"That's Why I Pray" is a song recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, o ...

duo

Big & Rich Big & Rich is an American country music duo composed of Big Kenny and John Rich, both of whom are songwriters, vocalists, and guitarists. Before the duo's foundation, Rich was bass guitarist in the country band Lonestar, while Kenny was a sol ...

. It was released in May 2012 as the first single from their album '' Hillbilly Jedi''. The song was written by Danelle Leverett (formerly of

the JaneDear girls the JaneDear girls was an American country music duo, consisting of Susie Brown (vocals, mandolin, fiddle, bass, guitar, accordion) from Alpine, Utah, and Danelle Leverett (vocals, guitar, banjo, harmonica) from Amarillo, Texas. The duo was with ...

and

Gone West Gone West (March 10, 1984 – September 7, 2009) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. Bred by William O. Reed, he was a son of the influential sire Mr. Prospector. His dam, Secrettame, was a daughter of 1973 U.S. Triple Crown winner Secret ...

), Blair Daly and

Sarah Buxton Sarah Jane Buxton (born July 3, 1980) is an American country music singer, formerly signed to the independent Lyric Street Records. Between 2006 and 2008, she issued three singles from an extended play titled ''Almost My Record'', in addition t ...

.Bjorke, Matt (May 29, 2012)."". ''Roughstock.'' Retrieved June 13, 2012 An extended play of the same name was released on June 26, 2012 and featured the new single as well as three previously released songs.

Content

"That's Why I Pray" is a mid-tempo song in which the narrators address social problems, saying that such problems are the reason that they pray.

Critical reception

Matt Bjorke of Roughstock gave it a perfect five-star rating, praising Big & Rich's vocal harmonies and calling the song "well-crafted". Rating it three-and-a-half stars out of five, Jessica Nicholson of ''

Country Weekly ''Nash Country Weekly'' was an American lifestyle weekly magazine about country artists and their music. It was in circulation between April 1994 and May 2016. The publisher, Cumulus Media, now maintains the site ''Nash Country Daily''. Overvie ...

'' said that "The duo's airtight harmonies enhance the urgency in this well-crafted tune".

Music video

The music video was directed by Kristin Barlowe and premiered on May 22, 2012.May 22, 2012."http://www.cmt.com/videos/big-rich/771094/thats-why-i-pray.jhtml".''CMT''. Retrieved June 13, 2012

Chart performance

"That's Why I Pray" debuted at number 24 on the U.S. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' Hot Country Songs chart for the week of June 9, 2012.

Year-end charts

References

{{Big & Rich 2012 singles Country ballads 2010s ballads Big & Rich songs Songs written by Blair Daly Songs written by Sarah Buxton Song recordings produced by Dann Huff Warner Records singles 2012 songs