Cowgirls Don't Cry

"Cowgirls Don't Cry"
Single by Brooks & Dunn featuring Reba McEntire
from the album Cowboy Town
Released	October 20, 2008
Format	CD single, music download
Genre	Country
Length	3:33
Label	Arista Nashville 88697-43591
Writer(s)	Ronnie Dunn Terry McBride
Producer	Kix Brooks Tony Brown Ronnie Dunn
Brooks & Dunn singles chronology
"Put a Girl in It" (2008) "Cowgirls Don't Cry" (2008) "Indian Summer" (2009)
Reba McEntire singles chronology "Every Other Weekend" (2007) "Cowgirls Don't Cry" (2008) "Strange" (2009)

"Cowgirls Don't Cry" is a song recorded by American country music duo Brooks & Dunn on their 2007 album Cowboy Town, from which it was released as the fourth single. It was written by Ronnie Dunn, one-half of the duo, and Terry McBride, former lead singer of McBride & the Ride. One month after its chart entry, it was re-recorded and re-released as a collaboration with Reba McEntire. The song is Brooks & Dunn's forty-first and final Top Ten hit on the Billboard country charts, and McEntire's fifty-sixth.

Content

"Cowgirls Don't Cry" is a mid-tempo with a fiddle intro. Its lyric focuses on a female character who faces hardship. In the first verse, she is a little girl who has just been given a pony to ride, and although she repeatedly falls off, she does not cry. By the second verse, she is an adult, and her husband is having an affair, although again she does not cry. She discovers in the third verse that her father is dying, and places a phone call to him. He then tells her, "Cowgirl, don't cry".

Re-release

An alternate version of this song that features Reba McEntire's vocals on the final chorus was released to radio after she and the duo performed the song on the Country Music Association Awards on Wednesday, November 12, 2008.^[1] In addition, a video was released that featured both the duo and McEntire.^[1] Starting with the chart week of November 29, 2008, the song was credited on the U.S. country charts as "Brooks & Dunn featuring Reba McEntire". The Reba McEntire collaboration was officially released as a digital single on February 10, 2009.^[2] The duet version features a key change in the final chorus, which is not present in the original recording. This re-release is the version that appears on the compilation album #1s… and Then Some.

Chart performance

On the chart week of January 31, 2009, the song entered Top Ten on the Billboard country singles charts, giving Brooks & Dunn their forty-first and final Top Ten hit and breaking a record previously held by Alabama for the most Top Ten country hits by a duo or group.^[3] In addition, it became McEntire's fifty-sixth Top Ten country hit, breaking Dolly Parton's record for the most Top Ten country hits for a solo female.^[4]

Chart (2008-2009)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs	2
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	44
Canadian Billboard Hot 100	49

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Brooks & Dunn release Cowgirls single with Reba
2. ^ Keel, Beverly (2009-01-26). "Brooks & Dunn single sets record". The Tennesseean. http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090126/TUNEIN02/90126026/1005/ENTERTAINMENT. Retrieved 2009-02-17. ^{[dead link]}
3. ^ Holland, Margy. "Brooks & Dunn Make Chart History". CJFW. http://www.cjfw.ca/news/music/80/862567. Retrieved 2009-01-23. ^{[dead link]}
4. ^ Bronson, Fred (2009-01-22). "Billboard Chart Beat". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/chart-beat-bonus/chart-beat-christopher-cross-paul-mccartney-1003933441.story. Retrieved 2009-01-25. ^{[dead link]}