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Tracy Byrd Branches Out Into The Latin Market
09/06/2001 5:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Craig Rosen
(9/6/01, 5 p.m. ET) -- Tracy Byrd's actually recorded two versions of his new single, "Let Me Be In Love"--one in English and one in Spanish. This represents the singer's first foray into the Latin market, and comes at the request of his fans.
"It's a real romantic kind of Latin-feeling ballad, and so we had already cut the song, already tracked the song and I was down in Houston, Texas and I was doing an in-store," he tells LAUNCH. "Through the years I've known that I had a large percentage of my fan base, being from South Texas, is Hispanic. Through the years they've periodically -- you know, one of them would mention, 'Would you ever sing anything in Spanish?' I would always say, 'No, no. I'm not fluent in Spanish,' and they would always go, 'Well, just learn something,' you know?"
It was at that in-store that Byrd decided he would learn enough Spanish to record "Let Me Be In Love." His record label suggested he get together with former RCA artist Ray Vega, who could instruct him on the language and the correct inflections.
"Ray flew in and we picked him up and we rode the bus for a couple days and at that point I was terrified, I thought, 'What have I gotten myself into? What if I can't do this?' He got on the bus and about two hours down the road, I already had the first two lines just down," he says. "We ended up playing golf the next two days and on the golf course he'd be helping me with my inflection and I'd be singing and I gotta say, it was the most fun I've probably had in a while."
There are no plans to make the Spanish version of "Let Me Be In Love" available commercially, but it has been serviced to radio stations around the country. The song currently holds the Number 37 spot on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart.
-- Margy Holland, Nashville
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