"Between the Devil and Me" is the title of a country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 song co-written by Harley Allen

Harley Allen

Harley Lee Allen was an American bluegrass and country singer and songwriter.-Early life:He was born in Dayton, Ohio, the son of the bluegrass performer Red Allen.-Film career:...

 and Carson Chamberlain

Carson Chamberlain

Carson Chamberlain is an American songwriter, record producer and steel guitarist who works mainly in the field of country music....

. It was recorded by American singer Alan Jackson

Alan Jackson

Alan Eugene Jackson is an American country music singer, known for blending traditional honky tonk and mainstream country sounds and penning many of his own hits. He has recorded 13 studio albums, 3 Greatest Hits albums, 2 Holiday albums, 1 Gospel album and several compilations, all on the Arista...

 on his 1996 album Everything I Love

Everything I Love

Everything I Love is the sixth studio album by American country music artist Alan Jackson. It was released on October 29, 1996 and produced six singles for Jackson on the Hot Country Songs charts: the Number One hits "Little Bitty" and "There Goes", Top Ten hits in the title track, "Between the...

, from which it was released in late 1997 as the album's fifth single. It peaked at number two on the U.S. Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

country singles charts.

Content

"Between the Devil and Me" was written by Harley Allen

Harley Allen

Harley Lee Allen was an American bluegrass and country singer and songwriter.-Early life:He was born in Dayton, Ohio, the son of the bluegrass performer Red Allen.-Film career:...

 and Carson Chamberlain

Carson Chamberlain

Carson Chamberlain is an American songwriter, record producer and steel guitarist who works mainly in the field of country music....

, the same two songwriters who wrote the title track

Everything I Love (song)

"Everything I Love" is the title of a country music song written by Harley Allen and Carson Chamberlain. It was recorded by American singer Alan Jackson on his album of the same name. Jackson released the song in January 1997 as the second single from the album, reaching number 9 on the U.S...

 to Everything I Love. The song is a mid-tempo ballad in which the male narrator describes the sexual temptation of an extramarital affair, by saying that "she's all I see / Between the devil and me."

Critical reception

Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a senior editor for Allmusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for Allmusic, as well as a freelance writer, occasionally contributing liner notes. He is also frontman and guitarist for the Ann Arbor-based band Who Dat?Erlewine is the nephew...

 of Allmusic said that although the song had "a bit of post-Garth

Garth Brooks

Troyal Garth Brooks , best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at number 2 in the US country album chart while climbing to number 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart...

 bombast", it still had Jackson's "true country spin and heart." Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...

critic Alanna Nash

Alanna Nash

Alanna Nash is an American journalist and biographer.Nash holds a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and is the author of several acclaimed books...

also cited the song as a standout in her review, saying that Jackson made the song "throb with anxiety."

Chart performance

Chart (1997)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks	2
Canadian RPM Country Tracks	3