“During the ‘Urban Cowboy’ craze, we’d go to Texas to do shows. There were honky-tonks seemingly on every street corner and we could play in Texas every night if we wanted to. All the girls would come up to the stage after the show and they’d take off their belts for us to autograph. They always had their names on the back of ‘em. That’s where I got the idea for that song,” David remembers.
“Redneck Girl” debuted at a lackluster #77 on September 25, 1982’s Billboard country chart, but it caught fire and landed in the top spot eleven weeks later on December 11th. This gave the Bellamys a total of six number one country singles, at the time putting them in first place among all duo acts. Howard & David surpassed Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn’s five Billboard chart-toppers, although Conway & Loretta’s tally is still a record among mixed duos. By the mid-eighties, The Judds had smashed the Bellamys’ mark.
Ironically, the brothers ended up back on Warner Bros. In January of 1983, Electra/Asylum Records merged its country division with Warners, with the Electra personnel placed in charge. The Bellamys had one last Electra single, “When I’m Away From You,” in release at that time. It appeared on their next album, “Strong Weakness,” issued on the Warner Bros. label, now headed by Jimmy Bowen. The LP also included the song that Bowen had originally given away – “Redneck Girl.”