How To Write A Country Music Hit

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Nashville, Tennessee

I remember staring at a plane ticket that I bought that was going to take me home so I could go back to school and get that real job parents always talk about. That was when I got the phone call to come and hear a song I had written that had just been recorded by this new country band Rascal Flatts. I can't say that I was thrilled by the news, but it did get my attention off my travel plans for the 20 minute drive to Music Row in Nashville Tennessee to hear this new band singing my sad song about my life and subsequent move back home. What I didn't prepare myself for was the emotional collapse and awakening I was about to have.

It all started a few days before around four in the morning when the song "I'm Movin' On" first came to life. I was going through some tough times in my personal life, and as usual, I was venting through music. The song actually started with the second verse:

"I've lived in this place and I know all the faces..."

If you listen carefully, you can tell that I was actually writing my "I hate Nashville" song. Every songwriter I know in music city has a version, trust me. Believe it or not it was earlier that same day that I purchased that plane ticket to go back to Texas. I had no idea that God was about to give me the greatest songwriting lesson of my life later that night and into the next day. Completely exhausted and running on just a few hours of sleep I tried like hell to find Phillip White's – my co-writer – phone number to see if there was any way that we might find a better day to make up a song.

The author wrote the first great hit for country superstars Rascal Flatts.

Well, as God so perfectly planned, I never found the number. And since I'd never even met Phillip White, I thought I'd better drive to music row instead of being a no-show. As soon as I walked in the room, Phillip looked right through me and asked, "are you alright?" Right there in front of a complete stranger I lost it, as "I'm Movin On" willed itself into stage two of its beautiful creation.

Now believe me there is a reason for the setup here. You have to know the whole story to appreciate the gravity of what happened in the end.

Phillip and I talked for what seemed like forever, but we eventually agreed that this was not the best day to write a song and began to find another day to reschedule. Little did he know that I was preparing for a departure. I was sitting behind a piano waiting for Phillip to get his schedule book out, and without even realizing, I began playing the intro melody to "I'm Movin' On." Phillip looked up and said, "What's that?"

It took me a minute to realize that I was playing the song from the night before. "Well, Phillip, it's just something I was messing with last night," I admitted. I began to tell him about my unusual evening, and how I thought the song was too personal. He looked up and smiled and said, "I totally disagree." He sat there for a minute, and then his whole face lit up, and he asked me to play the melody again. After playing only a few bars, he said, "Oh my God, I got it," and began to recite the entire first verse of the song.

"I've dealt with my Ghost, and I've faced all my demons..."

It was a poem that he had written years before, and it fit with perfection like the last chunk of a 1000 piece puzzle. We finished the song in about 20 minutes. When I heard Rascal Flatts' version of the song a few days later, I realized what was happening.

How to write a country music hit? We don't really write the hit songs, we just write them down. I heard it said once that in order to write a good song, you have to be willing to write a bad one. And until you write a good song, you'll never write a great song. It took eight years, 500 songs and one plane ticket home to prepare me for the hit. When I heard Gary Levox's voice singing my song, I had to walk out of the studio and regain my composure. Rascal Flatts thought I didn't like it. They had no idea that it was the best version I had ever heard of one of my songs.

I kept the plane ticket, but I missed the flight and nestled myself back in Nashville and rode the wave of "I'm Movin' On." The song that catapulted Rascal Flatts' career and re-started mine.

I average about 50 songs a year, and out of those only a few get picked up. That's about only about two per cent. I actually didn't choose songwriting as a career – it chose me. I had a record deal with Columbia/Epic in 1995 and was told I should try to write songs, since publishing was where the money was. I obliged, and suddenly other established artist started wanting the songs I was writing for myself.

It just kind of happened. Now with songs recorded by the likes of Reba McEntire, Diamond Rio, Randy Travis, Jason Aldean, Kenny Rogers, John Michael Montgomery, Chris Cagle, Ronny Milsap, Craig Morgan, Steve Wariner, Ricki Skaggs, Mark Wills, Neal McCoy, Ty Herndon, Jimmy Wayne, Buddy Jewell, John Berry and even Michael Bolton – I believe I should hang around and see what's next.

Never quit your dreams, just about the time you think it's done – it's just getting started. Why quit when you're finally ready.