Doug Stone is one of my favorite country artists.

I’m not sure why, but I’m always drawn to the artists that seem to live life on the edge. Doug stormed on the country scene back in the early ’90s as a country artist with the smooth voice perfectly made for singing a good country ballad.

My favorite Doug Stone song was the uptempo yet sad track Why Didn’t I Think Of That. The song actually appears to have started out as a bit of an afterthought song. It was the fourth single off Doug’s third album. Yet in late 1993 and early 1993 the song became Doug’s fourth and final number one country hit.

The song is upbeat in melody and that’s probably what drew me to it back in the early ’90s. That was the time I really came to love country music. I spent 2 hours each day riding the bus to and from school and things can get pretty boring on that trip unless you’re paying attention to something like great country music. I loved it and this remains one of my favorite songs from that era.

Why Didn’t I Think Of That is an uptempo song yet it’s not a happy song really. It’s about a guy that’s looking at his former love from afar. He sees how happy she is now with her new lover. The narrator in the song sees all the obvious things the other guy is doing to make the girl happy and the narrator wonders how he could have missed the obvious.

Since those glory years Doug has struggled to stay relevant as an artist while battling various legal issues. He seems to create his own trainwrecks yet I love hearing his songs on the radio. I’d love to catch him on the tour circuit. He still seems to be out there doing what he loves and that’s great.

On this Flashback Friday I thought it’d be great to relive Doug’s glory years.