Buddy Jewell

COUNTRY ENOUGH (Buddy Jewell)
“This is the title cut.  It’s a song I wrote by myself a few years ago.  I was really surprised when we went into the studio to cut it I kind of had this vision for it.  I had my band in the studio with me, and they just took off.  I love the guitar lick that Kevin Collier came up with on it.  It was something that really set it apart.  I thought it was a great song to start the CD off with.”

THE WHEELS TURN SLOW (Buddy Jewell, Thom Shepherd, Steve Williams)
“That’s affectionately called ‘The Caterpillar Song.’  I walked into a writing session with Steve and Thom and they had the idea of ‘The Wheels Turn Slow.’  We got talking about what that would mean.  Sometimes it takes a little while for people to catch onto an idea.  I’m kind of slow myself (laughter).  We thought what are some different ways we can write this title.  That’s where we came up with that.  It’s actually written based on a couple of small towns like where I grew up Osceola, Arkansas.  That’s where the Piggly Wiggly came in and the Sonic and all that.  It’s something that people are really taking a liking to in concerts.  They hold up their caterpillar signs.  It’s really nice.”

WHAT THIS COUNTRY’S COMIN’ TO (Buddy Jewell)
“This is a true story.  I was watching the TV and saw a guy burning the American flag.  It just makes me mad as hell to see somebody doing something like that to one of our national symbols.  If you don’t like the way we do it here then there’s plenty of other places to live.  Go.  The song is about how we’ve just let people run over us and how our rights have been taken away from us.”

THE ONES I LOVE THE MOST (Buddy Jewell)
“This was actually a true story back when Tené and I had only been married for a couple of months.  I was playing in this week-to-week band all over the country, and the phone rings at the hotel room literally 30 minutes before I leave to go to the show, and she’s crying her eyes out.  I was like what’s wrong?  She said I’m pregnant!  We had this plan of waiting three or four or five years before we have kids.  We weren’t married two months and she’s pregnant! (laughter)  It’s just about what a blessing it is at such a scary time for us.

Looking back on it I wouldn’t want it any other way.  We’re coming up on our 20th anniversary in December, and little Buddy, who the song was written about, just started college.”

SHE LOVES THIS TOWN (Buddy Jewell)
“This song is a view point of life from a single mom in a small town.  One of the great things about America and small towns is how everyone knows your business, but everybody kind of embraces you and they look after each other.  It’s a thing about community and a sense of belonging somewhere.  It was just written from that standpoint.  I know a lot of single moms out there who I really respect.  Being a father of three and having a wife like I do, I can’t imagine what it would be like to raise a child by yourself.  It really has to be tough.”

HILLBILLY WATER (Buddy Jewell, Thom Shepherd, Steve Williams)
“There’s a guy named Larry Wayne Clark who I used to write a lot with and do a lot of demos for.  There’s a song on my second album, ‘Addicted To The Rain,’ that Larry Wayne and I wrote.  We were talking one day, and I sang this demo for him and another writer and there was a phrase in that song that said something about hillbilly water.  I realized they were talking about white lightening – moonshine.  I thought that would be a great title for a song.  I didn’t tell him that though! (laughter)  I was writing with Steve and Thom and I said you know, I’ve got this idea for a song…  I think we can make the hillbilly water mean moonshine, but maybe also this really cool little lake or whatever where kids go skinny dipping.  The preacher’s daughter thing kind of developed later on.  There’s a youth minister at my church, and that’s his three-year-old daughter’s favorite song.”