10. My Way To You – Jamey Johnson
Starting with a simple, slow-burning melody highlighted by the crying moans of a steel guitar, Jamey tells a story of a man who is doing whatever it takes to get to the person he’s looking for and that the person was the guiding light for his journey. While this could be a person Jamey was getting to, it feels to me more like a man who is coming to terms with the fact that he’s finding his way to god, even if it is because of a milieu of mistakes. The song builds to an incredibly passionate final verse/chorus where Jamey certainly seems to be singing about redemption for all that he’s done in his life. Much like “High Cost Of Living,” “My Way To You” felt in many ways to raw and real for many country stations and unfortunately that meant the song wasn’t long for radio airwaves. Hopefully it doesn’t mean that this single won’t make the next album as that would be a crime in and of itself. – Matt Bjorke
Click here to read the lyrics.
You can support Jamey Johnson by purchasing this single at Amazon | iTunes.
9. Getting You Home – Chris Young
Chris Young may have gotten ‘noticed’ via Nashville Star but with his charm, good looks and that voice of his, it was only a matter of time before he became known to the powers that be in Nashville. Perhaps we can consider his so-so debut album as something of a ‘soft-landing’ or ‘early recording’ that so many make when first coming to Nashville and instead look at this single, as most probably do, as Chris Young’s ‘debut’ single. The song is a sensual, romantic piece of music and while it’s modern, there is a prominent steel guitar leading the way as Chris sings to the woman of his life. The song certainly feels like the start of something and here’s hoping that this chart-topping hit is but the beginning of something great. – Matt Bjorke
Click here to watch the music video.
You can support Chris Young by purchasing this single at Amazon | iTunes.
8. Runaway – Love and Theft
The placement of this single on this list will likely cause some people to think we’ve lost our minds but in reality this song became an earworm like no other this year. With beautiful harmonies, 3 different lead vocalists on the three verses and a progressive melody, Love and Theft clearly announced the arrival of a band worth paying attention to. Sure, the music is pop or rock-leaning but they are clearly singing a country song that relates to all three members (Brian Bandas, Stephen Barker Liles, Eric Gunderson) as they made their move to become country music singer/songwriters. It’s also a song that many people could relate to, what with the crazy parts of their life where they wished they could be the guy in this song, able to chase their dreams and ‘runaway’ to something different and hopefully better. – Matt Bjorke
Click here to watch the music video.
You can support Love and Theft by purchasing this single at Amazon | iTunes.
7. David Nail – Red Light
There are some songs that are almost instant classics. Songs like He Stopped Loving Her Today, that top all time best lists so often that they are almost cliché. There are other songs that are mere filler on the radio, something to pass three minutes before you get to the next song and the next commercial. Songs that exist because you have to play something between Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood to fill out the hour. Then there are the songs that fall in between, the Oh Yeah songs, the songs that you tuck away in a little corner of your brain where they lie forgotten until you hear them again on the radio years later. Songs that make you think, “Oh yeah, I really like that song.” David Nail’s Red Light will probably not be one of the classics of the modern era, but it will live forever with a quieter legacy of Oh Yeah moments and that makes it one of the better commercial songs of 2009. – Stormy Lewis
Click here to watch the music video.
You can support David Nail by purchasing this single at Amazon | iTunes.
6. Hurry Home – Jason Michael Carroll
Back in 2005, "Hurry Home" won writer Zane Williams $20,000 in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, and no doubt, Zane's win was for good reason: the song really is just that great. I don't know how good of a singer Zane is, but Jason was very smart to pick the song and make it his own. With a winning storyline about the love between a father and his runaway daughter, it's elevated greatly by Jason's deep, full baritone. He really knows how to cut straight to the song's message of family and home. Even though it's from an album titled Growing Up Is Getting Old, "Hurry Home" shows a marked maturity in Carroll's singing and song choices. – Bobby Peacock.
Click here to watch the music video.
You can support Jason Michael Carroll by purchasing this single at Amazon | Amazon Acoustic Version | iTunes.
The Best 40 Singles of 2009: 40-31
The Best 40 Singles of 2009: 30-21
The Best 40 Singles of 2009: 20-16
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