Country Music in the 90’s: The Year is 1994

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3:07We will rewind the clock to 1994. A year when country music wasn't just riding the wave of popularity is pretty much building an empire. We will dive into big names that are cementing their legacy at this point and also new faces getting big breakthrough hits. And songs we still love and sing today. But without spoiling anymore, let's get right to it. This is the top 10 events in country music for the year of 1994. If we're going to start this 1994 journey anywhere, it has to be with one of the boldest, most important and most unexpected hits of the entire decade. I'm talking about Martina McBride and Independence Day. Now, here's the thing about Martina in the early 90s. She wasn't yet superstar we know her as today. She wasn't filling her reinies on her own. She wasn't a guaranteed CMA nominee every year. She was still very much hustling and clawing her way up to ladder.

4:07In a Nashville scene that was very much dominated by had acts or balladiers. People that sang slow songs. Her path in a country music very humble, very determined. Martina grew up in Sharon Kansas and she grew up on a farm. The kind of place where music was less about glamor and more about tradition. She cut her teeth singing in the family band. The shifters. Before making the leap to Nashville. Like so many before, she had to take whatever works she could find whenever she got to town. If that was a regular job or if it was demo singing, which a lot of people did. Session work, selling t-shirts at Garth Brooks concerts. Basically being the merch person. Just so she could make ends meet. Just so she could possibly record music. Just so she could possibly be the very famous Martina McBride. Here's a cool twist of fate. It was Garth who helped to give her that first big break. Yeah, her t-shirt boss. He recognized her talent.

5:07Suddenly Martina went from selling shirts in the merch booth to standing under the lights. For the same guy in front of thousands of people. That is a career upgrade. Her debut album The Time has come came out in 1992. People liked it. But it did not make a major splash. Her second album The Way I Am 1993 was stronger. Little more grit. Little more confidence. And buried in that track list was a song written by Gretchen Peters. It would turn out to be a career defining anthem. Yada Independence Day. Now let's be clear about something. This was not your average 90s country single. It wasn't a love song. It wasn't a drinking song. It wasn't a line dance anthem. It was a story song. I want a lot of those in the 90s. And a heroing song at that. It told the tale of domestic abuse through the eyes of a young daughter watching her mother finally take control of her life in the most extreme way possible by burning down the house on the 4th of July.

6:08That is not light listening. That is not some radio jam. That's not what radio people said they were looking for. And yet Martinez sang it with such conviction, such power. Despite the song being a big hit with country music fans. It peaked it only number 12 on the chart. But the reason why it never hit number one was a bit surprising. I talked with Martina about this a few years ago. And I asked her why that song. That we know and love that is a gigantic anthem never made it higher on the chart. Here's what she said. You know, we had a lot of resistance at radio with that song. And I think it was really because she burned the house down. You know, it was like she was taking, she took action that just didn't sit very well with a lot of radio people. There's our. And so it's funny because I was so passionate about that song. Like it literally changed my life, not career only career wise, but just my awareness and my, you know, wanting to try to help some way. And all the letters that I got and the people that I talked to and heard their stories.

7:08And it was so big for me. And so my pro bon guy once again, Mike Wilson came to me and he said, I think we're losing the song. I don't think that it's going to make it. And I was like, what? How is this possible? And he goes, well, there's maybe 20 stations that refuse to play it. And I said, can I talk to them? Can you give me their numbers? And I want to have a conversation. And he was like, uh, sure, I guess like that's not usually done. But I guess so. And so I got on the phone with these guys. And I was just like, talk to me like tell me what is it? And some of them would say we just don't think it's appropriate that it's on our station. Oddly enough, independence day came out maybe seven weeks before Nicole Brownson's and was murdered. So all of a sudden, it was on that story was everywhere. And so I was, I said, you know, it's interesting because you're talking about domestic violence every day, several times a day on your newscast, right? Yeah, you don't feel like this song can be listened to or whatever. And I turned a cup, feel of them around. There were 10 stations that never did play it. One guy said to me, that video, like if I'm sitting with my daughter and that video comes on,

8:13then I have to talk to her and explain things. And I'm like, yeah, dude. I'll be in the ad. That's maybe not a bad idea. So it was interesting. It's just a different time, you know. Is it odd when people just think that song is about Fourth of July? Yeah. Like on Fourth of July, you hear the song. And like, no, it's not the same thing, guys. We're talking about literal independence day of America. Yeah. Because I think a lot of people don't know what that song is about still. But then so many people do. And that's, you know, that's the song that I've heard and thought to myself, somebody needs to hear this song. This is going to be the song for somebody. Yeah. And you know, then I get letters people saying, I got in the car and I heard that song in the radio. And that's, I decided I'm out of here. I've had enough, right? So it's like, that's the power, that's not me. That's the power of music and the power of the song. Today, this song is still her top streamed song. It's crazy to think it got that kind of pushback. But now I want to go back to what made Martinez so great and the song so popular. First, there was a voice. Man, she could sing. Still can sing. Soaring. Powerful. Crystal clear. Capable of like that Whitney type force.

9:16But also keeping country music tradition in her voice. If that's the thing, you know, she delivered that chorus. Lead freedom ring. Just like that. You might have thought that was a clip of her singing. It was me. It was fantastic. It almost felt like, you know, somebody singing at church too. Like somebody's testifying. The music video was crazy. Directed like a short film. And we started to see a lot of this in the 90s, where artists would invest in music videos because there was now a place for them, which was CMT. In this video, depicted the story in haunting detail of a little girl, watching her mom after years of abuse. And she sets the house ablaze. Fireworks fill the sky. It was like a movie. I mean, it was cinematic. Unforgettable if you watched it because I can still remember it. And I haven't seen it in forever. In 1994 at one, CMA video of the year. Proof that while radio was a little scaredy cat. Oh, I'm so scared. Now, the industry recognized the brilliance of that video. The cultural impact was enormous. You had advocacy groups against domestic violence embracing the song.

10:21They were using it to raise awareness. They were using it to spark conversations about an issue that had long been swept under the rug because nobody wanted to talk about it. For countless listeners, especially women, it wasn't just a song. It was validation. It was empowerment. It was proof that country music could and would tackle serious subjects and find the beauty in the telling of those stories. And then in one of the strangest twists of history, the song found new life after the 9-11 attacks. Suddenly, it's chorus. I'm not singing at this time. Let Freedom Ring was reinterpreted as a patriotic cry. Divorced from its original narrative, of course. But it became a staple at rallies, especially the chorus. Sometimes only the chorus because it didn't make sense if you played the whole song. But on TV specials, even at sporting events. I mean, that's the mark for a truly great song when you think about it. It lives multiple lives, carrying different meanings for different audiences, long after its original release. From Martina, 1994 was the year she stopped being just one of those promising young singers

11:25and really became a true artist. Independence Day announced her to the world, not just as a vocalist, but as a force. Someone unafraid to use her talent to sing about tough subjects. Someone capable of elevating country music beyond clichés. Into something deeper. And the legacy is massive. I mean, to this day, Independence Day still Martinez Signature Song. It's the one fans demanded every show. It's the one critics cite when they talk about the best country singles of the 90s. It's the one nerdy podcasters talk about when they talk about greatest songs of 1994. I don't know why I got so high pitch there, but it's the one that proved country music could be socially relevant without losing its heart. So yeah, Independence Day. Only number 12 on the charts. But in terms of impact, it was number one in every way that mattered. In 1994, Martina McBride went from opening act to one of the most powerful voices of her generation. And she did it, well, by not playing it safe, by taking a risk on a song that demanded attention and then continued to demand attention

12:30and then sparked conversation. And that is Martina McBride. Number nine. Let's go over and talk a little more about her old buddies, Brooks and Dunn. They deserve to be talked about again. If Martina McBride gave us the goose bumps moment of 1994, Brooks and Dunn gave us the party soundtrack. Because let's be real in mid 1990s, nobody, and I mean nobody could touch this duo when it came to keeping hockey talks and arenas electric. By the time 1994 rolled around, Brooks and Dunn were no longer the hot new act, they were the act. Their debut album, Brand New Man, 1991, Neon Moon, Bootscoot and Boogie, Brand New Man, all those singles. I mean, that album was such a jam. Like, how do you even compete with that? And Bootscoot and Boogie, like, that's the one that started all the line dancing. Like, that's the one that got Billy Ray going. Then in 1993, they dropped their sophomore album, Hardwork and Man.

13:32They did it again. Well, then the question was, okay, here comes 1994. We know these guys are good, but is there any way to catch lightning at about three times? Oh yeah. Waiting on sundown. That was the record. Right out of the gate, the album set the tone. She's not the cheatin' kind. It was not flashy. It was not a novelty tune. You did not go out and line dance to this song. Well, eventually you did, but not at first anyway. It was classic, Ronnie Dunn. Rich, aching voice, major little sad, the single shot to number one and reminded everyone that yeah, the band could do the Bootscoot and but man, they could still deliver deep, emotional storytelling songs as well. And by the time it was all said and done, waiting on sundown sold over three million copies, making it one of the best-selling country albums of the year. And look, 1994 was stacked. So you're like, yeah, of course, they sold a bunch of records. They're super famous. They were probably like five records that came out.

14:33Not true at all, because 1994 had George Strait, Alan Jackson, Reba, Tim McGraw. The fact that Brooks and Dunn still managed to stay the tallest in a crowded field showed you how unstoppable and loved they were. And then awards, we'll go back to it. 1994 CMA Awards, Brooks and Dunn Vocal Duo of the Year. At this point, it was almost become a comical. From 1992 to 2006, they won their award 14 times. Don't even put other people in the category. You know, fans just assumed that if you showed up to the CMAs, the trophies already had Brooks and Dunn's name engraved on them. Waiting on sundown, massive hit, and continue to let people know that Brooks and Dunn were not one trick ponies or two trick ponies or eight trick ponies. And they were ponies that didn't need tricks. They were just awesome. I was talking with Kicks Brooks, and we were talking about his journey after he made the move to Nashville. And if you ever thought about giving up on his dream as a country music singer. When I got to town, this was the first place I had ever been where I couldn't make a living plan

15:36my guitar. I mean, it was, and I was everybody, everybody trying to do it. Yeah, it was just there weren't any, and there's not enough places. Yeah, if there's a cover band or something, but everybody played for free, everybody's trying to get noticed, you know? I mean, I auditioned and played at the Bluebird all the time. It's actually where, you know, like in the movies, I got discovered Bob Dool, who wound up managing Garth Brooks, was working at ASCAP, saw me playing at the Bluebird, invited me to his office the next day, introduced me to Don Genton. Don got me, you know, my first couple of cuts and gave me a publishing deal. I mean, that's the Nashville story. It is. I don't know. Somebody sees you. Did you, were you like a pitcher who was being scouted? Were you the scouts were in the stands that night? No, I didn't have, really didn't have anything going. And what I learned was, my songs weren't that good. I'd written a lot of songs, and me and David Lee Murphy were sweeping floors for Charlie Daniels. We got 30 bucks a night for sweeping the award memorial work for the, for the musicians, all the famous right now. I'm not kidding. And we worked security. We worked the barricade behind the barricade to keep people from jumping on the stage.

16:39And then we, we'd work the dressing room, you know, when after the show was over, making sure nobody got in there or anything. And then we sweep the floors. Did you ever almost give up? No. I shouldn't say that. I mean, there were probably times, you know, if you're a songwriter, and I had, you know, like four number ones and quite a few cuts and had some, you know, good years, but it was 10 years before I met Ronnie. And there's, there was valleys in there where I went, I'm not making that much money. I got a couple of kids now. You know, where does this go from here? You know, I'm not really hot right now. I've got a publishing deal, but, you know, three or four hundred bucks a week, whatever I was making. You have to keep you in the game, you know, at all ways. I was fortunate that, you know, people believed on Emmy here or there, even people that were doing advertising jingles and that kind of stuff. I always had some singing going on too. And I, you know, had a couple of record deals that was on Capitol, you know, didn't pan out, but people were aware. And I guess that's how eventually, Tim Dubois felt like, you know, it was a good enough singer that me and Ronnie Dunn might make some noise.

17:43So while Martini McBride gave 1994, it's most powerful anthem. Brooks and Dunn gave 1994. Well, a big ol' sign that said, I'm here to stay. They were the ones soundtracking the Friday nights. They were the ones film the dance floors. They were the ones packing arenas. And in 1994, with waiting on sundown, they put another telemark in the, we're awesome category. Hang tight. The bobby cast will be right back. When I was 14 years old, I was kidnapped and health captive for nine months. I survived. And I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart. And these are the survivor files. You just remember this low taunting voice next to my ear saying, shut up, don't play anything. Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable. I knew if he woke up, without a doubt, he was going to hurt me. I started feeling that there was someone at the end of my bed,

18:45and I just started screaming. They are abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced. But these aren't stories about what's taken from them. Their stories about what it takes to make it out alive. Listen to the survivor files with Elizabeth Smart on the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. On the new podcast, Solita, we share the messy reality of traveling alone as a woman. I can wait four hours for the next bus, or this random dude is offering me a ride on his motorcycle. I choose option B. I'm Julie Pinierro, and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can say yes, without asking anyone else first. I'm on a mission to reclaim the word Solita. Trading the pity for possibility. Every time I try to be alone, I kept meeting people, and they were like, you smiled at us, not a lot of people smile around here. It's when you're alone that you're most receptive to the world as it is,

19:46and not the lies you're sold about it. It can be a time where you push your limits, change your mind, or wake up to a new version of yourself. So whether you're a solo travel veteran or you're too nervous to book your first trip, I hope you listen to Solita on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you're a bookshelf and you're for you page are equally important to your personality, welcome home. This is Pro's Society, the weekly podcast that's part book club, part group chat for thought daughters, pop culture obsessives, and anyone who thinks pride and prejudice and love island deserve the same level of discourse. I'm Eli Rallo and every week we're connecting the dots between books, the internet, and the conversations everyone can't stop having. I'm gonna have to look up this story. From bestselling authors and your favorite book talk creators to the latest pop culture moments, nothing is off the table. So like if you can hide some real messages inside compelling characters and that is the Trojan horse,

20:50whether you're looking for literary deep dives, smart pop culture conversations, or a community of readers who love to think a little too much, you're in the right place. Listen to Pro's Society on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. See you between the pages. That call was really pivotal for me. Hey, it's Emily Tish Sussman and this season on She Pivots, the podcast where women share bold career moves and personal turning points that changed everything. I sit down with culture shifting women who share their pivots, like Para Olympian Alley Truett. I was like I'm a month out from a shark attack. There's no way in 11 months I'm making the very little index. Advocate Elizabeth Smart. I still feel that drive that I can still make a difference, so I'm gonna keep going. Celebrity chef Carla Hall was that scary to walk away from such a stable career after just two years? No, I was more afraid of being unhappy than I was broke and in a dead and job that I didn't enjoy. And feminist legend, Gloria Steinem. All of us were trying to express women's real lives.

21:54We need a meeting place of our own and if I can contribute to that, I'd like to maintain that and leave this house for that purpose. Listen to She Pivots on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Self-care September is here, which means it's time to rethink what self-care actually means. Yes, self-care can be a long walk, it can be in everything shower, it can be putting your phone on, do not disturb, but sometimes it's actually about sitting with the uncomfortable stuff. And understanding your patterns, your boundaries, finally figuring out why you keep doing things that you swore you would never do again. I'm Gemma Speg, the host of the Psychology of Your 20s podcast, and each week we unpack the psychology behind the experiences that shape your 20s. From relationships and friendships to money, anxiety, confidence, attachment, just becoming more comfortable with who you are. Unlike the quarter-life crisis which is depicted as the collapse, the quarter-life reinvention is the expansion and the course of something. When we develop the ability to be happy by ourselves, nobody else can take that from you.

22:56So this self-care September, don't just take care of yourself, get to know yourself as well. Listen to the psychology of your 20s on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Number 8. Okay, so if Brooks and Dunn gave us the party soundtrack in 1994, then John Michael Montgomery gave us the slow dance. And not just any slow dance, the wedding song of the decade. You know what I'm talking about. I swear, let's rewind a bit. John Michael Montgomery comes on to the scene in 1992 with his debut album, Life's a Dance. That record instantly put them on the radar. The title track hits top five, and then, I loved the way you loved me. Goes all the way to number one. Suddenly, everybody in country music is saying, okay, this guy, not a one-hit wonder. He definitely had a unique style that blended a smooth emotional delivery

23:59with a little twang to kept the country, but polished enough that it still felt fresh. So okay, let's fast forward to 1993. He records Iceware. By early 1994, it's everywhere. Four-week straight, number one, Billboard Hot Country Song Chart. Now keep in mind, this was during peak competition in the mid-90s. He had Garth selling at stadiums, George Strait, Crankin' Not Number One's, Reba Unstoppable, Alan Jackson dominating radio, Brooks and Dunn tearing it up, and somehow, John Michael Montgomery's ballad cuts through all of that. And then, this is where the story gets wild. All for one releases their version just a few months later. Same song. Same structure. Just with a smooth 90s R&B treatment. Their version absolutely explodes. 11 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, a Grammy win. Suddenly, you've got one song at the top of both the pop and country worlds at the same time. This was basically unheard of in the 90s.

25:01I asked John Michael if he knew the R&B group would be cutting their own version of that song. This is what he said. I had Rick Bichburn, he wanted me with me one day. So I met with him and he was like, look, he said, what do you think about going pop with the song? You going pop? Me going pop with it. Interesting. And I just told him I said, Rick, I don't care anything about it. I don't want to be a pop singer. I think the song is definitely good enough to go pop, but I said just to be honest with you, I'm happy with where I'm at. I want to be considered a country music singer, not a crossover or any of that kind of stuff. He said, I have to tell you, there's another group of Atlantic New Yorkers going to put out on the R&B section that they want to put it out. And I was like, let them do it. He said, well, I just wanted to ask you, talk to you about it first. I guess he just didn't want me to be surprised. You know, too much for that lady. Were you happy or you unhappy that they were doing it? I really felt like the song was was bigger than me anyway. I thought it was just the song exploded. I was like, wow, this thing is huge,

26:01I kind of felt like the song deserves to be heard by another genre. Another, you know, I mean, it's just that good. And when it came out, I was like, I was actually kind of wanting to see how they did it. You know, it's like, how are they going to do this differently? You know, then I did. They pulled it off nicely. John Michael Montgomery's album, Kicking It Up, dropped in January, 1994. And a debut at number one on the Country Albums Chart, even cracks the top five on the Billboard 200, which is all formats. That album went triple platinum over three million sold for context. That puts them shoulder to shoulder with Garth and Alan in terms of sales for that year. Except it wasn't just I swear. Would you want to, would you be my baby tonight? That was a jam right there. Do my baby tonight. Also, wrote the moon, a softer ballad, landed top five. If you've got love, keep the streak alive. Another top 10. Four big singles, one album all in one year. That is a monster run. And the industry definitely took notice. The song won single of the year at the CMAs.

27:02It also won single record of the year and song of the year at the ACMs. That's like hitting the cycle in baseball. It is extremely rare. Now critics back then said JMM was too soft. Yeah, he was definitely softer than the routier bootstomping hat acts of the era. The fans don't care. The numbers proved it. In 1994, he was one of the only artists to have a country single at number one. A multi-platinum album and crossover recognition. Again, all in the same year. And to this day, I swear. Still one of the most popular wedding songs in country music history. It's on every 90s country playlist. And honestly, it kind of paved the way for those country pop crossover moments like Chennai and Faith that they would have a couple years later. So yeah, 1994, that was the year of John Michael Montgomery. He went from being the new guy to watch to headliner. And I swear it wasn't just as big as hit. It was one of the defining ballads of the entire decade. Number seven.

28:03Chennai Atwane begins recording The Woman in Me. Okay, let's shift gears for a second. While a lot of artists in 1994 were lighting up the charts, Chennai Atwane was doing something a little different. She wasn't top and radio that year. She wasn't winning awards. She wasn't even on the charts that much. What was she doing? She was in a studio quietly putting together a now-bomb that would flip country music upside down. Now her story to this point is pretty interesting. Chennai had released herself titled debut in 1993. It had a little traction. I mean, a couple of songs got radio play, but nothing earth shattering. Nashville was not betting on her to be the next Riba or the next Winona. I mean, to most in the industry, she was just another talented singer that was trying to find her lane. Then she met Mutlang. And if you know rock, you probably know Mutl. He was the mastermind behind Deaf Leppers Estaria, ACDC's Back in Black, Forner's biggest records. Basically, the guy who knew how to make songs sound huge.

29:05And he and Chennai hit it off personally and professionally. They got married in 1993. And almost immediately, they started working on her second record. So in 1994, while everyone else was chasing hits on country radio, Chennai and Mutl were tucked away in the studio. And what they were cooking up was, well, unlike anything Nashville had really ever heard before. These weren't straight ahead country songs. They had fiddles and still guitars, yeah. But they layered in big giant hooks, like glossy harmonies, production tricks that pulled right out of arena rock. Again, see all those bands I talked about earlier? I mean, think any man of mine. Who's bad have your boots been under? Songs that would end up sounding as comfortable on top 40 as they did on country stations. And it just wasn't that the sound was different. Chennai herself was rewriting the playbook for how a female country star could look and carry herself. Let me forget the girl next door vibe. She was glamorous and stylish and bold.

30:05Photo shoots look more like fashion spreads. Later in videos, she'd have confidence. She'd have attitude. She wasn't waiting for Nashville's permission. She's pretty much making her own rules. By the end of 94, the album was finished. The woman in me was ready. But here's the thing. At the moment, nobody knew what was about to happen. Because it wouldn't hit shelves until early 95. Oh yeah, by the way, it would sell over 12 million copies in the US alone, rack up Grammy wins, and basically kick off the entire country pop crossover wave that would define the second half of the 90s. But in 1994, still under wraps. Just a secret revolution hiding in a Nashville studio waiting to be unleashed. I have a feeling we're going to dive more into that in the next episode. I was talking with Chennaiya and we got into talking about her move from Canada to Nashville as a young artist. So I wanted to play that for you. I literally drove here from Timmans, put everything in the back of my Jimmy. That was my vehicle at the time and loaded that up with everything I could possibly put in there.

31:10I had no money and I just drove the three days to Nashville and I got a little bit of cash from the label. You know, first and last month's rent on an apartment in Brentwood. And here I was. Were you famous in Canada already before you came down? No, I was signed to Nashville, not Canada. I didn't have a record dealing Canada. I'd never released a record in Canada. I was still a stage singer, a club singer, singer-songwriter. So I went straight from that to Nashville. Now let's do my 1994. As I was digging into the shared, there were a lot of things that I was really into. I think too because I was starting to be a little older. Like I was a teenager. I kind of got culture. I love music. And I'm going to put the O.J. Simpson, the chase, the arrest, the trial begins. Like all that, we're going to put here in 1994. That white Bronco chase becomes one of the biggest TV moments ever.

32:11Here's what happened. I was playing Men's League softball on my stepdad's team. And so I was probably a little too young to be playing with grown men, but they needed a player. And you know what? For a 14-year-old, I was pretty salty as far as an outfielder, as far as a Men's League softball player. I was all right. So we were out. And it was a double-header night. So we played a game. I'm going to say like 630. There was an hour off. And then we had another game at like 845. In the middle of those two things that O.J. Simpson chase happened. Now there weren't cell phones. But over at the concession stand, they had TVs hanging down. And everybody kept slowly moving towards the TVs and talking. And so there was no game. We were waiting for our second game anyway. And we all walked over and watched the freaking O.J. Simpson Bronco chase at the Men's League softball game. I remember it's so vivid and I got home and then it just was everywhere.

33:11It was everywhere. To me, that's really how I knew O.J. Simpson first. I mean, I knew he was running back in the day, but it was before I even watched sports. He was in, I guess, naked gun or airplane or one of those like, slappy move. But that was before me too. He did commercials. That was before me. I really didn't know him except for kind of a TV announcer. But man, he was the most famous person in the whole world. And I remember watching that Bronco chase with a bunch of men's league softball players. Also in 1994, one of the best movies of all time. And this is one of those massive years too for movies. But 1994, a four scump came out. I went to the movies and saw it. I loved it then. I love it now. The story of that movie too, just being like a script that somebody found and like the discarded pile and they read it and then championed it. Look into that. It is crazy. But if I'm, you know, the king of picking the greatest American movies of all time,

34:14and they tell me that's my job to preserve 15 movies for the next generation I'm putting for a scump in there. So 1994 made one of the best movies of all time. Now I wasn't a Pulp Fiction fan so much even now. I'm not going to say it's overrated. It just wasn't for me. But what was crazy was Pulp Fiction came out too right around the same time. 1994, I was really in the grunge. You know, we talked about it a couple years back. We talked about it because never mind that Nirvana album came out. I knew every song on it. Not only that, one of my favorite albums still today is Nirvana Unplugged. And it was pretty soon after they recorded Nirvana Unplugged that Kurt Cobain died, committed suicide. And so that happened in 1994. And that was pretty crazy. I didn't even really understand suicide so much. It hadn't happened in my family. And there wasn't social media.

35:15So you really didn't stay connected to artists. Anyway, other than their music, maybe an occasional spot on MTV, maybe on a magazine. If you looked at magazines when you're at the grocery store, and Kurt Cobain usually wasn't on the magazines in the checkout, you had to go to the magazine section. I guess you get a poster. But I was a big Nirvana fan. I just remember it being crazy when Kurt Cobain died. Wasn't like sad because again, it was a different connection then. It was mostly a connection to a body of work more than it was a person. I think later as you learn the stories of people and you realize all he was going through, all of his struggles, that he was really never quite happy. He made this wonderful art and his life ended way too soon. But that is 1994. And as much as that was, I'm not going to say a season of music ending for me, but a season of me loving Nirvana.

36:16And I still love Nirvana, but that ended. But weasers began because weasers released the blue album. And when I say this is my 1994, if you know what I look like, this is going to be much easier to understand. Because I wear extremely thick dark-rimmed glasses. Do you know why? I think you know where this is going. I know you do. Rivers Cuomo, the lead singer, Weaser. He was a nerd. And I thought he was the coolest guy ever. Mixed in a little buddy, Holly. That was my inspiration for my eyewear. I loved. Slash, love. Weaser in 1994 was what introduced us to Weaser with the blue album. All the hits. And Weaser had a couple generations, which is pretty cool.

37:17There have only been a couple bands to successfully be massive. Take a break. Come back and be massive again. Definitely Green Day is one of them. They had a couple. They had the dukey version of Green Day. And then they came back. And they did. You know, wake me up before September ends and all that. Green Day is one of them. The Red Hot Chili Peppers. That's one of them. There's like two versions. And there's Weaser. I mean, heck. Weasers still putting out songs. Then into topping the charts. But this blue album allowed me to nerd out for a second. My name is Jonas. What a great first song. Buddy Holly, obviously. The sweater song. If you want to destroy my sweater. Say it ain't so. Say it ain't so. Oh, all in dreams. I could continue to go this album. As much as Nirvana made me go.

38:19I'm angry. This album made me go. You know what? I'm kind of cool that I'm a nerd. Loved Weaser than some of my most famous. I shouldn't not even famous. So my most fun concert experiences. Or at Weasers shows. A couple of years ago, a company was hosting this client event in Las Vegas. And there was a massive client that were trying to get to come and advertise with the company. Maybe not so much on my show. And they said, hey, would you come out? It was kind of last minute going to Vegas. Pretty far trip. I did not think I was going to be able to make it. And they said, you'll meet the client. And it's going to be at a private Weasers show. I'm in. I'm in. I'm there. And I went. And there were probably 70 people. And I met with the client. And I think the client ended up buying some time with the company. Heck, I'm not sure. And I stood four feet from Weasers they played. And I sang every song. It's on my Instagram.

39:19I don't know how far back you go. But it's on my Instagram. It is one of the coolest concert. And that wasn't a real concert. But one of the coolest musical experiences of my life doing that that client meeting at a private Weasers show. And I did get to interview Rivers Cuomo. And when we were doing American Idol, now I was doing America. I guess we. I think if you're listening to me, you're part of We. Just so you know, that's mostly how I feel. If you're listening to this, I feel like we're a Wee. When I was doing American Idol, one of the years, during the celebrity sing along, where the celebrities come out and sing with the contestants, how Weasers was one of the bands. And so I went on their bus. And that blue album, I got all four of them to sign it. And it's in my studio now. It's in the Bobby Cast studio. All four of them sign the vinyl. It's pretty cool. So I want a little heart on Weaser. But that's the year that the blue album came out. That's what's up. We talked last year in 1993 about home improvement and how big that was. I do want to mention this.

40:21Tim Allen had the number one TV show, had the number one book and had the number one movie with the Santa Claus, which is still top three all-time Christmas movies to me. So there you have it. 1994, big year. Like just looking at it as far as like not my 1994, the OJ Bronco Chase, friends this premiere of that show. Now I didn't watch it religiously for a couple more years. So I couldn't really put that in. Jim Carrey handed up having Ace Ventura. I was like, what even is this? And it was awesome. But that year, Jim Carrey crushed because it was Ace Ventura, the Mask and Dumb and Dumb are all come out. So 1994, the one bad thing I will say about 1994 that affected me was the MLB strike. I hated that sucked. Now I get it. As an adult, like I get what they were striking. But yeah, that sucked. So there you have it. That is my Weezer Filled

41:231994. Number six, number six, number six. Okay, let's lighten things up a little bit. Who better to do that than Joe Diffie? Joe was out there making everybody laugh and sing along with one of the most purely fun songs of the decade. And that is pickup man. By this point, Joe already had a reputation. He was the guy that could hit you with a heartfelt ball in one minute, like if the devil danced in empty pockets or shifts it don't come in. And then turn around and drop something completely goofy, like John Deere Green. He was not trying to be the most polished or the flashiest. He was just this warm, approachable guy with an Oklahoma draw and a heck of a haircut. Then came his 1994 album, Third Rock From The Sun. And the crown jewel of that record was pickup man. The whole premise. Simple, funny. Drive truck. Suddenly, you're irresistible. It's tongue and cheek, it's clever, it's delivered with that signature Joe Diffie Green. I mean, you can set my truck on fire. Roll it down a hill.

42:23And let's do a wooden trade at Fora Coup de Ville. That's classic Diffie. Every truck loving fan in America. In their truck nodding along. The song hit radio in the fall of 94, it didn't just chart. Prepare for the pun. It parked itself at number one for four straight weeks. That four week run made it Joe's longest running chart topper. And the video was fun. Trucks everywhere. Joe planted up, CMT spinning at nonstop. And here's where it gets even better. Pickup man didn't just stay in country radio. It bled into pop culture. The song popped up in commercials. sitcom references. And years later, Jason Aldine even gave it a shout out in his 2013 Tribute Song 1994, which did go Joe Joe Joe Diffie. You can still play those opening lines today of that song and watch a crowd light up. Surely before Joe passed, him and I were talking about this song reaching the commercial success it did years after it was released. So I wanted to play that. They said that they were interested in using pickup man

43:23as a part of Apple Beach commercial. And so they sent me a CD of it, just the music and the lyrics change that they'd rewritten it basically. I just took stuck it into the thing. Red the lyrics, sing it down. Took me about an hour and I sent it back. I thought it was going to be like a presentation or a demo for them and they they used it. Oh, they used it. And they can't renew it. But it is like, this is great. I said, can I get some more of those commercials? Is that where it is? Like in the syncs of boy out. Yeah. Yeah. If you can get it. If you can get it. Get in one of those deals. That's pretty good deal. The second those first chords hit during a live show, people were on their feet. It wasn't about deep emotion or big drama. It was about joy. Friends elbowing each other, couples laughing. Everybody yelling the choruses at the top of their lungs. Critics would sometimes brush them off as the novelty guy. But I think they were missing the point. Joe Deppie was versatile. He could break your heart with the ballad. Or he could sing and make you forget about your worries with a sing along like pick up man.

44:27I never knew. Was pick up man. Honestly, versatility is why fans adore them. Pick up man still one of the defining fun songs of 90s country. Also watermelon crawl. Also chatohoochi. We could keep going, but I'm gonna hold. That song captured the humor. The lifestyle. The energy of the moment. You know, when country didn't take itself too seriously. In 1994, Joe Deppie didn't reinvent the genre. He just reminded us that sometimes country music is supposed to make smile. Number five. If Joe Deppie gave us laughs and pick up truck sing alongs in 1994, Pam Tillis gave us something else entirely. Eleants. Confidence. Improved that women were more than holding their own in the middle of the country boom. Now here's the thing about Pam. She could have coasted on her last name. She was Mel Tillis's daughter. Someone tried to use that as a golden ticket into Nashville, but not Pam. She didn't want to just be Mel's kid. She paid her dues, singing back up, writing songs for other people,

45:28even dabbling and pot for a while before planning her own flag and country music. And in the early 90s, she had broken through. Put yourself in my place. Gave us such songs like maybe it was Memphis, Jam. And don't tell me what to do. Fans could tell that she had her own voice, her own style. And by 1994, she was ready to make her big statement album, Sweetheart's Dance. Released that spring, it showed off every side of Pam. Spilled perfume was the lead single. Kind of a smoky, regretful mid-tempo track that climbed into the top five. Her vocal control in that song was powerful. But still restrained, if you can imagine. Like, go listen to that song again. Both powerful and restrained. Like, she knew exactly when to pull back and let the lyrics do the work. Then she switched gears. When you walk in the room, her cover of a Jackie D'Shanopop classic. Pam gave a little country polish. A little still guitar. But kept the joy of the original, it's a great cover.

46:30It hit the top five and it became a staple at her shows. Then the real breakthrough. Mivita Loka. My Crazy Life. Latin flavor, bold, playful, totally different from what anyone else was putting on the radio. And it worked because the song shot to number one. And that song made her impossible to ignore. And then the others just kept hitting. I was blown away. In between dances. By the end of the year, Sweetheart's Dance had gone platinum. And here's the payoff. At the 1994 CMA Awards, Pam tell us walked away with the trophy for female vocalist of the year. That was huge. In an era where Riva was dominating, and new voices like Faith Hill were emerging, Pam proved she belonged in the top tier. What set her apart wasn't just a music. It was definitely her presence. She had this mix of sophistication and approachability. She could make you cry. Let her sing spill perfume. And then she could have you at dancing with Mivita Loka. Fans connected. For many reasons for authenticity. Really the sense that she wasn't trying to be anybody else.

47:33The legacy of Sweetheart's Dance. It was the album that cemented Pam tell us. As more than just a name. It put her in the spotlight as one of the women lead in the genre in the mid 90s. In 1994, Pam tell us showed the world that women weren't just keeping up with the men of country music. They were also set in the pace at times. Hank Tite, The Bobby Cast will be right back. When I was 14 years old, I was kidnapped and health captive for nine months. I survived. And I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart. And these are the survivor files. You just remember this low taunting voice next to my ear saying, shut up. Don't say anything. Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable. I knew if he woke up. Without a doubt, he was going to hurt me. I started feeling that there was someone

48:34at the end of my bed. And I just started screaming. They are abducted, stocked, controlled, and nearly silenced. But these aren't stories about what's taken from them. Their stories about what it takes to make it out alive. Listen to the survivor files with Elizabeth Smart on the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. On the new podcast, Solita, we share the messy reality of traveling alone as a woman. I can wait four hours for the next bus, or this random dude is offering me a ride on his motorcycle. I choose option B. I'm Julie Beniero, and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can say yes without asking anyone else first. I'm on a mission to reclaim the word Solita, trading the pity for possibility. Every time I tried to be alone, I kept meeting people and they were like, you smiled at us, not a lot of people smile around here. It's when you're alone that you're most receptive to the world as it is

49:36and not the lies you're sold about it. It can be a time where you push your limits, change your mind, or wake up to a new version of yourself. So whether you're a solo travel veteran or you're too nervous to book your first trip, I hope you listen to Solita on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you're a bookshelf and you're for you page are equally important to your personality, welcome home. This is Pro's Society, the weekly podcast that's part book club, part group chat for thought daughters, pop culture obsessives, and anyone who thinks pride and prejudice and love island deserve the same level of discourse. I'm Eli Rallo, and every week we're connecting the dots between books, the internet, and the conversations everyone can't stop having. I'm going to have to look up this story. I'm obsessed, so obsessed. From bestselling authors and your favorite book talk creators to the latest pop culture moments, nothing is off the table. So like if you can hide some real messages inside compelling characters

50:39and that is the Trojan horse, whether you're looking for literary deep dives, smart pop culture conversations, or a community of readers who love to think a little too much, you're in the right place. Listen to Pro's Society on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. See you between the pages. That call was really pivotal for me. Hey, it's Emily Tish Sussman, and this season on She Pivots, the podcast where women share bold career moves and personal turning points that changed everything. I sit down with culture shifting women who share their pivots, like Para Olympian Alley Truett. I was like, I'm on out from a shark attack. There's no way in 11 months I'm making the verilandics. Advocate Elizabeth Smart. I still feel that drive that I can still make a difference, so I'm going to keep going. Celebrity chef Carla Hall was that scary to walk away from such a stable career after just two years? No, I was more afraid of being unhappy than I was broke and in a dead and job that I didn't enjoy. And feminist legend,

51:40Gloria Steinem. All of us were trying to express women's real lives. We need a meeting place of our own, and if I can contribute to that, I'd like to maintain that and leave this house for that purpose. Listen to sheep hivots on the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. Self-care September is here, which means it's time to rethink what self-care actually means. Yes, self-care can be a long walk, it can be an everything shower, it can be putting your phone on, do not disturb, but sometimes it's actually about sitting with the uncomfortable stuff. And understanding your patterns, your boundaries, finally figuring out why you keep doing things that you swore you would never do again. I'm Jenna Speg, the host of the psychology of your 20s podcast, and each week we unpack this psychology behind the experiences that shape your 20s, from relationships and friendships to money, anxiety, confidence, attachment, just becoming more comfortable with who you are. Unlike the quarter-life crisis which is depicted as the collapse, the quarter-life reinvention is the expansion and growth of something.

52:42When we develop the ability to be happy by ourselves, nobody else can take that from you. So this self-care September, don't just take care of yourself, get to know yourself as well. Listen to this psychology of your 20s on the iHot Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Number four! Let's zoom out for a minute for this next one because 1994 wasn't just about what you heard on the radio, it was also about what you were seeing on your TV. This was the year that CMT really broke through, and when CMT became a household name. Up until then, country music had mostly been an audio world. You heard the songs on the radio. Maybe you saw your favorite artist on an award show or a TV special, but that's pretty much it. In 1994, CMT expanded into tens of millions of homes across the US, and suddenly, country fans had a 24-hour channel devoted entirely to their music.

53:47The shift was huge. It meant country stars weren't just voices anymore. They were faces. They were personalities. They were brands that people could see every day in their living rooms. The genre started leaning into image in a way I really never had before, closed stage presence attitude. It all mattered now because it was on screen constantly. Here's the kicker it didn't just boost the established stars. It created a whole new pipeline for younger, rising artists to get national exposure. Young stars like Tim McGraw, Shania Twain, Faith Hill. If radio was still to gatekeeper, CMT was the shortcut. A clever, memorable video could make a name instantly recognizable, even if they didn't have a stack of hits. It also changed the way that fans interact with music. Country wasn't just something you listened to on a drive or on a hockey talk. It became something you watched. Families would turn on CMT and just leave it on for hours. So fans started connecting with artists.

54:49Not just through lyrics, but also through their style, through their humor, through their stage presence. By the end of 1994, it was clear the country music had fully entered the visual age. CMT had given the genre, new megaphone, the ripples were massive, careers were launched, fan bases grew, and the overall look of country music started catching up with the MTV generation. When mentioning the country boom of the 90s, it wasn't just bigger tours and higher record sales. It was also the fact that for the first time, country music was on screen everywhere you look. Let's take a quick pause from the countdown. Outside of country music, 1994 was also the year of a small stuffed animal turned into a national obsession. Yes, before LeBoubou's, there were beanie babies. Tai Inc, a small company at the time, had introduced them the year before. They were simple. Understuffed plastic pellets, they got flop around. Instead of just sitting stiff like most plush toys,

55:49nothing about that sounds revolutionary, but the marketing strategy was. In 1994, Tai began retiring certain designs, quietly pulling them from stores, making them unavailable. You know what that did? It built a sense of scarcity. Suddenly, parents were just buying toys for their kids. They were hunting collectibles. Words spread quickly. Secondary markets popped up where a $5 toy in 1994 could sell for hundreds of dollars. Shops couldn't keep them in stock. Lions would form when new shipments came in. Some schools even banned them because kids wouldn't stop trading them in the hallways. And it also wasn't just for children. Adults were buying them. Multiple. By the end of 1994, beanie babies had become one of the most talked about retail products in the country. They were featured in news reports and newspapers and being tracked and collectors price guides. Sales were climbing into the hundreds of millions. And Tai Inc was quickly becoming one of the most profitable toy companies in America.

56:54Of course, the bubble burst as they often do. But 1994, big year, turning point. The year beanie babies went from novelty toy to full-blown cultural phenomenon. And now, let's get back to the countdown. Number three, here's something easy to forget about in 1994. One of the biggest country stars of the next 30 years was just getting started and hardly anyone noticed. His name was Kenny Chesney. In April of 1994, Kenny released his first album in my wildest dreams. It was not a blockbuster release. The record came out on the independent label called Capricorn Records, which is a label better known at the time for Southern Rocked in Country. Distribution was limited. Radio promotion was minimal. And the album sold around 10,000 copies. Those numbers barely registered in the 90s. Now, here's why it matters. This was Kenny's entry point. He had grown up in a small town in East Tennessee. Gone to East Tennessee State University.

57:54And only picked up the guitar seriously in college. After moving to Nashville, he worked at the local circuit. He played bars. He did some songwriting rounds. He hustled to get noticed. And that Capricorn deal was his first shot at making records, even if it wasn't with one of the industry heavyweights. Musically, in my wildest dreams, leaned traditional. The songs at Halkytalk and small town themes. And they were delivered in a very straightforward, every man's style that Kenny would be later known for. The production was not flashy. And none of the singles made much impact on the radio. But the album gave him the experience of recording and the beginnings of an identity as an artist. The real turning point came after the records release. When bigger players in Nashville took notice. In 1995, he signed with B&A Records, a label with the resources and connections to push his career forward. From there, he very slowly started to gain momentum. First with smaller hits, then with platinum albums, and eventually the stadium tours that you know now,

58:56and the chart dominance that defined later the 2000s. Looking back in my wildest dreams, it did not move the needle in 1994. But it did actually create what would be Kenny Chesney's career. It was a modest beginning, but without that beginning, there wouldn't have been the great, well, what he is now. That foundation is what created everything else to follow. I asked Kenny who his mentors were, and then we talked about when he first moved to Nashville. Well, I was always drawn to the people that wrote their songs and went out and performed them, like Bruce Springsteen, like Jimmy Buffett. You know, what's crazy though is a kid growing up in East Tennessee. I didn't know the genius of that. You know, I was playing sports, and I heard Alabama on the radio, and I heard, you know, everything they played on WIVK and Knoxville, Tennessee. And that's what, that's the music I grew up on because that's the music my mom listened to all the time. But once I started writing songs, and I discovered the genius of all these people that I now call my heroes slash a little bit of friends,

59:58it opened up a whole new world to me. Because once you started doing it, you started to see how hard really hard it was. That's right. And until you get in the mix, it's hard to actually see how it's being made. Yeah. When I first started this, I moved to town, you know, several years ago, and was signed by Aikof Rose, which is now Sony, Sony bought Aikof Rose years ago. That's all I thought I was going to do. I had no idea that I was going to go out on the road, and I hoped I would. But I was so in love with the thought of creating. And given the world something that didn't exist yesterday, right? And so that's what really got me excited to get up every day. And so then it turned into this, which is, it's just the audience we built out there is really beautiful. But when I first came to town, I didn't know this existed. Number two. 1994 wasn't just about established stars. It was also a year when new voices broke through. One of the new voices was Faith Hill. Her debut album, Take Me As I Am, had come out at the tail end of 93,

1:01:02but it really hit in 94. The lead single, Wild One, spent four weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot Country Song chart, which may not sound unusual today. But here's the context. No female country artist had ever taken her debut single, Number One, for that long. It was a record setting start and instantly put Faith in a different category than the rest of the new covers. Her second single proved she wasn't a fluke. She covered Peace in My Heart, a song that had already been a sole classic from Janice Joplin, but she covered it in a country style. And that was a bold risk. But it paid off. The song climbed into the top 10 and introduced Faith to listeners who may not have normally tuned into country radio. The title track, Take Me As I Am, followed, gave her another top 10 hit, showing she could balance power ballads with strong mid tempo songs. By the end of 94, the whole album had been platinum, and Faith Hill had established herself as one of Nashville's brightest new stars. You know, part of her appeal was that she connected with fans.

1:02:02Now Faith had a polished, glamorous side that played well on the platform of country music television, CMT. But she also had that warm, approachable personality. She carried herself with confidence, but without the flash or drama that could sometimes overshadow an artist's music. That balance made her feel both relatable and star-ready, and in hindsight, 1994 was the foundation for everything that followed. This was the year she went from working behind the scenes in Nashville. I mean, she had once sold t-shirts at Reba concerts. Two standing center stage and her own right. Without Take Me As I Am, there is no this kiss, there is no breathe, and no eventual rise to global super-sardom. Faith's debut wasn't just a start of a career, it was one of the clearest signs in 1994 that a new generation, a female artist, was ready to take country music into the next decade. Number one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, that's not an effect, that's my voice. Number one!

1:03:03If Faith Hills, 1994 was about a star being born, Tim McGraws was about a star being rescued from the brink. Because here's the thing, his first album, released in 1993, was a flop. None of the singles cracked the top 40. In a town like Nashville where the next hungry singer is lined up, ready to go, that usually means you get one shot and you're done. Now I've become friends with Tim over the years, and once I asked him if he thought about quitting after his first album was a flop, this is what he said. When I decided to move to Nashville, I knew that this was what I was going to do, where I was going to be, whether I was going to be carrying somebody's guitar case, or I thought maybe it might be working at a publishing company, you know, pitching songs to artists or something like that. I knew I was going to be in this business, and I knew I was going to be here. So after the record doesn't do well, you're like, all right, load it up, let's do it again, let's give it a run. Well, I kind of fell off the radar with my record label at the time, because it didn't work, we didn't have any hits, and I was playing clubs all over the place. We were playing hundreds of clubs every year.

1:04:04And so I sort of just, on my own, went back into, started collecting these songs, and just went back in the studio and just didn't really tell anybody I was going back in the studio, and I think that I was off their radar so much that they didn't really realize it until I'd finished a record and turned a record in, and that was the not-em-all with too soon. It's so funny because you're as relevant today as you ever were, and I was looking at the top 90s country artists, and in terms of artists at number one, total weeks, you're number two only behind George Strait. He was at 49 weeks, you're at 40 after you was Garth, Alan Jackson, and Brooks, and Dunn. So you put out a record that doesn't do well, but that doesn't mean you can't do humongous, great things if the first shot you get at something in life doesn't go right. Well, if you learn from it, I think. Yeah, I did. What did you learn? I learned, you know, it was the first time I'd really been in a real studio, and I've done a few things that's just a small studio. It was the first time I really went in and saw how it worked, and I just started soaking it up instantly, and I think I had two great mentors and teachers in the studio, Byron Galtimore, who's still with me and James Stroud early on. Those guys taught me so much, and I learned so much right at the beginning about how records made, what it takes

1:05:07to make a record, how deep you have to think about the songs, how important the songs are. And I think that's the biggest thing that I learned, and still know and learn and understand. It's not about me singing the songs so much as finding great songs. The song is the most important thing in any music, because particularly in country music, I think that if you don't put the song first, then you're going to do your career disservice. In March of 1994, he released his second album, Not A Moment Too Soon. This time, everything clicked. The breakout moment came with Indian Outlaw. It was catchy, controversial, and possible to ignore. Believe it or not, that song cracked the top 10, but never reached number one. Once I asked him the origin story behind this song, and why he thinks it never went number one. There were a lot of stations I think it wouldn't play it, because it was so different at the time. And I guess I had a little controversy with what I did at the time, but not that big. But yeah, there were some stations that wouldn't play it. So I get that. But I think fortunate for me,

1:06:08is after having that song, because I thought to say, I loved that song. I heard that song the first night I moved to Nashville. When I moved to Nashville, it stayed at the Hall of Fame lounge, I don't know if you guys remember, it used to be the Hall of Fame lounge. And I stayed there when I first got to town. And the first night in town, I met Tommy Barnes, who wrote Indian Outlaw. And so he and Matt Vickery, who wrote The Fireman, met him in First Night in Town. And while Bill Emerson, who wrote some, some Hakeem's Jr. songs, I met those guys in the bar. And later that night, we all went up to the room I had rented there with the last money that I had when I moved to town. And we all sat around playing guitars and playing songs. And two songs that I would eventually cut ended up being heard that night was, I don't want to be there in the morning when she wakes up and finds me going. And Indian Outlaw, both of those songs, Tommy played for me that night. And when I put a band together and started playing clubs, I was playing Indian Outlaw for three or four years before, two or three years before I cut it. And I tried to cut it on my very first album, but I couldn't talk to anybody and to let me cut it. And then we cut it for the second album.

1:07:09After Indian Outlaw came out, the bala that changed it all was don't take the girl. That song turned him from a curiosity into a household name. It was emotional, cinematic, relatable. It followed a couple throughout childhood, young love and tragedy. The single shot to number one, Tim's first chart topper, and fans immediately connected with him on a deeper level. The moment did not stop there. Down on the farm, hit top five. Not a moment too soon, crushed as well. By December, that record had gone six times platinum, making it the best selling country album of 1994. Let me think about that. In the same year, all the legendary names with their prime, it was the guy that everybody had written off because of that big old flop he had in 93. At the 1994 ACM Awards, Tim won top new male vocalist. What set Tim apart was really no gimmicks, but he had a bunch of charisma. Boy next door type thing, women swooned, but guys also liked him too because they were like, that could be my friend, or he's kind of like me. Kids sang along, he was accessible without

1:08:14being ordinary. And here's a little hindsight. While 1994 was the year that Tim proved he belonged, it was also the year the stage was set for Tim and Faith. They weren't a couple yet, but history was already putting them on parallel tracks. The legacy of not a moment too soon, it's one of the greatest comeback stories in country music. It's like the Patriots, 23 come back on the Falcons in the Super Bowl. It's like the calves being down three to one in the finals to the Warriors. Tim McGraw went from almost being forgotten after a big old flop of a record to having the best selling country album of the year. All that happened in 12 months. And there was no TikTok back then. In 1994, Tim McGraw let everybody know he was here, he planned to stay in three decades later. He's as relevant as ever. So here's to 1994, the Anthems, the Ballads, the Party Songs, the Tear Jerkers, the Risks, the Rewards, and of course the OJ Simpson Police Chase and Big Shoutout Bini Baby The A-A. Thanks for checking out this episode. Come back,

1:09:18we'll get into 1995 next and follow us on socials at Bobby Cast. All right, cool. We'll see you next week. Love this episode of The Bobby Cast. Subscribe on iHeardRadio, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. What up this Jay Valentine co-host of the R&B Money Podcast alongside my brother, R&B Legend Tank. Together we've built a space for artists, executives, and fans of R&B music to reminisce and tell the real stories behind the music. I have no money, I was hood famous. They think you're gonna get everybody out. We lived in a project, and real love came out. They hear them music, and we had nothing. From Smokey Robinson to Mary J. Blige, B2K to Jill Scott. If you're a super dedicated R&B fan, this is where you belong. Listen to R&B Money from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeardRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Whether you're a seasoned NFL fan or new to the game, there's one place to keep up with all of it. The League's newest podcast, the NFL report posted by me, Andrew Siciliano. It is your home for

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1:11:25The matches that matter, the drama that doesn't, and the stories everyone's talking about. No cliches, no sugarcoding, just host analysts, from someone who's actually been there. Coco, looking real good, her surf looks so much smoother than it has in the past. I was really happy to see you go back to what she looked like a couple years ago and she was winning dominantly. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the iHeardRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey there everybody, Amy Robock and TJ Holmes here from the Amy and TJ podcast. We're going to cover everything you need to know during this heated political season. Yes, we just saw Lindsey Graham, the death of a long time senator. Also, we've got a couple of missing members of Congress. Also, we got a lot of members of Congress behaving badly. We got accusations, allegations flying all day long on Capitol Hill. Listen to Amy and TJ on the iHeard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your podcasts. This is an iHeard podcast. Guaranteed Human.