"The River and the Highway" is a song written by

Gerry House Gerry House (born 1948) is an American radio personality who was heard on WSIX-FM in Nashville, Tennessee on the morning show ''Gerry House and the House Foundation'' from 1983 to 2010. House has won the CMA ACM Billboard and Marconi awards for ...

and

Don Schlitz Donald Alan Schlitz Jr. (born August 29, 1952) is an American country music songwriter. For his songwriting efforts, Schlitz has earned two Grammy Awards, as well as four ASCAP Country Songwriter of the Year awards. In 1993, he was inducted int ...

, 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

Pam Tillis Pamela Yvonne Tillis (born July 24, 1957) is an American country music singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. She is the daughter of country music singer Mel Tillis and ex-wife of songwriter Bob DiPiero. Tillis recorded unsuccessful p ...

. It was released in January 1996 as the second single from the album ''

All of This Love ''All of This Love'' is the fifth studio album by American country music artist Pam Tillis, released on November 7, 1995 via Arista Records. The album reached #25 on the Billboard country albums charts. Singles from the album were "Deep Down" at ...

''. The song reached number 8 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.

Content

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

Deborah Evans Price of ''

'' praised the lyrics as "powerful poetic allegory at its very best". She also said that the song had a "pretty melody" and is " ite possibly the best record in an already distinguished career."

Chart performance

Year-end charts

References

Songs written by Gerry House Songs written by Don Schlitz 1996 singles 1995 songs Pam Tillis songs Arista Nashville singles {{1996-country-song-stub