"Meet in the Middle" is a song 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, ...

band

Diamond Rio Diamond Rio is an American country music band. The band was founded in 1982 as an attraction for the Opryland USA theme park in Nashville, Tennessee, and was originally known as the Grizzly River Boys, then the Tennessee River Boys. It was foun ...

. It was released in February 1991 as their debut single, and served as the first single in the album ''

''. The single reached number one on the U.S. ''Billboard''

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 ...

charts, making Diamond Rio the first country music band in history to have its debut single reach number one. The song was written by Don Pfrimmer, Chapin Hartford and Jim Foster.

Content

"Meet in the Middle" is a mid-tempo describing two people who learn how to "meet in the middle". In the first verse, they are friends who live far apart, and agree to meet at a tree between their houses. By the second verse, they are married (the ceremony taking place underneath said tree), and upon looking at the tree (now in their back yard), they are reminded to put their differences aside when they disagree. The song features accompaniment from banjo and

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

, with some

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

flourishes.

Music video

This was their first music video and it was directed by Eric Straton and premiered in early 1991.

Legacy

Canadian country singer

Brett Kissel Brett Kissel (born May 27, 1990) is a Canadian country singer. He has had four number-one hits on the Canadian country chart with " Airwaves", "Drink About Me", "A Few Good Stories", and " Make a Life, Not a Living". Early life Kissel was born ...

sampled part of "Meet in the Middle" for his song "Slidin' Your Way" on his 2021 album ''

What Is Life "What Is Life" is a song by English rock musician George Harrison from his 1970 triple album ''All Things Must Pass''. In many countries, it was issued as the second single from the album, in February 1971, becoming a top-ten hit in the Unit ...

'', calling the track "an ode to

Chart positions

"Meet in the Middle" peaked at number one on the '' Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now

Hot Country Songs 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 ...

) charts in mid-1991, making Diamond Rio the first country music band in history to have its debut single reach Number One.

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 1991 debut singles 1991 songs Diamond Rio songs Songs written by Chapin Hartford Songs written by Don Pfrimmer Arista Nashville singles