Top 40 Singles of 2008: Lee Ann Womack - "Last Call" (#22)

While mainstream country has seemingly gotten further and further away from its roots, it's always refreshing to hear a singer of Lee Ann Womack's caliber on the radio.  With this song, she has returned some tradition to the charts, and onto our year-end best-of list.

There's something about hearing a Lee Ann Womack single on the radio that gives me warm fuzzies.  It's as if the traditions of Country are alive and well with her and THAT voice.  No matter what kind of production is wrapped around her gorgeous soprano voice there's no denying she's country.  Even when "I Hope You Dance" crossed over to the Pop charts, It still sounded like a Country song to me.  With "Last Call" Lee Ann Womack has managed to bridge the traditional sounds of "There's More Where That Came From" and "I Hope You Dance," the most critically acclaimed albums of her career. 

As a single on the radio, the haunting slide guitar opening and soft mandolin strums and crying steel guitar certainly leaves an impression.  Then as Lee Ann sings the lonesome lyric it just hits you like a ton of bricks.  Even if you've never lived these lyrics, you can feel the emotion and pain in Lee Ann's voice.  It's the hurt and pain of a woman who wants more out of a relationship but knows that he'll never see her that way, since he only calls her when he strikes out at the bar.  The lyrics paint the picture and they're framed with that gorgeous melancholic melody that have helped make it both Lee Ann Womack's comeback single and one of Roughstock's favorite Country singles of the year.

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