Chart Rewind: In 2006, Tracy Lawrence & ‘Friends’ Began Their Ride to No. 1

“Time,” Tracy Lawrence contemplated in a No. 1 Hot Country Songs single, “marches on.”

After that release rose to the top in 1996, time marched forward for more than a decade before Lawrence reached the summit again. That journey began when “Find Out Who Your Friends Are” debuted at No. 59 on the chart dated Sept. 16, 2006.

The first single on his self-owned Rocky Comfort label, “Friends” was written by Casey Beathard (Kenny Chesney’s “Don’t Blink,” “The Boys of Fall”) and Ed Hill (John Michael Montgomery’s “Be My Baby Tonight,” Luke Bryan’s “Most People are Good”), and produced by Lawrence with Julian King (Tyler Farr, Emerson Drive).

“Friends” picked up some famous friends during a slow ride to No. 1. George Jones and his wife, Nancy Jones, joined Darryl Worley and Larry the Cable Guy for cameos in the video; and Chesney and Tim McGraw added their voices to an alternate version that counted toward Lawrence’s total play. Sony BMG warned country stations not to play the collaboration in a June 2007 letter; broadcasters ignored the edict, and Sony BMG sheepishly rescinded it the next day.

When the song, still listed as a Lawrence solo effort, reached the top in the June 23, 2007, Billboard issue, it ended the singer’s 11-year dry spell between chart-topping numbers, completing a then-record 41-week climb to the peak.

“Friends” received the Country Music Association’s musical event of the year award and the Academy of Country Music’s vocal event trophy. It remains the most recent of Lawrence’s eight career No. 1s.