A Good Year for the Outlaw

As you read this list, raise your hand each time you recognize one of these country songs:

• Chrome – Trace Adkins
• My Town – Montgomery Gentry
• Speed – Montgomery Gentry
• Unbelievable – Diamond Rio
• The Cowboy In Me – Tim McGraw
• Couldn’t Last A Moment – Collin Raye
• Something To Be Proud Of – Montgomery Gentry
• These Days – Rascal Flatts
• Help Somebody – Van Zant
• When The Lights Go Down – Faith Hill
• I’m Tryin’ – Trace Adkins
• Gone – Montgomery Gentry
• Big Deal – LeeAnn Rimes
• Me And My Gang – Rascal Flatts
• My Wish – Rascal Flatts
• Podunk – Keith Anderson
• Everytime I Hear Your Name – Keith Anderson
• Brand New Girlfriend – Steve Holy
• And The Crowd Goes Wild – Mark Wills
• Hello L-O-V-E – John Michael Montgomery
• If That Ain’t Country – Anthony Smith
• What Hurts The Most – Rascal Flatts
• Hell Yeah – Montgomery Gentry
• Please – Pam Tillis

Heckuva list, huh? Guess what they all have in common?

In response to commenters:

PI – Yes, they are all underrated in their own way. Let’s just say they might have been sung by the wrong people in some cases.

Kev – Correct! Well, technically. You made me spit out Diet Dr. Pepper.

Jen – They were all hits, so they weren’t the old “B-sides”, but I will definitely address “B-sides” in an upcoming list. Thanks for the idea. I’m a huge fan of the backside of 45’s.

Vonster – wrong. Instead, it’s you that sucks.

Mouse. – Yep, all written or co-written by the same dude, the amazing Jeffrey Steele. 

This blog takes it’s name from one of Jeffrey’s greatest songs. Jeffrey came to Nashville as the lead singer of the group Boy Howdy in the early 90’s, and the band enjoyed some chart success. Of course, because of country “consultants” and their slanted and biased “research”, you won’t hear many Boy Howdy songs on the radio anymore.

In the late 90’s, Jeff started writing the huge string of hits that you see above, with many more not listed and many more to come. We were very lucky to have him come to town twice while I was programming WXCL, both times appearing at the Stone Country Saloon. The first time, he was just by himself on stage, acoustic guitar, a ‘do-rag, a microphone, and all of his great material sung by a guy with an incredibly underrated voice and singing style.

The second time he came, it was with a band, and the place ROCKED. He made my night when he was singing “My Town” (the song Montgomery Gentry made big) and when he got to the part about showing folks around he sang, ”…and maybe later, me and ol’ BJ will show you around…our town!” Diane just rolled her eyes at both of us. People who hadn’t seen him before kept telling me the same thing on both occasions, “he’s awesome, I didn’t know he wrote all those songs!” Well, he did. And he’s still doing it. As you can see from the list, his songs vary in style, too. Ballads, country rockers, honky tonkers, uptempo just-plain-fun songs, touching personal stories, he can do it all. 

His solo albums that he’s recorded, including ”You Gotta Start Somewhere” (2003), ”Outlaw” (2004), and “Hell On Wheels” (2006) are not heard much on the radio, but they are in Heavy, Heavy, Heavy rotation in someone’s black Pontiac. A good starter for new fans is “Gold, Platinum, Chrome and Steel” (2003), a disc that Jeffrey put out containing 10 of his biggest hits written for other people, like “Chrome” and “The Cowboy In Me”. That’s Diane’s favorite, too. To hear the songwriter singing songs you’re familiar with, but by someone else, is always interesting and revealing to me.

This has been a tough year already for Jeffrey personally, as his teenage son recently died in an ATV accident. I think about him all the time, and hope he and his wife and other kids are doing alright.  This guy is not only the most awesomely talented guy I know, he’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever met, in ANY profession. I wish him all the best, all the time.

He has now moved beyond writing and into producing, and is responsible for the awesome recent work of Keith Anderson and Montgomery Gentry. I often wonder how big both Keith and Montgomery Gentry would be if they didn’t have Jeffrey’s songs to perform.  Where would Trace Adkins be without “Chrome”? How much airplay would the Van Zant brothers received on country radio if it wasn’t for the perfect debut single (”Help Somebody”) that Jeffrey penned?

The singers don’t have the great songs without the great writers, and for my money, Jeffrey is the best of the best.

I think the writers do quite well financially, in many cases better than the artists who get the hit recording, so I think Jeffrey is quite happy doing what he does. But he deserves to be a big star all on his own, in front of the cameras and microphones instead of behind ‘em.