Songoftheday 5/10/23 - Lately I've been runnin' Into our old friends, and somewhere in the small talk someone always asks where you've been...

 

 

"I Breathe In, I Breathe Out" - Chris Cagle

from the album Play It Loud (2000)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #35 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 3

 

Today's song comes from Chris Cagle, who was born in Louisiana but grew up in the suburbs of Houston, Texas. Moving to Nashville to start a country music career and struggling at first, he first got a break writing for another country singer, David Kersh, who had three top ten country hits in the late 1990's (none of them written by Cagle). Chris was signed to Virgin Nashville Records, where he released his debut album Play It Loud. The first single from the record, the uptempo "My Love Goes On & On", was a moderate success on country radio, spending 23 weeks on Billboard magazine's Country Songs chart with a high of #15, while placing on the all-genre Hot 100 at #76. That was followed by the mid-tempo ballad "Laredo", which did even better, landing Cagle's first top ten country hit at #9, while making it to #60 on the Hot 100. 

But by the time the songs aged off country radio (a good 54 weeks for the two), Virgin had folded, and Cagle was folded into Capitol Nashville, which re-released Play It Loud with new more songs. One of them, "I Breathe In, I Breathe Out", was originally one he had written for Kersh, who had released it as an album track on his If I Never Stop Loving You album. Written by Chris with Jon Robbin, the lyrics find the singer after a breakup running into mutual friends. When asked how he's doing, the title kicks into the chorus meaning he just survives day by day but can't get from missing them. The neo-traditional production serves the sadness of the song without drowning in maudlin emotion. The by-the-book music video is pleasant enough, and they capitalized on his momentum, bringing Chris his biggest hit single...

"I Breathe In, Breathe Out", topped Billboard's Country Songs chart for a week, and crossed over to the top-40 on the Hot 100 in April of 2002. The Play It Loud album, originally released in October of 2000, spent 99 weeks on the Country Albums chart with a peak of #19, while rising to #164 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, going on to sell over a half million copies.

A fourth single from the record, the branding track "Country By The Grace Of God", stopped at #33 on the Country Songs chart.

A year later, Cagle returned with his self-titled sophomore effort. The lead single, the positive upbeat "What A Beautiful Day", brought the singer back into the country radio top ten at #4, while just missing the Hot 100 top-40 by a notch at #41. The Chris Cagle album peaked at #15 on the Billboard 200, and spent a week at #1 on the Country Albums list, also selling over a half-million records. 

In 2005, Chris' third disc Anywhere But Here came out, and got to #4 on the Country Albums chart, and #24 on the Billboard 200, but the big single (and only one to make the country top-40), "Miss Me Baby", missed the top ten but was close at #12. while stalling at #67 on the Hot 100.

Cagle's fourth and final studio album on Capitol, My Life's Been A Country Song, arrived in 2008. Though it topped the country albums list for a week, and landed his only top ten placing on the Billboard 200 at #8, it spend less than half the time on the lists. He did have a brief rebound at radio, with "What Kinda Gone" taking three weeks at #3 on the Country Songs chart. Capitol released a Best Of Chris Cagle which peaked at #34 on the Country Albums list in 2010.

The singer/songwriter signed with the indie label Bigger Picture, which was distributed through Atlantic. It was here Chris' most recent release, Back In The Saddle, was recorded in 2012. The set went to #27 on the Billboard 200, and #6 on the Country Albums tally. It was preceded by "Got My Country On", which stopped at #12 on the Country Songs chart, and scored a second top-20 hit with the follow-up, "Let There Be Cowgirls" at #16. A third release, "Dance Baby Dance", was Chris' most recent radio chart appearance at #44. After a DUI arrest in 2013, Chris has faded from the radio, and hasn't released an album since, though he continues to play shows live. 

(7/10)

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Here's the original recording of Cagle's song from David Kersh from 1998...

and lastly, Chris doing a radio stint playing the song...

Up tomorrow: R&B legend and rapper cohort talk about the weather.