On His Birthday, Rodney Crowell’s Most Iconic Album Returns
Country music legend and iconic songwriter Rodney Crowell is celebrating his 76th birthday today, August 7th. But the birthday gift he receives is one shared with all of us.
Just over two years ago in July of 2024, arguably Crowell’s most iconic album disappeared online, and for reasons that are still unspecified. Similar to Loretta Lynn’s Van Lear Rose and Tompall Glaser’s songs on Wanted: The Outlaws, what are likely publishing disputes have resulted in greyed out tracks, making the music inaccessible to streamers, and especially younger audiences who might never had an opportunity to hear them.
But there’s good news, at least on the Rodney Crowell front. His 1988 album Diamonds & Dirt has returned to streaming and download services. Officially, fans started noticing its return a couple of days ago. But hey, today’s his birthday, so let’s celebrate.
You can almost lose sight of the fact that before Rodney Crowell was considered one of the most iconic contemporary Americana songwriters, he had a whole career as a commercially successful radio country star in the late 1980s. In fact, Crowell minted five consecutive #1 singles between 1988 and 1989 before Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, and Clint Black appeared on the scene. Even more astounding, all five of those #1s were on the same album, which at the time was a record in country music.
Diamonds & Dirt was that good, and it’s still that good today. And even though Crowell would go on to be known for incorporating rock and folk into country in the burgeoning “alt-country” scene, Diamonds & Dirt is stone cold country, as are all those #1 singles. You’d be hard pressed to find a better example of late 80s country gold than Crowell’s “I Couldn’t Leave You If I Tried,” or “It’s Such A Small World” with then wife Rosanne Cash. Crowell even covered Harland Howard’s legendary “Above and Beyond,” and took it to #1.
Produced by Tony Brown, with Paul Franklin on steel guitar, Mark O’Connor on fiddle, Hall of Famer Eddie Bayers on drums, and Vince Gill singing backup vocals, Diamonds & Dirt is a landmark of Rodney Crowell’s career, and of country music.
Speaking of re-emerging albums, Rodney Crowell’s latest release called Then Again released on June 26th was actually recorded back in 2005, but he walked away from the album. After Crowell released his trilogy of albums—The Houston Kid in 2001, Fate’s Right Hand in 2003, The Outsider in 2005—he recorded Then Again with the same basic band as the previous three. But Crowell got cold feet that he was treading the same ground. So he shelved the project and forgot about it until recently.
Hopefully though, nobody ever forgets about the legacy of Rodney Crowell, and making sure one of his most beloved albums is available to everyone is a good way to ensure that. Another good way would be to put him in the Country Music Hall of Fame, either as a songwriter, or a performer. Hopefully that happens here in the not to distant future so just like his 76th birthday, Crowell can enjoy his praise now.
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August 7, 2026 @ 11:35 am
What prompted his streak of #1s? He had been batting around for a decade, his previous highest chart number was 30 (Stars on the Water in 1981), and his last single before the stretch was #59 with “Looking for You.”
After the #1s ended, he hit #3 with “Many a Long & Lonesome Highway” and #6 with “If Looks Could Kill.” After that, he was done as a major chart factor excluding two trips to #10 and #11 in 1992.
The Class of 89 and the ensuring revolution explains his later chart performances. But what carried his out-of-nowhere run from a decade of middling hits?
August 7, 2026 @ 12:24 pm
Tony Brown straight up knew how to produce hits. He and Rodney have both admitted that this album was intentional made to be more radio-friendly than his previous output.
August 7, 2026 @ 12:08 pm
Let’s gooooo gonna listen to this now
August 7, 2026 @ 12:10 pm
Wore that sucker OUT when it was released and covered 3 of the tunes on it in bands I was in during that era. Still a favorite today.
August 7, 2026 @ 12:33 pm
The Houston Kid is a fantastic concept album. I should check out the rest of the three albums from that era that you mentioned. Houston Kid has phenomenal storytelling. The one about the convict waiting to get out and visit his stolen money completely punch you in the feels the final verse. The one about the gay hooker with HIV is incredible, and I always think of that song when I think about how country music is just leaving a massive amount of dramatic storytelling on the table by being afraid to tackle the theme of gay family members (apparently this song is based on a real life friend or relative from Rodney’s upbringing)
There’s one about domestic violence on that album that is incredibly realistic. All that stuff puts this radio friendly album to shame but obviously he was in a very different point in his career and could afford to take those risks.
He also wrote him a fucking incredible memoir called Chinaberry Sidewalks. It’s a really good counterpoint to any rose-colored-glasses-tinged nostalgia about the 1950s. The Houston kid album is more or less based on characters from his upbringing, with some artistic license.
Also I don’t remember where I read this but my impression is that he kind of shelved his career for a bit, in order to work on promoting Roseanne Cash’s (his wife at the time) career. It’s pretty impressive for the 1980s/90s.