Jon Randall

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (July 2007) (Find sources: Jon Randall – news, books, scholar)

Jon Randall
Jon Randall
Background information
Birth name	Jon Randall Stewart
Born	February 17, 1969 (1969-02-17) (age 40)
Origin	Dallas, Texas, USA
Genres	Country
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, mandolin
Years active	1994-present
Labels	RCA Nashville Asylum Eminent Epic
Associated acts	Bill Anderson Alison Krauss Lorrie Morgan Brad Paisley

Jon Randall Stewart (born February 17, 1969 in Dallas, Texas) is a Grammy Award-winning American country music artist. Signed to RCA Records in 1995, he debuted that year with the album What You Don't Know. A second album for RCA, 1996's Great Day to Be Alive, was recorded but never released. That same year, Randall entered Top 40 on the country charts as a duet partner on then-wife Lorrie Morgan's song "By My Side". A third album (and second to be released), 1998's Cold Coffee Morning, was issued on Asylum Records, followed by 1999's Willin′ on the independent Eminent label. Finally, in 2005, he issued Walking Among the Living on Epic Records.

In addition to the four studio albums that he has released, and the three songs he has charted on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, Randall co-wrote the song "Whiskey Lullaby", which became a Top 5 hit when Brad Paisley recorded it as a duet with Alison Krauss on his 2003 album Mud on the Tires.

Biography

Jon Randall Stewart was born on February 17, 1969 in Dallas, Texas.^[1] In his teenage years, he relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, where he found work as a guitarist in Emmylou Harris's band The Nash Ramblers.

In 1992, Randall won a Grammy award under the winner name 'Emmylou Harris & Nash Ramblers (Larry Altamanuik, Sam Bush, Roy Huskey, Jr., Al Perkins, Jon Randall Stewart), artists.' for Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal. The award was for the album "Live at the Ryman".^[2]

Randall also participated in the Grammy winning project 'Carl Jackson and John Starling (with The Nash Ramblers), which won in 1991, but only Jackson and Starling received the award.^[3]

In 1995, he was signed to RCA Records Nashville as a solo artist, releasing his debut album What You Don't Know that year. Due to a restructuring at the label, however, the album received little publicity, and its only chart single ("This Heart") peaked at #74 on the country charts.^[4]

After the release of What You Don't Know, Randall set to work on a second album for RCA, entitled Great Day to Be Alive. During the recording session for this album, Randall met and eventually married country singer Lorrie Morgan, with whom he would perform the duet "By My Side" for both his own album and for her 1996 album Greater Need.^[4] "By My Side" was released as a single in 1996, becoming Randall's only Top 40 hit on the country music charts; nonetheless, Great Day to Be Alive was never released. However, its Darrell Scott-penned title track "It's a Great Day to Be Alive" would be recorded in 2002 by Travis Tritt for his album Down the Road I Go, from which it was released as a single.^[4]

By 1998, Randall had moved to Asylum Records to record his third studio album. Entitled Cold Coffee Morning, this album produced singles in its title track and the song "She Don't Believe in Fairy Tales", the former of which reached #71 on the country charts. Shortly after this album's release, Randall and Morgan would divorce.^[1] A more bluegrass-oriented album, entitled Willin′, was issued in 1999 on the independent Eminent label.

2000s

In 2003, though not signed to a label at the time, Randall and country singer Bill Anderson co-wrote "Whiskey Lullaby". This song was inspired by one of Randall's producers, who, upon noticing the singer's troubled life at the time, told Randall, "Every now and then, you've got to put a bottle to your head and pull the trigger."^[4] Brad Paisley then selected the song for his 2003 album Mud on the Tires, recording "Whiskey Lullaby" as a duet with singer Alison Krauss. Released in 2004, Paisley and Krauss's rendition of "Whiskey Lullaby" was a #3 hit on the country charts, earning its writers a Country Music Association award for Song of the Year.

Randall signed to his fourth recording contract in 2005, this time with Epic Records. His first album for Epic, Walking Among the Living, was issued that year. Included among its songs were the singles "Baby Won't You Come Home" and "I Shouldn't Do This", as well as Randall's own rendition of "Whiskey Lullaby".^[4] Shortly after the album's release, however, he exited Epic's roster.

In 2008, Gary Allan released the single "She's So California", which Randall and Allan co-wrote with Jaime Hanna of Hanna-McEuen. Randall also co-wrote The Lost Trailers' 2009 single "All This Love".

Discography

Albums

Singles

Guest singles

Music videos

References