Underrated Country Songs - The Warren Brothers - Better Man
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In this episode of Across The Country With Amanda, we dive into "Better Man," the second single from The Warren Brothers' debut album, Beautiful Day in a Cruel World. Despite its low peak at 32 on the country charts, "Better Man" remains a standout in their catalog. The episode also highlights the Warren Brothers' successful songwriting careers including cuts from major artists like Faith Hill and Tim McGraw.
00:00 Introduction to Better Man by the Warren Brothers
00:10 The Warren Brothers' Early Career
00:46 BNA Records in the '90s
01:23 Better Man: The Song and Its Impact
02:07 Songwriting Success in the 2000s
02:35 Recent Activities and Personal Stories
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Episode Transcript
Welcome to Across The Country With Amanda! In this episode, I’m diving into “Better Man” an underrated hit from The Warren Brothers.
This is the second single from the Warren Brothers, Brett and Brad Warren, who and began their musical careers by playing in Christian heavy metal bands. After moving to Nashville in the mid 90s, they signed to BNA Records. The label’s biggest selling artists at this time were:
Kenny Chesney, who was gradually becoming a huge star and had a consistent string of top 20 singles during that late 90 period.
Lorrie Morgan was the label’s biggest act. She signed with them in 1992 and had some of her most memorable hits with the label.
John Anderson had his remarkable comeback in the 90s during his “Seminole Wind” era, and that was all with BNA, as well.
BNA didn't have a huge roster like MCA, RCA, or Curb in those days. It was primarily acts that had one or two albums and a few singles that made a little traction that radio. Acts like BB Watson, Ray Vega, Turner Nichols and the Remington's. Then they hit a stride in the mid-90s with the double platinum success of Mindy McCready. Pus they had Lonestar who became really favorable at radio during this time. They continued signing new young artists like Jason Sellers, Jennifer Day, and the Warren brothers.
The song “Better Man” only got to number 32 on the charts, but their label continued to release their music. “Better Man” was their second single off their first album, Beautiful Day in a Cruel World. We're back in a time where country radio is playing a lot of overproduced, glossy records. “Better Man” was very simple in terms of lyrics and instrumentation. It was very believable, and because of their loyal listening base and likability within the industry, they released three more albums with BNA. They ended up being nominated for Vocal Duo of the Year by the CMA’s for seven years in a row. With the Academy of Country Music, they scored seven nominations including new artists of the year, vocal duo, and vocal event of the year.
By the turn of the decade, the duo began to focus on songwriting, and they got cuts from Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, who were really big champions of the them, and they even took them out on tour back in the 90s. Then more artists like Keith Urban, Martina McBride, and Toby Keith begin recording their material. This would lead to them having some of their biggest success on radio, sales, and they were nominated for Grammy Song of the Year. More recently, both Brett and Brad they've been opening up about their life, their family, and their faith. I encourage you to look on YouTube, look on their Facebook page. They've got some really great video interviews on there. You'll take away some very, very powerful, meaningful, insightful messages from those videos.