Bon Jovi's a little bit country and a little bit rock on new album

By Deborah Evans Price Apr 16, 2007, 23:27 GMT

For the last few months, there`s been a buzz around Music Row that Bon Jovi`s next album would be a country record. Some folks were skeptical and others ready to celebrate. After all, Bon Jovi made history last year when "Who Says You Can`t Go Home" with Sugarland`s Jennifer Nettles soared to No. 1 on Billboard`s Hot Country Songs chart, making them the first non-country act to hit that summit in decades.

Will history repeat itself? The new single, "Make a Memory," which previews the band`s June 19 Island/Mercury Nashville release 'Lost Highway,' debuted at No. 39 and was the Hot Shot Debut on Hot Country Songs in the April 7 issue. It was also released to adult top 40 and will later go to mainstream top 40.

The week of March 19, there were 185,000 streams of the single from the band`s Web site. There`s obviously a lot of interest in the band`s latest artistic direction, yet Jon Bon Jovi is quick to clarify that 'Lost Highway' is not a country album but a "Bon Jovi record influenced by Nashville."

"History has proven that country radio is loyal to artists who have success and stay with them," Island Records president/Island Def Jam Music Group COO Steve Bartels says. "To have last year`s historic No. 1 was an amazing achievement, however, Jon and the band have shown that they had no intention of that being a one-off. The song is already off to a solid start at the format."

Six of the tracks were produced by John Shanks, and six by Nashville`s Dann Huff, known for his work with Rascal Flatts and Keith Urban. Bon Jovi also tapped further into the Nashville creative community, co-writing with Hillary Lindsey, Gordie Sampson and Brett James and recording duets with Big & Rich and LeAnn Rimes. The result is a collection of songs that strike a perfect balance - rock enough to appeal to longtime Bon Jovi fans, yet with a Nashville flavor that should satisfy country fans who loved "Who Says You Can`t Go Home."

"The line is so blurred between new country and [adult top 40], it wasn`t a difficult leap," Bon Jovi says. "We had to just make sure we weren`t patronizing the true country format. Could you have imagined me walking into an award show where 15 or 25 other artists are and saying, 'Howdy, y`all,' with straw in my teeth and a cowboy hat on? I would have expected them to run me out of Dodge."

Bon Jovi has been visiting Nashville regularly since in 1991 and says the city`s creative community inspires him. "If you would have asked me at the end of the tour last August to do a record in September, I would have said, 'Not for all the tea in China. I don`t have anything to say,'" he says. "I didn`t like what I heard on the top 40. I had nothing in common with any of that stuff. But when I listened to Keith Urban, Gary Allen and Big & Rich, I heard the same kind of stories I`d been writing for 25 years. I thought, 'I get it: Write a record, go back to your storytelling days and say something about yourself.'"

As a result, much of 'Lost Highway' reflects some of the turmoil band members were facing. "I was watching my friend going through a very painful divorce and his father had stage four cancer," Bon Jovi says of guitarist/songwriting partner Richie Sambora. "We were dealing with a lot. Dave [Bryan], my keyboard player, was going through a terrible divorce at the same time. So it was all around me. That`s how I got the idea for 'Whole Lot of Leavin'."

"Until We`re Not Strangers" is a sultry duet with Rimes. "I wanted somebody with a strong voice who could pull it off dramatically because I knew it was a dramatic lyric," Bon Jovi says. "I didn`t want a young girl that couldn`t provide the sexuality in the lyric. She has a seasoned voice. She may be a young woman, but she`s been around for a long time and she knows how to translate a lyric."

Among the more upbeat fare on the record is the title track, which is featured in the John Travolta motorcycle comedy 'Wild Hogs.' "We Got It Going On" is a duet with Big & Rich that is serving as the theme song for the Arena Football League season on ESPN, while the catchy "I Love This Town" celebrates the frontman`s enthusiasm for Nashville.

"A lot of the songs on this record fit our format," Universal Music Group Nashville chairman Luke Lewis says of the album, which will be worked by Universal`s Nashville and New York offices. "There`s no question that a lot of the country audience grew up on Bon Jovi. It feels like a pretty natural fit."

Island Def Jam senior vice president of marketing Adam Lowenberg says the new album`s visibility will be boosted by key TV appearances: April 16 in Nashville at the CMT Awards, May 1 on "American Idol" and June 19 on "Today." Bon Jovi says there are also plans for the band to tape an "MTV Unplugged" that will air simultaneously on CMT, MTV and VH1.

Though there aren`t any plans for a major tour, Bon Jovi says the band will play select dates, among them the Frontier Days festival in Cheyenne, Wyo., and the new O2 arena in London.

Already, Bon Jovi served as keynote speaker for this year`s Country Radio Seminar in Nashville and the band played a special show to give country programmers a taste of the new music. "We`re very respectful of it," Bon Jovi says of the country format. "All I can ask for is, 'Give us a chance and don`t judge the book by its cover.'"

© 2007 Nielsen Business Media. All rights reserved.

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