Murder on Music Row

"Murder on Music Row"
Song by George Strait with Alan Jackson from the album Latest Greatest Straitest Hits
Released	March 7, 2000
Recorded	October 27, 1999
Genre	Country
Length	4:23
Label	MCA Nashville
Writer	Larry Cordle, Larry Shell
Producer	Tony Brown
Latest Greatest Straitest Hits track listing
"The Best Day" (1) "Murder on Music Row" (2) "Carrying Your Love with Me" (3)

"Murder on Music Row" is a song made popular as a 2000 duet between country music artists George Strait and Alan Jackson. Although not released officially as a single, it gained attention for its criticism of mainstream country music trends at the time, and received enough unsolicited airplay to chart at number 38 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts.

Content

The song is a criticism of the ongoing trend of country pop crossover acts. Its lyrics tell of how "The steel guitar no longer cries and you can't hear fiddles play / But drums and rock and roll guitars are mixed up in your face."^[1] In addition, the song states that older traditional country artists, such as Hank Williams, George Jones, and Merle Haggard, "wouldn't stand a chance on today's radio."

Original version

American bluegrass group Larry Cordle & Lonesome Standard Time originally recorded by the song as the title track of their 1999 album Murder on Music Row.^[2] Their version was awarded the Song of the Year award at the 2000 International Bluegrass Music Awards.^[3]

George Strait/Alan Jackson version

The song was later covered by Country music artists George Strait and Alan Jackson. Originally, the two singers performed the song together at the 1999 CMA awards show;^[4] Strait and Jackson later recorded it for 2000's Latest Greatest Straitest Hits album. The studio version, although never released officially as a single, reached number 38 on the Hot Country Songs chart from unsolicited play and served as the b-side to Strait's late-2000 single "Go On."^[5] In 2000, it also received the Country Music Association's award for Vocal Event of the Year,^[6] as well as the CMA's Song of the Year award a year later.^[2][7]

Chart performance

Chart (2000)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks	38
Canadian RPM Country Tracks	47

Dierks Bentley/George Jones version

In 2006 Dierks Bentley and George Jones recorded a version of the song that was included on the album Songs of the Year 2007 that was only available in Cracker Barrel restaurants.

References

1. ^ Alan Jackson gives Nashville the finger
2. ^ ^{a b} Larry Cordle signs with Lonesome Day Records
3. ^ “Murder On Music Row” and McCourys Rake In Bluegrass Hardware
4. ^ It Don't Matter Who's in Nashville, George Strait Is Still the King
5. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2008). Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008. Record Research, Inc. p. 407. ISBN 0-89820-177-2. 
6. ^ Alan Jackson Facts
7. ^ CMA World