John Anderson

John Anderson's career is an exception to F. Scott Fitzgerald's maxim that there are no second acts in American life. One of the first "New Traditionalist" stars, Anderson enjoyed 22 Top 40 C&W hits between 1982 and 1987, including three #1s ("Wild & Blue" [1982], "Swingin'" [1983], and "Black Sheep" [1983]), before bad management and label changes brought his career to a halt. But in the 1990s Anderson returned, placing five singles in the Top 10, including three more #1s: "Straight Tequila Night" (1991), "Seminole Wind" (1992), and "Money in the Bank" (1993). Rock & roll was Anderson's first love, but listening to Merle Haggard at 14 made him a convert to country. He followed his sister Donna to Nashville in 1972, working on the Opryland construction crew by day and playing clubs with her at night. After a deal with Ace of Hearts Records in 1974 resulted in three unsuccessful singles, he concentrated on songwriting; in 1977 Warner Bros. signed him to a singles deal. Anderson’s singing, usually compared to Lefty Frizell, garnered some attention, and in 1978 George Jones covered Anderson’s first Top 40 hit, “The Girl at the End of the Bar” (#40 C&W, 1978). It took until 1980 and five Top 40 hits for Warners to release his first album. Anderson won the Country Music Association’s Best New Artist award in 1981. Two years later he became one of the earliest New Traditionalist stars to cross over when “Swingin’ ” hit #43 on the pop chart and the album Wild & Blue went to #58.

After four more unhappy years with Warners, Anderson followed producer Jimmy Bowen to MCA. But MCA seemed unsure of how to handle Anderson (only “Somewhere Between Ragged and Right” [#23 C&W, 1987] cracked the Top 30); yet another label change (to Capitol) did not improve matters. In the wake of new stars like Garth Brooks, Anderson seemed like a has-been.

In a strange turn of events, Dire Straits guitarist Mark Knopfler helped Anderson’s comeback. After seeing him play, Knopfler took Anderson’s case to RCA, which signed him to their new BNA subsidiary. Knopfler then wrote and played on “When It Comes to You” (#2 C&W, 1991) from Seminole #35 pop, #10 C&W, 1992). Anderson followed it up with Solid Ground (#75 pop, #12 C&W, 1993); MCA capitalized on Anderson’s commercial renewal with a 1994 anthology, You Can’t Keep a Good Memory Down. Paradise (#40 C&W, 1996), despite guest appearances by Knopfler and the Band’s Levon Helm, was something of a commercial disappointment, and after its release, Anderson changed labels once again, moving to Mercury. His first album for the label, 1997’s Takin’ the Country Back revived his career yet again, peaking at #19 C&W, spawning a hit single in “Somebody Slap Me” (#22 C&W, 1997). Moving to Columbia, Anderson released the rootsy Nobody’s Got It All in 2001.

from The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001)