B-side "Our Baby's Gone" Format 7" Length 3:26 | Released February 9, 1991 Genre Country, country rock Label MCA/Curb | |
"Will This Be the Day" is a song written by Chris Hillman and Steve Hill, and recorded by American country rock band The Desert Rose Band. It was released in February 1991 as the first single from the band's first compilation album A Dozen Roses – Greatest Hits.
Contents
Background
Beginning the band's commercial decline on both the American and Canadian Country Singles Charts, the single was the band's first single not to make the top 30 on the American Billboard Hot Country Songs Chart and the first to fail to make the top 40 on the Canadian RPM Country Singles Chart. "Will This Be the Day" peaked at number 37 on the American Billboard Hot Country Songs Chart in February for a total of 3 weeks, whilst peaking at number 44 on the Canadian RPM Country Singles Chart in May 1991. In Canada, the single debuted at number 92 in late March and remained in the top 100 for a total of eight weeks.
The song was written by the band's frontman Chris Hillman and frequent collaborator Steve Hill. It was produced by Paul Worley and Ed Seay who had produced all five of the band's albums, except for True Love in late 1991, whilst only Worley produced the band's first album, The Desert Rose Band (1987).
In the 1991 issue of The Journal of Country Music, volumes 14-15, published by the Country Music Foundation, an article on page 29 spoke of Hillman's reaction to the song's radio play performance, stating "On an unusually chilly Southern California morning in March, Hillman fretted over radio's cool response to Desert Rose's "Will This Be the Day"." In the article, Hillman stated, "It's not doing as well as any of the other singles."
Release
The single was released in America and Canada only, by Curb Records (under MCA), on 7" vinyl. Although the 7" vinyl release had no artwork, it was issued in a standard MCA Records coloured sleeve.
The single hadd the Pages of Life album track "Our Baby’s Gone" as the B-side, which was written by Herb Pedersen.
Promotion
The main promotion for the single was the song's music video, directed by Gerry Wenner. The video was licensed under MCA Records and produced by ET/VideoLink, a division of Edwards Technology Video, located in Burbank, California.
The video was the only one to be created for a new song on the A Dozen Roses – Greatest Hits album.
Since appearing on YouTube in October 2009, the video has had approximately 6,700 views.
Track listing
- "Will This Be the Day" - 3:26
- "Our Baby's Gone" - 2:44
Critical reception
In a 1991 review of the album A Dozen Roses – Greatest Hits, the publication CD Review, volume 7, issues 7-12 (published by WGE Pub.), spoke of the song, calling it "country/rock at its finest".
A December 5, 1990, article based on the band, again written by Randy Lewis for the Los Angeles Times, said of the compilation album: "Two new songs introduced were driving rockers; one, "Come a Little Closer" and two, "Will This Be the Day"."
In the August 3, 1991, issue of Newsday, a daily newspaper in Nassau and Suffolk, a review of the compilation album noted "The Roger McGuinn-like Rickenbacker guitar chiming on "Will This Be the Day"."