Chart Rewind: In 1997, Diamond Rio Felt the ‘Love’ at No. 1
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On Sept. 27, 1997, Diamond Rio‘s “How Your Love Makes Me Feel” began a three-week domination on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart – the longest of the group’s five leaders on the list.
Written by Max T. Barnes and Trey Bruce, the joyous song was released as one of two new tracks on Diamond Rio’s 1997 Greatest Hits album. Second single “Imagine That” reached No. 4 on Hot Country Songs. The collection, meanwhile, marked the band’s first of four top 10s, earned consecutively through 2002, on the Top Country Albums chart.
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In April 1990, Diamond Rio (formerly known as The Grizzly River Boys, then The Tennessee River Boys) signed with Arista Records Nashville. The sextet comprised lead singer Marty Roe, Gene Johnson, Jimmy Olander, Brian Prout, Dan Truman and Dana Williams.
In 1991-2003, Diamond Rio logged 19 Hot Country Songs top 10s, a run that began with the historic “Meet in the Middle” – the first debut single by a group to top the tally.
Oleander mused to Billboard in 2014 of the start of that era, “I see these guys in these fantastic coiffed mullets and I remember the idealism that we had – ‘We’re going to do this. We’re going to reinvent that’ – and all that stuff. I’d do the same all over again.”
The group subsequently topped Hot Country Songs with “One More Day” (2001), “Beautiful Mess” (2002) and “I Believe” (2003).
Currently on tour, Diamond Rio recently incurred its first lineup change in 33 years, as Prout retired and was replaced by Micah Schweinsberg. The band makes its next stop Sept. 30 in Crockett, Texas.
