
heard your whole life, but also you haven't. By summer,
it was everywhere. Country fans were singing it at tailgates
and bars and rodeos. Even people who didn't normally listen
to country music knew the hook. The success actually surprised Toby.
He'd gone from being a working-class musician, scraping by, to

(28:37):
having the number one song in the country and also
a debut album that's flying off the shelves. The track
also introduced what would become Toby's signature style. A mix
of humor, a little bit of straight talk, and some
storytelling that was all grounded in real life. You know,
over the years, Should Have Been a Cowboy never really
went away. According to BMI, who monitors this, it's been

(28:58):
played more than 3 million times on U.S. radio, which
is wild when you think about how it still gets
played all the time. And 3 million? I mean, 3
million spins? That's the kind of airplay artists spend a
lifetime pursuing and chasing. The song aged well, too. Some
songs don't. You know, it didn't get buried in 90s nostalgia.

(29:20):
It didn't have a, this is only for the 90s
sound to it. Didn't have a gimmick. I mean, you
can still play it now. It still holds up. Yeah,
some simple chords, clear melody, but the unmistakable Toby Keith baritone.
It's a song that's always comfortable. It's always been there.
You know, looking back, Should Have Been a Cowboy was
more than a hit. It was basically a Doro because

(29:41):
it introduced a new kind of country artist, one who
wasn't polished for television, who didn't try to sound like
anyone else, and who wrote songs that regular people related to.
So when you hear it today, whether it's on a
classic country station or playing at some small fair or
just out of somebody's truck at a stoplight, It probably
brings you back to that early 90s moment when country

(30:03):
was booming and a guy from Oklahoma proved that one
good song could change everything. Let's take a quick pause
from the countdown to talk movies. 1993 was a year
packed with massive films that are still pretty popular today.
So the top three movies based on box office sales are... Well,
let's start with the obvious giant of Jurassic Park. When

(30:24):
this movie came out, it was more than another blockbuster.
This is the first movie I can remember anyone actually
buying once it came out from the theater to video
because videos were very expensive. And I remember my youth
director at church buying this movie and I was like, dang,
you bought the dinosaur movie. That's what Jurassic Park was.
Spielberg took dinosaurs, something we'd really only seen in clay

(30:46):
models or low budget. And they still look big, low budget,
but you could kind of tell they were crappy. and
made them terrifyingly real. That T-Rex scene in the rain.
The raptor in the kitchen. Dang, that's a good one.
Those moments still hold up because of how he blended
CGI with animatronics, and they still use a lot of
that today, even though technology has progressed far from that.

(31:07):
And the story itself, simple enough. A rich guy builds
a dinosaur park. Nature doesn't cooperate. Chaos follows. But what
kept people glued to their seats was the sense they
were actually seeing dinosaurs from 65 million years ago. It
became the highest grossing film of all time at that point,
almost a billion dollars worldwide, which early in the 90s,
totally unheard of. This is way before Titanic or The

(31:29):
Little Blue Men that both made a billion dollars. But
it also made kids want to be paleontologists. Schools started
handing out dinosaur books. Every toy store had plastic raptors
and T-Rexes stacked to the ceiling. More than 30 years later,
you can still hear those two notes from the John
Williams theme and instantly picture that island. Mrs. Doubtfire. Well,
it's a good one. That's still funny when it comes

(31:51):
on like TBS. Not that I really have the TV
on TBS anymore. But man, when I would, there were
two movies I would stop for. King of Queens, not
from 93. And Mrs. Doubtfire from 93. Robin Williams, he
played Mrs. Doubtfire. The setup is familiar. A dad going
through a divorce. Wants to spend more time with his kids.
And to do that, he dresses up as an elderly

(32:11):
nanny so he can be in the house every single day.
Probably jail now. Like if you actually did this, probably jail.
But it was really funny. Like, it's still funny. Robin
Williams was hilarious, and the idea here was super wholesome.
And it worked. It ended up being the second highest
grossing film of the year behind Jurassic Park, and it
gave us lines like, Hello! You know, it's cake. And

(32:32):
more importantly, it reminded everyone that Robin Williams could break
your heart in a scene and then make you laugh
in the same scene. At number three is The Fugitive.
Harrison Ford plays Dr. Robert Kimball, a man wrongly confused
of killing his wife. He escapes custody. and spends the
whole film trying to prove his innocence while being chased
by U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard, played by Tommy Lee Jones.

(32:53):
This is a whole, it wasn't me, it was the
one-armed man. This was actually a black and white series
back in the day, and it was good. The movie
was good. What sets it apart from a lot of
action movies, especially in 1993, was the tension. We get
a lot of that now, but then, not really the case.
Because it wasn't just car chases and explosions. It's pretty smart.
Ford plays Kimball. You kind of root for Kimball a

(33:15):
little bit too because he played a very desperate character.
I mean, Tommy Lee Jones was excellent in the movie.
Very deadpan. It won him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
And of course, it's not a spoiler, right?

Speaker 4 (33:26):
It was 1993.

Speaker 1 (33:26):
The waterfall jump. Harrison Ford diving off that dam became
one of the most replayed action shots of the decade.
The Fugitive made huge money and it was good. It
was really good for 1993. And in all, 1993 wasn't
just a great year in country music. The film industry
was also killing it. Okay, back to the countdown. Number five.

(33:48):
If George Strait was the king of country, then Brooks
and Dunn in 1993 were the fun uncles of the genre.
Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn had only been paired together
for a couple of years at this point, but in 1993,
holy crap, they were the hottest duo in the business.
Their debut album, Brand New Man, made a huge splash
back in 1991, back two episodes ago. Boot scootin' boogie, crushed.

(34:12):
It was awesome. Hard Workin' Man released February 1993, and yeah,
it was a barn burner. Do people still say that?
Barn burner? Well, it was a barn burner. The title
track set the tone. It was a blue collar anthem
about I don't know, pride and sweat and getting the
job done. It was relatable. It was singable, kind of.

(34:33):
You probably didn't sing it good, but you sang it loud.
And it was pure Brooks and Dunn. Ronnie's powerhouse vocals
soaring over the rocking honky-tonk groove. Kicks adding the harmonies
and the swagger. The song climbed to number four on
the Billboard country chart and became an instant crowd favorite.
Isn't it crazy that song only hit number four and
it's one of the greatest country songs of all time?

(34:53):
The charts, man. The charts. Brooks and Dunn didn't stop there.
The album gave us four additional singles on top of
the title track. She Used to Be Mine, hit number one, jam.
Rock my world, little country girl, jam, hit number two.
That ain't no way to go, jam, hit number one.

(35:14):
And we'll burn that bridge, just one, and bop after another.
Can I say bop? One bop after another? Basically, if
you turned on country radio in 1993, I don't know,
there's about a 40% chance you were going to hear
a Brooks and Dunn song. They were everywhere. On stage,
they were also redefining what a country duo could be.
Ronnie Dunn was the voice, one of the greatest pure

(35:36):
singers of the decade. Kix Brooks was the showman, bounding
around the stage, hyping up the crowd. Tons of energy,
tons of charm would often do a lot of the talking. Together,
they were dynamite. In 1993, their live shows were starting
to move from honky-tonks and even bigger honky-tonks to arenas.
Their fan base grew. Hardworking man. It was such a

(35:59):
freaking awesome album. And it proved that they weren't just
a pairing that got lucky. They were the real deal.
It was like the perfect chemical combination. That album won
them the 1993 CMA Award for Vocal Duo of the Year,
a title they would go on to win for 14
out of the next 16 years. That's crazy. I went

(36:19):
to the Country Music Hall of Fame a few years ago,
and it had all of their awards there, and it
took up a whole wall. It was crazy to see
all of their Duo of the Year awards. Yeah, pretty cool.
And the cultural piece as well, Brooks and Dunn embodied
what we think of as the 90s vibe. Big belt buckles,
flashy shirts, a mix of traditional country themes for sure

(36:43):
with a bit of rock edge. They were accessible to
younger fans, but they also made traditionalists happy as well
because of songs like Hard Workin' Man. You know, people
out working, like they felt it. And then at the bars,
when people were dancing, they put on Rock My World,
Little Country Girl. The legacy of 1993 for Brooks and
Dunn is very simple. It was a year they went from, hey,

(37:03):
that duo, pretty good. A lot of hope, a lot
of promise to... Yeah, they're an institution. They weren't just
another act on the radio. They were a headlining force
that would dominate the rest of the decade. And heck,
they're still dominating now. Before we get to the next
spot on the countdown, I wanted to remind everyone that
long before Brooks and Dunn were dominating the charts as

(37:23):
a duo, Kix and Ronnie had their own solo career
as songwriters and artists trying to make it in the industry.
So first is me talking with Kix Brooks a few
years ago. I wanted to know, What were his goals
as an artist and a songwriter when he first got
to Nashville?

Speaker 4 (37:39):
For me, it was, I just wanted to be a
songwriter in this town. That's really, I mean, almost all
songwriters have some dreams and, you know, they play their songs.
We've gotten some recognition. There's exceptions to that, but most
songwriters like to think of themselves as artists. I mean,
I did, and I had a couple of record deals
before Ronnie and I got together, but Not because I

(38:01):
was that great. I don't know. But I started singing
a lot of demos for stuff like that.

Speaker 1 (38:06):
But the town, the ability to.

Speaker 4 (38:08):
My first publisher was a guy named Don Gant. And man,
he would hold court every day. We'd write songs all day.
But he had been at Tree Publishing and was responsible
for some of the great careers from Roger Miller and
Mickey Newberry. Got Sonny Throckmorton, people you may not be
familiar with.

Speaker 1 (38:25):
But people that.

Speaker 4 (38:27):
Harlan Howard.

Speaker 1 (38:27):
Of course. They were all at Tree.

Speaker 4 (38:30):
I mean, they owned... independent publishing, but there were still
great publishing companies like Combine where Christofferson and Wayland and
all those guys were too, a little smaller company. But
when we were done at the end of the day,
people would start piling in that door and Don would
always send out for a few cases of beer. We'd
just pack in his office and start passing the guitar around.

(38:53):
We'd really make you want to write something special because
if that guitar came your way or Don said, did
you write anything today? But at the same time, even
if I read something that wasn't that good, he would
find that one line in a song and go, man,
wait a second, second verse.

Speaker 1 (39:10):
What was it you said? He goes, did y'all hear that?

Speaker 4 (39:13):
And all of a sudden he would make you feel like,
he might not tell you it was a great song
because it wasn't, but he would also make sure you
knew that's what you need to be. That's a great line.
Give me a whole song full of that kind of stuff.
You know, it's a great teacher, but also by the
end of, by the end of the night, we're all well-oiled. Then, then,

(39:34):
you know, Mickey Newberry or Ray Van Hoy or some
of those guys at Throckmorton who are just writing this brilliance, uh,
They get the guitar and then you got the opportunity.

Speaker 1 (39:45):
Man, it was it was all up and down the street.

Speaker 4 (39:48):
And where is it happening kind of thing? And I
just I don't you know, there's so, so much, you know,
I don't sound like an old guy, but there's so
much concrete where there were little houses all the way
down Music Row. And you just wander up and down.
You could hear it a lot of times up and down.

Speaker 1 (40:04):
People just doing a thing.

Speaker 4 (40:06):
Yeah, you know, it's gone. And somebody come running down
to your publishing company and go, man, come on down
to Combine. You know, Waylon's down there and they're singing,
you know, and that kind of stuff is going on.

Speaker 1 (40:18):
Now, this is me with Ronnie Dunn talking about his
early days of living in Oklahoma, playing local shows and
his first gig as elite singer.

Speaker 5 (40:27):
So I'm in Tulsa and the urban cowboy movement thing
happens and they start building this massive club. called Duke's Country.

Speaker 1 (40:35):
I mean, huge.

Speaker 5 (40:36):
It was a converted furniture factory. There was nothing for 3,000,
3,500 people a night to be there on the weekends, Friday, Saturday, Sunday,
sometimes Thursdays. A guy from a steel player ball thing
from a Gate Mouth Browns band, who was a blues player,
came to my door one day, and he said, I'm
putting together a band. He said, would you be the

(40:56):
lead singer for our house band at Duke's? I'm like, no, yes.
I guess, yes. So we put together a band and
kept the job for two or three years, several years.
It was a good run for club stuff.

Speaker 1 (41:11):
Was that your first spot at being just, I mean,
you're the lead singer. Did you find you liked it
more than you thought? Yeah, I loved it. Did it
make you think of your dad? Always.

Speaker 6 (41:20):
Always.

Speaker 5 (41:20):
Always. I always do.

Speaker 1 (41:22):
Anytime.

Speaker 5 (41:22):
I mean, he's always, you know, that's always the image
and the motive back there that I think of. You know,
I just think it's like, how did I end up
cosmically living my father's dream?

Speaker 1 (41:34):
Do you think he would be proud looking at you now? Yeah.
You think it's super cool?

Speaker 5 (41:40):
Yeah, too cool.

Speaker 1 (41:42):
I'd have to lock him away. The Bobbycast. We'll be
right back. Number four. Now let's talk about the queen,
because in 1993, Reba McEntire reminded everyone why she still

(42:04):
wore the crown. That year, Reba released Greatest Hits Volume 2.
And if you're thinking, wait, a Greatest Hits album, that's
just recycling old songs. Well, not when it's Reba. See,
Reba had a trick up her sleeve. She used her
Greatest Hits collections to debut new songs. And in 1993,
she released One of those new songs was the epic duet,

(42:26):
Does He Love You? Does He Love You? The song
paired Reba with Linda Davis, and the song was pure drama.
Two women, both in love with the same man, singing
back and forth about betrayal and jealousy. It was fiery.
It was theatrical. And it was a massive hit. The
song went to number one on the Billboard country chart
and won the Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Collaboration.

(42:49):
But it wasn't just the song, it was the video.
And if you haven't seen the Does He Love You video,
pause the episode and go watch it. It's basically a
mini soap opera. Also, at this rate, it's taking you
two hours to get through this episode. But it's worth it.
Reba and Linda Davis face off. Looks like a movie.
There's tension. There's passion. Reba wasn't just singing songs in

(43:11):
the 90s. She was making movies in music form in
the 90s. Oh, by the way, Linda Davis went on
to have a very famous daughter, Hilary. the lead singer
of Lady A. I had heard a long time ago
that the original idea of Does He Love You was
supposed to be Reba and Wynonna. So I had Reba
over once. We were talking about it, and I wanted

(43:32):
her to set the record straight.

Speaker 6 (43:34):
Linda was on the road with me. She and Hillary's dad,
Lang Scott, they were on the road with me, and
I thought Linda was we could do this every night
on stage because she's a backup singer. I was featuring
her on some songs because she had a record deal.
And so Tony said, well, let's, well, the record label,
of course, wanted either Trisha or Winona. And I said,
but it's right here. It's so handy. And they said, well,

(43:55):
let's keep working on it. And I said, well, in
the meantime, while I'm recording it, can Linda just step
in and do the other parts so I have somebody
to sing against?

Speaker 1 (44:04):
They said, okay.

Speaker 6 (44:05):
And when she got through, Tony said, she got Did.

Speaker 1 (44:09):
You tell her then, hey, you're just going to sing
this as kind of a demo version? Do you think
in her mind she was like, I'm going to sing
this so good that hopefully they can't refuse it?

Speaker 6 (44:16):
You know, Linda is so honest and so innocent. She
was just probably glad to be there. And just I
don't know what was in her mind, but I knew
she would kill the song.

Speaker 1 (44:28):
Love it.

Speaker 6 (44:29):
And all Linda has to do is sing and she
she sells herself.

Speaker 1 (44:33):
It's wonderful. I don't think you could go wrong with
either one of those, but pretty cool how it all
manifested the way it did. Greatest Hits Volume 2 also
gave us other gems that reminded fans of how deep
Reba's catalog already was. And she had become more than
just a singer. She was an actress. She was a businesswoman.
I mean, she was an icon. Her concerts were spectacular
productions with many costume changes, elaborate sets, and powerful storytelling.

(44:56):
It's basically a Broadway show. And let's not forget, this
was just a few years after the plane crash that
tragically killed most of Reba's band. By 1993, she had
rebuilt not only her career, but also her spirit, coming
back stronger and more determined than ever. Fans admired her
resilience as much as her talent. The legacy of Reba
in 1993 is huge. With her song, Does He Love You,

(45:19):
she cemented herself as not just a hitmaker, but the
drama queen of country music. And also it raised the
bar for everyone else. Number three. If there was one
man who absolutely owned the CMA Awards in 1993, it
was Vince Gill. And it wasn't that he won a
trophy or two. He swept the whole thing, which I'd
mentioned earlier. Let's set the stage. By 1993, Vince had

(45:42):
already built a reputation as one of the nicest guys
in Nashville. He was humble. He was soft-spoken. He never
seemed to let fame go to his head. But behind
that easygoing personality was a powerhouse of talent. He could sing.
He could write. He could play guitar with the best
of them. Not just with the best artists. With the
best guitar players. In 1992, he had the album, I

(46:04):
Still Believe in You. It had set him up for
the monster year of 1993. I mean, that title track,
I still believe in you, still a signature Vince Gill song.
Other singles like, don't let our love start slipping, love
start slipping away. He sings so high and I can't
sing anyway. That was a jam. Or One More Last Chance.

(46:27):
What a song. What a video. And give me just
one more last chance before you say we're through. Oh
my goodness, that was a jam. Kept them top of
the charts, all those songs. By the time the CMA
Awards rolled around in October of 93, Vince had all
these songs, had all this momentum, had all this love,
and then came the sweep. Vince walked away that night

(46:50):
with five CMA Awards. Entertainer of the Year, Male Vocalist
of the Year, Vocal event of the year for his
contribution to George Jones, I Don't Need Your Rockin' Chair.
That song was a jam. Album of the year and
song of the year for I Still Believe in You.
Now that's not just winning, that is domination. Now let's
pause on this song of the year because I Still

(47:11):
Believe in You beat out Boot Scootin' Boogie from Brooks
and Dunn, Chattahoochee from Alan Jackson. I mean, I still
believe in you. What an amazing song. He co-wrote that song.
with John Barlow Jarvis. It's a heartfelt ballad. Basically, a
confession and a promise all rolled into one really emotional song.

(47:34):
The narrator admits he stumbled, but he's still all in
for love. That song pushed Vince into superstardom and anchored
an album that went one, two, three, four, quadruple platinum.
It sold over four million records. Pretty rare for the
early part of the 90s. Now let's do 1993. As

(47:55):
far as my 1993, well, I loved Home Improvement.

Speaker 2 (48:01):
That.

Speaker 1 (48:02):
Everybody did that. It was almost like Borat or Austin
Powers or, you know, name the big celebrity impression. That's
what this was in 1993. It was even in the
theme song to Home Improvement. Now, Home Improvement did not
start in 1993. It actually started in 1991. But the

(48:24):
reason I bring up 1993 is because that's the year
that it peaked. It took shape. So during the 1993
TV season, Home Improvement finished number one for the first time.
It was the biggest show in America. It had an
average audience of about 38 million people per week. It beat, well,
all the shows because I was number one. Seinfeld, Roseanne, sports.

(48:48):
It was a monster. To compare a massive... number one
network hit today might average eight to 10 million viewers,
35 million. That's like every network show on their biggest
show at once getting their highest rating right now. And
it's still not adding up to that. Like it's crazy.

(49:11):
And I pulled the numbers from 1993. As far as
the audience numbers go, one, two, three, four, five, the
number five show was NYPD Blue averaging $ 22 million a week.
That's still more than double what shows get now. Okay,
you're with me, right? Frasier, $ 24 million a week. Roseanne,

(49:33):
$ 26 million a week. Seinfeld, 30 million a week. Home Improvement,
35 to 38 million viewers a week. That's the scale.
It wasn't one of the hits. It was the hit

(49:54):
and by a lot. I mean, when you just look
at those shows too, Home Improvement, Seinfeld, Roseanne Frazier, like
those are heyday shows. So whenever I talk about 1993,
or at least when I thought about it, I thought, man,
I watched a lot of Home Improvement. I think home
improvement was also up against Frazier and it felt like
it was like the normal person show versus the intellectual show,

(50:18):
which was what Frazier was to me. That's why I
liked home improvement. It's one of my favorite shows ever.
As far as what I love the most at certain
times in my life, I don't consider it now as
one of my favorite shows ever, but at the time
it was number one to me. It was on Thursday nights,
I believe. So 1993, I'm putting home improvement in there.
And also if you hear something snoring in the background,

(50:38):
That is Stanley, my bulldog. He is right beside the microphone. Anyway,
that's my look at my 1993. And now let's get
back to the countdown. Number two. Let's talk about a river.
Not just any river, but the Chattahoochee. Because in 1993,
Alan Jackson turned it into a national landmark. Allen was

(51:00):
already a superstar by this point. He had a string
of hits, a shelf full of awards, the reputation as
the tall, quiet Georgian with a knack for writing songs
that felt both modern and traditional. But when Chattahoochee hit
the airwaves in May of 1993, it was like someone
dropped a Chattahoochee bomb on the charts. The song was fun.
It was fast. It was full of small-town nostalgia. It

(51:23):
really wasn't about heartbreak or cheating or honky-tonk neon. It's
about growing up. It's about goofing off. It's about falling
in love. It's about living life along the river. It
tapped into something universal. That feeling of freedom and innocence
that we all remember from when we were younger. And
then there was a video. Duh. Music videos back then,

(51:45):
almost as important as the song. They were very important
because we actually watched them. You know why? Because they
actually showed them. And in this video, I think we
can all picture it, right? Alan Jackson, cowboy hat, jeans, boots,
Water skiing. If you want a snapshot of 90s country
at its peak, that's kind of it. It was goofy.

(52:05):
It was charming. And it made Alan seem like the
most down-to-earth superstar that you could imagine. Fans loved it
because it felt like Alan wasn't this super rich megastar
that had all the hits. Just a regular guy who
happened to be really good at writing songs. And skiing
in blue jeans. Chattahoochee went straight to number one on
the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. It stayed there for weeks.

(52:26):
It won the CMA Single of the Year. Radio couldn't
get enough of it, and fans couldn't stop singing along.
Even today, decades later, it's one of those songs that
instantly gets a crowd going, and it doesn't matter the
age of the people in the crowd. But Allen didn't
stop at just one song. His album, A Lot About Livin'
and A Little About Love, which featured Chattahoochee, it was

(52:46):
one of the best-selling country albums of the decade. Other singles,
like She's Got the Rhythm and I Got the Blues,
that song crushed. Tonight I Climbed the Wall, crushed. all
through 93. On stage, Alan's shows were a mix of energy,
but also laid-back charm. He wasn't a showman in the
sense of dancing around. He sang the songs. He did

(53:08):
tell some stories. He let the music do the work.
Fans loved his authenticity. He was the guy next door,
except he was taller and better looking and could sing
and ski. You get it, right? He was the everyman superstar. Culturally,
Chattahoochee became more than just a song. It was a catchphrase.
It was a meme before memes even existed. People who

(53:30):
had never been to Georgia knew about the Chattahoochee. It
gave Alan Jackson a permanent place in the pop culture conversation,
not just the country charts. The legacy of 1993 for
Alan Jackson was simple. It was the year that he
became an icon. He wasn't just a hit maker anymore.
He was a cultural touchstone. Yeah. When you have something
like Chattahoochee, you're now a part of culture. Chattahoochee defined

(53:52):
a moment in time. and Submitted Allen is one of
the all-time greats. Number one. One, one, one, one, one, one, one.
That's not an effect, that's my voice. Number one! We
have the man who didn't just dominate 1993, he dominated
the entire decade. Garth Brooks. By 93, Garth was already
the biggest thing in country music. Maybe in all of music.

(54:15):
His first four albums had sold tens of millions of copies.
He was filling stadiums, he was breaking records, he was
turning country concerts... into rock and roll spectacles. He was
the face of the country boom. And then he dropped
his fifth album, In Pieces. Released in August 1993, In
Pieces was a juggernaut. I mean, we can walk through this,

(54:35):
hold my hand, because it's going to get bumpy. The
album had songs like, ain't going down till the sun
comes up. Obviously, a jam. Standing outside the fire, what
a video. I mean, I didn't even really get emotional
as a kid when I watched videos. You should pause
this episode and go listen to that song and watch
that video. Holy crap. Standing outside the fire. A plus song,

(55:00):
A plus video. Operator, won't you put me on through?
I'm going to send my love down to Baton Rouge. Yeah,
call in Baton Rouge. Jam. That song originally recorded by
New Grass Revival. Then, it was recorded by Garth, got
the Garth treatment, and... Crazy. One night a day. American

(55:24):
Honky Tonk Bar Association. American Honky Tonk Bar Association. They
were heartfelt ballads. They were rowdy anthems. In pieces sold
over 10 million copies in the U.S.

Speaker 6 (55:36):
Alone.

Speaker 1 (55:37):
And that was just back then. That's crazy. Making it
one of the best-selling albums of the decade. And then
there were the concerts, obviously. Garth's 1993 tour was legendary.
He wasn't just singing the songs. He was putting on
a full rock show, swinging ropes, smashing through walls of smoke,
running across stage like a man possessed. As I can
tell you, haven't seen Garth. Now, I didn't go in 93,

(56:01):
but I've been a couple or a few times since.
It's a big show. I've been lucky enough to have
Garth play six feet from me in a room of
like 10 people. I recommend it, by the way. But
I've also been to the big shows. I've never seen
someone put their arm around every single person in the

(56:21):
crowd like Garth does. Because he ain't really touching you.
Because that'd be weird if he walked around and just
touched everybody. But it feels like that. I watched him
sing If Tomorrow Never Comes. And I said that wrong.
The entire audience sang it. He sang one word. Sometimes

(56:42):
and stopped. And he just pounded his chest to keep rhythm.
And he would play a chord on guitar occasionally. And
everybody sang the whole song. And it was amazing. But
he was doing that. He had us all. He was
touching us all. Well, sort of. Garth is a cultural phenomenon. Legacy-wise,
In Pieces was the album that to a lot of

(57:04):
people proved that Garth's success wasn't a fluke or even
a fad. It showed that He could keep innovating. He
had been innovating, but could he keep doing it? The
answer is yes. Could he keep making great songs? Yes.
Could he keep selling out arenas year after year? Yes.
That album, that tour, that year of 1993 cemented his

(57:28):
status as not just the biggest star in country music,
but one of the biggest stars in the world. So
there you have it, friends. The top 10 country music
events of 1993. 1993 was the year the genre became
larger than life. I'd put a pin in it in
93 to go. This is when it freaking blew up.

(57:50):
Acts were filling stadiums. They were crossing over into pop culture.
They were dominating award shows. And they were producing songs
that still today are as dominant as ever. Thank you
for listening to another episode in this series. You're not
going to believe this. But the next episode, 1994. Yep.

(58:10):
I know you wouldn't believe it. 1994 is next after 93.
All right. Thanks again. And we'll talk to you soon.