QUOTE: To everyone listening who cares to comment:
Regarding the song itself..... is there anything, that if you had written this, you would have said or done differently? I ask because this has been reviewed by 2 different sources and some of the suggestions from each have been incorporated into this, which is obviously different from the version I started with. Just picking your brain here.
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Only because you asked and certainly not because of any lack of quality in the songwriting, performance or production of your song.
First, you are spot on in your personal assessment of your song regarding Nashville and radio. Why won't this song make it when compared to the juvenile song and most recent release of Blake Shelton that I heard on THE VOICE last night.

Privately, I pick many of the best songs I hear from the forum apart, line by line, verse by verse and instrument by instrument as a learning exercise for myself to why that particular well-written, quality produced and performed song would not be a commercial hit. Here's what my notes are on this song.
Song needs younger, hipper sounding singer and vocabulary.
Bit faster tempo so the song does not have an "Always on My Mind" familiarity to it. Verse structure is old style.
Ballads can't just be good, they must be epic. Especially musically. Needs punch to the final mix.
Of top 5-6 recent country hits on the radio now, how many have a cello? NONE.
Guitar needs to sound modern. Compare to licks and effects on today's hits.
Don't write songs that draw comparisons to 70-80's artists.
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None of my notes are to demean what you have accomplished. This is a good song as written and performed. I like it and listen to it every time I log on. But, it doesn't sound enough like what is heard on the radio today to likely be picked up.(You know that and said so) It could, but my thought is your version would be considered a demo and chosen on the strengths of the lyrics and not the music. I think musically it would be drastically modified.

You have everything you need to be a commercial success. You don't need to wait on luck for your work to fall into some producer's hands for you to be discovered. You have the production tools, the vocal and guitar talent and very good lyrical talent. You certainly should not resign yourself to playing for yourself and a few friends.

I apologize for the harshness this post seems to have and my intent is not to criticize your excellent work but to share my impressions and analysis to what would not necessarily make it "better" but simply more commercial. Two completely different things. My notes are my thoughts to myself as I listen to your son that if I had written and performed that particular work (your words, music and performance) strictly to "sell" it for a current artist to record and have a hit with, what I would do differently.

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