Mark Chesnutt - Thank God For Believers

In this week's episode, we're featuring a fiddle and steel framed return to form for Mark Chesnutt: "Thank God For Believers" (1997). After debuting in the first half of the nineties, Chesnutt's first four albums were a resounding commercial success: with producer Mark Wright, he enjoyed three platinum and one gold album right out of the gate, steeped in this Beaumont, Texas native's keen sense of tradition. In 1995 he teamed with Tony Brown, but the resulting "Wings" was a flop in relative terms. The choice was made to reunite with Mark Wright and the rewards were almost immediate. The title track went rocketing into the Top 2 and other singles had success also - but perhaps most notable about "Thank God For Believers" was the involvement of Chesnutt himself. Having not written much for his previous work, the Texan traditionalist had a hand in five of the ten tracks here. Along with veteran Oklahoma songwriter Roger Springer, many nights were spent on the tour bus listening to classic Haggard and Jones for inspiration. One such night, the Jones weeper "When The Grass Grows Over Me" inspired a Chesnutt/Leslie/Springer co-write in "That Side Of You", which Chesnutt confesses is his personal pick of the bunch. Such a reverence for tradition, along with Buddy Emmons on steel guitar and Larry Franklin on fiddle for the majority of this project makes "Thank God For Believers" a good example of what 90s honky tonk ought to sound like.