Revisit first love when Deana Carter performs country hits at Brown County Music Center

Deana Carter's "Strawberry Wine" recalls first love and how we're sometimes tempted to visit the place where it happened. Also, the beverages we might have thought delicious at 17.

Carter has been impressing audiences with "Strawberry Wine" for a quarter of a century. She probably wasn't thinking of that when she decided to sing it for one of her shows. Now, with 67 million views on YouTube, she had better not give a show without it.

Carter, along with country artist Phil Vassar, will perform Christmas hits and original holiday music, including two originals, "Coming Home for Christmas" and "Brand New Year,” Nov. 26 at the Brown County Music Center.

Going platinum more than once

Carter didn't write "Strawberry Wine." Matraca Berg and Gary Harrison did, but that doesn't seem to matter. It's her most popular hit, although it's from her 1996 debut album, "Did I Shave My Legs for This?"

Carter recently released the 25th anniversary edition of her 5X Platinum debut album "Did I Shave My Legs for This?" It's an upgraded edition of the earlier album and offers two renditions of “Strawberry Wine.” One is a remastering of the original, the other a 2021 version, featuring vocals from famous guests Lauren Alaina, Ashley McBryde, Martina McBride and Kylie Morgan, plus Vince Gill on the guitar.

Other singers can't stop covering "Strawberry Wine." Among them are Kelly Clarkson, Thomas Rhett, Sam Hunt and  Maren Morris. Country radio, too, continues to play the hit.

When you remember her 1990s songs, you'll recall women rocking the charts. Carter, new to the scene, sailed to No. 1 with “Strawberry Wine.” Her initial album's first single won the Country Music Association’s Single of the Year and Song of the Year in 1997. It also seized a Grammy nomination and an Academy of Country Music award.

'How did you write my life story?'

When the lyrics initially hit Carter's ears, she recognized their almost eerie similarity to her own story.

“I’d been raised to sing songs that are meaningful to you," she said in a press release, "so that they’ll resonate with the people listening. . . . I heard ‘Strawberry Wine,’ and I was like, ‘How did you write my life story?’”

Like the song's character's grandparents, Carter’s grandparents had a farm, and she, too, had a first teenagers' love.

For that era, the lyrics are progressive — and suggestive.

Carter, Alaina and McBryde had performed “Strawberry Wine” together before, at the 2018 ACM Honors awards show. Carter long admired McBryde and chose Evans and Clark because of their senses of humor. Carter had foreseen Morgan's success at being able to shake up the young-romance song with a fresh tone.

And having Gill was a must. He believed in Carter from the beginning.

Carter keeps coming up with new songs, but says she won't relinquish her past audience-faves. She'll stay true to giving people what they come to hear.

Musicians in Nashville talk about having one's entire life to make that first record and then only about half a year to make the second. That spelled little time for Carter. After the quick success of "Did I Shave My Legs for This?" she had to jump back in. Now she can take her time and sip sweet success, slowly.

Phillip George Vassar Jr. is an American country musician who, like Carter, reached country music popularity in the late 1990s. He co-wrote singles for country artists, such as Tim McGraw, Jo Dee Messina, Collin Raye and Alan Jackson.

Phil Vassar & Deana Carter at Brown County Music Center

WHAT: Phil Vassar & Deana Carter: Coming Home for Christmas

WHEN: 8 p.m. Nov. 26

WHERE: Brown County Music Center, 200 Maple Leaf Blvd., Nashville

TICKETS: $18-$85 and up at Ticketmaster

No Health Check Required

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Deana Carter, Phil Vassar to perform at Brown County Music Center