Josh Gracin - “We Weren’t Crazy”
Josh Gracin just keeps coming back. One of Country Music’s underrated male vocalists, Gracin has delivered a consistent string of solid up-tempos, including “Favorite State of Mind” and “I Keep Coming Back”–both of which managed a feeble crawl up the charts, eventually landing, disappointingly, at #19 and #28 respectively.
It’s hard–if not impossible–to say why certain singles fail to gain traction. You have to have the right song, sung by the right artist, delivered to the right audience at precisely the right time. But even when all that happens, even when the publicity, promotion, and marketing machines are all firing at full capacity, and the planets are in perfect alignment, and you’re staring at a sure-fire, can’t-miss, breakout hit, who’s to say that the record won’t flop anyway?
So I can’t tell you why Gracin’s recent singles have underperformed. But what I can tell you is that artists who continually knock at the door are usually (eventually) let in. In that sense, Gracin reminds me of a young Kenny Chesney, who failed to break the top-ten with five of his first ten singles, but who managed enough success and showed enough staying power to warrant continued releases.
Co-penned by Gracin with Bobby Pinson and Tony Lopacinski, “We Weren’t Crazy,” from the upcoming album All About Y’all, delivers tempo and features an infectious chorus that, I’ll admit, had me singing along by the second listen.
The traditionalists will hammer this, labeling it nothing more than pop-Country froth; admittedly, the writing isn’t brilliant or groundbreaking. But what the song does it does well, and for that it deserves a thumbs up.
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Listen: Josh Gracin - We Weren’t Crazy
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7 Comments
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January 26, 2008 at 12:20 pm Permalink
This is an excellent song!! Can’t wait for it to climb the CHARTS!!
March 29, 2008 at 6:02 pm Permalink
Josh Gracin is my favorite country singer, so I’m very biased towards this song. But on the other hand, does it completely matter that I’m biased? He sings the hell out of it and it is very catchy. I love it! And for the record, I also loved his last two singles, and agree that they should have done better.
March 30, 2008 at 5:06 pm Permalink
I was listening to XM again, and got to hear several other songs off of his new album — and it is quite good, and he told about how and why he waited so long to release the new album….
April 7, 2008 at 2:13 am Permalink
Wow. Way to research! The album is titled We Weren’t Crazy. They scrapped the title All About Y’all a long time ago.
April 7, 2008 at 2:29 am Permalink
Jaime–would you say that the title was changed, oh, I don’t know…perhaps after October 9th, 2007?
July 7, 2008 at 3:26 pm Permalink
I hate to resurrect an old topic, but I’ve gotta ask–is anyone else amazed that this song is STILL climbing the charts? This week it jumped from 13 to 12 with a bullet. It’s been his single since last freakin’ October!
If this isn’t an example of the stale state of country radio, I don’t know what is. It should not take a song nine months to climb into the top ten.
July 7, 2008 at 3:31 pm Permalink
Jim,
It took Tracy Lawrence a long time too. I do agree that it takes too long but it’s not all bad. I think the writers and publishers benefit from the length of time the song is ‘current.’
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