Friday's 13 - It's High Time for Slappers, Bangers, and Certified Twangers Volume 3

With today (Friday June 26th) being the release date of American Aquarium's new album, it is time to dry your eyes after listing to Favorite Hello on repeat, and revisit one of the BJ Barham and crew's best pandemic moves - releasing two albums of strictly 90's country covers.

Before getting ready to dive deep into their latest album, New Ways to Lose, I put together my wish list of 90's country tunes that could populate a purely hypothetical third volume of Slappers, Bangers, and Certified Twangers.

Note: I picked songs from artists not featured on the first two volumes. I know American Aquarium could crush dozens of other Brooks & Dunn and Toby Keith songs, but wanted to change up the artists.

First up – A few catchy and just plain ridiculous 90's country classics:

Watermelon Crawl - Tracy Byrd. My favorite song about getting black out drunk on watermelon flavored wine at a country festival containing a strict don't drink and drive message throughout.

Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident) - John Michael Montgomery. Would love to hear BJ's twang slightly slow down this JMM classic that has an oddly specific parenthetical in the title.

Shake - Neal McCoy. A third 90's country song that also teeters right on the cornball side. Hillbilly Rap might be too out there for a Neal McCoy cover.

Cherokee Boogie - BR549. Great song, not sure if it is the most politically correct song to cover in 2026, but probably safer than Tim McGraw's Indian Outlaw.

Up Next - Deciding between the best two hit wonders' songs:

Dust on the Bottle - David Lee Murphy. Deciding which of David Lee Murphy's two biggest hits, the other being Party Crowd, was a tough decision but it is hard to go wrong with this ode to Creole Williams. Also, the second song on the list about homemade wine, which would fit as Deanna Carter's Strawberry Wine was featured on Volume 2.

On to - the early albums of soon-to-be 2000's country mega-stars:

He Didn't Have to Be - Brad Paisley. American Aquarium could easily demolish Whiskey Lullaby, Brad Paisley's greatest song, but alas it did not come out in the 90's. With Brad Paisley's debut coming out in 1999, He Didn't Have to Be would be the best option from that debut. It also has meaning and feeling in the lyrics that BJ Barham would crush.

She's Got It All - Kenny Chesney. How Forever Feels would also be a solid option; She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy is a little too out there; and the No Shoes Jimmy Buffett-era of Kenny Chesney does not start until 2002, so She's Got It All is a straight down the middle 90's country tune.

Everywhere - Tim McGraw. This one is just a personal preference as it was my favorite Tim McGraw song from back in that era. As mentioned above, Indian Outlaw is probably not a wise choice.

Second to last - the 1980's legends who kept it going in the 1990's:

I'm In a Hurry (and Don't Know Why) - Alabama. Most of Alabama's classics are from the 1980's so the selection here is I'm In a Hurry, arguably their best song from their 1990's output.

The Night The Lights Went Out in Georgia - Reba McEntire. Let's see the boys from North Carolina take on a classic about the state of Georgia.

Finally, the absolute legends:

Dance With The One that Brought You - Shania Twain. Went with a pre-Mutt Lange option as this has more of a 90's vibe than her late 90's output and does not have an exclamation point in the song title.

Calling Baton Rouge - Garth Brooks. This arena anthem is the selection here. There are a lot of Garth options from the 1990's but went with this one given its over the top nature. It is also a safer option as a cover given Garth Brooks' protective nature of his catalog and royalty streams.

Carrying Your Love with Me - George Strait. George Strait was the hardest artist to select, given that The King released an album a year in the 1990's which provides roughly a hundred plus options, including some of his classic cuts. Carrying Your Love with Me is potentially the most earnest 90's love song in the bunch; we could easily go with any song from Pure Country or Blue Clear Sky, Easy Come Easy Go for a laid back anthem, Write this Down for a lighthearted young love tale, or I Just Want to Dance With You for good measure.

Let's hope the circumstances that lead to Volumes 1 & 2 never happen again. Off to give New Ways to Lose a second listen and maybe crank American Aquarium's take on Heads Carolina, Tails California with the windows rolled down this weekend.

What songs did I miss?