The Keeper of the Stars

"The Keeper of the Stars" is the title of a song recorded by American country music artist Tracy Byrd. Released in early 1995 (see 1995 in country music) as the fourth single from his 1994 album No Ordinary Man, it went on to reach a peak of #2 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts. A year after its release, it was named Song of the Year by the Country Music Association.^[1] It is also considered one of his signature songs.^[2]

The song is a ballad in which the singer addresses his lover, telling her that a third party must have been responsible for bringing them together. Specifically, that third party is defined as being "the keeper of the stars" (i.e., God).

1 Re-recordings
2 Chart performance
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Re-recordings

A different recording of the song, one semitone lower than the album version, was released as the radio edit. This re-recording was made because Byrd felt that he sang it better in a lower key; he also sang it in the lower key while performing in concert.^[3] The radio edit was also used in the song's music video,^[3] which aired on the networks CMT and TNN (now Spike TV).

Byrd re-recorded the song again in 2001 for his album Ten Rounds; this re-recording was reprised on his 2005 Greatest Hits package.

[edit] Chart performance

Initially, Byrd's label (MCA Records) had not planned for "The Keeper of the Stars" to be a single, until Byrd's publicist realized that the song had been receiving positive feedback when the singer performed it in concert.^[3] The fourth single from Byrd's No Ordinary Man album, "The Keeper of the Stars" spent twenty weeks on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts, reaching a peak position of #2. In addition, it reached the top of the former-Radio & Records (now Mediabase 24/7) charts.