It’s In The Blood

Pam Tillis, Lorrie Morgan, Hank Williams Jr., Rosanne Cash. All have had incredible country music careers. And all are chips off the old (and famous) blocks. I guess there's just something about country music coupled with the possibility that musical talent--particularly vocal--passes more easily from generation to generation than, say, acting. The same goes for Waylon Jennings' boy Shooter and Linda Davis's daughter--Hillary Scott of Lady Antebellum. And let me throw in a new artist who "comes by it honest." You may have not yet heard of Mercury Records artist Randy Montana. And you may be even less familiar with his father Billy--but you've heard his work. Billy Montana had minor (very minor) chart success in the Eighties as a recording artist. But he's had much bigger success in the last ten years as a songwriter. "Bring on the Rain" by JoDee Messina, "Suds in the Bucket" by Sara Evans, and "More Than a Memory" by Garth Brooks were all co-written by Billy. All were number one songs. I wish the same type of chart success for Billy's son Randy, who debuted last April with a terrific song called "Ain't Much Left of Lovin' You." It barely cracked the Top 40. I think his new single "1000 Faces" is even better. Its writer, Tom Douglas, co-wrote Miranda Lambert's #1 smash, "The House That Built Me." That's a pretty good sign.