Urban, Chesney, Womack, & Nail
David Nail may be relatively new to the radio. His current hit, “Let It Rain,” is only his second to appear in the Top 10. But he has connections with a number of major stars, and he talked about them when he co-hosted Country Countdown USA with Lon Helton.
For example, David sings with Lee Ann Womack on his current CD, “The Sound of a Million Dreams.” David had an inside connection with Lee Ann: Her husband Frank happens to be David’s producer. David picks up the story: “Funny story, we’re at Frank’s house doing pre-production on the album, and I kept seeing Lee Ann walking around, going upstairs, and after we charted Songs For Sale, Frank disappeared upstairs. Frank eventually comes downstairs, and says, “My wife just gave me a brilliant production idea. She wanted to make sure we did it in the right key, which was the first one.” Lo and behold, Lee Ann comes down and I went over to her and said, “I want you to make sure we’re doing the rest of these songs in the right key,” and she gave me an evil eye and made it known that she wasn’t thrilled that Frank conveyed that message. Anyway, she requested to be on this song, and she was probably up there singing and thinking she could do it better if we would lower it two steps. She’s walking around the house, and it’s nerve=wracking to have one of the greatest singers walking around the house, and you’re trying to get in the mindset there’s no way Lee Ann is listening, and lo & behold she’s paying attention enough to tell you you’re doing it in the wrong key.
LISTEN: 12-03 Nail2
Also on David’s current CD is a song written by Keith Urban, and originally recorded by his band The Ranch. The song is called “Desiree,” and David explained how the song came to him: “It’s funny how it came about. We had all the songs but one for the album. One of the people at the record label is one of Keith’s oldest friends, and he calls me and says, ‘What do you think about doing Desiree?’ I knew that song very well. So I asked him if Keith would be offended by me doing the song, and he said, ‘You need to make it your own, and he’ll respect that.’ So my other issue was if my wife Catherine would let another female name on the record, and she agreed because it was a Keith Urban song. But Keith has since heard it and sent his blessing, and I was grateful that he was at least somewhat of a fan our our version.”
LISTEN: 12-03 Nail3
INSIDE STUFF: There are two other Keith Urban connections in this song: Sarah Buxton, who wrote “Stupid Boy” for Keith, sings harmonies on Desiree, and she’s joined by Chris Rodriguez, who was in Keith’s band for several years.
The third superstar with a connection to David Nail is Kenny Chesney. David recorded a song Kenny wrote called “Turning Home.” The song appeared on David’s first album, and was nominated last year for a Grammy. Ironically, it was Keith Urban who won in that category. But when Kenny co-hosted the countdown, he talked about David’s recording. We played Kenny’s comments to David, and got his reaction: “Turning Home was so important to me. It was the first song I heard where listening to the words and melody, I knew I could sing a million times and it would always feel like the first time. I tell the crowd every night I’ve never sung that song and not at some point not gotten chill bumps. Very few artists get to sing a song they believe is the most favorite song they’ve ever heard. I’m very blessed. The first time Kenny heard me sing it was at the ASCAP awards, and he left me a voicemail and said he was pleased with the version we did, and that was one of those moments I’ll never forget.
LISTEN: 12-03 Nail4
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