The River and the Highway

1996 single by Pam Tillis

"The River and the Highway"

Single by Pam Tillis
from the album  All of This Love
B-side| "All of This Love"
Released| January 27, 1996
Studio| Sound Emporium (Nashville, Tennessee)
Genre| Country
Length| 4:21 (album version)
3:50 (greatest hits edit)
Label| Arista
Songwriter(s)| Gerry House, Don Schlitz
Producer(s)| Pam Tillis, Mike Poole
Pam Tillis singles chronology
| "Deep Down"
(1996)  | "The River and the Highway"
(1996)  | "It's Lonely Out There"
(1996)

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"The River and the Highway" is a song written by Gerry House and Don Schlitz, and recorded by American country music artist Pam Tillis. It was released in January 1996 as the second single from the album All of This Love. The song reached number 8 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart.[1]

## Content

[edit]

The song is a ballad using a river and a highway as metaphors for a man and woman who are incompatible but whose lives intertwine. The woman is symbolized as the river in that she "follows the path of least resistance" and "twists and turns with no regard to distance", while the man is "headed for a single destination".

## Critical reception

[edit]

Deborah Evans Price of Billboard praised the lyrics as "powerful poetic allegory at its very best". She also said that the song had a "pretty melody" and is "[q]uite possibly the best record in an already distinguished career."[2]

## Chart performance

[edit]

Chart (1996)  | Peak
position

|

Canada Country Tracks (RPM)[3] | 14
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[4] | 8

### Year-end charts

[edit]

Chart (1996)  | Position

|

US Country Songs (Billboard)[5] | 71

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition. Record Research. p. 348.
2. ^ Price, Deborah Evans (27 January 1996). "Reviews: "The River and the Highway"". Billboard. p. 106.
3. ^ "Top RPM Country Tracks: Issue 2954." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. April 29, 1996. Retrieved July 20, 2013.
4. ^ "Pam Tillis Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.
5. ^ "Best of 1996: Country Songs". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. 1996. Retrieved July 20, 2013.

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Pam Tillis

Discography

Studio albums|

* Above and Beyond the Doll of Cutey
* Put Yourself in My Place
* Homeward Looking Angel
* Sweetheart's Dance
* All of This Love
* Every Time
* Thunder & Roses
* It's All Relative: Tillis Sings Tillis
* RhineStoned
* Just in Time for Christmas
* Dos Divas

Compilation albums|

* Collection
* Greatest Hits

Songs|

* "One of Those Things"
* "Those Memories of You"
* "Don't Tell Me What to Do"
* "Put Yourself in My Place"
* "Maybe It Was Memphis"
* "Blue Rose Is"
* "Shake the Sugar Tree"
* "Let That Pony Run"
* "Cleopatra, Queen of Denial"
* "Do You Know Where Your Man Is"
* "Spilled Perfume"
* "When You Walk in the Room"
* "Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy Life)"
* "I Was Blown Away"
* "In Between Dances"
* "Deep Down"
* "The River and the Highway"
* "It's Lonely Out There"
* "All the Good Ones Are Gone"
* "Land of the Living"
* "I Said a Prayer"
* "Every Time"
* "Please"
* "Ancient History"
* "Five Minutes"
* "Someone Else's Trouble Now"

See also|

* Mel Tillis

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