<\/p>\n
\n\tThe history of the rodeo is closely intertwined with country music, to the point that it has played a role in a fair amount of the genre\u2019s hits.<\/p>\n
\n\tGeorge Strait\u2019s \u201cAmarillo by Morning,\u201d Moe Bandy\u2019s \u201cBandy the Rodeo Clown,\u201d Suzy Bogguss\u2019 \u201cSomeday Soon,\u201d Dan Seals\u2019 \u201cEverything That Glitters (Is Not Gold)\u201d and Garth Brooks\u2019 \u201cRodeo\u201d and \u201cMuch Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)\u201d embraced the sport\u2019s lifestyle for their storylines. And the rodeo provided a useful metaphor in Leon Everette\u2019s \u201cMidnight Rodeo,\u201d Jake Owen\u2019s \u201cEight Second Ride\u201d and Vern Gosdin\u2019s \u201cThis Ain\u2019t My First Rodeo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tGosdin\u2019s title, which was built on a familiar adage, gets reversed in Restless Road\u2019s new single, \u201cLast Rodeo,\u201d applying images from the arena to a broken relationship.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI\u2019ve always heard people talk about, you know, \u2018This isn\u2019t my first rodeo,\u2019\u00a0\u201d says group member Colton Pack, \u201cbut I\u2019ve never heard anybody do the flip and the play on words of saying, \u2018It\u2019s not my last rodeo.\u2019\u00a0\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThat changed when Pack spotted some form of the \u201clast rodeo\u201d phrase in public, most likely on a T-shirt, and he logged it into his phone as a potential hook. He unpacked it on April\u00a03, 2023, when the band had a co-writing session with Trannie Anderson (\u201cHeart Like a Truck,\u201d \u201cWildflowers and Wild Horses\u201d) at the home studio of songwriter-producer Lindsay Rimes (\u201cWorld on Fire,\u201d \u201cLove You Back\u201d) in West Nashville. The appointment was a challenge. Anderson had a last-minute lunch with Lainey Wilson to celebrate \u201cHeart Like a Truck,\u201d and to accommodate it, they started at 9\u00a0a.m.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIn our world, that might as well be frickin\u2019 4\u00a0a.m.,\u201d Restless Road\u2019s Zach Beeken notes.<\/p>\n