After a couple faltered albums on the Warner Brothers label, where John Anderson scored his biggest successes in the 1980s with hits like ‘Swingin’ and ‘Black Sheep’, the singer moved to MCA. He recorded two albums under the guise of label-head Jimmy Bowen. (Read Occasional Hope’s review of his first MCA release here.) In 1991, he signed with BNA Records, working with producer James Stroud. His first release for the label would turn out to be his most prolific in terms of sales, radio success, and artistry. Seminole Wind would spawn 4 top 10 singles and go on to be certified double platinum for sales of over 2 million. It remains John Anderson’s best-selling album to date.
The album opens with the chugging ‘Who Got Our Love’, which served as the lead single. Though the song stalled at a disappointing #67 on the singles chart, Seminole Wind was just getting started putting John Anderson back on top of the country charts. The second single was the now-barroom classic, ‘Straight Tequila Night’, a song about a woman whose memories all come back when she drinks tequila. Luckily, on this night, she’s ‘only sipping white wine’ and the narrator thinks he might have a chance of winning her heart. The tune shot to the top in March of 1992 and signalled that John Anderson was back in a big way. Featuring twin fiddles and a chorus that you just have to sing along to, it’s still a very popular recurrent on country radio today.
Following the mega success of ‘Tequila’, BNA released ‘When It Comes To You’ as the next single. The bluesy tune has a swampy Louisiana feel and Anderson wraps his warm vocals around the lyric like a wisteria vine in a perfect marriage of lyric and interpretation. It would go on to the #3 perch of the chart. The song’s writer, Mark Knopfler, had originally recorded it with his band Dire Straits for their On Every Street album.
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