Songoftheday 5/22/22 - I've got the lights turned up the door is locked the bedroom tv's on, doin' the only thing that gets me through the night since you've been gone...

 

 

"Prayin' For Daylight" - Rascal Flatts

from the album Rascal Flatts (2000)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #38 (two weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 2

 

Today's song comes from the country music trio Rascal Flatts, who came together in the late 1990's. Jay Demarcus, who had previously been in the Christian pop music duo East To West, who had a #1 Christian radio hit with "Prince Of Peace" in 1994, joined cousin and lead singer Gary LeVox and bassist Joe Don Rooney in Nashville, where they all were backup musicians for local acts. They were signed to Disney's foray into the country music market, Lyric Street Records, where they released their self-titled debut album in 1999. The lead single from the set was "Prayin' For Daylight", written by Steve Bogard and Rick Giles. It's an midtempo song that is strong in sunny and tight harmonies, which belies the lyrics, which has a dumped guy pining for his love back, saying he's unable to get through the night without them. The production is as shiny as the vocals, with the off-kilter violin hook the one notable thing about it. It was pleasant enough to conquer country radio in their first try, and it did well enough to make the pop top-40...

"Prayin' For Daylight" became Rascal Flatt's first top-40 hit on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 pop chart in August of 2000. The song spent two weeks at #3 on the Country Singles chart as well, spending a hefty 31 weeks on the list. Internationally, the single went to #4 on the Canadian Country chart. The Rascal Flatts album, released in June of that year, got to #43 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and #3 on the Country Albums list, spending well over a year on both lists and selling over two million copies. 

The second release from the debut set was another harmony-heavy uptempo tune, "This Everyday Love", which scored a second country radio top ten at #9, while peaking at #56 on the Hot 100. That was followed by the ballad "While You Loved Me", which rose to #7 on the Country Singles chart, and #60 on the Hot 100. The fourth and single promoted single from the album, "I'm Movin' On", was arguably the best cut off the record, and the emotional break-up waltz just missed the Hot 100 top-40 at #41, while landing a fourth top ten country hit at #4. Also, album cut "Long Slow Beautiful Dance" got enough radio airplay to pop onto the Country Airplay chart for a couple weeks with a high of #73.  But this was only the beginning, and Rascal Flatts will be back to the series many more times.

(6/10)

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Here's the trio doing a televised performance of "Prayin' For Daylight" for cable network CMT in 2001...

and lastly, in concert in 2003...

Up tomorrow: Country traditionalist surmises romance.