Find out Who Your Friends Are
Encyclopedia
"Find Out Who Your Friends Are" is the title of a song written by Casey Beathard
and Ed Hill, and recorded by American country music
artist Tracy Lawrence
. It was the lead-off single for his album For the Love
, which was released in early 2007 on Rocky Comfort Records, a label which Lawrence owns. Originally released in August 2006, the single did not enter the Top 40 on the Billboard
Hot Country Songs
chart until January 2007.
After the release of For the Love, radio stations began to play an alternate version of the song which featured guest vocals from Tim McGraw
and Kenny Chesney
, thus helping to boost the song to Number One on both the Billboard
and Mediabase
country singles charts. Upon reaching Number One in June 2007, "Find out Who Your Friends Are" set a new record for the slowest-climbing Number One single in the history of the Billboard country music charts, as well as the second-slowest climbing on any Billboard singles chart. In addition, it became Lawrence's first Billboard Number One since 1996's "Time Marches On
".
Upon hearing the song, Lawrence said that he immediately identified with its message, and thought that it would be a good choice for a lead-off single to his album. According to him, "The message is universal for everybody you know […] I enjoy singing stuff that has a good message."
It reached Number One on the Billboard Hot Country Songs
chart dated June 23, 2007, where it stayed for one week. The song became Lawrence's first Billboard Number One single since "Time Marches On
" in 1996, and his first Number One on any major trade chart since 1997's "Is That a Tear", which reached Number One on the former Radio & Records
country charts.
Having reached the top of the charts on its 41st chart week, the song also set set a new record for the slowest climb to Number One on the country charts, as well as a record for the second-slowest climb for a Number One single on any Billboard chart. "Find Out Who Your Friends Are" also replaced Emerson Drive
's "Moments
" at Number One, marking the first time since 1950 that two artists on independently-distributed labels reached Number One back-to-back on the singles charts. In addition, Lawrence became the first artist to reach Number One with the first release from a self-owned record label. Tracy Lawrence Makes History on Country Singles Chart
and Kenny Chesney
, both of whom are friends of Lawrence's. Only the solo version was released to radio as a single; however, upon the release of Lawrence's album, several radio stations began playing the version with McGraw and Chesney's vocals instead. (Both versions were counted as one song when the singles charts were tabulated.)
The week before the single reached Number One, Sony BMG (the parent company of BNA Records
, the label to which Chesney is signed) e-mailed a cease-and-desist order to several radio stations that were monitored by Billboard, demanding that these stations cease playing the version featuring McGraw's and Chesney's vocals. According to the letter, which was written by Sony BMG's president, Sony BMG "did not grant 'singles' rights to Rocky Comfort with respect to the album versions of this song and has not authorized any radio station to play this recording". Despite the demands from Sony BMG, radio stations did not stop playing the version with McGraw and Chesney. One day after the release of that letter, Sony BMG issued a formal apology to the radio stations to which the cease-and-desist order had been sent.
on August 16, 2007, at which point the song had fallen from the charts and entered recurrent rotation
. In the video, a man (Ronnie Gilley of Enterprise, AL) hits a circumstance similar to the lyrics of the song and finds himself stranded "in the middle of nowhere." Though his cellular reception is very poor, he is able to contact George Jones
, who then calls Darryl Worley
(who is relaxing in a pool with several women) and several others, who then calls Roy Oswalt
who is working out with several other athletes; everyone contacted arrives in a cavalcade of vehicles to help with the predicament. Larry the Cable Guy
made a cameo in the video when Nancy Jones (George Jones' wife) she was talking to him and he was ignoring her by sleeping. He was testing Nancy's patience, so she threw water at him to wake him up.
Casey Beathard
Casey Beathard is an American country music songwriter. The son of former NFL general manager Bobby Beathard, he has co-written singles for several country music recording artists, including Top Ten singles for Gary Allan, Billy Ray Cyrus, Trace Adkins, and Kenny Chesney...
and Ed Hill, and recorded by American 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...
artist Tracy Lawrence
Tracy Lawrence
Tracy Lawrence is an American country music artist. He started at a country music restaurant called "Live At Libby's" where owner Libby Knight would help local talent find their way into country music...
. It was the lead-off single for his album For the Love
For the Love
For the Love is a studio album by country music artist Tracy Lawrence, released on January 30, 2007 through his personal label Rocky Comfort Records. It debuted at #53 on the Billboard 200...
, which was released in early 2007 on Rocky Comfort Records, a label which Lawrence owns. Originally released in August 2006, the single did not enter the Top 40 on the 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...
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...
chart until January 2007.
After the release of For the Love, radio stations began to play an alternate version of the song which featured guest vocals from Tim McGraw
Tim McGraw
Samuel Timothy "Tim" McGraw is an American country singer and actor. Many of McGraw's albums and singles have topped the country music charts with total album sales in excess of 40 million units in the US, making him the eighth best-selling artist, and the third best-selling country singer, in the...
and Kenny Chesney
Kenny Chesney
Kenneth "Kenny" Arnold Chesney is an American country music singer and songwriter. Chesney has recorded 15 albums, 14 of which have been certified gold or higher by the RIAA. He has also produced more than 30 Top Ten singles on the U.S...
, thus helping to boost the song to Number One on both the 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...
and Mediabase
Mediabase
Mediabase is a music industry service that monitors radio station airplay in 180 US and Canadian markets. Mediabase publishes music charts and data based on the most played songs on terrestrial and satellite radio, and provides in-depth analytical tools for radio and record industry professionals...
country singles charts. Upon reaching Number One in June 2007, "Find out Who Your Friends Are" set a new record for the slowest-climbing Number One single in the history of the Billboard country music charts, as well as the second-slowest climbing on any Billboard singles chart. In addition, it became Lawrence's first Billboard Number One since 1996's "Time Marches On
Time Marches On (song)
"Time Marches On" is the title of a country music song recorded by Tracy Lawrence. It was written by Bobby Braddock, who also wrote Lawrence's 1995 Number One hit "Texas Tornado". The title track and second single from his fourth studio album, it was the fifteenth chart single of his career...
".
Content
"Find Out Who Your Friends Are" is a mid-tempo in which the narrator tells of various situations where a person might be in trouble, and thus might need a friend's help — such as having a car stuck in a ditch, or being short on money. The song's chorus states that in such moments, a person finds out who his or her friends are.Upon hearing the song, Lawrence said that he immediately identified with its message, and thought that it would be a good choice for a lead-off single to his album. According to him, "The message is universal for everybody you know […] I enjoy singing stuff that has a good message."
Chart performance
"Find Out Who Your Friends Are" made its debut on the Hot Country Songs charts dated for September 19, 2006. The song did not enter Top 40 until the chart dated for January 13, 2007, although it fell out of the Top 40 a week later. By the January 27 charts, the song had re-entered.It reached Number One on the Billboard Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...
chart dated June 23, 2007, where it stayed for one week. The song became Lawrence's first Billboard Number One single since "Time Marches On
Time Marches On (song)
"Time Marches On" is the title of a country music song recorded by Tracy Lawrence. It was written by Bobby Braddock, who also wrote Lawrence's 1995 Number One hit "Texas Tornado". The title track and second single from his fourth studio album, it was the fifteenth chart single of his career...
" in 1996, and his first Number One on any major trade chart since 1997's "Is That a Tear", which reached Number One on the former Radio & Records
Radio & Records
Radio & Records was a trade publication providing news and airplay information for the radio and music industries. It originally started out as an independent trade from 1973 to 2006 until VNU Media took over in 2006, up until its final issue in 2009.-History:The company was founded in 1973 and...
country charts.
Having reached the top of the charts on its 41st chart week, the song also set set a new record for the slowest climb to Number One on the country charts, as well as a record for the second-slowest climb for a Number One single on any Billboard chart. "Find Out Who Your Friends Are" also replaced Emerson Drive
Emerson Drive
Emerson Drive is a country music band founded in Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada in 1995. The band is Brad Mates , Danick Dupelle , Mike Melancon , Dale Wallace , and David Pichette .Early on, the band found minor success in Canada, releasing two albums under the name of 12 Gauge, the first Open...
's "Moments
Moments (Emerson Drive song)
"Moments" is a song by Canadian country music band Emerson Drive. Released in both Canada and the United States, the song was a Top Five hit on the Canadian country music charts. It also reached Number One on the Billboard U.S. Hot Country Songs charts, becoming the first Number One single not only...
" at Number One, marking the first time since 1950 that two artists on independently-distributed labels reached Number One back-to-back on the singles charts. In addition, Lawrence became the first artist to reach Number One with the first release from a self-owned record label. Tracy Lawrence Makes History on Country Singles Chart
Cease and desist order
Lawrence's album For the Love features two versions of the song: one version sung by Lawrence himself, and a remixed version featuring guest vocals from country music artists Tim McGrawTim McGraw
Samuel Timothy "Tim" McGraw is an American country singer and actor. Many of McGraw's albums and singles have topped the country music charts with total album sales in excess of 40 million units in the US, making him the eighth best-selling artist, and the third best-selling country singer, in the...
and Kenny Chesney
Kenny Chesney
Kenneth "Kenny" Arnold Chesney is an American country music singer and songwriter. Chesney has recorded 15 albums, 14 of which have been certified gold or higher by the RIAA. He has also produced more than 30 Top Ten singles on the U.S...
, both of whom are friends of Lawrence's. Only the solo version was released to radio as a single; however, upon the release of Lawrence's album, several radio stations began playing the version with McGraw and Chesney's vocals instead. (Both versions were counted as one song when the singles charts were tabulated.)
The week before the single reached Number One, Sony BMG (the parent company of BNA Records
BNA Records
BNA Records, formerly known as BNA Entertainment, is a label group that shares ties with Arista Nashville and RCA Nashville from parent company Sony Music Nashville, which itself is a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, BNA features country music acts on its roster...
, the label to which Chesney is signed) e-mailed a cease-and-desist order to several radio stations that were monitored by Billboard, demanding that these stations cease playing the version featuring McGraw's and Chesney's vocals. According to the letter, which was written by Sony BMG's president, Sony BMG "did not grant 'singles' rights to Rocky Comfort with respect to the album versions of this song and has not authorized any radio station to play this recording". Despite the demands from Sony BMG, radio stations did not stop playing the version with McGraw and Chesney. One day after the release of that letter, Sony BMG issued a formal apology to the radio stations to which the cease-and-desist order had been sent.
Music video
A music video for the song debuted on the television network CMTCMT
- Medicine :* California mastitis test* Certified Massage Therapist* Cervical motion tenderness, a sign of pelvic inflammatory disease* Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease* Chemically modified tetracyclines* Circus Movement Tachycardia...
on August 16, 2007, at which point the song had fallen from the charts and entered recurrent rotation
Recurrent rotation
Recurrent rotation refers to a group of songs still frequently aired on a contemporary hit radio station even several months or even years after the initial debut. It is also used to describe core songs in other radio formats as well...
. In the video, a man (Ronnie Gilley of Enterprise, AL) hits a circumstance similar to the lyrics of the song and finds himself stranded "in the middle of nowhere." Though his cellular reception is very poor, he is able to contact George Jones
George Jones
George Glenn Jones is an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette....
, who then calls Darryl Worley
Darryl Worley
Darryl Wade Worley is an American country music artist. Signed to DreamWorks Records Nashville in 2000, Worley released four albums for the label: Hard Rain Don't Last , I Miss My Friend , Have You Forgotten? , and Darryl Worley in 2004...
(who is relaxing in a pool with several women) and several others, who then calls Roy Oswalt
Roy Oswalt
Roy Edward Oswalt is an American Major League Baseball pitcher and Olympic gold medalist who is currently a free agent. Oswalt, a slender six-foot right-handed starting pitcher, is currently in his eleventh major league season...
who is working out with several other athletes; everyone contacted arrives in a cavalcade of vehicles to help with the predicament. Larry the Cable Guy
Larry the Cable Guy
Daniel Lawrence Whitney , better known by his stage name and character Larry the Cable Guy, is an American comedian, actor, and former radio personality....
made a cameo in the video when Nancy Jones (George Jones' wife) she was talking to him and he was ignoring her by sleeping. He was testing Nancy's patience, so she threw water at him to wake him up.
Chart performance
| Chart (2006-2007) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 61 |
| U.S. Billboard Pop 100 | 96 |
| Canadian Hot 100 | 69 |
External links
- "Find Out Who Your Friends Are" video at CMT.com
- Song lyrics at CMT.com