KISS A GIRL: Monty Powell, who I write a lot with, had that title. We don’t
generally write from titles, but I loved this one the minute I heard it. Even if
you’ve been in a relationship for a lot of years, it’s imperative to remember that
“spark”, the innocence, and the first part of a relationship. Why not keep that
alive – the idea of courting? Monty is good for me to work with first because
we’ve known each other a long time and there’s that comfort zone. You’re
divulging a lot. Monty also has a romantic side to him -- that’s why we click
really well when writing those kinds of songs. (Click here to read the single reivew)
IF EVER I COULD LOVE: “If Ever I Could Love” is a song I wrote with Darrell
Brown. We’ve written a lot of things before. I asked Darrell to send me some
drum loops. I write a lot from them. The title of the album comes from a lyric
on this song. We were in the studio doing some overdubs on the song and as I
was listening to the fiddle that was being played, I heard the lyrics going by and
especially that line “defying gravity.” I wrote it down and I realized that’s really
what this record is about.
SWEET THING: I have a ‘69 Mustang. I drove it to a writing session with
Monty Powell that day. This song came very quickly: about early romance and
courting. “Courting” is such a beautiful term. It keeps everything vibrant and
full of life. Monty had this great lyric and we got to the last verse, where we
needed a car reference, so he wrote that bit about the Mustang because my car
was sitting in his driveway. (Click Here to read the single review)
‘TIL SUMMER COMES AROUND: I had this idea about a theme park. For me,
there’s something fascinating and deeply sad about theme parks in the
wintertime when they’re shut down. I loved that metaphor. So I said to Monty
that I wanted to write about a guy who meets a girl at a theme park. They have
this brief fling and she says she’ll be back, so every year he’s still there waiting. “Longing” is such a powerful feeling, and if you’re going to write about love,that’s a powerful way to get at it.
MY HEART IS OPEN: I wrote this song with John Shanks. This came from a
personal experience. “My Heart Is Open” just hit me as a beautiful thing to say.
My wife said it to me very early in our relationship and it moved me so much. I
asked her how her heart was, and she said that her heart was open. I wasn’t
expecting that answer. I thought, “What a great way for a heart to be.”
HIT THE GROUND RUNNIN’: My bass player, Jerry Flowers, who goes back to
The Ranch, was one of the writers of this song. Jerry played it for me a long
time back and I loved it. I thought it was a cool lyric and a really great thing to
say. When I came to make this record, this song came back to me. I just wanted
to keep “Hit The Ground Runnin’” lean and mean. If AC/DC had a banjo, it
would be somewhere in this vein. I wanted some of that simplicity.
ONLY YOU CAN LOVE ME THIS WAY: This is a song that Dann Huff brought
to me. There are certain songs that I wish I could have written because the
phrasing of them is not instinctual to me. I like to be able to do something a
little different.
STANDING RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU: I wanted to work with Rick Nowels
because he had worked on the New Radicals record I loved. He’s a producer
who co-wrote “You Get What You Give”, and also “Game Of Love.” Rick had the
music for “Standing Right In Front Of You.” I didn’t know what to write about
and was going to ask someone else to help with the lyric. Then I went to
England and I started visualizing this guy sitting on the street corner seeing
this girl walk by every day. He loves this girl and wishes she would notice him.
You know sometimes love really is just standing right in front of you.
WHY’S IT FEEL SO LONG: I do a lot of collaborating, but I also do a lot of
writing on my own and “Why’s It Feel So Long” is one I wrote very quickly
myself. My wife was going to the airport and I found myself calling within a very
short time frame, she had just left. Because I was in the zone of writing, I wrote
about that situation. It took no time to write, and I put it aside, but this song
kept coming back to me.
I’M IN: Radney Foster recorded an album called See What You Want to See that
I heard and loved when I was recording Golden Road. It’s full of great songs.
“I’m In” is on that album, but so is “Raining On Sunday” which I cut back then,
and so is “Godspeed (Sweet Dreams)” that the Dixie Chicks cut, and “The Lucky
Ones” that Pat Green did too. I said to Radney that my goal is to eventually
cover every song on that album.
THANK YOU: The first day that I wrote with Rick Nowles we wrote “Thank You”.
When I got to the studio, Rick played me various pieces of music. He got to this
piano chord progression and a little drum beat and I just loved the mood of the
music and started writing the lyric. I really feel that I have been given a life by
someone who’s loved me in a way I’ve never been loved before. This was my way
of saying “Thank you.”
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