Jon Randall
Encyclopedia
Jon Randall Stewart is an American country music
artist. Signed to RCA Records
in 1995, he debuted that year with the album What You Don't Know. A second album for RCA, 1996's Great Day to Be Alive, was recorded but never released. That same year, Randall entered Top 40 on the country charts as a duet partner on then-wife Lorrie Morgan
's song "By My Side". A third album (and second to be released), 1998's Cold Coffee Morning, was issued on Asylum Records
, followed by 1999's Willin′ on the independent Eminent label. Finally, in 2005, he issued Walking Among the Living on Epic Records.
In addition to the four studio albums that he has released, and the three songs he has charted on the Billboard
Hot Country Songs
charts, Randall co-wrote the song "Whiskey Lullaby
", which became a Top 5 hit when Brad Paisley
recorded it as a duet with Alison Krauss
on his 2003 album Mud on the Tires
.
. In his teenage years, he relocated to Nashville, Tennessee
, where he found work as a guitarist in Emmylou Harris
's band The Nash Ramblers.
In 1992, Randall won a Grammy award under the winner name 'Emmylou Harris & Nash Ramblers (Larry Altamanuik, Sam Bush
, Roy Huskey, Jr.
, Al Perkins
, Jon Randall Stewart), artists.' for Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal. The award was for the album "Live at the Ryman".
Randall also participated in the Grammy winning project 'Carl Jackson and John Starling (with The Nash Ramblers), which won in 1991, but only Jackson and Starling received the award.
In 1995, he was signed to RCA Records
Nashville as a solo artist, releasing his debut album What You Don't Know that year. Due to a restructuring at the label, however, the album received little publicity, and its only chart single ("This Heart") peaked at #74 on the country charts.
After the release of What You Don't Know, Randall set to work on a second album for RCA, entitled Great Day to Be Alive. During the recording session for this album, Randall met and eventually married country singer Lorrie Morgan
, with whom he would perform the duet "By My Side" for both his own album and for her 1996 album Greater Need
. "By My Side" was released as a single in 1996, becoming Randall's only Top 40 hit on the country music charts and won a Music City News Award for Vocal Collaboration. Great Day to Be Alive was never released. However, its Darrell Scott
-penned title track "It's a Great Day to Be Alive
" would be recorded in 2002 by Travis Tritt
for his album Down the Road I Go, from which it was released as a single.
By 1998, Randall had moved to Asylum Records
to record his third studio album. Entitled Cold Coffee Morning, this album produced singles in its title track and the song "She Don't Believe in Fairy Tales", the former of which reached #71 on the country charts. Shortly after this album's release, Randall and Morgan would divorce. A more Americana-oriented album, entitled Willin′, was issued in 1999 on the independent Eminent label.
". This song was inspired by Randall's manager who, upon noticing the singer's troubled life at the time, told Randall, "Every now and then, you've got to put a bottle to your head and pull the trigger." Brad Paisley
then selected the song for his 2003 album Mud on the Tires
, recording "Whiskey Lullaby" as a duet with singer Alison Krauss
. Released in 2004, Paisley and Krauss's rendition of "Whiskey Lullaby" was a #2 hit on the country charts, earning its writers a Country Music Association
award for Song of the Year.
Randall signed to his fourth recording contract in 2005, this time with Epic Records
. His first album for Epic, Walking Among the Living, was issued that year. Included among its songs were the singles "Baby Won't You Come Home" and "I Shouldn't Do This", as well as Randall's own rendition of "Whiskey Lullaby". In 2006, he married singer-songwriter Jessi Alexander
.
In 2008, Gary Allan
released the single "She's So California", which Randall and Allan co-wrote with Jaime Hanna of Hanna-McEuen
. Randall also co-wrote The Lost Trailers
' 2009 single "All This Love." In addition, he produced Dierks Bentley
's 2010 album Up on the Ridge
and co-wrote several tracks on it.
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
artist. Signed to RCA Records
RCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
in 1995, he debuted that year with the album What You Don't Know. A second album for RCA, 1996's Great Day to Be Alive, was recorded but never released. That same year, Randall entered Top 40 on the country charts as a duet partner on then-wife Lorrie Morgan
Lorrie Morgan
In 1996 Morgan married Jon Randall, a singer/songwriter now credited with writing the 2004 Brad Paisley/Alison Krauss hit "Whiskey Lullaby"; they divorced three years later in 1999....
's song "By My Side". A third album (and second to be released), 1998's Cold Coffee Morning, was issued on Asylum Records
Asylum Records
Asylum Records is an American record label founded in 1971 by David Geffen, and partner Elliot Roberts, who had previously worked as agents at the William Morris Agency. Founded specifically to provide a record contract for Jackson Browne, the label signed Tom Waits, Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell...
, followed by 1999's Willin′ on the independent Eminent label. Finally, in 2005, he issued Walking Among the Living on Epic Records.
In addition to the four studio albums that he has released, and the three songs he has charted on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...
charts, Randall co-wrote the song "Whiskey Lullaby
Whiskey Lullaby
"Whiskey Lullaby" is the title of a country song composed by Bill Anderson and Jon Randall. It was first recorded by Brad Paisley as a duet with Alison Krauss on Paisley's 2003 album Mud on the Tires, and released on April 12, 2004, as that album's third single, and the eleventh chart single of...
", which became a Top 5 hit when Brad Paisley
Brad Paisley
Brad Douglas Paisley is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His style crosses between traditional country music and Southern rock, and his songs are frequently laced with humor and pop culture references....
recorded it as a duet with Alison Krauss
Alison Krauss
Alison Maria Krauss is an American bluegrass-country singer, songwriter and fiddler. She entered the music industry at an early age, winning local contests by the age of ten and recording for the first time at fourteen. She signed with Rounder Records in 1985 and released her first solo album in...
on his 2003 album Mud on the Tires
Mud on the Tires
-Musicians:*Ron Block - banjo*Jim "Moose" Brown - B3 organ on "Famous People"*Randel Currie - steel guitar, pedabro on "Ain't Nothin Like"*Eric Darken - percussion*Jerry Douglas - Dobro*Kevin "Swine" Grantt - bass guitar, upright bass, fretless bass...
.
Biography
Jon Randall Stewart was born on February 17, 1969 in Dallas, TexasDallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
. In his teenage years, he relocated to Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, where he found work as a guitarist in Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris is an American singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers' works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other artists including...
's band The Nash Ramblers.
In 1992, Randall won a Grammy award under the winner name 'Emmylou Harris & Nash Ramblers (Larry Altamanuik, Sam Bush
Sam Bush
Sam Bush is an American bluegrass mandolin player considered an originator of the Newgrass style.- History :...
, Roy Huskey, Jr.
Roy Huskey, Jr.
Roy Milton Huskey was a prominent American upright bass player in country music from Nashville, Tennessee. Huskey performed alongside musicians such as Chet Atkins, Garth Brooks, Johnny Cash, Vince Gill, George Jones, Steve Earle, Doc Watson and many others...
, Al Perkins
Al Perkins
Al Perkins is a Texas-born American guitarist. The Gibson guitar company called Perkins "the world's most influential Dobro player", and even began producing an "Al Perkins Signature" Dobro in 2001 - designed and autographed by Perkins....
, Jon Randall Stewart), artists.' for Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal. The award was for the album "Live at the Ryman".
Randall also participated in the Grammy winning project 'Carl Jackson and John Starling (with The Nash Ramblers), which won in 1991, but only Jackson and Starling received the award.
In 1995, he was signed to RCA Records
RCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
Nashville as a solo artist, releasing his debut album What You Don't Know that year. Due to a restructuring at the label, however, the album received little publicity, and its only chart single ("This Heart") peaked at #74 on the country charts.
After the release of What You Don't Know, Randall set to work on a second album for RCA, entitled Great Day to Be Alive. During the recording session for this album, Randall met and eventually married country singer Lorrie Morgan
Lorrie Morgan
In 1996 Morgan married Jon Randall, a singer/songwriter now credited with writing the 2004 Brad Paisley/Alison Krauss hit "Whiskey Lullaby"; they divorced three years later in 1999....
, with whom he would perform the duet "By My Side" for both his own album and for her 1996 album Greater Need
Greater Need
Greater Need is a studio album, released in 1996, by American country music artist Lorrie Morgan. It included three singles, all of which entered the Billboard country singles charts: "By My Side" , "I Just Might Be" and "Good as I Was to You."Thom Owens of Allmusic rated the album three stars out...
. "By My Side" was released as a single in 1996, becoming Randall's only Top 40 hit on the country music charts and won a Music City News Award for Vocal Collaboration. Great Day to Be Alive was never released. However, its Darrell Scott
Darrell Scott
James Darrell Scott known as Darrell Scott , the son of musician Wayne Scott with whom he has collaborated, is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He moved as a child to East Gary, Indiana. He was playing professionally by his teens in Southern California, later living in...
-penned title track "It's a Great Day to Be Alive
It's a Great Day to Be Alive
"It's a Great Day to Be Alive" is the title of a song written by Darrell Scott. It was originally recorded by country music artist Jon Randall. It was to have been included on an album titled Great Day to Be Alive, which would have been released in the late 1990s via BNA Records...
" would be recorded in 2002 by Travis Tritt
Travis Tritt
James Travis Tritt is an American country music singer from Marietta, Georgia. He signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1989, releasing seven studio albums and a greatest hits package for the label between then and 1999. In the 2000s, he released two albums on Columbia Records and one for the defunct...
for his album Down the Road I Go, from which it was released as a single.
By 1998, Randall had moved to Asylum Records
Asylum Records
Asylum Records is an American record label founded in 1971 by David Geffen, and partner Elliot Roberts, who had previously worked as agents at the William Morris Agency. Founded specifically to provide a record contract for Jackson Browne, the label signed Tom Waits, Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell...
to record his third studio album. Entitled Cold Coffee Morning, this album produced singles in its title track and the song "She Don't Believe in Fairy Tales", the former of which reached #71 on the country charts. Shortly after this album's release, Randall and Morgan would divorce. A more Americana-oriented album, entitled Willin′, was issued in 1999 on the independent Eminent label.
2000s
In 1998, Randall and country singer Bill Anderson co-wrote "Whiskey LullabyWhiskey Lullaby
"Whiskey Lullaby" is the title of a country song composed by Bill Anderson and Jon Randall. It was first recorded by Brad Paisley as a duet with Alison Krauss on Paisley's 2003 album Mud on the Tires, and released on April 12, 2004, as that album's third single, and the eleventh chart single of...
". This song was inspired by Randall's manager who, upon noticing the singer's troubled life at the time, told Randall, "Every now and then, you've got to put a bottle to your head and pull the trigger." Brad Paisley
Brad Paisley
Brad Douglas Paisley is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His style crosses between traditional country music and Southern rock, and his songs are frequently laced with humor and pop culture references....
then selected the song for his 2003 album Mud on the Tires
Mud on the Tires
-Musicians:*Ron Block - banjo*Jim "Moose" Brown - B3 organ on "Famous People"*Randel Currie - steel guitar, pedabro on "Ain't Nothin Like"*Eric Darken - percussion*Jerry Douglas - Dobro*Kevin "Swine" Grantt - bass guitar, upright bass, fretless bass...
, recording "Whiskey Lullaby" as a duet with singer Alison Krauss
Alison Krauss
Alison Maria Krauss is an American bluegrass-country singer, songwriter and fiddler. She entered the music industry at an early age, winning local contests by the age of ten and recording for the first time at fourteen. She signed with Rounder Records in 1985 and released her first solo album in...
. Released in 2004, Paisley and Krauss's rendition of "Whiskey Lullaby" was a #2 hit on the country charts, earning its writers a Country Music Association
Country Music Association
The Country Music Association was founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. It originally consisted of only 233 members and was the first trade organization formed to promote a music genre...
award for Song of the Year.
Randall signed to his fourth recording contract in 2005, this time with Epic Records
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
. His first album for Epic, Walking Among the Living, was issued that year. Included among its songs were the singles "Baby Won't You Come Home" and "I Shouldn't Do This", as well as Randall's own rendition of "Whiskey Lullaby". In 2006, he married singer-songwriter Jessi Alexander
Jessi Alexander
Jessica "Jessi" Alexander is an American country music singer-songwriter. She has had her songs recorded by Patty Loveless, Trisha Yearwood and Little Big Town. She also launched her own recording career in 2004...
.
In 2008, Gary Allan
Gary Allan
Gary Allan Herzberg is an American country music artist, known professionally as Gary Allan.Signed to Decca Records in 1996, Allan made his debut on the United States country music scene with the release of his single "Her Man", the lead-off to his gold-certified debut album Used Heart for Sale,...
released the single "She's So California", which Randall and Allan co-wrote with Jaime Hanna of Hanna-McEuen
Hanna-McEuen
-Track listing:#"Fool Around" - 3:22#"Blue Sunrise" - 3:34#"Read Between the Lies" - 3:30#"Something Like a Broken Heart" - 3:52...
. Randall also co-wrote The Lost Trailers
The Lost Trailers
The Lost Trailers is an American country music band. Established in 2000, the band originally comprised Ryder Lee , Manny Medina , Andrew Nielson , Stokes Nielson , and Jeff Potter...
' 2009 single "All This Love." In addition, he produced Dierks Bentley
Dierks Bentley
Dierks Bentley is an American country music artist who has been signed to Capitol Records Nashville since 2003. That year, he released his self-titled debut album. Both it and its follow-up, 2005's Modern Day Drifter, are certified platinum in the United States. A third album, 2006's Long Trip...
's 2010 album Up on the Ridge
Up on the Ridge
Upon its release, Up on the Ridge received generally positive reviews from most music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 80, based on 7 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable...
and co-wrote several tracks on it.
Albums
| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| What You Don't Know What You Don't Know (Jon Randall album) What You Don't Know is the debut album released by country music artist Jon Randall and his only album released on the RCA Records label. Because of restructuring within the record company, this album received minimal promotion... |
|
| Cold Coffee Morning Cold Coffee Morning Cold Coffee Morning is the title of a studio album released by American country music singer Jon Randall. It was released September 22, 1998 via Asylum Records. It was his first studio album since his 1995 debut What You Don't Know, and it followed an unreleased 1996 album called Great Day to Be... |
Asylum Records Asylum Records is an American record label founded in 1971 by David Geffen, and partner Elliot Roberts, who had previously worked as agents at the William Morris Agency. Founded specifically to provide a record contract for Jackson Browne, the label signed Tom Waits, Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell... |
| Willin' Willin' Willin' is the third studio album released by American country music singer Jon Randall. It was released in 1999 via the independent Eminent label. Randall wrote or co-wrote ten of the eleven songs on the album and produced it... |
|
| Walking Among the Living Walking Among the Living Walking Among the Living is the fourth studio album released by American country music singer Jon Randall. It is his third major-label album, and his first album since Willin in 1999. This album includes the song "Whiskey Lullaby", which was also recorded by Brad Paisley as a duet with Alison... |
Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A... |
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak positions | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| US Country Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales... |
|||
| 1994 | "I Came Straight to You" | — | What You Don't Know |
| "This Heart" | 74 | ||
| 1998 | "She Don't Believe in Fairy Tales" | — | Cold Coffee Morning |
| 1999 | "Cold Coffee Morning" | 71 | |
| 2005 | "Baby Won't You Come Home" | — | Walking Among the Living |
| "I Shouldn't Do This" | — | ||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||
Guest singles
| Year | Single | Artist | Peak chart positions | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales... |
US Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
CAN Country RPM (magazine) RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,... |
||||
| 1996 | "By My Side" | Lorrie Morgan Lorrie Morgan In 1996 Morgan married Jon Randall, a singer/songwriter now credited with writing the 2004 Brad Paisley/Alison Krauss hit "Whiskey Lullaby"; they divorced three years later in 1999.... |
18 | 110 | 21 | Greater Need Greater Need Greater Need is a studio album, released in 1996, by American country music artist Lorrie Morgan. It included three singles, all of which entered the Billboard country singles charts: "By My Side" , "I Just Might Be" and "Good as I Was to You."Thom Owens of Allmusic rated the album three stars out... |
Music videos
| Year | Video | Director |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | "I Came Straight to You" | R. Brad Murano/Steven T. Miller |
| "This Heart" | Joanne Gardner | |
| 1998 | "She Don't Believe in Fairy Tales" | Trey Fanjoy Trey Fanjoy Trey Fanjoy is a country music and pop music video director. Fanjoy has directed over 150 major label music videos. Her videos have appeared on CMT, VH-1, GAC, The Nashville Network, CMT Canada, and MTV.-Music videos:... |
| 2005 | "Baby Won't You Come Home" |