Songoftheday 6/2/23 - I got me a brand new car waitin' in the driveway, shinin' like a bright new star I've be wishin' on it every day to take me away from here...

 

 

"I Don't Have To Be Me ('Til Monday)" - Steve Azar

from the album Waitin' On Joe (2002)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #35 (three weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 6

 

Today's song comes from Steve Azar, who grew up in the city of Greenville along the Mississippi River in the state of the same name.  After a try at Nashville as a teen, Azar finished high school and college before pursuing a full time country music career. Starting out as a writer, Steve was eventually signed to the indie label River North, where he released his debut album Heartbreak Town in 1996. The lead single, "Someday", went to #51 on Billboard magazine's Country Songs chart, followed by "I Never Stopped Loving You", which made it a notch higher at #50. The label would soon fold.

 

In a stroke of luck, a former River North executive worked at Mercury Nashville Records, and after some prodding signed Azar to the label. His Mercury debut, and second disc overall, Waitin' On Joe, came out in the Spring of 2002. It was preceded the year before by the single "I Don't Have To Be Me ('Til Monday)". Written by the singer with R.C. Bannon (fun fact: Louise Mandrell's ex) and Jason Young, the song is a lighthearted jab at calling out on Friday to extend the weekend. We assume he got away with it, because the song just repeats the "hail to the weekend" mantras without much else. Nevertheless, subject matters like this are relatable and don't need much, and Azar's affable vocal personality along with Rafe Van Hoy's sunny production (which sound an awful like SheDaisy's "Little Goodbyes") sells the product he's delivering. As for the music video, someone is trying real hard here with a weird "magic portal" plot, though out of the transformations that don't really say where they're going there's a drag queen of color here...

"I Don't Have To Be Me" became Azar's biggest success, spending a week at #2 on Billboard's Country Songs chart (lingering on the list for a hefty 44 weeks) while crossing over to the Hot 100 top-40 in May of 2002. The Waitin' On Joe album, released in April of that year, peaked at #29 on the Country Albums sales chart. 

Steve's follow-up single, title track "Waitin' On Joe", made it to #28 on the Country Songs chart. In 2005, Azar released a new song, "Doin' It Right", which trying to recapture the vibe of "Monday", but after it failed to at least make the country radio top-40 at #47, an proposed album was canned and Azar left Mercury. 

After kickstarting his own label Dang Records, Azar paired up with indie label Ride Records for Indianola, the set that would have been his second on Mercury, in 2008. The biggest single from the record, "You Don't Know A Thing" (co-written with Radney Foster), stopped at #49 on the Country Songs chart, but at least spent 17 weeks on the list. A year later he put out Slide On Over Here on Ride, which put the singer back on the Country Albums chart at #57. Two songs from the record made the Country Songs top-40, with the silly-titled "Moo La Moo" going to #39 followed by the more beautifully pensive "Sunshine (Everybody Needs A Little)" at #27. Since then Steve has released three more albums on Ride Records, most recently My Mississippi Reunion in 2020. In February of 2023, Azar released a new single, "Medicine Man". 

(5/10)

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Last year, Azar reprised "Monday" for an ad for the Pearl River Resort in Mississippi...

 Tomorrow, I'll roll out my top 100 'hit' tunes from the week, and SOTD will be back Monday with a country music icon comparing existences.