Battle Of The Bangers: Tim McGraw vs. The Great Divide [VOTE]

Battle Of The Bangers

There's a plethora of music being released every single day. As a radio station, we can't play them all. I've put together a collection of some of my favorite tunes that either haven't made it, haven't been discovered, or haven't been heard. There may be artists you know, superstars you love, or names you've never heard of. I'll provide some backstory on the artist and my personal favorite lyrics from the song. You decide which one is the banger of the bunch to move on to next week's battle. Tim McGraw's 1995 B-side is riding the wave, as it keeps chugging along! I tried to give him a '90s-sounding challenger, and this high school reminiscing song from The Great Divide is just what this battle needs!

Tim McGraw - Don't Mention Memphis

You're probably wondering why you've never heard of this Tim McGraw song, right? It's ok, you're not crazy, it's just a really old song, but possibly my favorite of Tim McGraw's of all time! Honestly, I would have never known about this song if it weren't for our old cohort, Eric Cornish, who introduced me to it many years ago when we worked together at WKDQ. According to Eric, this song used to be Tim McGraw's vocal warm-up song, or rehearsal song they sing on stage to make sure all the audio levels are where they want them. An artist has to really like a song for it to be a consistent go-to for warm-ups. From his third studio album, All I Want, released in 1995, the song "Don't Mention Memphis" was never released as a radio single, to my knowledge, but it is a true hidden gem, in my opinion. McGraw had some of the best storytelling songs of the 90's, and this is no exception.

Lori's Favorite Lyrics:

"And we can talk about your family
Politics, music, and philosophy
Any ol' subject's alright with me
Just don't mention Memphis

Or blue eyes and light brown hair
An angel waving to me from the top of the stairs
The hardest thing I did was leave her standing there
So don't mention Memphis."

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The Great Divide - Yesterday Road

The Great Divide is a 90's country group that is making a comeback 20 years later. Some say this band is one of the first to start the Red Dirt Music genre. The group took a long hiatus but reformed in 2011, releasing their first album in decades, titled Providence. The first five singles from the album went to number one on the Texas music charts. Their sixth single? A live re-recording of the song "Yesterday Road", which was originally released in 1999 on the album Revolutions. We all have those high school memories, or occasionally reminisce about the nostalgia of what were our high school glory days. This song encapsulates that emotion and will have you strolling down memory lane by the first chorus.

Lori's Favorite Lyrics:

"There's a full moon shinin'
Down on a farm pond
That fire will be burnin'
Until dawn
And it's everyone who's someone
Sittin' on a tailgate
Wishin' they were single or
Wishin' they had a date

Only thing Around here's changed
Is that those kids
They've all got different names
And the ones that used to hang around
Got a heavy work load
But their mind still goes driftin'
Down Yesterday Road"