Bon Jovi finds a country "Home," makes chart historyBy Phyllis Stark Fri May 5, 10:09 PM ET
NASHVILLE (Billboard) - Bon Jovi has reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 four times in its hit-studded career. But recently, it notched a first -- not just for the band, but for music history. The hit "Who Says You Can't Go Home" made Bon Jovi the first rock band to land atop Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart -- a position it now holds for a second week.
The road to its first country hit began when the band's Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora created two versions of the song, both of which appear on their current album "Have a Nice Day" (Island). The band-only version is a hit on the adult top 40 and adult contemporary charts. The country version features Jennifer Nettles, lead singer of country act Sugarland.
At the time the duet was recorded, Sugarland was little known. Since then, the band's album "Twice the Speed of Life" (Mercury) has sold 1.9 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and the group has landed three other top 10 songs.
But it was Keith Urban, not Nettles, whom the band initially approached as a duet partner. Jon Bon Jovi asked Urban to sing and play banjo on the track. The collaboration wasn't what either artist had in mind, however. "Our voices were too similar," Bon Jovi says. "A banjo wasn't really the way to go. But I now had the idea that this could really work."
Bon Jovi says he didn't want his group seen as "carpetbaggers who were going to say they're a country band suddenly."
In fact, Bon Jovi already had some familiarity in Nashville. Jon Bon Jovi has made multiple trips to Music City for songwriting collaborations, and the group has recorded and performed there many times, including laying the tracks for the "These Days" album.
Jon Bon Jovi even spent five weeks on the Hot Country Songs chart in 1998 on a duet with Chris LeDoux, "Bang a Drum," and Bon Jovi's hit "Wanted Dead or Alive" was recorded by country artist Chris Cagle on his 2005 Capitol Records Nashville set, "Anywhere but Here."
"Who Says You Can't Go Home" is available as a digital download. Starting May 23, the single and video will be available exclusively through Target as a CD shrink-wrapped with Sugarland's album, "Twice the Speed of Life."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060506/en_nm/bonjovi_dc
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