“If You Want It That Much” is a song that belongs to red dirt music history. Written by Gary Thomason and Scott Melott, who were members of Susan Gibson’s band, The Grobees, it was part of The Great Divide’s 2002 wonderful album, “Remain“.
Twenty years after the release of “Remain“, Cody Canada and The Departed decided to cover this song and recently released their version as a new single. It’s the first song of the band since “Shut Up and Sing“, that was released one year ago.
Cody Canada’s cover of “If You Want It That Much” is particularly brilliant. It’s an authentic red dirt song, catchy and greatly sung by an artist whose name is synonymous with this amazing genre. Those who are familiar with this tune will probably love this cover, and those who didn’t know this song will appreciate the fact that Cody Canada brings it to light 20 years after The Great Divide’s version.
“Hey now I’m hugging the carpet
I’m passed out on the floor
I make my guardian angel
Work harder than yours”
Cody Canada won’t stop there. There’s something more on the way, and it’s something great: the artist has re-recorded Cross Canadian Ragweed’s 2004 album, the wonderful “Soul Gravy“, that includes such amazing songs as “Alabama”, “Wanna Rock & Roll” (a fantastic song written by Ray Willie Hubbard) or “Sick and Tired“. Releasing a new version of this record is something that Cody Canada had in mind since a long time: “I never was satisfied with the recording of ‘Soul Gravy.’ I thought the songs were all spot on and thought out lyrically. That was a busy year so we recorded fast. No amps. All pod. I didn’t like that idea and got out voted. This time I did it the way I wanted. I can finally own recordings of these songs again and have them on vinyl”.
It seems that we won’t have a long time to wait before the release of this new version, planned for March or April. That’s great news for all those who love red dirt music, because this album, produced by Mike McCLure (who also produces the new one), is absolutely brilliant. Lee Ann Womack will be singing on it and it will include amazing tunes that are a great part of red dirt history. So, you know, stay tuned, y’all, and enjoy red dirt music !
Country Music France 