by Julian Spivey
In the 60 year history of Billboard’s Hot 100 there have been 1,086 songs that have gone to no. 1. Only 38 of those songs have spent 10-plus weeks atop the chart. Three songs made it to at least 15 weeks. And, now one song has made it to 17 weeks and still counting … that song is the breakthrough hit of 2019 “Old Town Road” by 20-year old Georgian rapper Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, a country music star who hasn’t been relevant on the country charts in more than two decades and has since become better known as the father of pop star Miley Cyrus.
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“Old Town Road” is perhaps the biggest Cinderella story in the history of pop music … something that came out of nowhere from an unknown, received a collaboration from a has-been and took pop culture by storm. The song has been something of a controversial one too, especially amongst some country music fans who view it as sacrilege to the genre (that has been bastardized so much in the last decade that this should barely register as an issue). It was also controversial when Billboard removed the song from its country music chart just as it was gaining ground (it was already in the top 20).

But, “Old Town Road” is an earworm of a song that shouldn’t be taken too seriously. It’s meant to be fun and has a video, which has been viewed more than 240 million times on YouTube since its release in late May, that is capable of putting a smile on the face of those who normally wouldn’t be a fan of such things (I know because that’s me).

No matter how you feel about the quality of “Old Town Road” it’s truly worth marveling at its success and give props to Lil Nas X. He’s truly a self-made success story in an industry where that was once nearly impossible, but due to social media apps like YouTube and TikTok, which is where “Old Town Road” got its start, may be a thing of the future.

Lil Nas X paid $30 for the beat to the song anonymously on an online store from the Dutch producer YoungKio, according to Business Insider, and rapped the catchy verses over it. Its Western theme hit at just the right time with the popular Yeehaw fad and “Yeehaw Challenge” meme blowing up on social media. The song was originally released by Lil Nas X on December 3, 2018 and its fast popularity on TikTok led quickly to a record deal with Columbia Records, which distributed it as a single. The popularity of the original led to the remix featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, which is the version that has been no. 1 for 17 consecutive weeks. Either the original or remix version have gone on to top the charts in at least 10 different countries, including the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Australia.

You could debate whether or not a struggling young artist purchasing a beat for roughly the price of a new album on vinyl and rapping over it is a good or a bad thing for music and the future of such, but for now I just have to say congratulations to Lil Nas X for this little tune that’s taken over our entire world for the spring and summer of 2019. It’s truly one of the most remarkable music stories I’ve ever heard. 

by Julian Spivey
Music has a nostalgic value for many. People often will love a song forever if they have good memories involved with the first time they heard a certain song. I don’t have too many nostalgic songs – songs that I love for this factor, but when I heard late last year that Hootie & the Blowfish would be reuniting for a 25th anniversary of their legendary debut Cracked Rear View and the tour was making a stop in my home state I knew it was a moment I couldn’t pass up.

I can’t remember the year, but I’m certain it wasn’t actually 1994 when Cracked Rear View was released, and I can’t remember the name of the store, though I’m fairly certain it was somewhere in Florida while visiting relatives, but I remember vividly that the first album I ever spent my own money on was Cracked Rear View. Depending on the year I likely was between eight and 10 years old. It was so long ago that the format was cassette – something today’s eight-to-10 year olds will never know about. For this moment Hootie & the Blowfish will always be important to me, even if all these years later they remain something of a one-album wonder – that album a massive wonder though as it’s the ninth biggest selling album of all-time (mixed in with artists like Garth Brooks, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin – and outselling albums like Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours and any one album ever recorded by The Beatles).

As a kid I loved the hits like “Hold My Hand” and “Only Wanna Be with You” – and I still do. And even though I didn’t necessarily know exactly what “Let Her Cry” was about at the time it’s always been my favorite track on the record. The closest I ever thought I’d get to hearing Hootie & the Blowfish was when frontman Darius Rucker, now a country music star, opened for Brad Paisley on a tour stop in Little Rock and performed the song during his set.

So, Hootie & the Blowfish is perhaps my biggest nostalgia factor when it comes to my personal music loves – the one that some people who believed the band synonymous with what was uncool about ‘90s music say, “you like them?” or “I didn’t take you for a Hootie fan.’ Seriously though, take a modern listen to Cracked Rear View and you’ll find it’s terrific and some tracks as important, if not more today, than they’ve ever been.

Judging by the crowd at the Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion amphitheater in Rogers, Ark. on Sunday evening (July 14) there was a lot of people who must’ve felt the same way about Hootie & the Blowfish as I did. The place was sold out, with people packed in shoulder-to-shoulder in the general admission lawn area with seating below.

The band opened up their show fittingly with “Hannah Jane,” the very first track I would’ve heard when I popped in that Cracked Rear View cassette tape all those years ago. It would be one of nine tracks off the album they would play during the night.

The crowd really got pumped when the group performed “I Go Blind,” which is probably the band’s most popular non-Cracked Rear View track, early on. The song, originally recorded by the Canadian rock band 54-40, was included on Hootie’s 2000 cover album Scattered, Smothered and Covered. The group would follow this up with another cover track from that album in “Fine Line,” originally done by one of Rucker’s songwriting heroes Radney Foster.

“Not Even the Trees,” one of the great ballads off Cracked Rear View, was a great moment during the show and led into one of the biggest surprises of the night when Hootie & the Blowfish brought out opening act Barenaked Ladies for a performance of The Beatles’ classic “With a Little Help From My Friends,” which led to a nice sing-along with the whole AMP crowd.

Perhaps my favorite selections of the evening from Hootie & the Blowfish were the hits “Hold My Hand” and “Let Her Cry.” “Hold My Hand,” the group’s first single, was a top-10 in 1995 that music critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine said, “has a sing-along chorus that epitomizes the band’s good-times vibes.” “Let Her Cry,” was Hootie’s second single, and amazingly topped out on the Billboard charts at No. 9, which seems unbelievable for a sad ballad of its kind. The song would go on to win the band a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and is a terrific example of Rucker’s strong voice.

Some of the group’s covers on the evening were real highlights of the show, including a take on Led Zeppelin’s “Hey Hey What Can I Do,” which Rucker told the crowd was the only Zeppelin song he can sing, and a performance of R.E.M.’s 1991 hit “Losing My Religion.” Rucker told the audience that R.E.M. was his favorite band of all-time and a major influence.

Rucker couldn’t let the night pass by without giving the audience some of his solo country hits during the night, including the 2009 No. 1 “Alright,” from his debut country album Learn to Live, and “Wagon Wheel,” his No. 1 cover of the fantastic Old Crow Medicine Show song from 2013 that received a Grammy for Best Country Solo Performance. Frankly, I was shocked by how many within the Rogers audience actually left the venue after the performance of “Wagon Wheel.”

Rucker’s country music career has been hit or miss for me. I really enjoyed Learn to Live, but there hasn’t been a whole lot since then (except for “Wagon Wheel,” despite myself enjoying the original more) I’ve enjoyed.

The band did an amazing job on the traditional number “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?,” which they mixed in with “Desert Mountain Showdown,” which appeared on their third album Musical Chairs in 1998. I was particularly impressed by Mark Bryan’s, the group’s guitarist, mandolin playing a couple of songs during the night. Rucker also took a turn on mandolin for a song or two.

One of the most emotional moments of the night for me was when the band performed “Time” and “Drowning” back-to-back toward the end of their set. These are tracks, specifically “Drowning,” that are just as – if not more – important today than they were a quarter of a century ago when Cracked Rear View was released … and that’s kind of sad. It shows you just how slow the world moves or changes.

Check out these lyrics from “Drowning”:
“Trouble with the world today is we’re too busy/to think about it, all right/why is there a rebel flag hanging/from the state house walls/tired of hearin’ this shit/about heritage not hate/time to make the world a better place”

And the chorus: “Drowning in a sea of tears/hatred trying to hide your fears/living only for yourself/hating everybody else/’Cause they don’t look like you.”

I hate to get political in a concert review, but it was really something hearing this song on the same day when the President of these United States tweeted to congresswomen of color (though United States born and bred) to go back where they came from.

One of the most interesting performances of the evening was the medley of “Old Man & Me,” off the group’s sophomore album Fairweather Johnson, with Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power,” Digital Underground’s “Freaks of the Industry” (which surprisingly saw Bryan rapping) and a bit of Earth Wind and Fire’s “Shining Star.”

Hootie & the Blowfish would return for a three-song encore that included a solo performance from Rucker on “Goodbye” with just piano accompaniment, “Go and Tell Him (Soup Song)” and finishing up with the band’s biggest hit of all-time “Only Wanna Be With You,” which charted at No. 6 in 1995.

“Only Wanna Be With You” has always been one of my favorite Hootie & the Blowfish songs since before I bought Cracked Rear View as a kid. It was probably the reason I wanted the album as my first. The performance was incredibly joyous, but I would’ve preferred if the group had just done the song as is without throwing in a bit of Kool & the Gang’s “Get Down on It” in the middle of it.

It was a fantastic night of music that brought back many memories and the addition of another late ‘90s hitmaker in the Canadian Hall of Fame inductees of Barenaked Ladies added to the nostalgia of the entire evening. Barenaked Ladies really shouldn’t be taken seriously as a group, but have enough humorous songs to make their set worthwhile, including the rip-roaring 1998 No. 1 hit “One Week,” which I cannot believe even Ed Robertson can sing all of the words to correctly, and “If I Had $1,000,000,” which is honestly so good it reminds me of something the comedic musical duo Flight of the Conchords might have come up with. Throw in performances of “Pinch Me,” “It’s All Been Done” and “Brian Wilson” and it made for a fun opening act.