Guests of honor give surprise at own party

Leave it to the women to really put on a party.

Even some of the more cynical Music Row types left with their tongues wagging after the No. 1 party for Does He Love You.

Reba McEntire and Linda Davis shattered the stereotype of the traditional No. 1 party - shaking hands, accepting awards and doing a few TV interviews - when they sang the song live at ASCAP with only a piano accompaniment.

ASCAP workers from two upper levels came out of their offices to peer down into the lobby to see the duo sing while co-writters Sandy Knox and Billy Stritch sat at the piano.

"That was completely impromptu," says Knox. "When I got Billy at the airport, I said, 'Something just dawned on me. They have a big 9-foot Baldwin grand piano in the lobby. Maybe you should be prepared because they might ask you to play.' He said, 'Wouldn't it be great if Linda and Reba wanted to do the song?' "

But it was Reba's husband/manager, Narvel Blackstock, who asked Stritch to play the song.

"Billy hadn't played the song in three years," says Knox, who co-wrote the song with him more that 10 years ago. "When I was sitting next to him, we exchanged a couple of little looks. And then I said, 'Look up.' All of those people were hanging from the second and third floors. It was so special."

The party was truly special for Knox because it's her first No. 1.

"It all happened so fast that it was kind of overwhelming," Knox says.

"She heard the song, and they recorded and released it in a two- or three-month period. Boom, it was on the charts. Boom, it was on the CMAs.

"I really didn't have time to prepare myself for how fast and furious things were going to get. It was wonderful, but at the same time, there were moments that I felt a little discombobulated. But is really feels good."

Does He Love You was the first song Knox ever wrote with Stritch, a New York writer and arranger. He's coming back to Nashville in January so the two can write again.

"One of the great things about it is we have been best friends for 13 or 14 years," she says. "It's pretty wonderful that who I wrote the song with is also one of my dearest friends, a friend of my family, everything. We've been enjoying it together instead of just somebody who I wrote with and haven't seen for five years.