Taken backstage at the old Igloo, October 1992.

Last night in a special ceremony in Nashville, the Academy of Country Music honored Garth Brooks with the Cliffie Stone Pioneer Award.

21 years ago, in July 1990 at Jamboree In The Hills, I had the honor of meeting then-newcomer Garth Brooks.

At the time, Garth had four hits to his credit, all within the previous twelve months and all from his debut album Garth Brooks: “Much Too Young”(To Feel This Damn Old); “If Tomorrow Never Comes”, “Not Counting You” and “The Dance”.

As anyone in the industry would tell you (just ask Stoney!), it was time for a new album…and as Garth and I spoke, the conversation turned to that new album.

It was due to be released around the Holidays, but now there was an issue.

You see, Garth had done a little “file sharing” with his mother…in the form of a bootleg cassette tape containing his yet-to-be-released next single.

Garth’s mom took the tape to the local radio station in the family’s hometown of Yukon, OK. They played it, and the listeners went wild, flooding the station with calls to play it again. Naturally this unauthorized “leak” got back to Garth’s then-label Capitol Nashville, who in turn read Garth the riot act, telling him never to send any pre-release music to Mom – or anyone else – ever again.

So now Capitol had to rush release the next single and the album…and Garth’s really excited about it, and when it comes in the mail, he asks, would I be so kind to consider playing it?

“It’s called ‘Friends In Low Places’,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Three weeks later it came in the mail, as promised…and the rest, literally, is history.

In a world of great Country Music, “Friends In Low Places” is the Best Country Song I’ve Ever Heard.

I admit, the fact that Garth himself brought it to my attention has some bearing on my choice. But there are two very good reasons – apart from my experience – that make “Friends” special:

Lyrical brilliance. And historical significance.

Of course drinking songs have long been a staple of Country music.

But rarely has a jilted lover gotten the upper hand on his upper-crust ex the way Garth does here. “Friends” is an everyman’s party anthem with a timeless lyric, released at exactly the right time in music history.

21 years ago, lite pop, lite rap and hair bands made up the bulk of Pop music. The Seattle grunge revolution hadn’t yet gone national. Country had undergone its own neo-traditional revolution four years prior, led by Randy Travis. A new generation of artists was making Country the most relevant and exciting musical genre in America, and “Friends In Low Places” – along with the No Fences album from which it came – would make Garth Brooks the New Face of Country, providing a fresh alternative for disenfranchised pop/rock fans turned off by Michael Bolton, MC Hammer and Warrant.

And it would play a major role in a historic television event just over a year later…