Trisha Yearwood Hit Becomes a TV Movie Theme Song
Penned for a '90s TV movie, "xxx's and ooo's (An American Girl)" by Trisha Yearwood becomes a staple of country music. The movie? It wasn't so acclaimed. But was it really as bad as it sounded? I'll give you my review!
In This Episode:
Learn which country superstar was supposed to originally sing the song.
We'll talk about the country stars who made cameos in the movie including Pam Tillis, Lari White, Ed Bruce, Doug Stone, William Lee Golden, and more.
Find out what country music landmarks are featured throughout the film which was set in Nashville.
Country music was at an all-time high in terms of radio airplay and sales in 1994; discover the success "xxx's and ooo's (An American Girl)" had in a crowded field of musical competition.
Listen to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your preferred platform!
-
You’re listening to Across the Country with Amanda! In today’s episode I am talking all about Trisha Yearwood's “xxx’s and ooo’s (An American Gir)l” and the backstory of the song, plus I dive into the movie it was featured on!
Across The Country With Amanda starts now!
Trisha Yearwood’s “xxx’s and ooo’s (An American Girl) is known as a country music staple. I was aware that there was a movie with the same title, but I never knew the story behind the song. I did some digging, and I found the movie. It’s from 1994 and was a CBS movie of the week.
It was not as horrible as I thought it might be because the movie didn’t have many favorable reviews.
The song is co-written by Alice Randall and Matraca Berg. Alice had a publishing deal and was contracted to write a theme song for a movie. Alongside Matraca, they created this modern-day anthem. There were a lot of people interested in this song because it was going to be in a movie. Wynonna was picked by executives to perform the song.
The musicians did their part, but Wynonna was unable to make it to the studio. This song had to be finished that day. Alice knew where Trisha Yearwood was recording that day – they’re friends – and she reached out to her. Trisha leaves her own session to go record this song. Later in this episode, I’ll talk about the chart history of the song.
The movie premieres on CBS – it’s full of country music – basically every scene for the first hour has a hit country song playing. Again, it deserves more credit than what the reviews offered.
Obviously, I like it because of the nostalgia factor. You get to see downtown Nashville before it became the tourist draw that we now know it. In fact, when the movie was filming, the iconic Ryman Auditorium was still sitting empty – just as it had been for 20 years. It would reopen the same month this movie premiered.
This movie was intended to be a pilot for a potential TV series. It had the night-time soap vibe. And if they were planning on making it a series, they certainly threw in every typical scenario you would see in a soap opera in this two-hour movie. I’m not sure what more these characters would’ve went through – there was death, affairs, scandals, and divorce among other twists and situations that were covered.
I mentioned there was a ton of music featured in the movie – Trisha Yearwood had the theme song, but there was another cut from her, “One in A Row”. The Bellamy Brothers, Patty Loveless, Steve Earle, George and Tammy, and Patsy Cline are all spotlighted.
We also see several country music artists making cameos. Pam Tillis played herself and performed Billy Joe Shaver’s “Live Forever” during the final scene. 1994 was a big year for Pam – she would score the Female Vocalist of the Year trophy at the CMA’s. She was in the top five with “Spilled Perfume” the week the movie premiered.
Lari White is also in the movie – she’s just so precious. Gosh, what a talent. She played a photographer named Greta. She was fantastic – this was also a big year for Lari White. Her album Wishes was released just one week before this movie came out and “That’s My Baby” would gain serious airplay, earning the Billboard Airpower achievement the week following this movie.
Ed Bruce plays a role in this movie, too. So is Claudia Church – “What’s the Matter With You Baby” was one of my favorite songs from 1999.
You catch a glimpse of Doug Stone and William Lee Golden at the end, too.
But I need your help – if you’ve seen the movie…tell me where these people are. They are all credited, but maybe it was a blink-and-it miss-it thing
Suzy Bogguss
Eddie Rabbitt
Clinton Gregory
Lisa Stewart
T. Graham Brown
Mark Collie
How did I miss them? Someone find me on social media and tell me what parts of the movie they’re in.
You get to see a brief moment of the Opry House plaza, the Pancake Pantry is in here a lot. The Opryland Hotel is in there.
They had to tie in the title “xxx’s and ooo’s” and it’s revealed midway that it will be the same of a new entertainment complex – the place is super similar to the Wildhorse Saloon – the owner is touting it to be a hip new place where people will want to come line dance and it’ll feature the best of today and classic artists performing onstage, which is the concept of the Wildhorse. I went and looked it up – the Wildhorse opened a week after this movie premiered, whether that’s a coincidence or not, I don’t know.
If you are a fan of the TV Show Nashville that ran for several years beginning in 2012 – this is like a brief 90s version of it. You have the Music Row power players, washed up singers, ex-wives, and all the drama you could imagine. Did you guys watch Monarch with Susan Sarandon and Trace Adkins? If you got through that, then you’ll most likely enjoy this. It’s nowhere near over the top as that show was.
Trisha’s album The Song Remembers When had just been released in October of 1993 and the lead single – the title track - hit number two on the charts. The follow-up single “Better Your Heart Than Mine” spent a lot of time on the charts, peaking at 21.
It was still hanging around the lower parts of the radio chart when MCA released the commercial single for “xxx’s and ooo’s.”
“xxx’s and ooo’s” hits radio and debuts at 73 the first week of July and it flies up the chart. She went from 73 to 51, up to 41, 31, and soon in September the song would become the most played single on country radio.
Her next single “Thinkin’ About You” isn’t released until Valetine’s Day of 1995 – at the time this was her biggest gap between a lead single and an album release, which ended up being 8 months. But the song was included on that album, and it gave Trisha her first back-to-back number one singles.
It would become the 6th most played country song of 1994 – and the only one by a female artist in the top ten that year.
The life of a song is a beautiful thing and this song had quite the journey and ultimately ended up with the artist that it was meant for. Besides “She’s In Love With The Boy” I would say this is the song from her collection that is probably played the most on country radio to this day.
Let me know if you’ve seen the movie and what you thought of it! You can find me on social media and keep up with all my latest podcasts and interviews at AcrossTheCountryWithAmanda.com
Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss the next episode! I’ll talk to you soon!