If you’re like me, Chris Cagle WAS early-2000’s country music. Some of my best memories were listening to his songs in the… well, in the Walmart parking lot.
The early 2000’s were a weird time in country music. Country had blown up in popularity in the 90’s thanks to guys like Garth Brooks. Then in the 2000’s, the genre as a whole started to swing hard towards the pop sound that we have in a lot of country music today. (Also, arguably, thanks to guys like Garth Brooks).
But then there was Chris Cagle. At a time when country music was changing its sound to appeal to its newly-expanded audience, Chris Cagle was putting out songs that sounded like they were straight out of the 90’s – and damn they were good.
Unfortunately for his fans, Chris decided to hang it up in 2015 so that he could spend time with his wife and his young children. Since then, he’s kept a pretty low profile – until this weekend, when he came out of retirement for one final show at Guthrie’s River Ruckus in Iowa. In announcing the show, Chris also promised that he would be “bringing new music,” so does this mean we’re going to finally be getting a new Chris Cagle album? I guess we’ll have to wait and see, but for now, we can look back on some of the best songs that he’s released…so far.
“Anywhere But Here”
This one’s my all-time favorite Chris Cagle song. The way he delivers the story of a guy sitting at a bar and trying to hide the truth from the girl who broke his heart…man, that’s just a good damn country song.
“Laredo”
“Wal-Mart Parking Lot”
If you grew up in a small town, the only place to hang out on a Friday night was the Walmart parking lot. It was where you grew up and learned about life. And it was awesome.
“I Breathe In, I Breathe Out”
“Chicks Dig It”
Every guy in the world can relate to this one, because we’ve all done stupid shit to impress the ladies. Cause the chicks dig it.
“Got My Country On”
“What Kinda Gone”
