Shenandoah was one of country music’s biggest acts in the ’90s, skipping the decade’s pop crossover boom in favor of a more traditional sound rooted in bluegrass, gospel, and honky-tonk.
∙ Their 1989 breakout, The Road Not Taken, scored three No. 1s on Billboard’s Hot Country chart: “The Church On Cumberland Road,” “Sunday in the South,” and “Two Dozen Roses.”
∙ Their biggest hit, “Next to You, Next to Me,” from 1990’s Gold-certified Extra Mile, earned the band Vocal Group of the Year honors from the Academy of Country Music Awards.
∙ The lyrics for 1993’s chart-topping crowd-pleaser “If Bubba Can Dance (I Can Too),” from Under the Kudzu, were inspired by a commercial that they saw for a line-dancing instructional video.
∙ Both “Darned If I Don’t (Danged If I Do)” and the title track of 1994’s In the Vicinity of the Heart scored Grammy nominations, with the latter—a duet with Alison Krauss—winning a trophy.
∙ Frontman Marty Raybon and his brother Tim landed in the Top 40 of both the Country and Pop charts in 1997 with a cover of Bob Carlisle’s contemporary Christian hit “Butterfly Kisses.”
∙ Miranda Lambert called them an inspiration, and Marty Raybon duetted with her on “Another Sunday in the South,” a tribute to Shenandoah on her Grammy-winning 2014 LP, Platinum.