"The First Step" is a song written by Doug Crider and Verlon Thompson, and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

artist

Tracy Byrd Tracy Lynn Byrd (born December 17, 1966) is an American country music artist. Signed to Universal Music Group Nashville, MCA Nashville Records in 1992, Byrd broke through on the country music scene that year with his 1993 single "Holdin' Heaven" ...

. It was released in November 1994 as the third single from the album '' No Ordinary Man''. The song reached number 5 on the ''

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 Singles & Tracks chart.

Critical reception

Deborah Evans Price, of ''

'' magazine reviewed the song favorably, saying that the song continues Byrd's pattern of two-step cliches, but that he manages to "inject more than enough spirit to get this one over." Price concludes that Byrd was "born to sing this stuff."''

'', November 19, 1994

Chart performance

Year-end charts

References

1994 singles 1994 songs Tracy Byrd songs MCA Records singles Songs written by Verlon Thompson Song recordings produced by Jerry Crutchfield {{1994-country-song-stub