Music Friday: Beau Puts a 'Big Down Payment on That Itty Bitty Diamond Ring'

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you exciting songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, Diamond Rio frontman Marty Roe puts a “big down payment on that itty bitty diamond ring” in the memorable 1998 singalong, “Unbelievable.”

In the song written by Jeffrey Steele and Al Anderson, an infatuated Roe is crazy in love with his “unbelievable” new girlfriend. His life had been lonely and boring, but now a magnificent beauty has turned his world upside-down — so much so that he stutters when he tries to speak to her.

Peppered with delectable harmonies, the hard-driving, crossover hit features the unforgettable refrain: “kissable, huggable, lovable, unbelievable.”

The song’s jewelry reference includes this line, “Elegant, intelligent, heaven sent, all my money spent / I put a big down payment on that itty bitty diamond ring.”

Released as the title track of the group’s fifth studio album, “Unbelievable” zoomed to #2 on the US Billboard Hot Country chart and #1 on Canada’s RPM Country Tracks chart. The song also had crossover appeal, as it topped out at a respectable #36 on the broader-based US Billboard Hot 100 chart.

“Unbelievable” was originally written for country star George Jones, according to Songfacts.com. When Jones passed on the song, Diamond Rio scooped it up. Recalled writer Anderson, “I know all of a sudden they liked it and cut it and put it out, and it was the most played Arista record that year.”

Founded in Nashville in 1982, Diamond Rio featured the same six members from 1989 until 2022. They included Gene Johnson, Jimmy Olander, Brian Prout, Dan Truman, Dana Williams and Roe. When Prout and Johnson left the band in 2022, they were replaced by Micah Schweinsberg and Carson McKee.

The group was originally named the Grizzly River Boys (a river rafting ride at Opryland USA). Few band members liked the name so it was changed to the Tennessee River Boys. The name would change one final time in 1990 after the group signed a record deal with Arista.

Band member Prout suggested the name Diamond Rio not because he wanted the band to be associated with precious stones or an exotic city in Brazil. The name was, in fact, a nod to the Diamond Reo truck company, which ceased operations in 2013.

The group is a 14-time Grammy nominee and was named the Country Music Association’s Vocal Group of the Year four times in the 1990s. Diamond Rio is also a member of the Grand Ole Opry.

The band is currently touring with performances scheduled in Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Tennessee, South Dakota, Minnesota, Texas, Florida, North Carolina and Georgia through the middle of October.

Please check out the video of Diamond Rio performing "Unbelievable." The lyrics are below if you'd like to sing along…

“Unbelievable”
Written by Jeffrey Steele and Al Anderson. Performed by Diamond Rio.

She’s so kissable, huggable, lovable, unbelievable
She’s a mouthful of anything and everything a man could want
She ain’t typical, she’s unpredictable, she’s available, it’s a miracle
How my heart stumbled into someone so kissable, huggable, lovable, unbelievable

Up ’til now my life has been so lonely and boring
I never thought I would find someone so

Elegant, intelligent, heaven sent, all my money spent
I put a big down payment on that itty bitty diamond ring
She’s so beautiful, it’s indisputable, it’s undeniable, she’s got-to-havable
She’s music to my ears, and makes my heart sing, so kissable, huggable, lovable, unbelievable

There’s so many things
I want to tell her
Like I love her
But every time I talk
I start to stutter

She’s so elegant, intelligent, heaven sent, all my money spent
I put a big down payment on that itty bitty diamond ring
She’s so beautiful, it’s indisputable, it’s undeniable, she’s got-to-havable
She’s music to my ears, and makes my heart sing, kissable, huggable, lovable, unbelievable

Kissable, huggable, lovable, unbelievable
Kissable, huggable, lovable, unbelievable

Credit: Photo by Canadian Forces PO 1 Aaron Peterson, Navy Visual News Service, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.