The 90s were a decade full of world-class country music, so it’s no surprise that some songs aren’t always remembered as well as they should be.
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LeAnn Rimes, Lee Ann Womack, and SHeDaisy are three artists whose exceptional songs may have slipped fans’ mind. Keep reading to see the forgotten tracks of the decade.
“One Way Ticket” by LeAnn Rimes (1996)
Written by Judy Rodman and Keith Hinton, “One Way Ticket” was LeAnn Rimes’ third single off her debut album, Blue. She was just 13 when the track debuted. That made her the fourth teen star to score a No. 1 single on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart.
She revisited the tune more than 20 years later on her EP, Re-Imagined.
“[When I first sang it], I didn’t know that kind of yearning for freedom, and when I sing it now, I think, ‘Oh wow, I’ve been there,’” Rimes told The Boot in 2018. “Once you’ve been there, it takes on a totally different vibe.”
“After we revamped it, I don’t know how many times we went through it onstage where I couldn’t go through it without crying,” she continued. “I was like, ‘I feel this!’ To me, it’s always been about people feeling me feeling it. These days, though, I feel like it’s even more about people tuning into these emotions that we don’t normally tune into on an everyday basis. So that one, for me, really hits home.”
“The Fool” by Lee Ann Womack (1997)
Marla Cannon-Goodman, Gene Ellsworth, and Charlie Stefl penned “The Fool”, which wound up going to Lee Ann Womack. Released in 1997 as the second single of her debut album, the song peaked at No. 2 on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart.
Speaking to The Boot in 2017, Cannon-Goodman recalled how the song came to be.
“I was driving down Music Row, and someone pulled out in front of me one day… and that tape flew out from under my seat; it was an actual cassette. I was like, ‘What is this?’” she recalled. “All it said was ‘melody.’”
“When I put it in my player, the melody started playing, and it was just us humming along with the melody,” Cannon-Goodman continued. “The Hall of Fame was still on the corner of the roundabout at that time, and I was right there, in front of that, and when I heard that melody line, that idea popped into my head out of thin air. I like to call it one of those ‘God gifts.’”
“Little Good-Byes” by SHeDAISY (1999)
SHeDAISY’s Kristyn Osborn wrote her sister trio’s debut single alongside Jason Deere and Kenny Greenberg.
Upon its 1999 release, “Little Good-Byes” peaked at No. 3 on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart. It also landed at No. 43 on the outlet’s Hot 100. The track even received a GRAMMY nomination.
The song’s success, Lyric Street Records president Randy Goodman told The Los Angeles Times, was all thanks to the sisters.
“One of the things we’ve done is let them take the lead in a lot of the situations and provide the vision,” he told the outlet in 1999. “They know what appeals to a young audience because they’re part of that audience.”
The trio was thankful for the opportunity, telling the outlet, “We know how rare a chance like this is, and we’re really ready to work hard… We’re not going to take anything for granted.”
Photo by Larry Hulst/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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