“One More Day”
Diamond Rio
Written by Stephen Dale Jones and Bobby Tomberlin
Radio & Records
#1 (2 weeks)
March 2 and March 23, 2001
Billboard
#1 (2 weeks)
March 10 and March 31, 2001
Some leadership changes at Arista Nashville created bumps in the road for that label’s flagship artists. The arrival of a new label head with a long history in town was good news for most of the male ones, with Brooks & Dunn, Alan Jackson, and Diamond Rio all reversing their commercial slides around this time period.
Diamond Rio did it with a ballad that transcends its own pre-9/11 era. Sonically, they were navigating the pop-country landscape perfectly with “One More Day.” They are acquiescing to the Lonestar sound without sacrificing their own musical identities, so of course the ballad sounds better than most of what their younger competitors were cooking up. Marty Roe’s distinctive lead vocal, the bluegrass-flavored harmonies, and the backporch instrumentation all elevate what could’ve been a bland AC crossover effort.
But because the song is about wishing for one more day with someone who is unexpectedly ripped away from you, it took on a new meaning in the 9/11 era, putting it in the same boat as Brooks & Dunn’s “Only in America” and Aaron Tippin’s “Where the Stars and Stripes and the Eagle Fly” as 9/11 anthems conceived before 9/11. This is the best of those three records, and another reminder that the nineties standard of quality didn’t disappear right away when the new century came calling.
“One More Day” gets an A.
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I think it’s interesting how Diamond Rio more or less adapted to the 21st century without changing membership or producers. I think only their age and a couple misguided single choices kept them from being fruitful longer.
Back in March, I went to see them in concert for the first time. They sounded as good as ever. I also heard co-writer Bobby Tomberlin sing it at least once. It’s a song that has broad appeal to anyone who has lost a loved one, although I loved it before I actually had many losses to deal with.
A very deserving “A”. I don’t think of 9/11 at all when I hear this, but it is an excellent performance.
I agree with Tom P – I don’t think of 9/11 when I hear this song but having lost family and friends in the last three months, I teared up immediately upon hearing the song again.
A-
I agree with Tom P – I don’t think of 9/11 when I hear this song but having lost family and friends in the last three months, I teared up immediately upon hearing the song again. A-
I always kind of took Diamond Rio for granted in the 90s. I’m not entirely sure why, other than a spattering of songs here and there that never landed for me, but it didn’t hit me until I saw them many years later when they performed at my county fair in 2017 how much I missed Marty Roe’s unique and instantly recognizable voice. He could pull off joy, anguish, and everything in between so effortlessly. He’s one of the few male artists who I think could have pulled off “I Hope You Dance”, which is fitting because I’ve always considered “One More Day” a reverse version of “I Hope You Dance”. Instead of a narrator projecting their wishes for themself on a next of kin, the narrator here is projecting a wish for himself on someone who’s lost, presumably a parent or a spouse.
The sentiment combined with the vivid imagery and emotion was custom-made for Roe and his harmonizing partners and they weaved it together seamlessly. It was a well-deserved launch for an encore act for the group just as so many other spiraling acts of the 90s got unlikely rebounds at this point in time. It made for a great record and a continuity of the sentiment I described a couple of weeks ago that I sense most people agree with that country music was in a good place in 2001. Certainly what happened six months later would give “One More Day” renewed relevance but for the worst possible reasons, and I must confess that what the message became in late 2001 distorts my perception of what the message was intended in early 2001. I probably shouldn’t take away points because of that, but it certainly underscores what a universally corrosive impact 9/11 had.
Grade: A-
This was a wonderful return from Diamond Rio. They were my very favorite group of the nineties! To this day, I think their debut album was nearly perfect.