In 1985, McCann earned two more country hits: Janie Fricke took “She’s Single Again” to #2 and Earl Thomas Conley cut “Nobody Falls Like A Fool.” McCann wrote the chorus on that one in Los Angeles with Nashville songwriter Mark Wright. The two made a point of getting together again to finish it after Peter moved to Nashville in April of ‘85.
McCann says that when he lived in Los Angeles, his associates always thought his songs were “too country” and he didn’t belong out there. Then when he moved to Music City, they said, “Well, he’s a pop writer and doesn’t belong here in Nashville.”
Conley and his producer, Nelson Larkin, weren’t particularly enamored with “Nobody Falls Like A Fool” at first, but RCA pressured them into recording it for Earl’s “Greatest Hits” album. At the session, Larkin told the musicians that he wasn’t thrilled about the song, and they worked on ways to improve it, including a tempo change.
The tracks were thus laid to Nelson’s satisfaction and Conley then went into the studio to cut his vocals. But he ended up singing it too high and they had to go back in and re-do Earl’s part. At the overdub session, keyboard player Ron Oates introduced Larkin to Dee Murray and Nigel Olson of Elton John’s band. They were tapped to add background harmonies and eight months after McCann finished writing it, “Nobody Falls Like A Fool” rose to the number one position of Billboard’s country singles chart on December 14, 1985, marking Conley’s 10th of his 18 chart-topping hits.