Personnel includes: Lee Ann Womack (vocals); Joe Manual, Richard Bennett (acoustic & electric guitars); Dan Tyminski, Pat Flynn, Mark Casstevens (acoustic guitar); Brent Mason (electric guitar); Paul Franklin (slide & steel guitars, dobro); Larry Franklin (mandolin, fiddle); Aubrie Haynie (fiddle); Michael Omartian (accordion); Steve Nathan (Hammond B-3 organ, keyboards); Michael Rhodes, Glenn Worf, Brett Beavers (bass); Eric Darken, Sam Bacco (percussion); Ricky Scaggs, Bekka Bramlett, Buddy Miller, Julie Miller, Ronnie Bowman, Jon Randall, Jason Sellers, Bergen White, Sons Of The Desert (background vocals).
"I Hope You Dance" won the 2000 CMA Award for Single Of The Year and Song Of The Year.
"I Hope You Dance" won the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Country Song. I HOPE YOU DANCE was nominated for the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Country Album. "I Hope You Dance" was nominated for the 2001 Grammy Award in the categories of Song Of The Year and Best Female Country Vocal Performance.
"I Hope You Dance" won the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Country Song.
The award-winning release by new country star Lee Ann Womack includes the bonus track "I Hope You Dance."
After a platinum-selling self-titled debut and a gold follow-up with Some Things I Know, Lee Ann Womack just keeps getting better. Billboard calls it "a career record." I Hope You Dance is one of the finest albums to hit country music post Shania Twain. Womack possesses such a sweet, melodious voice and its distinctiveness graces every one of the 12 tracks like they were chosen just for her vocals. But it's the album's title track, a dedication to Womack's daughters (and featuring the Sons of the Desert) that will leave you feeling swept away. (Her daughters, Aubrie and Anna Lise, who were ages 9 and 1 [respectively] at the time, appear in the video with her.) "Don't let some hardened heart leave you bitter/When you come close to selling out, reconsider/Give the heavens above more than a passing glance/And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance." Listeners will undoubtedly dance to I Hope You Dance. ~ Maria Konicki Dinoia
While her colleagues either dip their toes in pop music or embrace it wholeheartedly, Lee Ann Womack keeps it country. Womack's third release, I HOPE YOU DANCE, finds her looking back to country's past, while keeping both feet firmly in the present.
Womack's nod to those who came before includes terrific cover versions of two modern classics: Rodney Crowell's "Ashes By Now" and Don Williams' "Lord I Hope This Day Is Good," as well as guest harmonies by New Traditionalist Ricky Skaggs (on "The Healing Kind"). More subtly, her respect is obvious in the Bakersfield twang of "I Feel Like I'm Forgetting Something," the Appalachian harmonies of "Does My Ring Burn Your Finger," and the album's rootsy instrumentation. But Womack places herself squarely in modern-day country with the lovely, poetic title track, a country take on Bob Dylan's "Forever Young," with guest vocals by Sons Of The Desert. Another standout is "Stronger Than I Am," a beautifully crafted song about a divorcee who realizes her daughter has survived the ordeal much better than she has. The tasteful production highlights Womack's delicate voice which, unlike those of her colleagues, dispenses with histrionics in favor of real emotion. In a sea of country/pop fluff, I HOPE YOU DANCE is a true gem. minimize