Crowell's first big break came while he was performing as a lounge singer, where one of his acoustic sets was heard by Jerry Reed. Crowell's own You Can't Keep Me Here in Tennessee caught the ear of Reed and his manager, and two days later, Reed recorded the song after signing Crowell to his publishing company. In 1975, Crowell moved to Los Angeles to join Emmylou Harris' Hot Band as a guitarist, and soon became one of her primary songwriters; among the Crowell compositions Harris first popularized were Till I Gain Control Again, Ain't Livin' Long Like This, Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight and Bluebird Wine In 1977, Crowell exited the Hot Band to form his own group, the Cherry Bombs, and in 1978 released his first album, Ain't Living Long Like This; surprisingly, given that he had built his growing reputation as a songwriter, his first two minor hits - Elvira and (Now and Then, There's) A Fool Such as I - were both covers. ~ Allmusic: Rodney Crowell ~ retrieved July 31, 2013 © Allmusic

Mandy Barnett ~ Maybe (Crowell/Lauderdale/Leventhal) ~ Ranked #359 Country Universe 400 Greatest Singles Of The Nineties in 2010 ~ Sometimes a singer sounds so great singing something that the song itself feels irrelevant. Mandy Barnett faces this problem a good deal of the time. ~ 2010 © Country Universe