It’s In The Blood
January 12, 2011 12:22 PM 
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.
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