It’s The Nineties: Number Ones from Shenandoah, Doug Stone, John Michael Montgomery, Brooks & Dunn.

By Jonny Brick

1990 Shenandoah – Next To You, Next To Me

Every second of this buoyant song reminds the listener of the power of love and companionship: ‘ain’t no place that I’d rather be’, no need for ‘diamonds and gold’. One day the happy pair will sit in rocking chairs with BBQ chicken on their laps.

‘Who needs your shrimp and your caviar?’ captures the spirit of this toe-tapping ditty which Kevin John Coyne of Country Universe correctly calls ‘one of the most charming records’ in the genre. Blake Shelton borrowed its spirit for his song Happy Anywhere.

1993 Doug Stone – Why Didn’t I Think of That

Stone’s voice is somewhere between those of Garth and Randy Travis. Here, he has ruined his chance to enjoy the kind of love Shenandoah has sung about, all because he didn’t show his lady enough affection.

The soft, beach-type feel of the arrangement is in direct opposition to how he has failed to send roses or called ‘just to say hello’. In one verse he rhymes ‘heartaches/birthday’, which shows the elasticity of his singing.

1994 John Michael Montgomery – Be My Baby Tonight

Montgomery chats up a woman in a bar, promising he’ll make it ‘short and sweet’ and offering a tongue-twister of a chorus: ‘could ya, would ya, ain’t ya gonna’ is another fine piece of Music Row-approved ear candy.

The pace of the arrangement, plus its central solos, come to his aid, and foreshadows the even quicker Sold, which would hit number one the following year.

1995 Brooks & Dunn – You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone

Kix Brooks takes the vocals for this ballad, which foreshadows the end of a relationship. ‘Heaven knows how much I love you,’ he sings, ‘but I’m tired of holding on.’

It’s the kind of song a man can sing to his beloved as a last resort, with a simple melody and a direct emotional appeal: ‘you better kiss me’.