Kenny Rogers - "Buy Me A Rose"

This was Kenny's last trip to the Top 40 of the
Billboard Hot 100 peaking at No. 40 in 2000. A few
questions:

* Were Alison Krauss and Billy Dean credited for this
when the song was originally released? For both
artists, this was their only No. 1 on Billboard's
Country Singles chart.

* Which is the single/radio version of this song? I
recall first hearing this song on country radio. But,
when I saw the video and the song crossed over to AC
(R&R No. 30), it had a fuller sound with more
orchestration - i.e. less country.

Yes, they were both credited on the Country charts.

I was listening to the local Country station at the time
and they were making a big deal out of Krauss and Dean
being on the song.

Great song!

I have only ever heard the LP version from the "She Rides
Wild Horses" album on air (typically the DJ bantered on
the top and tail of the track so I could never quite
determine if it was an early fade or not).

I think they very purposely mixed those background parts
way up in the mix to give it that push of 'young blood'
and make it more "contemporary" country radio friendly
(despite Kenny having just made a return to the charts
with "The Greatest").

Thanks everyone for your posts. I have searched for the
country version online, but always find the same
"orchestral" version. (In other words, subtract the
strings and that is essentially the version I recall
hearing on country radio.) Unfortunately, with
streaming, you never know if the version online is the
same as what was originally released on the physical
album. For example, the streaming version of Bread's
"It Don't Matter To Me" from "The Best of Bread" is the
original recording. On the CD, "Matter" is the hit
version instead.