"Twang" is a song written by

Jim Lauderdale James Russell Lauderdale (born April 11, 1957) is an American country, bluegrass, and Americana singer-songwriter. Since 1986, he has released 31 studio albums, including collaborations with artists such as Dr. Ralph Stanley, Buddy Miller, and ...

Kendell Marvel Kendell Marvel is an American country music singer and songwriter. He released his debut solo album, ''Lowdown & Lonesome'' in October 2017. Early life Kendell Marvel was born and raised in Southern Illinois. He quickly discovered his talent ...

and

Jimmy Ritchey Jimmy Ritchey is an American country music songwriter and record producer from Centralia, Washington. Ritchey got his start as a record producer after producing demos for Tommy Shane Steiner. Initially, Ritchey was not intended to produce Steiner' ...

, 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, ...

singer

George Strait George Harvey Strait Sr. (born May 18, 1952) is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and music producer. Strait is considered one of the most influential and popular recording artists of all time. In the 1980s, he was credited for ...

. It was released in October 2009 as the second single and title track from his album ''

Twang Twang is an onomatopoeia originally used to describe the sound of a vibrating bow string after the arrow is released.Hensleigh Wedgwood, ''A Dictionary of English Etymology: Q - Z'' (1865), p. 433. By extension it applies to the similar vibrati ...

''. It also appeared concurrently in the 2009 comedy film ''

Did You Hear About the Morgans? ''Did You Hear About the Morgans?'' is a 2009 American romantic comedy thriller film directed and written by Marc Lawrence. Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker portray the film's protagonists, Paul and Meryl Morgan, a recently separated New York Ci ...

'', starring

Hugh Grant Hugh John Mungo Grant (born 9 September 1960) is an English actor. He established himself early in his career as both a charming, and vulnerable romantic lead and has since transitioned into a dramatic character actor. Among his numerous a ...

and

Sarah Jessica Parker Sarah Jessica Parker (born March 25, 1965) is an American actress and television producer. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including six Golden Globe Awards and two Primetime Emmy Awards. ''Time'' magazine named her one of the 1 ...

, where it is played in a

Costco Costco Wholesale Corporation (doing business as Costco Wholesale and also known simply as Costco) is an American multinational corporation which operates a chain of membership-only big-box retail stores (warehouse club). As of 2022, Costco i ...

-like store in Wyoming in the beginning of the movie.

Content

"Twang" is an up-tempo in which the singer states a desire to listen to country music to "lift isspirits".

Critical reception

Jim Malec Jim Malec is an American journalist and pop music critic known for writing about country music. Malec attended State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota, where he worked as an editor for the college's student newspaper and was involved in a cen ...

described the song positively in his review of the album, calling it a "honky tonk floor-burner that brims with swaggar." Bobby Peacock also described it positively in his review of the album, saying that the lyric "I like all kinds of music, I try to keep an open mind" seemed like a "

mission statement A mission statement is a short statement of why an organization exists, what its overall goal is, the goal of its operations: what kind of product or service it provides, its primary customers or market, and its geographical region of operation ...

of sorts" for Strait. ''

Country Weekly ''Nash Country Weekly'' was an American lifestyle weekly magazine about country artists and their music. It was in circulation between April 1994 and May 2016. The publisher, Cumulus Media, now maintains the site ''Nash Country Daily''. Overvie ...

'' reviewer Chris Neal gave the song three-and-a-half stars out of five, calling it a "propulsive little groover" and saying that it was performed in "classic Strait style."

Chart performance

"Twang" debuted at number 58 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 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 dated for August 22, 2009, from unsolicited airplay received after the album's release. It climbed to number 51 a week later and then fell from the charts, re-entering at number 45 on the chart dated for October 17, 2009. It peaked at number 14 on the country chart dated January 30, 2010, becoming Strait's first single to miss the Top Ten since "

The Seashores of Old Mexico "The Seashores of Old Mexico" is a country music song written by Merle Haggard. It was recorded by Hank Snow in 1971, Freddy Weller in 1972, Haggard himself in 1974, and in 1987 Haggard and Willie Nelson recut the song as a duet. Snow's version was ...

" peaked at number 11 in 2006. Also, on the week ending December 26, 2009, "Twang" debuted at number 100 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

References

{{George Strait 2000s singles 2009 singles 2009 songs George Strait songs Song recordings produced by Tony Brown (record producer) Songs written by Jim Lauderdale Songs written by Kendell Marvel Songs written by Jimmy Ritchey MCA Nashville Records singles