"Southern Voice" is a song written by Bob DiPiero

Bob DiPiero

Bob DiPiero is an American country music songwriter. He has written 15. U.S. Number 1 hits and countless top 20 hits for the likes of Tim McGraw, The Oak Ridge Boys, Reba McEntire, Vince Gill, Faith Hill, Shenandoah, Neal McCoy, Highway 101, Restless Heart, Ricochet, John Anderson, Montgomery...

 and Tom Douglas

Tom Douglas (songwriter)

Thomas Stevenson "Tom" Douglas is an American country music songwriter. Active since the early 1990s, he has written Top Ten hits for John Michael Montgomery, Martina McBride, Tim McGraw, Collin Raye and others....

, and recorded by American country music

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...

 singer Tim McGraw

Tim McGraw

Samuel Timothy "Tim" McGraw is an American country singer and actor. Many of McGraw's albums and singles have topped the country music charts with total album sales in excess of 40 million units in the US, making him the eighth best-selling artist, and the third best-selling country singer, in the...

. It is the title track to his tenth studio album, 2009's Southern Voice, and the second single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 release from it. The song debuted at #49 on the U.S. Billboard 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...

 chart in September 2009. The song is played over the end credits of The Blind Side

The Blind Side (film)

The Blind Side is a 2009 American semi-biographical drama film. It is written and directed by John Lee Hancock, and based on the 2006 book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis. The storyline features Michael Oher, an offensive lineman who plays for the Baltimore Ravens of the NFL...

, which co-stars McGraw. A music video was made, and was voted #33 on GAC's Top 50 Videos of the Year.

Content

"Southern Voice" is an up-tempo listing various influential natives of the Southern United States

Southern United States

The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...

 who embody a "Southern voice."

Regarding the song, McGraw told Great American Country

Great American Country

Great American Country , is a Nashville, Tennessee-based country music cable television network.-History:The station launched December 31, 1995 and Garth Brooks' video "The Thunder Rolls" was the first video to air on GAC....

, "I hope it’s a record that you can put on and just sort of melt into. And that’s what the purpose was for it. We wanted a sort of earthiness that when you put this thing on, it just sort of kicks out all over you."

Critical reception

Jim Malec of The 9513 gave the song a thumbs-down, criticizing the song for its list-format lyrics and saying, "At the end of this song, we have no idea what the 'Southern voice' is, how it related to each of these people, or why someone would bother to make a song about it." Matt Bjorke of Roughstock also criticized the song's lyrics, saying, "one can’t help but think of the song as but another laundry list of things that quantify why something is or isn’t great," but adding that McGraw's vocal and the "catchy chorus" "save 'Southern Voice' from the scrap-heap." Country Universe reviewer Kevin J. Coyne gave the song a B rating, saying, "collectively, the people he mentions do indeed rule, making this a reasonable exercise in regional pride."

McGraw performed the song, which incorrectly refers to Jack Daniel

Jack Daniel

Jasper Newton "Jack" Daniel was an American distiller and the founder of Jack Daniel's Tennessee whiskey distillery.-Biography:...

 as Jack Daniels, on the Late Show with David Letterman

Late Show with David Letterman

Late Show with David Letterman is a U.S. late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and is produced by Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants Incorporated. The show's music director and band-leader of the house band, the CBS Orchestra, is...

on October 12.

Chart performance

On the week ending November 7, 2009, "Southern Voice" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100

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...

 at #61. For the week of January 30, 2010, the song became McGraw's 23rd #1 hit and his first one since "Last Dollar (Fly Away)

Last Dollar (Fly Away)

"Last Dollar "is the title of a country music song written by Big Kenny, one half of the duo Big & Rich. It was recorded by Tim McGraw for his 2007 album Let It Go...

" topped the chart dated April 14, 2007.

Chart (2009/2010)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs	1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	49
Canadian Hot 100	58