FREEDOM WAS A HIGHWAY

BRAD PAISLEY & JIMMIE ALLEN

SONGWRITERS: ASH BOWERS; MATT ROGERS & JIMMIE ALLEN

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: BETTIE JAMES

LABEL: STONEY CREEK RECORDS

GENRE: COUNTRY

YEAR: 2020

 

         Brad Douglas Paisley(born October 28, 1972) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Starting with his 1999 debut álbum Who Needs Pictures, he has released eleven studio albums and a Christmas compilation on the Arista Nashville label, with all of his albums certified Gold or higher by the RIAA. He has scored 32 Top 10 singles on the US Billboard Country Airplay chart, 19 of which have reached number 1. He set a new record in 2009 for the most consecutive singles (10) reaching the top spot on that chart.

          Paisley has sold over 11 million albums and has won three Grammy Awards, 14 Academy of Country Music Awards, 14 Country Music Association Awards, and two American Music Awards. He has also earned country music's crowning achievement, becoming a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Paisley also wrote songs for Pixar's Cars franchise("Behind the Clouds", "Find Yourself", "Collision of Worlds" with Robbie Williams, "Nobody's Fool", etc.).

       James Edward Allen (born June 18, 1985) is an American country music singer and songwriter. He is signed to Broken Bow Records imprint Stoney Creek, for which he has released the two singles "Best Shot" and "Make Me Want To" and the 2018 album Mercury Lane.

Woo!

(Oh-oh, oh-oh)

Sunset through a windshield

I can see it now like a picture in a frame

(Picture in a frame, oh-oh, oh-oh)

Blue jeans and t-shirts, who we were

We wore it like a name (like a name)

I wish I could go back to those days

 

When the town was the whole world

And love was the girl next door

Soundtrack was a song in the dark

I miss those days when our dreams

Were there for chasin'

But time was better wasted

We were summer young and livin' for a Friday

And freedom was a highway (oh-oh, oh-oh)

Freedom was a highway (oh-oh, oh-oh)

 

Barbwire on a fencepost with a crosswind

On a road no one was on (no one was on)

Yeah (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)

Five deep with our hands up

Just singin' along to a hip-hop song

I wish I could rewind and replay

 

When the town was the whole world

And love was the girl next door

Soundtrack was a song in the dark

I miss those days when our dreams

Were there for chasin'

But time was better wasted

We were summer young and livin' for a Friday

And freedom was a highway

Freedom was a highway

 

When you're 17 and drivin'

You don't think about the road runnin' out

No, no, no, no

You just keep your eyes on that horizon

'Cause you're wrapped up in now (ooh, ooh)

Hey (ooh yeah, ooh yeah) woo!

 

I wish I could go back to those days

When the town was the whole world

And love was the girl next door

Soundtrack was a song in the dark

I miss those days when our dreams

Were there for chasin'

But time was better wasted

We were summer young and livin' for a Friday

And freedom was a highway (freedom was a highway)

Freedom was a highway, baby (oh yeah)

 

And freedom was a highway (freedom was a highway)

Freedom was a highway (oh-oh, oh-oh).

GOODBYE IS ALL WE HAVE

ALISON KRAUSS

SONGWRITER: SARAH SISKIND

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: LONELY RUNS BOTH WAYS

LABEL: ROUNDER RECORDS

GENRE: BLUEGRASS COUNTRY

YEAR: 2004

 

      Alison Maria Krauss(born July 23, 1971) is an American bluegrass-country singer and musician. She entered the music industry at an early age, winning local contests by the age of 10 and recording for the first time at 14. She signed with Rounder Records in 1985 and released her first solo album in 1987. She was invited to join the band with which she still performs, Alison Krauss and Union Station, and later released her first album with them as a group in 1989.

         Krauss has released fourteen albums, appeared on numerous soundtracks, and sparked a renewed interest in bluegrass music in the United States. Her soundtrack performances have led to further popularity, including the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, and the Cold Mountain soundtrack, which led to her performance at the 2004 Academy Awards.

           As of 2019, she has won 27 Grammy Awards from 42 nominations, ranking her fourth behind Beyoncé, Quincy Jones and classical conductor Georg Solti for most Grammy Award wins overall. Krauss was the most awarded singer and the most awarded female artist in Grammy history until Beyoncé won her 28th Grammy in 2021. When Krauss won her first Grammy in 1991, she was the second-youngest winner at that time.

      On November 21, 2019, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts. She was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in September 2021.

          Lonely Runs Both Ways is the twelfth album by bluegrass music group Alison Krauss & Union Station, released November 23, 2004. The album won the band three Grammy Awards in 2006, including Best Country Performance By a Duo or Group with Vocal for the song "Restless", Best Country Instrumental Performance for "Unionhouse Branch", and Best Country Album. The song "A Living Prayer" was honored with the award for Bluegrass Recorded Song of the Year from the Gospel Music Association.

'm soaring the sky, I can hear the birds

And man they don't lie

How you gonna catch me, When I'm this high

 

I'm moving on

I got the words to a brand new song

How you gonna catch me, when I'm this gone

 

Gone tomorrow here today

Just in case you got somethin' to say

I'll be leaving with the rest if goodbye

Is all we have

 

I disconnected the phone

Told the neighbors I'll be heading home

As soon as the light hits the morn

 

I'm heading north

Gonna see what this heart's really worth

I guess it's time to be on my own

 

Gone tomorrow here today

Just in case you got somethin' to say

I'll be leaving with the rest if goodbye

Is all we have

 

I sure would love to see you tonight

Maybe try to end this fight

If I don't hear you knockin on my door

Then I'll know for sure

 

Gone tomorrow here today

Just in case you got somethin' to say

I'll be leaving with the rest if goodbye

Is all

 

Gone tomorrow here today

I'll be leaving with the rest if goodbye

Is all we have.

GOODBYE

KENNY ROGERS

SONGWRITERS: LIONEL B. & JR. RICHIE

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: THE FIRST 50 YEARS

LABEL: TIME LIFE

GENRE: COUNTRY MUSIC

YEAR: 2009

 

         Kenneth Ray Rogers(August 21, 1938– March 20, 2020) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, actor, record producer, and entrepreneur. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particularly popular with country audiences but also charted more than 420 hit singles across various genres, topping the country and pop album charts for more than 200 individual weeks in the United States alone. He sold more than 100 million records worldwide during his lifetime, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. His fame and career spanned multiple genres: jazz, folk, pop, rock, and country. He remade his career and was one of the most successful cross-over artists of all time.

         In the late 1950s, Rogers began his recording career with the Houston-based group the Scholars, who first released "The Poor Little Doggie". After some solo releases, including 1958's "That Crazy Feeling", Rogers then joined a group with the jazz singer Bobby Doyle. In 1966, he became a member of the folk ensemble the New Christy Minstrels, playing double bass and bass guitar as well as singing. In 1967, he and several members of the New Christy Minstrels left to found the group the First Edition, with whom he scored his first major hit, "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)", a psychedelic rock song which peaked at number five on the Billboard charts. As Rogers took an increased leadership role in the First Edition following the success of 1969's "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town", the band gradually changed styles to a more country feel. The band broke up in 1975–76, and Rogers embarked on a long and successful solo career, which included several successful collaborations, including duets with singers Dottie West, Dolly Parton, and Sheena Easton and a songwriting partnership with Lionel Richie. His signature song, 1978's "The Gambler", was a crossover hit that won him a Grammy Award in 1980 and was selected in 2018 for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress. He developed the Gambler persona into a character for a successful series of television films starting with 1980's Emmy-nominated Kenny Rogers as The Gambler.

         PRogers's albums The Gambler and Kenny were featured in the About.com poll of "The 200 Most Influential Country Albums Ever". He was voted the "Favorite Singer of All Time" in a 1986 joint poll by readers of both USA Today and People. He received numerous awards, such as the AMAs, Grammys, ACMs, and CMAs as well as a lifetime achievement award for a career spanning six decades in 2003. Later success included the 2006 album release Water & Bridges, an across-the-board hit that entered the Top 5 in the Billboard Country Albums sales charts, also charting in the Top 15 of the Billboard 200. The first single from the album, "I Can't Unlove You", was also a sizable chart hit. Remaining a popular entertainer around the world, he continued to tour regularly until his retirement in 2017.

         Rogers had acting roles in movies and television shows, including the title roles in Kenny Rogers as The Gambler, the MacShayne series for The NBC Mystery Movie, and the 1982 feature film Six Pack. He was a co-founder of the restaurant chain Kenny Rogers Roasters in collaboration with former Kentucky Fried Chicken CEO John Y. Brown Jr. Although the stores closed in the United States, they are still a fixture in Asia.

I wanted you for life, you and me in the wind

I never thought there'd come a time that our story would end

It's hard to understand but I guess I'll have to try

It's not easy to say goodbye

 

For all the joy we share, all that time we had to spend

Now if I had one wish, I'd want forever back again

To look into your eyes and hold you when you cry

It's not easy to say goodbye

 

I remember all those great time we had

So many memories, some good, some bad

Yes and through it all, those memories will last forever

 

There's peace in where you are, maybe all I need to know

And if I listen to my heart, I'll hear your laughter once more

And so I have to say I'm just glad you came my way

It's not easy to say goodbye.

MY SWEET LADY

JOHN DENVER

SONGWRITER: JOHN DENVER

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: POEMS, PRAYERS & PROMISES

LABEL: RCA VICTOR

GENRE: COUNTRY MUSIC

YEAR: 1971

 

          Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. (December 31, 1943–October 12, 1997), known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer-songwriter, actor, activist, and humanitarian whose greatest commercial success was as a solo singer. After traveling and living in numerous locations while growing up in his military family, Denver began his music career with folk music groups during the late 1960s. Starting in the 1970s, he was one of the most popular acoustic artists of the decade and one of its best-selling artists. By 1974, he was one of America's best-selling performers; AllMusic has called Denver "among the most beloved entertainers of his era".

        Denver recorded and released approximately 300 songs, about 200 of which he composed. He had 33 albums and singles that were certified Gold and Platinum in the U.S by the RIAA, with estimated sales of more than 33 million units. He recorded and performed primarily with an acoustic guitar and sang about his joy in nature, disdain for city life, enthusiasm for music, and relationship trials. Denver's music appeared on a variety of charts, including country music, the Billboard Hot 100, and adult contemporary, earning 12 gold and four platinum albums with his signature songs "Take Me Home, Country Roads", "Poems, Prayers & Promises", "Annie's Song", "Rocky Mountain High", "Calypso", "Thank God I'm a Country Boy", and "Sunshine on My Shoulders".

          Denver appeared in several films and television specials during the 1970s and 1980s, including the 1977 hit Oh, God!, in which he starred alongside George Burns. He continued to record into the 1990s, also focusing on environmental issues as well as lending vocal support to space exploration and testifying in front of Congress to protest censorship in music. He lived in Aspen for much of his life, and he was known for his love of Colorado. In 1974, Denver was named poet laureate of the state. The Colorado state legislature also adopted "Rocky Mountain High" as one of its two state songs in 2007, and West Virginia did the same for "Take Me Home, Country Roads" in 2014.

         An avid pilot, Denver died at age 53 in a single-fatality crash while piloting a recently purchased light plane.

          Poems, Prayers & Promises is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter John Denver, released on April 6, 1971 through RCA Records. The album was recorded in New York City, and produced by Milton Okun and Susan Ruskin. Poems, Prayers & Promises was Denver's commercial breakthrough, and contained several of his most popular songs, such as "Poems, Prayers, and Promises", "My Sweet Lady", "I Guess He'd Rather Be in Colorado", "Sunshine on My Shoulders", and "Take Me Home, Country Roads", which would become one of Denver's signature songs. "The Box", which concludes the album, is a poem by Kendrew Lascelles illustrating the futility of war.

The album peaked at number 15 on the Billboard 200.

Lady, are you crying?

Do the tears belong to me?

Did you think our time together was all gone?

 

Lady, you've been dreaming

I'm as close as I can be

And I swear to you

Our time has just begun

 

Close your eyes and rest your weary mind

I promise I will stay right here beside you

Today our lives were joined

Became entwined

I wish that you could know how much I love you

 

Lady, are you happy?

Do you feel the way I do?

Are there meanings that you've never seen before?

 

Lady, my sweet lady

I just can't believe it's true

And it's like I've never ever loved before

 

Close your eyes and rest your weary mind

I promise I will stay right here beside you

Today our lives were joined

Became entwined

I wish that you could know how much I love you

 

Lady, are you crying?

Do the tears belong to me?

Did you think our time together was all gone?

 

Lady, my sweet lady

I'm as close as I can be

And I swear to you

Our time has just begun.