Cowgirls Don't Cry

"Cowgirls Don't Cry"
"Cowgirls Don't Cry"
Single by Brooks & Dunn featuring Reba McEntire
from the album Cowboy Town
Released	October 20, 2008
Genre	Country
Length	3:33
Label	Arista Nashville 88697-43591
Songwriter(s)	Ronnie Dunn; Terry McBride
Producer(s)	Kix Brooks; Tony Brown; Ronnie Dunn
Brooks & Dunn singles chronology
Reba McEntire singles chronology

"Cowgirls Don't Cry" is a song written by Ronnie Dunn and Terry McBride of McBride & the Ride and recorded by American country music duo Brooks & Dunn. It was released in October 2008 as the fourth and final single on their studio album Cowboy Town. One month after its chart entry, it was re-recorded and re-released as a duet with Reba McEntire. The song is Brooks & Dunn's 41st and most recent Top 10 hit on the Billboard country charts and McEntire's 56th.

Content

"Cowgirls Don't Cry" is a mid-tempo with a fiddle intro. Its lyric focuses on a female character who faces hardship. In the first verse, she is a little girl who has just been given a pony to ride, and although she repeatedly falls off, she does not cry. By the second verse, she is an adult, and her husband is having an affair, although again she does not cry. She discovers in the third verse that her father is dying, after her mother calls her and puts him on the line. He then tells her, "Cowgirl, don't cry".

Re-release

An alternate version of this song that features Reba McEntire's vocals on the final chorus was released to radio after she and the duo performed the song on the Country Music Association Awards on Wednesday, November 12, 2008.^[1] In addition, a video was released that featured both the duo and McEntire.^[1] Starting with the chart week of November 29, 2008, the song was credited on the U.S. country charts as "Brooks & Dunn featuring Reba McEntire". The Reba McEntire collaboration was officially released as a digital single on February 10, 2009.^[2] The duet version features a key change in the final chorus, which is not present in the original recording. This re-release is the version that appears on the compilation album #1s… and Then Some.

Chart performance

On the chart week of January 31, 2009, the song entered Top Ten on the Billboard country singles charts, giving Brooks & Dunn their forty-first Top Ten hit and breaking a record previously held by Alabama for the most Top Ten country hits by a duo or group.^[3] In addition, it became McEntire's fifty-sixth Top Ten country hit, breaking Dolly Parton's record for the most Top Ten country hits for a solo female.^[4]

Chart (2008–2009)	Peak position
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)^[5]	2
US Billboard Hot 100^[6]	44
Canada Country (Billboard)^[7]	1
Canada (Canadian Hot 100)^[8]	49

Year-end charts

Chart (2009)	Position
US Country Songs (Billboard)^[9]	16

Certifications


Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)^[10]	Gold	500,000^*
^* Sales figures based on certification alone.

References

^ ^a ^b Brooks & Dunn release Cowgirls single with Reba
^ Keel, Beverly (2009-01-26). "Brooks & Dunn single sets record". The Tennessean. Retrieved 2009-02-17. ^{[dead link‍]}
^ Holland, Margy. "Brooks & Dunn Make Chart History". CJFW. Retrieved 2009-01-23. ^{[dead link‍]}
^ Bronson, Fred (2009-01-22). "Billboard Chart Beat". Billboard. Archived from the original on January 22, 2010. Retrieved 2009-01-25.
^ "Brooks & Dunn Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.
^ "Brooks & Dunn Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
^ "Brooks & Dunn Chart History (Canada Country)". Billboard.
^ "Brooks & Dunn Chart History (Canadian Hot 100)". Billboard.
^ "Best of 2009: Country Songs". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. 2009. Retrieved December 13, 2009.
^ "American single certifications – Brooks & Dunn – Cowgirls Don't Cry". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved August 14, 2024.

[cst-1] Brooks & Dunn release Cowgirls single with Reba

[2] Keel, Beverly (2009-01-26). "Brooks & Dunn single sets record". The Tennessean. Retrieved 2009-02-17. ^{[dead link‍]}

[3] Holland, Margy. "Brooks & Dunn Make Chart History". CJFW. Retrieved 2009-01-23. ^{[dead link‍]}

[4] Bronson, Fred (2009-01-22). "Billboard Chart Beat". Billboard. Archived from the original on January 22, 2010. Retrieved 2009-01-25.

[sc_Billboardcountrysongs_Brooks_&_Dunn-5] "Brooks & Dunn Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.

[sc_Billboardhot100_Brooks_&_Dunn-6] "Brooks & Dunn Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.

[sc_Billboardcanadacountry_Brooks_&_Dunn-7] "Brooks & Dunn Chart History (Canada Country)". Billboard.

[sc_Canada_Brooks_&_Dunn-8] "Brooks & Dunn Chart History (Canadian Hot 100)". Billboard.

[9] "Best of 2009: Country Songs". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. 2009. Retrieved December 13, 2009.

[United_StatesBrooks_&_DunnCowgirls_Don't_CrysingleCertRef-10] "American single certifications – Brooks & Dunn – Cowgirls Don't Cry". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved August 14, 2024.

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v t e Reba McEntire singles
Albums Singles Videos
1970s	"I'd Really Love to See You Tonight" (with Jacky Ward) "Sweet Dreams"
1980s	"(You Lift Me) Up to Heaven" "I Can See Forever in Your Eyes" "I Don't Think Love Ought to Be That Way" "Today All Over Again" "Only You (And You Alone)" "I'm Not That Lonely Yet" "Can't Even Get the Blues" "You're the First Time I've Thought About Leaving" "Why Do We Want (What We Know We Can't Have)" "There Ain't No Future in This" "Just a Little Love" "He Broke Your Memory Last Night" "How Blue" "Somebody Should Leave" "Have I Got a Deal for You" "Only in My Mind" "Whoever's in New England" "Little Rock" "What Am I Gonna Do About You" "Let the Music Lift You Up" "One Promise Too Late" "The Last One to Know" "Love Will Find Its Way to You" "A Sunday Kind of Love" "I Know How He Feels" "New Fool at an Old Game" "Cathy's Clown" "'Til Love Comes Again" "Little Girl"
1990s	"Walk On" "You Lie" "Rumor Has It" "Fancy" "Fallin' Out of Love" "For My Broken Heart" "Is There Life Out There" "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" "The Greatest Man I Never Knew" "Take It Back" "The Heart Won't Lie" (with Vince Gill) "It's Your Call" "Does He Love You" (with Linda Davis) "They Asked About You" "Why Haven't I Heard from You" "She Thinks His Name Was John" "Till You Love Me" "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter" "And Still" "On My Own" "Ring on Her Finger, Time on Her Hands" "Starting Over Again" "You Keep Me Hangin' On" "The Fear of Being Alone" "How Was I to Know" "I'd Rather Ride Around with You" "What If It's You" "If You See Him/If You See Her" (with Brooks & Dunn) "Forever Love" "Wrong Night" "One Honest Heart" "What Do You Say"
2000s	"I'll Be" "We're So Good Together" "I'm a Survivor" "Sweet Music Man" "I'm Gonna Take That Mountain" "Somebody" "He Gets That from Me" "My Sister" "You're Gonna Be (Always Loved by Me)" "Love Needs a Holiday" "Because of You" (with Kelly Clarkson) "The Only Promise That Remains" (with Justin Timberlake) "Every Other Weekend" (with Kenny Chesney or Skip Ewing) "Strange" "Consider Me Gone"
2010s	"I Keep On Loving You" "Turn On the Radio" "If I Were a Boy" "When Love Gets a Hold of You" "Somebody's Chelsea" "Going Out Like That" "Until They Don't Love You" "Just Like Them Horses" "Softly and Tenderly" "Back to God" "God and My Girlfriends" "Freedom"
2020s	"Does He Love You" (with Dolly Parton) "I Can't"
Other singles	"Mind Your Own Business" (with Hank Williams Jr.) "Oklahoma Swing" (with Vince Gill) "What If" "Cowgirls Don't Cry" (with Brooks & Dunn) "Forever Country" (with Various artists) "Be a Light" (with Thomas Rhett)