> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.generationcountry.net/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Sunday Morning Coming Down: October 21-22, 2000 - URL: https://www.generationcountry.net/sunday-morning-coming-down-october-21-22-2000/ - Published: 2026-10-25T16:54:49.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-25T16:54:49.000Z - Description: One weekend on American Country Countdown: the stories riding the chart when Bob Kingsley counted them down, and what happened next. - Author: Generation Country - Tags: Sunday Morning Coming Down The Broadcast of October 21–22, 2000 **Aaron Tippin held No. 1, Travis Tritt had a movie song headed for the top, and Phil Vassar appeared twice: at his own piano and in Tim McGraw’s voice.** --- On the *American Country Countdown* broadcast of October 21–22, 2000, Aaron Tippin held No. 1 for a second week with “Kiss This.” John Michael Montgomery moved to No. 2 with “The Little Girl,” George Strait was No. 3 with “Go On,” and Travis Tritt jumped three places to No. 4 with “Best of Intentions.” Tippin had gone five years between No. 1s. Tritt had changed labels and returned from a touring break. At No. 10, Phil Vassar was approaching his first chart-topper as a recording artist, with another of his songs climbing five places below him in Tim McGraw’s hands. Near the bottom, Jamie O’Neal was moving up with her debut single after years spent singing behind other people. ## AARON TIPPIN’S RETURN TO THE TOP Tippin wrote “Kiss This” with his wife, Thea, and Philip Douglas. He hadn’t expected what he called a “smart-mouth song” to bring such a response. At Lyric Street, the demo survived one song meeting after another while the label considered its possibilities. Requests at radio helped settle the question. The company moved *People Like Us* forward twice, rushed its packaging through in two days and added a six-figure video to a campaign that originally hadn’t included one. There was another change behind that familiar voice. Tippin told *Billboard* that vocal trouble had brought him close to surgery before the Vanderbilt Voice Clinic helped him retrain. Trying to sound less nasal had led him to sing too deeply in his throat. He learned a more comfortable technique, and the new album used his lower register more often. “Kiss This” gave him a chorus he could plainly enjoy. A woman turns her cheating man’s request for a kiss into a dismissal, and Tippin gives the punch line its full measure. It became his third No. 1. ## A STORY MONTGOMERY WANTED TO SING Harley Allen wrote “The Little Girl” in about ten minutes after reading a story circulated by email. His lyric follows a child through a violent home, the deaths of her parents and a new life with a foster family. In church, she recognizes a picture of Jesus as the person who held her on the night her parents died. Montgomery told *Radio & Records* that the song floored him on first hearing. He co-produced it with Buddy Cannon and Norro Wilson, keeping close to the demo’s simple arrangement. The organ supports the narration; Alison Krauss and Dan Tyminski add harmony. Montgomery wanted the words to carry the record. “I didn’t want anything to detract from that,” he told the magazine, “including me singing it.” On the following weekend’s ACC broadcast, “The Little Girl” would take over at No. 1\. It stayed there for three weeks, his first chart-topper since “Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident)” in 1995. ## STRAIT AND TRITT, SIDE BY SIDE Strait’s “Go On” offers another kind of consolation. Written by Tony Martin and Mark Nesler, it lets us hear one side of a conversation between two people who have been hurt. The man keeps interrupting, apologizes and asks her to continue. As the song unfolds, the title becomes encouragement to keep living as well as keep talking. Strait makes the exchange sound easy and attentive. The single had already reached No. 2\. At No. 3 this weekend, it placed a quiet conversation between Montgomery’s dramatic story and Tritt’s confession. Tritt had taken about eighteen months away from touring, welcomed a second child with his wife, Theresa, and signed with Columbia after a decade at Warner Bros. During the break, he wrote or co-wrote seven of the eleven songs on *Down the Road I Go*. “Best of Intentions” originally had another destination. Tritt wrote it for Billy Bob Thornton’s film *Daddy and Them*. When the movie was delayed, the song became available for his own album. The ballad measures a man’s promises against what he has managed to provide. He hasn’t given his partner everything he hoped to, but he wants her to understand the love behind the effort. Tritt’s voice gives that admission warmth and conviction. It reached No. 1 on the November 18 broadcast, his first since “Foolish Pride” in 1994\. The album’s next three singles kept him in the Top 10: “It’s a Great Day to Be Alive,” “Love of a Woman” and “Modern Day Bonnie and Clyde.” The first two reached No. 2. ## PHIL VASSAR, TWICE IN ONE COUNTDOWN Vassar was singing “Just Another Day in Paradise” at No. 10 while McGraw sang his “My Next Thirty Years” at No. 15\. Listeners already knew Vassar’s work through Jo Dee Messina’s “Bye Bye” and “I’m Alright,” Alan Jackson’s “Right on the Money” and McGraw’s “For a Little While.” Now they were getting to know the singer and piano player too. “Just Another Day in Paradise” began with a flooded washing machine. Vassar arrived to write with Craig Wiseman after dealing with water in his kitchen; Wiseman had car trouble. Comparing their mornings, they found a title in the familiar expression and a song in the household disorder. Sour milk, bills and a broken washing machine remain in the finished lyric. So does the pleasure of having someone to share the place with. The chorus gives the couple a moment to appreciate their life without pretending the problems have disappeared. Vassar reached No. 1 on November 25\. On December 16, McGraw took “My Next Thirty Years,” written on Vassar’s thirtieth birthday, to the top. It remained there the next week. Between those two Vassar compositions came Brad Paisley’s “We Danced,” at No. 12 on this broadcast. It would spend the first two December countdowns at No. 1. Paisley had won the CMA Horizon Award on October 4 and performed on the telecast. By the October 21 chart week, sales of *Who Needs Pictures* had risen 155 percent, taking the album from No. 18 to No. 1 on *Billboard*’s Heatseekers chart. His debut album was still finding new listeners as its fourth single climbed. Other CMA winners were getting renewed attention. Lee Ann Womack’s “I Hope You Dance,” winner of Single and Song of the Year, rose three places to No. 21\. The Dixie Chicks, who had collected four awards including Entertainer of the Year, were at No. 14 with “Without You.” Alan Jackson had introduced “www.memory” on the telecast. This week it jumped eight places to No. 28\. Jackson wrote the song himself, putting the language of the internet into an invitation to an old lover. If she ever wants to return, he’ll be waiting at the address in the title. The steel guitar makes it sound at home on country radio; the keyboard and mouse belong to the lyric. ## A NEW VOICE AT NO. 38 Chris Cagle was No. 31 with “My Love Goes On and On.” Rascal Flatts reached No. 36 with “This Everyday Love.” Trace Adkins was No. 39 with “I’m Gonna Love You Anyway.” Between them, O’Neal’s “There Is No Arizona” rose from No. 40 to No. 38. O’Neal had grown up in a touring family act and later sung background vocals for Kylie Minogue. In Nashville she worked on demos and other artists’ records. At her Mercury audition, Keith Stegall stopped her after two songs. She thought the audition had gone badly; he had heard enough to offer a deal. She wrote “There Is No Arizona” with Lisa Drew and Shaye Smith. Drew brought the title from a line in the film *Dolores Claiborne*. Smith supplied a chord progression, and O’Neal began finding the melody. The song’s woman waits for a man who promised to send for her once he had established their new life. His postcard has no return address. As the months pass, Arizona becomes the name for a future he never intended to give her. The program paired the record with a recorded comment from O’Neal. Listeners were hearing the singer as well as the single. “There Is No Arizona” became her first No. 1 in 2001. --- ## THE SAME WEEKEND, DOWN THE YEARS **1989.** Eleven years earlier, Ricky Van Shelton reached No. 1 with “Living Proof,” his sixth chart-topper. Alabama, George Strait and Restless Heart followed him. Merle Haggard, Kathy Mattea, Eddy Raven, the Oak Ridge Boys, Ricky Skaggs and Dolly Parton completed the Top 10. At No. 12, Clint Black’s “Killin’ Time” was coming down from the top. Garth Brooks was No. 16 with “If Tomorrow Never Comes,” his second single and, seven weeks later, his first No. 1. Brooks had carried the idea around before his manager, Bob Doyle, introduced him to Kent Blazy. Blazy helped find the first verse, and they completed their first song together. Their partnership would later produce “Ain’t Goin’ Down (’Til the Sun Comes Up)” and several more Brooks hits. Tritt was No. 25 with “Country Club,” his first Warner Bros. single. Vince Gill was No. 33 with “Never Alone,” written with Rosanne Cash and previously recorded by her in 1985\. It introduced Gill’s *When I Call Your Name* album. Mary Chapin Carpenter, Patty Loveless and Lorrie Morgan were also on the survey. Eleven years before “Best of Intentions,” Tritt’s first single was being counted down on the same program. **2006.** By this October weekend, Kingsley was hosting *Bob Kingsley’s Country Top 40*. Its October 21–22 program put Josh Turner’s “Would You Go With Me” at No. 1, Heartland’s “I Loved Her First” at No. 2 and Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats” at No. 4. Several of the newer voices from 2000 were now well established. Rascal Flatts appeared twice, with “My Wish” at No. 10 and “Life Is a Highway” at No. 18\. Paisley was No. 19 with “She’s Everything.” Vassar was No. 26 with “The Woman in My Life.” Strait had two records: “Give It Away” at No. 5 and “It Just Comes Natural” at No. 24\. He appears in all three broadcasts considered here. Taylor Swift’s debut single, “Tim McGraw,” was No. 16\. Jason Aldean was No. 20 with “Amarillo Sky,” and Eric Church was No. 25 with “Two Pink Lines.” McGraw himself was at No. 11 with “My Little Girl.” His name and his voice occupied different places in the same countdown. Next week, another weekend, another year. We’ll leave the radio on. --- *Sources: American Country Countdown program sheets for October 21, 1989, and October 14, October 21 and the subsequent No. 1 broadcast weeks in 2000, restored and published by Charis Music Group; the Country Top 40 program sheet for October 21, 2006; Ray Waddell’s Aaron Tippin and Travis Tritt reporting in* [Billboard, June 24](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/00s/2000/BB-2000-06-24.pdf?ref=generationcountry.net) *and* [September 2, 2000](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/00s/2000/BB-2000-09-02.pdf?ref=generationcountry.net); [Billboard, August 19](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/00s/2000/BB-2000-08-19.pdf?ref=generationcountry.net), [October 14](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/00s/2000/BB-2000-10-14.pdf?ref=generationcountry.net) *and* [October 21, 2000](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/00s/2000/BB-2000-10-21.pdf?ref=generationcountry.net); *Calvin Gilbert’s John Michael Montgomery interview and Jamie O’Neal profile in* [Radio & Records, October 20, 2000](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Archive-RandR/2000s/2000/RR-2000-10-20.pdf?ref=generationcountry.net); [Phil Vassar’s Kentucky Downs interview](https://themintkentuckydowns.com/blog/news/hear-phil-vassar-march-15/?ref=generationcountry.net); [Kent Blazy’s SongwriterUniverse interview](https://www.songwriteruniverse.com/kent-blazy-songwriter-2020/?ref=generationcountry.net); *official artist lyrics and release information; and label recording credits.* *Sunday Morning Coming Down is an independent journalism feature about historical radio broadcasts. It is not affiliated with or authorized by Billboard, the producers or distributors of American Country Countdown or Country Top 40, or the estate of Bob Kingsley; program and chart names appear only to identify the broadcasts discussed.*