"Down at the Twist and Shout" is a song written and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artist

Mary Chapin Carpenter Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

. It celebrates the Bethesda, Maryland, dance and music venue Twist & Shout. It was released in June 1991 as the third single from the album '' Shooting Straight in the Dark''. The song reached number 2 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot Country Singles & Tracks Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart on September 14, 1991. The

Cajun The Cajuns (; French: ''les Cadjins'' or ''les Cadiens'' ), also known as Louisiana ''Acadians'' (French: ''les Acadiens''), are a Louisiana French ethnicity mainly found in the U.S. state of Louisiana. While Cajuns are usually described as ...

-themed song features backing from members of

BeauSoleil BeauSoleil (French, ''beautiful sun'') is a Cajun band from Louisiana, United States. Band history Founded in 1975, BeauSoleil (often billed as "BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet") released its first album in 1977 and became one of the most well ...

, who are also name-dropped in the lyrics. Carpenter (and BeauSoleil) performed the song pregame at

Super Bowl XXXI Super Bowl XXXI was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Green Bay Packers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champio ...

. In 1992, "Down at the Twist and Shout" won Carpenter a

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

for Best Country Vocal Performance, Female. It was also nominated at the

Academy of Country Music Awards The Academy of Country Music Awards, also known as the ACM Awards, were first held in 1966, honoring the industry's accomplishments during the previous year. It was the first country music awards program held by a major organization. The academy ...

for Song of the Year, but it lost to

Billy Dean William Harold Dean Jr. (born April 2, 1962) is an American country music singer and songwriter. He first gained national attention after appearing on the television talent competition ''Star Search''. Active as a recording artist since 1990, h ...

's "

Somewhere in My Broken Heart "Somewhere in My Broken Heart" is a song written by American country music artist Billy Dean and Richard Leigh. Randy Travis first recorded the song on his 1989 album '' No Holdin' Back''. Two years later, it was released as the third single from ...

Alvin and the Chipmunks Alvin and the Chipmunks, originally David Seville and the Chipmunks or simply The Chipmunks, are an American animated virtual band and media franchise first created by Ross Bagdasarian for novelty records in 1958. The group consists of three s ...

recorded a cover for their 1992 album ''

Chipmunks in Low Places ''Chipmunks in Low Places'' is a country album written by John Boylan and Andrew Gold and performed by Alvin and the Chipmunks. It features cover songs as well as original material. Released on September 29, 1992, the album was certified Platin ...

''.

American Aquarium American Aquarium is an American alternative country band from Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Background Formed in 2006, the band derived its name from the Wilco song, “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart,” and is led by band founder an ...

covered the song on their 2021 album ''Slappers, Bangers, and Certified Twangers: Vol 1.''

Music video

The music video was directed by Jack Cole and premiered in mid-1991.

Personnel

Per liner notes from '' Shooting Straight in the Dark''. *Peter Bonta – acoustic guitar *Jimmy Breaux – accordion, Cajun yells *

– lead and backing vocals, acoustic guitar *

Michael Doucet Michael Louis Doucet (born February 14, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter and musician best known as the founder of the Cajun band BeauSoleil. Early life Doucet was born in Scott, Louisiana, to a Cajun family. Family parties in the 1950s ...

– fiddle, Cajun yells *John Jennings – electric guitar, backing vocals, Cajun yells *Robbie Magruder – drums *Rico Petruccelli – bass guitar *Billy Ware – percussion, Cajun yells

Chart performance

Year-end charts

References

1991 singles Mary Chapin Carpenter songs Songs written by Mary Chapin Carpenter Columbia Records singles 1990 songs {{1991-country-song-stub