The 201 Greatest Singles of the Decade, Part 8: #60-#41
#60
“Long Trip Alone”
Dierks Bentley
2006
Peak: #10
In a perfect world, this would be this decade’s wedding standard. – Kevin Coyne
#59
“Your Man”
Josh Turner
2005
Peak: #1
Lush baritone against an effortlessly charismatic, enticing invitation to let Turner be “your man.” How can you resist? – Tara Seetharam
The 201 Greatest Singles of the Decade, Part 3: #160-#141
#160
“Last Call”
Lee Ann Womack
2008
Peak: #14
Womack’s second-best Aughts song about late-night temptations is still better than a lot of people’s first-best songs about anything. Even in avoiding her drunken ex’s advances, she sounds positively heartbroken, suggesting she’d gladly make the other decision if she didn’t know better. – Dan Milliken
#159
“She’s Not Just a Pretty Face”
Shania Twain
2003
Peak: #9
Her motivation for her music has always been escapism, but I love the personal touch she slips into this one. Her late mother is the one who she’s referring to when she sings “at night, she pumps gasoline.” – Kevin Coyne
The banality continues. Read Part 1 here.
The Worst Singles of the Decade, Part 2: #40-#31
#40
Kenny Chesney & George Strait, “Shiftwork”
A stab at the working class blues still ends up on a tropical island by the third verse.
#39
Anita Cochran featuring The Voice of Conway Twitty, “(I Wanna Hear) A Cheatin’ Song”
In which a duet is formed from beyond the grave by chopping up bits and pieces of old Conway Twitty songs and reassembling them word by word.
#38
Billy Dean, “Let Them Be Little”
Thirty seconds in and you’ll be headed to your dentist for a cavity filling.
#37
Montgomery Gentry, “She Couldn’t Change Me”
Sorry boys, but “some hip-hop mess” would be a great improvement over this hillbilly trainwreck.
Country Universe contributor and reader Cory DeStein flagged this rundown from Billboard regarding women on the charts this decade:
PERFECT 10: On Country Songs, Carrie Underwood ropes her 10th top 10, as “Cowboy Casanova” climbs 11-8. With the advance, Underwood now stands alone in first-place for most top 10s on the chart among solo women this decade.
Here are the solo females with the most top 10s on Country Songs since 2000:
10, Carrie Underwood
9, Faith Hill
9, Martina McBride
8, Taylor Swift
7, Sara Evans
7, Reba McEntire
6, Jo Dee Messina
5, LeAnn Rimes
5, Gretchen Wilson
4, Shania TwainNotably, the artist who led the category among women last decade did so with almost three times as many top 10s. Reba McEntire ranked first among solo women in the ’90s with 27 top 10s on Country Songs. Trisha Yearwood placed second with 18 between 1990 and 1999, and Faith Hill, Patty Loveless and Tanya Tucker each posted 14 in that span.
The decline in fortune for women at radio this decade is even more pronounced when you compare the above top ten to the previous decade:
Jo Dee Messina’s singles generally into two categories: empowering anthems and sardonic kiss-off numbers. Her best singles, like “Bye Bye” and “Downtime”, are a little bit of both.
Given the title, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out which type of song “Shine” is. She’s had enough of looking at the glass half empty and is now determined to live her life to the fullest, taking every moment that she can to shine.
It’s decent enough, but the problem with releasing so many songs in the same vein is that the new releases are invariably stacked up against the old ones. In this case, the comparison does “Shine” few favors.
It doesn’t feature the energetic spark normally associated with Messina’s spurts of positivity, and she sounds more resigned to her life rather than reinvigorated by it. It doesn’t help that the production has such little luster, a strange choice to make for a song that is trumpeting the sunny side of life.
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