Songoftheday 10/23/24 -Misty sunrise in my hometown rows of cotton bout knee high, Mrs. Baker down the dirt road still got clothes out on the line...

 

 

"Sweet Southern Comfort" - Buddy Jewell

from the album Buddy Jewell (2003)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #40 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 1

 

Today's song comes from Buddy Jewell, who won the first season of the television singing competition  Country Star (beating out future SOTD artist Miranda Lambert). His debut single after his triumph, "Help Pour Out The Rain", went to #3 on Billboard magazine's Country Songs airplay chart and reached the top-40 on their all-genre Hot 100 in the autumn of 2003. For Buddy's follow-up he released another ballad, but without the preachiness, "Sweet Southern Comfort". Written by Rodney Clawson and Brad Crisler, the lyrics are the nostalgic name-check to the deep south states that would appear in a picture book sold at Cracker Barrel. But at least it's not offensive and waxes more wistful than the usual "I'm better" branding that pervades the genre. The production from country music veteran Clint Black (who has one less Hot 100 top-40 hit than Buddy) is the best part of the record, with prominent harmonica and banjo carrying the dynamic backdrop, as Buddy's vocals as a middle-aged guy himself a much better fit for that type of song. The music video, literally sepia-toned nostalgia, is pretty relaxing in itself...

"Sweet Southern Comfort" spent four weeks at #3 on Billboard's Country Songs chart (doing better than his debut), while slipping into the top-40 on the Hot 100 in April of 2004. Internationally, the single rose to #4 on the Canadian Country chart. 

The third and final single from the Buddy Jewell album, "One Step At A Time", sported some nice harmonies, but it was a little more traditional (which was an asset to me), and stopped at #38 on the Country Songs chart.

 

In 2005, Jewell released his second album on Columbia Records, Times Like These, which went to #5 on the Country Albums chart and #31 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and sold significantly less than its predecessor. (I reviewed it a year later and gave it a D+.)  The sole charting single from the record, "If She Were Any Other Woman", was a highlight, but stalled at #27 on the Country Songs chart, and Jewell was let go from the label.

Jewell went the independent route after that, releasing six more album, the latest being Bluebonnet Highway in 2020. 

(6/10)

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Jewell also released an "Arkansas Version" of the song , which only substituted the football team of his home state...

In 2023, Buddy reprised the song with Clint as well as Marty Raybon of the band Shenandoah and the Bellamy Brothers...

and lastly, in concert in 2004...

Up tomorrow: We're back to the felon singing about more upbeat folk.