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TL;DR:

  • Maya Angelou liked country songs by Reba McEntire, Toby Keith, and Montgomery Gentry.
  • She wrote country songs of her own that didn’t get recorded.
  • Angelou loved a famous country song that straddles the line between country and pop.

Maya Angelou was a big fan of country music. She felt like she could have written one of the most famous country songs of the 2000s. In addition, she discussed some of her other musical preferences.

Maya Angelou wrote country songs and loved Lee Ann Womack’s ‘I Hope You Dance’

During a 2013 interview with The New York Times, Angelou was asked what she was listening to. “I’m a serious aficionada of country music — Reba McEntire, Toby Keith, Montgomery Gentry,” she revealed. “I’ve even written some songs. They haven’t done anything of mine yet. But it’s only a matter of time.

“I love the song ‘I Hope You Dance’ by Lee Ann Womack,” she said. “I was going to write that song, but someone beat me to it.”

She also discussed some of her love of classical music. “On Saturday afternoons when all the things are done in the house and there’s no real work to be done, I play Bach and Chopin and turn it up real loudly and get a good bottle of chardonnay and sit out on my deck and look out at the garden,” she said.

Lee Ann Womack didn’t write the song but her producer decided she should sing it

Tia Sillers and Mark D. Sanders co-wrote “I Hope You Dance.” During a 2019 interview with American Songwriter, Sillers discussed the origin of the track. “But the whole thing started when I was at the beach by myself, and I was standing at the ocean, feeling so tiny and inconsequential,” she said. “And then I went into the writing appointment with Mark with this list of ‘I hopes,’ like ‘I hope this’ and ‘I hope that.'”

Sillers wasn’t sure if Womack wanted to record “I Hope You Dance,” but her producer, Mark Wright, wanted her to take a crack at it. In Sillers’ opinion, the tune evolved to include pop and folk elements. Sillers was pleased with Womack’s vocal performance.

Related

The Beatles’ ‘Michelle’ Was Inspired by a Country Song

How ‘I Hope You Dance’ performed on the pop and country music charts

“I Hope You Dance” was Womack’s only top-20 hit. It reached No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100, staying on the chart for a whopping 48 weeks. Womack put the song on her album I Hope You Dance. The record reached No. 16 on the Billboard 200 and remained on the chart for 83 weeks. It is still her most popular album.

“I Hope You Dance” was far more successful on Billboard’s Hot Country chart. The tune was No. 1 for five of its 32 weeks on the chart. Meanwhile, the album I Hope You Dance was No. 1 for one of its 104 weeks on the Top Country Albums chart.

“I Hope You Dance” is a classic country song and Angelou felt she could have written it.

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