BORN COUNTRY

BORN COUNTRY

(Byron Hill & John Schweers)

Recorded by Alabama, RCA Records, 1991

I had been carrying this song around for a few weeks in my car, hoping to run into any of the guys from Alabama on the row. One day I was writing in a small upstairs room at Collins Music, overlooking 17th Avenue when my co-writer that day (Billy Lawson), pointed out the window and said "hey...there's Teddy Gentry". In a flash I was down the steps and out the back door heading around the building to meet Teddy. I stopped him in the street and handed him a copy of this song. Two weeks later they called and said they were going to record it. I had written the song with John Schweers, a classic country songwriter, and a big man with a very big heart. Joe Diffie (who began his recording career as a demo singer) flawlessly sang the original demo for me out at County Q Studio in about ten minutes. Josh Leo and Larry Michael Lee took our song to new places with their great production work. The record went #1 in January of 1992.

[LISTEN TO A SAMPLE OF ALABAMA'S VERSION]

BORN COUNTRY (Hill/Schweers)

CLEAR CREEKS...COOL MOUNTAIN MORNIN'S

HONEST WORK OUT IN THE FIELDS

CORN BREAD...IN MY MAMA’S KITCHEN

DADDY SAYIN’ GRACE BEFORE THE MEALS

FAMILY TIES RUN DEEP IN THIS LAND

I’M NEVER VERY FAR FROM WHAT I AM

I WAS BORN COUNTRY

AND THAT'S WHAT I'll ALWAYS BE

LIKE THE RIVERS AND THE WOODLANDS

WILD AND FREE

I'VE GOT A HUNDRED YEARS OF DOWN HOME

RUNNIN' THROUGH MY BLOOD

I WAS BORN COUNTRY

AND THIS COUNTRY'S WHAT I LOVE

MOON LIGHT...AND YOU HERE BESIDE ME

CRICKETS SERENADING IN THE YARD

WHAT MORE...COULD TWO PEOPLE ASK FOR

LAYIN’ HERE IN LOVE BENEATH THE STARS

THIS IS WHERE I WANT TO RAISE MY KIDS

JUST THE WAY MY MOM AND DADDY DID

(REPEAT CHORUS)

All rights administered by Sony/ATV Music Publishing

8 Music Square West, Nashville, TN 37203.