Note: all photos for this feature appear courtesy of Dale Manning.
Just this week, Tim McGraw released the lead single from his debut album for new record label home Big Machine Records. The song was written by songwriter Danny Myrick (the lead singer of 90s band Western Flyer), LoCash Cowboys (who co-wrote "Put You In A Song," Keith Urban's recent #1 hit) and former BNA artist Chris Janson. In this exclusive feature with Roughstock, we talk with Chris Janson about the song, how it came to be, how it got cut by Tim McGraw and we also discussed his new record deal with Bigger Picture Records and working with Keith Stegall on the upcoming project.
Matt Bjorke: How did you and your co-writers come up with the idea with Truck Yeah?
Chris Janson: I double booked the write with LoCash Cowboys and Danny Myrick. I had the appointment with Danny on the books and then LoCash called and said "we're free tomorrow, wanna write?" And I said, "Sure, but I'm also writing with Danny, so can we all do it together?" They already knew Danny so they said, "Sure" and we got all together and decided to work together and when I pulled up in my truck, Preston (Brust of LoCash Cowboys) came up to me and said, "Man I love your truck!"
I said the alternative to "Truck Yeah" as you can imagine and he stopped me there and said, "No, no, no man, truck yeah!" and I was like "Done!" (meaning that it felt like a song ideal). So we sat there and I started doing this boot stompin' melody on the guitar and Preston and Chris (Lucas, the other half of LoCash Cowboys) broke out their laptops and started out writing stuff and Danny came up with the initial intro lick and I started rapping off words like "Little Wayne pumping on my iPod" and everybody started filling in words from there and it was absolutely everybody's idea at the same time, it was really cool.
Matt: I know from writing some myself that sometimes someone comes in with a nearly complete song…
Chris: Right, this wasn't like that, we all wrote it together there.
Matt: Did you guys know you had something that was an obvious choice to get cut?
Chris: I'll be honest with ya, I really didn't think so. I thought that it was cool and stuff but I wasn't really sure. It's my first cut too, as a song writer, so I just looked at it as another one for the catalog and didn't expect a thing. So we cut the song and got it done within an hour or so. It came together that quick and simply and I didn't think we had anything but just another song.
It just goes to show you if you keep your expectations down and sometimes good things happen…
Matt: Well, I try to use that with my life in general…
Chris: Me too, and I've found that the minute you let things go and give control to God, everything falls into place. And because I was doing that, I was trying to write good and fun songs and see what happens and this happened.
Matt: Well, It's similar to how I came to work with Roughstock. I had just decided to let things go and see what happens, and I got it. Before that, I really wanted to get to Nashville to write songs but never made it happen but then this job came to me and I took the chance to be here…
Chris: My thing was I always so focused on being an artist that I never really considered working on the songwriting side of things and I took a year or so after leaving BNA Records to focus on just writing good and fun songs and every day that was the focus. The proofs in the pudding I guess because if you work hard on something like that, good things can happen.
Matt: Is that how you came to work with Bigger Picture because of the time writing?
Chris: Man, I really believe it's a synergy between that and a real old-fashioned faith in God and getting my head in the right place, it was those three things put together. And a lot of people don't know this but I went to BNA Records and asked to be let off the label, because I was In such a real depressive state when Joe Galante left.
Matt: Well he was your champion so I can see that…
Chris: Yeah, he was so I asked off BNA and at that point, I had such a great relationship with radio and the song was one of the most added three weeks in a row and a week later they just pulled the single. And when I asked off BNA, within six months I was off the label and two days after I got off the label, my publisher at the time out of LA, Chrysalis, the head came to town and wanted to meet up with me and he came into town and we went to a big fancy dinner and I expected him to be behind me still, even without the label, and he dropped me.
Matt: He flew into town and took you to dinner just to drop you from his roster?
Chris: Yeah, uh-huh. So you can imagine, I asked off the label, the publisher dropped me and at the same time my wife and I found out we were expecting our first child. So from there we went 100% on faith.
But between then and the Bigger Picture deal, I was like 'to hell with this, I'm done with it' and I wanted to go work in the hunting industry but my wife kept championing my writing and said I still needed to do that. So I shopped around for a new publishing deal and nobody would pick me up and then Byron Gallimore, he and his wife Missi, they opened up their new publishing company and called it Red Vinyl. They offered me a publishing deal…
Matt: There's the Tim McGraw connection…
Chris: Well, yeah, but the funny part is that writing for them, that doesn't mean anything because it's going to be even harder to get a cut with McGraw, because 1. McGraw doesn't own the company and 2. They want the best songs they can get for the album, not just a good ole boy network or anything.
Matt: Yeah, I know, I meant that he'd heard the song and at least put it in the pile of potential songs, which is like when Chris Sligh co-wrote "Here Comes For Goodbye" with Clint Lagerberg and and some other writer said that the only reason Rascal Flatts cut the song was because of Sligh's 'Idol connection. He was looking for something that wasn't there…
Chris: Yeah, they just loved the song…
Matt: Yeah, it'd be different if you were writing for Stylesonic Publishing, McGraw's company…
Chris: Exactly. Byron was my In but the song still had to keep fighting to get all the way through
Chris: And from there I met Keith Stegall and he offered me a Deal with Bigger Picture and it's unbelievable how things work out. Keith's the only guy in town who when he started talking with me, he's never wanted me to be anything but who I am, right from the get go. First thing he said was, "I don't care what clothes you wear or what you say, I just want you to make the music you want to make."
Matt: Sounds like the D. Vincent Williams thing. He signs artists who are artists, not some sort of product. And it seems that that label keeps you in all kinds of aspects of the project and the career and not just out on the island…
Chris: And You know, the first time I met him was in a dinner with my wife, who also works in the business. She knew him well and we were over at his house one time just chilling and I hadn't even met him til then. It was just a marital connection.
Matt: Getting back to "Truck Yeah" a bit, how would you describe "Truck Yeah" to people who haven't heard it?
Chris: It's just hillbilly, boot-stompin' music. What I wanted to write, what I envisioned we'd write that day and that's what came out, you know? I hope it takes people back to the beginnings of McGraw, between "Indian Outlaw" and "Real Good Man."
Matt: You probably never could've imagined that Tim McGraw would've cut that song…
Chris: I had no idea and had brought home the rough work-tape demo and was with my wife and Danny had sent his own rough demo made through Garage Band and They all were, "What do you think?" You just never know man… And my mindset has changed so much from a year ago so I was just trying to be cool about it but Preston and Chris were like "We're gonna cut it" and my wife was like "I wanna play it for some people too" and everyone seemed so jazzed up about it. But., personally I thought that if something happened, that's great but I figured at the very least it'd be something good for the catalog.
Tim McGraw cutting it just literally came out of the blue…I heard he was interested in it and then he got really fired-up about it and it just became an enormous blessing…
Matt: So it's gotta be really cool and extra special to have your first cut as a songwriter come out as the first single for his new record deal?
Chris: Bottom Line, it's a huge blessing and I don't really know what to say more than that. I mean, I'd be happy to have a cut from anyone but to have it be the first single from Tim McGraw's new deal with Big Machine Records, that's too much for me to fathom in my little head…
Related: Read our thoughts on Tim McGraw's single "Truck Yeah" here.
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