1 00:00:11,208 --> 00:00:13,375 [banging] 2 00:00:19,291 --> 00:00:22,458 - This is gonna be the hard part-- - [Man] Quiet in the room 3 00:00:22,500 --> 00:00:25,500 [light piano music] 4 00:00:26,875 --> 00:00:28,083 - [Director] Can you sneak a little bit this way? 5 00:00:28,125 --> 00:00:29,750 That's cool, thank you, that's better. 6 00:00:29,791 --> 00:00:32,958 [light piano music] 7 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:34,375 - That was the demo. 8 00:00:35,666 --> 00:00:36,958 Yeah, this is a Fazioli. 9 00:00:38,083 --> 00:00:41,000 The only one in the south, actually. 10 00:00:43,041 --> 00:00:43,916 Isn't that pretty? 11 00:00:45,166 --> 00:00:47,208 - I did the spray tan this morning. 12 00:00:47,250 --> 00:00:48,041 - I look so white. 13 00:00:48,083 --> 00:00:49,625 Do I look too white? 14 00:00:49,666 --> 00:00:52,750 - Uh, let's see what I got here. 15 00:00:52,791 --> 00:00:53,708 Grab a guitar? 16 00:00:57,875 --> 00:01:00,083 - [Director] You write most of your stuff in this bunker? 17 00:01:00,125 --> 00:01:03,375 - Well, when I'm, when I'm, yes. 18 00:01:07,916 --> 00:01:09,875 - [Director] Take a position you feel super comfortable in, 19 00:01:09,916 --> 00:01:11,708 maybe, you know, to play music. 20 00:01:11,750 --> 00:01:13,750 - [Musician] That was back at home. 21 00:01:13,791 --> 00:01:16,041 [laughing] 22 00:01:20,416 --> 00:01:23,666 - Called me at like noon, on Tuesday, it was a Tuesday. 23 00:01:29,541 --> 00:01:31,458 - Okay, wrong song. 24 00:01:34,541 --> 00:01:38,041 [people chatting] 25 00:01:38,083 --> 00:01:41,875 - [Man] I'm good, how are you? - [Man] I'm good, good to see you! 26 00:01:41,916 --> 00:01:45,791 [piano music drowning out words] 27 00:01:45,833 --> 00:01:47,833 - That's what I do. 28 00:01:47,875 --> 00:01:51,458 [music drowning out words] 29 00:01:52,958 --> 00:01:55,583 [dog barking] 30 00:01:55,625 --> 00:01:56,791 I've been fortunate. 31 00:01:56,833 --> 00:01:59,416 I've had about 500 of my songs recorded. 32 00:01:59,458 --> 00:02:02,250 I've had 42 Top 20 singles. 33 00:02:02,291 --> 00:02:05,791 And 25 of those songs ended up being Number Ones. 34 00:02:05,833 --> 00:02:10,250 Which means nobody knows who the [beep] I am. 35 00:02:10,291 --> 00:02:12,875 [lively music] 36 00:02:17,291 --> 00:02:20,125 - I'm the guy that wrote Try for P!nk. 37 00:02:20,166 --> 00:02:22,250 - You Give Love a Bad Name, Livin' on a Prayer, 38 00:02:22,291 --> 00:02:23,541 Livin' La Vida Loca. 39 00:02:23,583 --> 00:02:24,916 - Pontoon. - Faithfully. 40 00:02:24,958 --> 00:02:26,208 - Like I'm Gonna Lose You. 41 00:02:26,250 --> 00:02:27,666 - Grenade, Party in the USA. 42 00:02:27,708 --> 00:02:28,833 - Nobody Wants to Be Lonely. 43 00:02:28,875 --> 00:02:30,291 - Stay. - Mama's Broken Heart. 44 00:02:30,333 --> 00:02:31,833 - The Climb. 45 00:02:31,875 --> 00:02:32,791 - A Little Less Conversation. - Live Like You Were Dyin'. 46 00:02:32,833 --> 00:02:34,291 - Have a Little Faith in Me. 47 00:02:34,333 --> 00:02:35,541 - Change the World. 48 00:02:35,583 --> 00:02:36,708 - Thousand Years, Because of You. 49 00:02:36,750 --> 00:02:37,875 - The River. - Whiskey Lullaby. 50 00:02:37,916 --> 00:02:39,125 - What Hurts the Most. 51 00:02:39,166 --> 00:02:40,208 - I'm the guy that wrote Jesus Take the Wheel. 52 00:02:40,250 --> 00:02:41,958 Well, I should say it this way. 53 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:44,708 I'm one of the three people that wrote Jesus Take the Wheel. 54 00:02:49,083 --> 00:02:50,666 - [Chip] We gonna talk first, you want me to play first, 55 00:02:50,708 --> 00:02:52,333 what would you like to do? - [Director] Let's talk first. 56 00:02:52,375 --> 00:02:53,625 - [Chip] Sure, good. 57 00:02:53,666 --> 00:02:54,416 - [Director] Why is Nashville this like 58 00:02:54,458 --> 00:02:56,291 bastion of creativity? 59 00:02:56,333 --> 00:02:59,000 And when it comes to songs, right, this is it. 60 00:02:59,041 --> 00:02:59,833 Why Nashville? 61 00:03:02,125 --> 00:03:04,125 - I've often thought a lot about why Nashville, 62 00:03:04,166 --> 00:03:08,000 why is this place, this place. 63 00:03:08,041 --> 00:03:10,250 You know, most of the real reasons are mysterious 64 00:03:10,291 --> 00:03:11,708 as to why this place. 65 00:03:11,750 --> 00:03:13,708 But I'm not usually one for these, 66 00:03:14,833 --> 00:03:15,666 for the more, 67 00:03:17,250 --> 00:03:19,875 new age-y explanations of there's just a vibe 68 00:03:19,916 --> 00:03:21,208 or there's just an energy. 69 00:03:23,041 --> 00:03:25,583 But there's a vibe, there's an energy. 70 00:03:25,625 --> 00:03:27,750 I don't know what that is. 71 00:03:27,791 --> 00:03:29,416 But I guess one of the biggest reasons is 72 00:03:29,458 --> 00:03:31,541 that the antenna 73 00:03:33,125 --> 00:03:34,666 that sent out the Grand Ol' Opry 74 00:03:34,708 --> 00:03:37,333 to far-flung areas all over this country 75 00:03:37,375 --> 00:03:40,333 at a time when everybody listened to radio. 76 00:03:40,375 --> 00:03:45,000 It was almost like the Bat Light into the night saying, 77 00:03:45,041 --> 00:03:47,916 you know, come here, this is where this happens. 78 00:03:47,958 --> 00:03:51,041 [gentle music] 79 00:03:51,083 --> 00:03:52,625 - [Announcer] Johnny Cash. 80 00:03:52,666 --> 00:03:54,000 - [Announcer] Patsy Cline with another one of her-- 81 00:03:54,041 --> 00:03:54,916 - [Announcer] Dolly Parton. 82 00:03:54,958 --> 00:03:56,625 - Artists came to Nashville who, 83 00:03:56,666 --> 00:03:59,375 once they made it on the Grand Ol' Opry, 84 00:03:59,416 --> 00:04:03,000 they were in their cars driving from Birmingham 85 00:04:03,041 --> 00:04:06,208 to Minneapolis to play a show. 86 00:04:06,250 --> 00:04:09,708 So they came back on Friday and Saturday night to perform 87 00:04:09,750 --> 00:04:11,000 on the Grand Ol' Opry. 88 00:04:11,041 --> 00:04:12,541 And when they came back in, 89 00:04:12,583 --> 00:04:16,500 those artists who stayed at home in Nashville 90 00:04:16,541 --> 00:04:19,208 would greet them at the backstage door and say, 91 00:04:19,250 --> 00:04:21,833 "Hey, I wrote a song, I got a song for you." 92 00:04:21,875 --> 00:04:26,583 So an industry was born out of entertainers 93 00:04:26,625 --> 00:04:29,041 being out on the road and not having enough time 94 00:04:29,083 --> 00:04:30,416 to write songs. 95 00:04:30,458 --> 00:04:34,083 And that's how Nashville became 96 00:04:34,125 --> 00:04:38,166 this epicenter of songwriting in the world. 97 00:04:38,208 --> 00:04:42,291 ["16th Avenue" by Thom Schuyler] 98 00:04:44,458 --> 00:04:47,041 ♪ From the corners of the country ♪ 99 00:04:47,083 --> 00:04:50,083 ♪ From the cities and the farms ♪ 100 00:04:50,125 --> 00:04:53,083 ♪ With years and years of living ♪ 101 00:04:53,125 --> 00:04:56,583 ♪ Tucked up underneath their arms ♪ 102 00:04:56,625 --> 00:04:59,083 ♪ They walk away from everything ♪ 103 00:04:59,125 --> 00:05:02,083 ♪ Just to see a dream come true ♪ 104 00:05:02,125 --> 00:05:05,500 ♪ So God bless the boys who make the noise ♪ 105 00:05:05,541 --> 00:05:10,000 ♪ On 16th Avenue 106 00:05:10,041 --> 00:05:12,750 ♪ With a million dollar spirit 107 00:05:12,791 --> 00:05:16,125 ♪ And an old flat-top guitar 108 00:05:16,166 --> 00:05:19,083 ♪ They drive to town with all they own ♪ 109 00:05:19,125 --> 00:05:22,166 ♪ In a $100 car 110 00:05:22,208 --> 00:05:25,208 ♪ 'Cause one time someone told 'em ♪ 111 00:05:25,250 --> 00:05:28,416 ♪ About a friend of a friend they knew ♪ 112 00:05:28,458 --> 00:05:31,250 ♪ Who owns, you know, a studio 113 00:05:31,291 --> 00:05:34,291 ♪ On 16th Avenue. 114 00:05:34,333 --> 00:05:36,416 I just sort of fell in love with this, 115 00:05:36,458 --> 00:05:38,958 the idea that the entire country music industry 116 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:41,791 took place on about four square blocks 117 00:05:41,833 --> 00:05:44,208 of this quiet little town. 118 00:05:44,250 --> 00:05:47,000 And most, except for the record companies, 119 00:05:47,041 --> 00:05:49,291 everything took place in a house 120 00:05:49,333 --> 00:05:51,208 that was converted into an office. 121 00:05:51,250 --> 00:05:54,333 [light guitar music] 122 00:06:21,916 --> 00:06:23,916 - There's so much, there's so much brilliance, 123 00:06:23,958 --> 00:06:26,250 so much brilliance in this town. 124 00:06:26,291 --> 00:06:28,666 That's why people come from all over the world 125 00:06:28,708 --> 00:06:29,541 to write here. 126 00:06:31,375 --> 00:06:35,250 I've written with and seen some of the best on the planet 127 00:06:35,291 --> 00:06:37,166 come to Nashville and say, "Well, this is where 128 00:06:37,208 --> 00:06:39,125 "great songwriters come to write songs." 129 00:06:39,166 --> 00:06:41,583 - I'm moving to Nashville in two months. 130 00:06:41,625 --> 00:06:43,208 I've been in LA for the last 15 years. 131 00:06:43,250 --> 00:06:44,125 I've been coming to Nashville 132 00:06:44,166 --> 00:06:45,541 for probably five or six years. 133 00:06:45,583 --> 00:06:48,708 There's 10 people that I work with all the time in LA. 134 00:06:48,750 --> 00:06:51,041 And here, I feel like it's a pretty unlimited amount 135 00:06:51,083 --> 00:06:53,041 of folks that I can kind of be writing with. 136 00:06:53,083 --> 00:06:56,166 - Oh, Nashville is ridiculous. 137 00:06:56,208 --> 00:06:57,958 It's like a fruitcake. 138 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:01,541 It's densely packed with talent. 139 00:07:01,583 --> 00:07:03,375 You can go to any one of these buildings. 140 00:07:03,416 --> 00:07:06,125 There's probably somebody in there that's a badass. 141 00:07:06,166 --> 00:07:09,208 ♪ I'd catch a grenade for ya 142 00:07:09,250 --> 00:07:11,375 ♪ So I'm gonna love you 143 00:07:11,416 --> 00:07:13,458 ♪ Damn country music 144 00:07:13,500 --> 00:07:16,416 ♪ Thank you, Lord 145 00:07:16,458 --> 00:07:18,333 ♪ How could I ask for more 146 00:07:18,375 --> 00:07:23,166 ♪ Tell me baby, do I get one more try ♪ 147 00:07:23,208 --> 00:07:28,208 ♪ Have a little faith in me 148 00:07:28,958 --> 00:07:31,125 ♪ For better or worse 149 00:07:31,166 --> 00:07:32,291 ♪ For better or 150 00:07:32,333 --> 00:07:34,083 ♪ Darling don't be afraid 151 00:07:34,125 --> 00:07:38,333 ♪ I have loved you for a thousand years ♪ 152 00:07:38,375 --> 00:07:42,000 ♪ Ah, it's all the same thing 153 00:07:42,041 --> 00:07:46,250 ♪ Girls chase boys chase girls 154 00:07:46,291 --> 00:07:48,166 - I can promise you there's 100 songs being written 155 00:07:48,208 --> 00:07:51,416 right now in this town, this very second. 156 00:07:51,458 --> 00:07:54,041 And it makes Nashville a very unique place. 157 00:07:54,083 --> 00:07:55,458 - You go get a pizza, 158 00:07:57,125 --> 00:07:58,708 they're gonna have a songwriters' night at the pizza place. 159 00:07:58,750 --> 00:08:02,708 This is the only town I've ever known where banks 160 00:08:02,750 --> 00:08:04,250 have a stage in the bank. 161 00:08:05,833 --> 00:08:08,708 They literally have stages in some of the banks around here. 162 00:08:08,750 --> 00:08:10,416 Songwriters will get up. 163 00:08:10,458 --> 00:08:13,375 Every waiter that waits on you, 164 00:08:13,416 --> 00:08:16,666 every person that valet parks your car 165 00:08:16,708 --> 00:08:21,708 is a world-class gifted musician or songwriter. 166 00:08:22,333 --> 00:08:24,416 [gentle music] 167 00:08:27,125 --> 00:08:29,458 - Kind of what I always tell people is for six months, 168 00:08:29,500 --> 00:08:31,166 don't worry about the business. 169 00:08:31,208 --> 00:08:33,291 Just worry about becoming a member of the music community. 170 00:08:33,333 --> 00:08:35,250 Go see how competitive it is here. 171 00:08:35,291 --> 00:08:37,416 Go to every writers' night you can go to. 172 00:08:37,458 --> 00:08:39,041 Shake the hands of every songwriter 173 00:08:39,083 --> 00:08:40,291 you would ever wanna meet, 174 00:08:40,333 --> 00:08:41,750 because they're gonna be available to you. 175 00:08:41,791 --> 00:08:43,333 They're gonna be nice to you, 176 00:08:43,375 --> 00:08:45,833 because they were in your shoes. 177 00:08:45,875 --> 00:08:47,333 - Move here. 178 00:08:47,375 --> 00:08:49,500 Start livin' here, start being a citizen here. 179 00:08:49,541 --> 00:08:51,166 They take you in, man. 180 00:08:51,208 --> 00:08:53,000 - I used to friend people on Facebook 181 00:08:53,041 --> 00:08:55,291 that I knew were in the music industry. 182 00:08:55,333 --> 00:08:58,458 And I would post demos or videos of me 183 00:08:58,500 --> 00:09:00,750 at Writers' Nights or whatever. 184 00:09:00,791 --> 00:09:03,291 And I would just hope that someone 185 00:09:03,333 --> 00:09:05,625 would stumble across it, and someone did. 186 00:09:05,666 --> 00:09:08,000 And I went in wanting to learn, 187 00:09:08,041 --> 00:09:10,083 but never asking for a record deal 188 00:09:10,125 --> 00:09:11,333 or never asking for a publishing deal. 189 00:09:11,375 --> 00:09:12,666 I was like, "Hey, my name's Kelsea. 190 00:09:12,708 --> 00:09:13,708 "I'm from Knoxville. 191 00:09:15,166 --> 00:09:18,541 "I'm 15, and I really want you to listen to what I do 192 00:09:18,583 --> 00:09:20,000 "and tell me how I could be better. 193 00:09:20,041 --> 00:09:22,000 "Or tell me who I should be with to make me better." 194 00:09:22,041 --> 00:09:23,750 And people took the meetings because they didn't think 195 00:09:23,791 --> 00:09:26,375 that I was trying to get anything, except for advice. 196 00:09:26,416 --> 00:09:30,000 - Songwriting may be the only profession I've ever seen 197 00:09:30,041 --> 00:09:33,416 where every songwriter genuinely is trying to teach 198 00:09:33,458 --> 00:09:36,333 the person that's gonna be their competition. 199 00:09:36,375 --> 00:09:38,708 - That's something Nashville has 200 00:09:38,750 --> 00:09:42,541 that so few industries still have that, 201 00:09:42,583 --> 00:09:45,458 where you can learn from the masters, 202 00:09:45,500 --> 00:09:49,916 where you can sit in a room and the gods of this field 203 00:09:49,958 --> 00:09:52,541 will tell you their stories and let you in. 204 00:09:52,583 --> 00:09:54,208 - I went to my first Writers in the Round 205 00:09:54,250 --> 00:09:56,416 at the Bluebird Cafe. 206 00:09:56,458 --> 00:09:59,166 It was an epiphany, it was religion. 207 00:09:59,208 --> 00:10:03,041 It was, I'd never seen anything like it. 208 00:10:03,083 --> 00:10:06,416 [acoustic guitar music] 209 00:10:08,125 --> 00:10:10,583 - To be so close to somebody that you can feel 210 00:10:10,625 --> 00:10:13,583 their foot in the carpet while they start to sing a song, 211 00:10:13,625 --> 00:10:15,750 not only that they wrote maybe 15 years ago, 212 00:10:15,791 --> 00:10:18,500 but you've heard on your radio 10,000 times, 213 00:10:18,541 --> 00:10:20,166 and has become a part of your life. 214 00:10:20,208 --> 00:10:21,375 It made me want to be so much better. 215 00:10:21,416 --> 00:10:22,875 It made me feel horrible. 216 00:10:22,916 --> 00:10:25,041 It made me feel like every song I'd written before 217 00:10:25,083 --> 00:10:26,875 was gone, and I'm not using that. 218 00:10:26,916 --> 00:10:29,583 It's about, it's what happens from here on out. 219 00:10:29,625 --> 00:10:32,875 - I remember trying out for the open mic, 220 00:10:32,916 --> 00:10:37,208 and like 90 people tried out, and 30 people made it. 221 00:10:37,250 --> 00:10:38,458 And I made it. 222 00:10:38,500 --> 00:10:40,125 - It's in a little bitty strip mall. 223 00:10:40,166 --> 00:10:42,000 It seats 99 people. 224 00:10:42,041 --> 00:10:45,250 And it launched just about every songwriter career 225 00:10:45,291 --> 00:10:46,791 in this town. 226 00:10:46,833 --> 00:10:49,791 Artists from Keith Urban to Taylor Swift to Garth Brooks 227 00:10:49,833 --> 00:10:51,375 were discovered at The Bluebird. 228 00:10:52,500 --> 00:10:55,083 - This is a place where dreams come true. 229 00:10:56,708 --> 00:10:58,166 - [Director] Changed your life. 230 00:10:58,208 --> 00:11:00,833 - Sure changed mine, yeah. 231 00:11:00,875 --> 00:11:03,250 Sure changed mine, changed my children's lives. 232 00:11:03,291 --> 00:11:06,166 Changed my children's lives I didn't have yet. 233 00:11:06,208 --> 00:11:08,750 - The Bluebird Cafe, we help songwriters. 234 00:11:08,791 --> 00:11:11,041 I always wanted to get it printed as a bumper sticker. 235 00:11:11,083 --> 00:11:12,333 We help songwriters. 236 00:11:12,375 --> 00:11:15,166 - And it's all about the song. 237 00:11:15,208 --> 00:11:17,458 Even more about the song than it was the songwriter 238 00:11:17,500 --> 00:11:19,416 think it'd be possible. 239 00:11:19,458 --> 00:11:22,541 - On my own tombstone, it's just gonna say, Shh, 240 00:11:24,250 --> 00:11:26,458 because that's just the shortest way to say, 241 00:11:26,500 --> 00:11:28,333 there's something important going on here. 242 00:11:28,375 --> 00:11:29,625 Shut up and listen to it. 243 00:11:30,750 --> 00:11:35,500 ["Jesus Take the Wheel" by Brett James] 244 00:11:35,541 --> 00:11:37,000 ♪ It was still turning colder 245 00:11:37,041 --> 00:11:38,375 ♪ When she made it to the shoulder ♪ 246 00:11:38,416 --> 00:11:41,291 ♪ And the car came to a stop 247 00:11:41,333 --> 00:11:44,375 ♪ She cried when she saw that baby in the back seat ♪ 248 00:11:44,416 --> 00:11:47,000 ♪ Sleepin' like a rock 249 00:11:47,041 --> 00:11:50,500 ♪ And for the first time in a long time ♪ 250 00:11:50,541 --> 00:11:53,083 ♪ She bowed her head to pray 251 00:11:53,125 --> 00:11:56,125 ♪ She said I'm sorry for the way ♪ 252 00:11:56,166 --> 00:11:59,500 ♪ That I've been living my life ♪ 253 00:11:59,541 --> 00:12:01,875 ♪ I know I've got to change 254 00:12:01,916 --> 00:12:06,583 ♪ So from now on tonight 255 00:12:06,625 --> 00:12:09,833 ♪ Jesus take the wheel 256 00:12:09,875 --> 00:12:11,916 ♪ Take it from my hands 257 00:12:11,958 --> 00:12:16,958 ♪ 'Cause I can't do this on my own ♪ 258 00:12:17,750 --> 00:12:19,708 ♪ I'm letting go 259 00:12:19,750 --> 00:12:22,541 ♪ So give me one more chance 260 00:12:22,583 --> 00:12:27,583 ♪ And save me from this road I'm on ♪ 261 00:12:28,458 --> 00:12:31,291 ♪ From this road I'm on 262 00:12:33,750 --> 00:12:36,625 - Four writers just playing their incredible songs. 263 00:12:36,666 --> 00:12:38,208 Some were hits, some were new. 264 00:12:38,250 --> 00:12:40,041 It changed my life, 265 00:12:40,083 --> 00:12:42,375 because that night I thought, you know what, 266 00:12:42,416 --> 00:12:43,875 that's what I'm going to do. 267 00:12:43,916 --> 00:12:44,916 I'm going to buckle down and be the best songwriter 268 00:12:44,958 --> 00:12:46,375 I know how to be. 269 00:12:46,416 --> 00:12:48,166 So I went up and down these streets of Nashville 270 00:12:48,208 --> 00:12:51,708 trying to get a publishing deal, a record deal, anything. 271 00:12:51,750 --> 00:12:52,791 And I couldn't get arrested. 272 00:12:52,833 --> 00:12:56,125 - Songwriters spend years, 273 00:12:56,166 --> 00:12:59,708 years waiting for that one break. 274 00:12:59,750 --> 00:13:01,416 They live on credit cards. 275 00:13:01,458 --> 00:13:06,375 They wait to have babies, because they have to write songs. 276 00:13:07,875 --> 00:13:11,375 - It took about five years of just nonstop grinding. 277 00:13:11,416 --> 00:13:14,250 I would record anywhere, in the closet or in the bathroom. 278 00:13:14,291 --> 00:13:15,750 - One of my funnier, 279 00:13:15,791 --> 00:13:17,250 I love this. 280 00:13:17,291 --> 00:13:19,583 So my mom, this is back in the velour days, right. 281 00:13:19,625 --> 00:13:23,291 So I had this, she gave me this robe for Christmas. 282 00:13:23,333 --> 00:13:25,625 So I had this black velour robe that I'd wear. 283 00:13:27,083 --> 00:13:29,416 And I had a little hook on the back of my bathroom door 284 00:13:29,458 --> 00:13:30,916 I hung my robe upon. 285 00:13:30,958 --> 00:13:32,833 And I'm in my bathroom one day, sitting on the commode, 286 00:13:32,875 --> 00:13:35,833 and I started lookin', and I can see the door 287 00:13:35,875 --> 00:13:37,458 through parts of the robe. 288 00:13:37,500 --> 00:13:42,333 And I realized, I've worn the ass out of this robe 289 00:13:43,500 --> 00:13:46,166 from sitting down there working in my studio. 290 00:13:46,208 --> 00:13:48,166 I'd literally just worn the ass out. 291 00:13:48,208 --> 00:13:49,666 And all I could think of was like, 292 00:13:49,708 --> 00:13:51,791 the pizza dude must think I'm totally hittin' on him, 293 00:13:51,833 --> 00:13:55,166 'cause when I get the door and I turn, you know, 294 00:13:55,208 --> 00:13:59,041 to walk back inside, and he's just lookin' at my ass, 295 00:13:59,083 --> 00:14:01,291 just my thinly veiled, 296 00:14:01,333 --> 00:14:03,375 literally my thinly veiled ass. 297 00:14:03,416 --> 00:14:04,333 I was like [sighs]. 298 00:14:05,708 --> 00:14:08,291 - And then somebody says, "Okay, you're ready. 299 00:14:08,333 --> 00:14:09,625 "I'm gonna sign you to a publishing deal," 300 00:14:09,666 --> 00:14:11,958 and pays him $20,000 a year, 301 00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:13,791 which is not enough to live on. 302 00:14:13,833 --> 00:14:15,458 - Oh gosh, I mean, I've been a bartender, 303 00:14:15,500 --> 00:14:17,125 cater waiter, valet. 304 00:14:17,166 --> 00:14:19,250 I used to sell pagers. 305 00:14:19,291 --> 00:14:21,916 - When I first started out, you know, this guy told me, 306 00:14:21,958 --> 00:14:23,166 wrote with Bob Dylan, he said, 307 00:14:23,208 --> 00:14:25,125 "You know, you ain't got any mud on you." 308 00:14:25,166 --> 00:14:26,333 I said, "What do you mean by that?" 309 00:14:26,375 --> 00:14:27,500 He said, "Well, you ain't got any mud. 310 00:14:27,541 --> 00:14:30,041 "You've been loved and coddled. 311 00:14:30,083 --> 00:14:31,000 "You've got no mud. 312 00:14:31,041 --> 00:14:32,208 "You've got no rejection. 313 00:14:32,250 --> 00:14:34,625 "Your mommy and dad love you, buh buh buh." 314 00:14:34,666 --> 00:14:37,166 And he goes, "You're gonna need to get some mud." 315 00:14:37,208 --> 00:14:39,375 - They call Nashville a 10-year town, 316 00:14:39,416 --> 00:14:41,208 but I dropped out of ninth grade 317 00:14:41,250 --> 00:14:44,333 and started touring when I was 14, 318 00:14:44,375 --> 00:14:47,625 and had 10 years before I came to Nashville, 319 00:14:47,666 --> 00:14:49,875 of like losing record deals, 320 00:14:49,916 --> 00:14:52,458 promoters stealing your money on tour. 321 00:14:52,500 --> 00:14:54,166 - It's a beautiful town. 322 00:14:54,208 --> 00:14:56,166 It can make all your dreams come true. 323 00:14:56,208 --> 00:14:59,875 But it can also be such a bitch of a town. 324 00:14:59,916 --> 00:15:01,333 It can be so hard. 325 00:15:01,375 --> 00:15:04,500 You're putting your heart out on the line daily 326 00:15:04,541 --> 00:15:06,541 and getting it smashed because it doesn't sound 327 00:15:06,583 --> 00:15:08,958 like the radio or no one will ever record that song 328 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:11,083 'cause it's too sad, or something. 329 00:15:11,125 --> 00:15:13,666 So this is This Town Is Killing Me. 330 00:15:13,708 --> 00:15:18,708 ["This Town Is Killing Me" by Caitlyn Smith"] 331 00:15:23,666 --> 00:15:27,208 ♪ I pour my heart out 332 00:15:27,250 --> 00:15:30,666 ♪ Three minutes at a time on a J-45 ♪ 333 00:15:30,708 --> 00:15:33,833 ♪ And no one's listenin' 334 00:15:33,875 --> 00:15:37,375 ♪ They're too busy drinking on the company tab ♪ 335 00:15:37,416 --> 00:15:40,916 ♪ I scream my lungs out 336 00:15:40,958 --> 00:15:44,625 ♪ Confess my secrets, all my sins ♪ 337 00:15:44,666 --> 00:15:47,750 ♪ But they don't give a damn 338 00:15:47,791 --> 00:15:52,791 ♪ 'Cause if it don't sound like the radio, pass ♪ 339 00:15:53,583 --> 00:15:58,416 ♪ Nashville, you win 340 00:15:59,791 --> 00:16:03,791 ♪ Your steel guitars and broken hearts have done me in ♪ 341 00:16:05,500 --> 00:16:10,458 ♪ I gave you my soul 342 00:16:11,958 --> 00:16:16,958 ♪ 'Cause I wanted it so bad and now I just wanna go home ♪ 343 00:16:18,041 --> 00:16:21,791 ♪ This town is killin' me 344 00:16:21,833 --> 00:16:25,333 ♪ This town is killin' me 345 00:16:28,875 --> 00:16:30,625 - It's a no business. 346 00:16:30,666 --> 00:16:32,125 You're gonna hear no. 347 00:16:32,166 --> 00:16:33,750 No is usual. 348 00:16:33,791 --> 00:16:35,166 You're gonna write a lot of songs, 349 00:16:35,208 --> 00:16:36,958 and they're gonna pass on most of them. 350 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:39,625 So you're gonna have to want it bad enough 351 00:16:39,666 --> 00:16:41,833 to deal with failure. 352 00:16:43,250 --> 00:16:46,333 Because when they finally say yes, it's amazing. 353 00:16:46,375 --> 00:16:49,541 - There was a turning point where I thought, 354 00:16:49,583 --> 00:16:52,458 I'm gonna, you know, I'm gonna have to do something else. 355 00:16:52,500 --> 00:16:54,875 I'm not going to be able to support a family like this. 356 00:16:54,916 --> 00:16:58,708 And I went to be the assistant 357 00:16:58,750 --> 00:17:00,000 to this big real estate agent. 358 00:17:00,041 --> 00:17:02,500 I put a suit on, borrowed a suit. 359 00:17:02,541 --> 00:17:07,333 And I was sitting in this big glass lobby of this building 360 00:17:07,375 --> 00:17:09,916 and all these guys kept walking through in their suits 361 00:17:09,958 --> 00:17:12,000 with their briefcases. 362 00:17:12,041 --> 00:17:14,916 And I just had a panic attack. 363 00:17:14,958 --> 00:17:17,500 I just started breathing really hard. 364 00:17:17,541 --> 00:17:19,000 I was sweating. 365 00:17:19,041 --> 00:17:22,291 And I just realized, I was gonna have to do music, 366 00:17:22,333 --> 00:17:24,125 no matter what. 367 00:17:24,166 --> 00:17:26,500 And if I never made money, 368 00:17:26,541 --> 00:17:28,416 then I would just continue doing those odd jobs 369 00:17:28,458 --> 00:17:30,500 that I'd been doing all those years. 370 00:17:30,541 --> 00:17:31,916 And that was 371 00:17:33,875 --> 00:17:36,375 two months before I got my first cut. 372 00:17:36,416 --> 00:17:38,666 - I mean, it knocks you down 50 times, 373 00:17:38,708 --> 00:17:39,875 hoping you won't get back up. 374 00:17:39,916 --> 00:17:43,000 And if you do, that's the time it works. 375 00:17:43,041 --> 00:17:45,000 - It was a title my father had given me. 376 00:17:45,041 --> 00:17:48,375 I was calling him about money, again. 377 00:17:48,416 --> 00:17:51,125 He said, "No, you're not coming home, John. 378 00:17:51,166 --> 00:17:53,208 "Lose that idea, don't stop believing. 379 00:17:53,250 --> 00:17:54,791 "I mean it, don't stop believing." 380 00:17:54,833 --> 00:17:57,875 And I scribble in this thing, and there it is. 381 00:17:57,916 --> 00:18:02,250 ["Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey] 382 00:18:09,250 --> 00:18:12,500 ♪ Just a small town girl 383 00:18:12,541 --> 00:18:16,166 ♪ Livin' in a lonely world 384 00:18:16,208 --> 00:18:21,208 ♪ She took the midnight train goin' anywhere ♪ 385 00:18:22,583 --> 00:18:25,875 - I remember I hadn't released any music yet, 386 00:18:25,916 --> 00:18:29,375 and finally got to release my first record. 387 00:18:29,416 --> 00:18:34,416 And I was at the grocery store, just came out, 388 00:18:35,541 --> 00:18:36,958 and was standing on the corner with my bags. 389 00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:40,166 And this car came and pulled up at the stoplight 390 00:18:40,208 --> 00:18:41,666 and the windows were rolled down, 391 00:18:41,708 --> 00:18:45,791 and she was listening to my song on the radio, 392 00:18:45,833 --> 00:18:47,583 and singing. 393 00:18:47,625 --> 00:18:49,166 And it was the coolest feeling. 394 00:18:50,333 --> 00:18:52,875 So I had a friend with me and he was like, 395 00:18:54,541 --> 00:18:55,375 "That's you!" 396 00:18:55,416 --> 00:18:56,916 I'm like, "That's me!" 397 00:18:56,958 --> 00:19:00,416 And he's like, "That's her,' tellin' the girl, "That's her!" 398 00:19:00,458 --> 00:19:02,750 And she's driving, she's like. 399 00:19:02,791 --> 00:19:05,125 - I'm sitting right there 400 00:19:06,500 --> 00:19:08,958 when a guy named Tony Arata's onstage one night. 401 00:19:10,750 --> 00:19:12,000 He sings these songs. 402 00:19:12,041 --> 00:19:13,625 Tony's a great writer. 403 00:19:13,666 --> 00:19:16,166 - Garth was sitting right back over there. 404 00:19:16,208 --> 00:19:18,000 He was doing construction and selling boots. 405 00:19:18,041 --> 00:19:21,291 And I was loading trucks at UPS. 406 00:19:21,333 --> 00:19:25,791 It was me, Garth, Liz Hengber, who was a waitress here, 407 00:19:25,833 --> 00:19:27,750 and Mark Irwin, who was the bartender. 408 00:19:27,791 --> 00:19:29,458 And that was not only who was performing, 409 00:19:29,500 --> 00:19:31,041 it was pretty much the crowd. 410 00:19:31,083 --> 00:19:33,666 But we each took turns playing songs. 411 00:19:33,708 --> 00:19:36,250 - And then here comes this song called The Dance. 412 00:19:36,291 --> 00:19:38,916 And it was the last song he played. I went up to him. 413 00:19:38,958 --> 00:19:41,125 I said, "Dude, surely that's gotta be on hold 414 00:19:41,166 --> 00:19:42,333 "or somebody's cut that." 415 00:19:42,375 --> 00:19:45,125 He goes, "No, it's been here a while." 416 00:19:45,166 --> 00:19:46,541 Took it to Allen Reynolds. 417 00:19:46,583 --> 00:19:48,666 And Allen Reynolds told me, he said, 418 00:19:48,708 --> 00:19:49,916 "If you don't cut The Dance, 419 00:19:49,958 --> 00:19:52,041 "it'll be the biggest hit you never had." 420 00:19:52,083 --> 00:19:53,750 ["The Dance" by Garth Brooks] 421 00:19:53,791 --> 00:19:57,041 ♪ Lookin' back 422 00:19:57,083 --> 00:20:01,250 ♪ On the memory of 423 00:20:01,291 --> 00:20:04,750 ♪ The dance we shared 424 00:20:04,791 --> 00:20:08,333 ♪ 'Neath the stars above 425 00:20:08,375 --> 00:20:12,041 ♪ For a moment 426 00:20:12,083 --> 00:20:15,750 ♪ All the world was right 427 00:20:15,791 --> 00:20:19,458 ♪ But how could I have known 428 00:20:19,500 --> 00:20:23,625 ♪ That you'd ever say goodbye 429 00:20:23,666 --> 00:20:25,916 ♪ And now 430 00:20:25,958 --> 00:20:29,458 ♪ I'm glad I didn't know 431 00:20:29,500 --> 00:20:33,333 ♪ The way it all would end 432 00:20:33,375 --> 00:20:38,250 ♪ The way it all would go 433 00:20:38,291 --> 00:20:41,041 ♪ Our lives 434 00:20:41,083 --> 00:20:44,500 ♪ They're better left to chance ♪ 435 00:20:44,541 --> 00:20:48,125 ♪ I could've missed the pain 436 00:20:48,166 --> 00:20:53,125 ♪ But I'd have had to miss 437 00:20:53,666 --> 00:20:56,458 ♪ The 438 00:20:56,500 --> 00:20:58,458 ♪ Dance 439 00:21:05,166 --> 00:21:08,333 - I wrote Stay with a guy named Justin Parker, 440 00:21:08,375 --> 00:21:11,875 and he and I were both super broke at the time, 441 00:21:11,916 --> 00:21:13,291 met at a coffee shop. 442 00:21:13,333 --> 00:21:16,458 I was almost too hungover to go. 443 00:21:16,500 --> 00:21:18,000 I was nearly gonna cancel. 444 00:21:18,041 --> 00:21:21,791 And showed up anyway, laid on the couch 445 00:21:21,833 --> 00:21:24,083 with like an orange juice and a sandwich. 446 00:21:24,125 --> 00:21:26,291 And he started playing these chords. 447 00:21:26,333 --> 00:21:28,125 And I said to him like, 448 00:21:28,166 --> 00:21:31,208 "Well, man, I think I have something for that." 449 00:21:34,458 --> 00:21:39,208 ♪ It's not much of a life you're livin' ♪ 450 00:21:39,250 --> 00:21:41,083 ♪ Oh no 451 00:21:41,125 --> 00:21:46,125 ♪ It's not just something you take, it's given ♪ 452 00:21:48,750 --> 00:21:53,750 ♪ Oh 'round and around and around and around we go ♪ 453 00:21:57,000 --> 00:22:02,000 ♪ Oh now tell me now, tell me now, tell me know you know ♪ 454 00:22:05,541 --> 00:22:09,833 ♪ Yeah, not really sure how to feel about it ♪ 455 00:22:09,875 --> 00:22:13,875 ♪ Something in the way you move ♪ 456 00:22:13,916 --> 00:22:18,041 ♪ Makes me feel like I can't live without you ♪ 457 00:22:18,083 --> 00:22:21,208 ♪ Yeah, it takes me all the way ♪ 458 00:22:21,250 --> 00:22:24,666 ♪ And I want you to stay 459 00:22:32,500 --> 00:22:36,666 [light yet forceful guitar music] 460 00:22:53,875 --> 00:22:56,333 - [Director] Songwriting is, uh, is like what? 461 00:22:57,833 --> 00:22:59,583 - Mark Huhta described it perfectly to me. 462 00:22:59,625 --> 00:23:02,500 He said it's like hopping in a little spaceship 463 00:23:03,708 --> 00:23:04,916 and taking a trip, you know. 464 00:23:06,416 --> 00:23:08,000 That's what songwriting feels like to me, 465 00:23:08,041 --> 00:23:09,500 because it's almost like, you know, 466 00:23:09,541 --> 00:23:12,125 I'm just kinda steering, but not really. 467 00:23:12,166 --> 00:23:15,166 - Writing a song is, uh, it's like a drug. 468 00:23:16,791 --> 00:23:17,791 - [Director] Writing a song is like? 469 00:23:17,833 --> 00:23:20,083 - Writing song is like flying. 470 00:23:21,333 --> 00:23:22,541 - [Director] Writing a song is like? 471 00:23:22,583 --> 00:23:24,333 - Writing a song is like getting beat up. 472 00:23:26,083 --> 00:23:27,541 - [Director] Writing a song is like? 473 00:23:27,583 --> 00:23:30,625 - Writing a song is like having your heart broken 474 00:23:30,666 --> 00:23:31,791 over and over and over. 475 00:23:33,416 --> 00:23:34,625 - [Director] Writing a song is like? 476 00:23:34,666 --> 00:23:37,250 - Writing a song is like your first memory 477 00:23:37,291 --> 00:23:38,875 of a birthday party. 478 00:23:38,916 --> 00:23:40,833 - Songwriting is like therapy. 479 00:23:40,875 --> 00:23:43,208 It's like you're writing this great movie 480 00:23:43,250 --> 00:23:44,625 that's going on in your mind. 481 00:23:44,666 --> 00:23:46,500 And if you get it right, 482 00:23:46,541 --> 00:23:50,375 the rest of the world gets to see the movie in Technicolor. 483 00:23:50,416 --> 00:23:52,250 - Songwriting is prayer. 484 00:23:54,416 --> 00:23:57,541 You know, you open yourself up to receive. 485 00:23:57,583 --> 00:23:59,083 And however you do that, 486 00:23:59,125 --> 00:24:01,708 whether you do that with a couple of joints 487 00:24:01,750 --> 00:24:03,125 and a shot of whiskey, 488 00:24:03,166 --> 00:24:05,250 or if you do that by literally getting on your knees 489 00:24:05,291 --> 00:24:07,500 and praying for inspiration, 490 00:24:07,541 --> 00:24:09,333 that's what prayer is. 491 00:24:09,375 --> 00:24:12,125 It's opening yourself up to the possibility 492 00:24:12,166 --> 00:24:14,708 of something that doesn't exist. 493 00:24:14,750 --> 00:24:19,750 As a songwriter, it's like clairvoyance. 494 00:24:21,166 --> 00:24:22,500 - You have your good days, and you have your bad days, 495 00:24:22,541 --> 00:24:25,375 and you have your days that it's almost like 496 00:24:25,416 --> 00:24:27,916 you don't even remember feeling it come through your body 497 00:24:27,958 --> 00:24:30,250 and down on paper. 498 00:24:30,291 --> 00:24:34,125 So pretty amazing thing that we get to do. 499 00:24:34,166 --> 00:24:35,333 You like that? 500 00:24:36,791 --> 00:24:39,000 - [Man] I like it. 501 00:24:39,041 --> 00:24:42,291 ["Try" by Luke Bryant] 502 00:24:45,500 --> 00:24:47,791 - A little instrumental session and then 503 00:24:47,833 --> 00:24:50,250 ♪ Bah bah bum 504 00:24:50,291 --> 00:24:51,083 ♪ Bah bah bum 505 00:24:51,125 --> 00:24:52,625 You know like? 506 00:24:52,666 --> 00:24:54,125 - My favorite song is possibly my most successful to date, 507 00:24:54,166 --> 00:24:55,958 which would be Try for P!nk. 508 00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:58,041 People talk about 509 00:24:58,083 --> 00:24:59,625 you kinda hear tapping into something 510 00:24:59,666 --> 00:25:01,125 and there's something bigger than you 511 00:25:01,166 --> 00:25:02,625 kind of vibe, you know. 512 00:25:02,666 --> 00:25:04,125 That song was literally, 513 00:25:04,166 --> 00:25:06,166 I woke up with that chorus on my head. 514 00:25:06,208 --> 00:25:08,750 Like I've never had that. 515 00:25:08,791 --> 00:25:11,416 95% of what you can hear on the radio 516 00:25:11,458 --> 00:25:14,458 was literally like, oh, 517 00:25:14,500 --> 00:25:15,625 ♪ Where there is desire 518 00:25:15,666 --> 00:25:16,625 What is this? 519 00:25:16,666 --> 00:25:18,041 This is interesting. 520 00:25:18,083 --> 00:25:19,583 And I grabbed my phone, recorded it, 521 00:25:19,625 --> 00:25:21,041 worked on it for a second. 522 00:25:21,083 --> 00:25:23,375 And then I called my buddy Ben later on and said, 523 00:25:23,416 --> 00:25:25,000 "Hey, why don't you come on the Friday 524 00:25:25,041 --> 00:25:27,375 "and we'll work on that Try song." 525 00:25:27,416 --> 00:25:30,250 ["Try" by Busbee] 526 00:25:32,208 --> 00:25:33,666 I love this tune. 527 00:25:33,708 --> 00:25:36,791 Should the second verse be more about her and them? 528 00:25:36,833 --> 00:25:39,291 And then that last verse is our current second verse? 529 00:25:39,333 --> 00:25:41,833 ♪ Are you just gettin' by 530 00:25:41,875 --> 00:25:43,333 ♪ Are you just 531 00:25:43,375 --> 00:25:44,416 You know? - Dude. 532 00:25:45,791 --> 00:25:48,666 ♪ Have you wondered 'bout what you're doing ♪ 533 00:25:48,708 --> 00:25:50,333 - Um, yeah, yeah. - This is sick. 534 00:25:50,375 --> 00:25:53,708 [clapping and cheering] 535 00:25:55,083 --> 00:25:58,875 ♪ Where there is desire there is gonna be a flame ♪ 536 00:25:58,916 --> 00:26:03,500 ♪ Where there is a flame, someone's bound to get burned ♪ 537 00:26:03,541 --> 00:26:08,083 ♪ But just because it burns doesn't mean you're gonna die ♪ 538 00:26:08,125 --> 00:26:13,041 ♪ You gotta get up and try, try, try ♪ 539 00:26:13,083 --> 00:26:17,500 ♪ Gotta get up and try, try, try ♪ 540 00:26:17,541 --> 00:26:21,583 ♪ Gotta get up and try, try, try ♪ 541 00:26:24,541 --> 00:26:26,083 So it was pretty, 542 00:26:26,125 --> 00:26:28,208 it was pretty amazing when you could see that story 543 00:26:28,250 --> 00:26:29,708 of how a song comes to be. 544 00:26:29,750 --> 00:26:31,833 It's almost like an act of God, man. 545 00:26:31,875 --> 00:26:34,541 [tuning guitar] 546 00:26:42,125 --> 00:26:44,458 [chuckling] 547 00:26:49,458 --> 00:26:52,083 - Stranger you met on a plane. 548 00:26:52,125 --> 00:26:53,166 Wrong number. 549 00:26:55,500 --> 00:26:57,833 A ring of keys and none of them work. 550 00:26:57,875 --> 00:26:59,208 Yesterday's beer. 551 00:27:05,708 --> 00:27:06,500 Oh man. 552 00:27:07,708 --> 00:27:09,125 So I'm supposed to make a song out of this? 553 00:27:09,166 --> 00:27:10,625 - [Director] Yeah. 554 00:27:14,541 --> 00:27:18,083 ♪ A ring of keys and none of them work ♪ 555 00:27:18,125 --> 00:27:21,333 ♪ Wrong number 556 00:27:21,375 --> 00:27:24,208 [mumbling lyrics] 557 00:27:27,833 --> 00:27:29,541 Yeah, I don't know where this is goin', you know. 558 00:27:29,583 --> 00:27:32,958 It would take me a, take me a minute. 559 00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:37,166 ♪ Nothing to say, she's gone away ♪ 560 00:27:38,500 --> 00:27:41,208 It just seems like trying to paint a picture 561 00:27:42,250 --> 00:27:44,750 of a missed connection, basically. 562 00:27:44,791 --> 00:27:46,625 Not in the Craigslist way, but, 563 00:27:46,666 --> 00:27:48,333 or maybe in the Craigslist way. 564 00:27:50,458 --> 00:27:53,291 [mumbling lyrics] 565 00:27:59,166 --> 00:28:02,958 ♪ Ring of keys and none of them work ♪ 566 00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:06,958 ♪ A wrong number, what could be worse ♪ 567 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:10,958 ♪ A stranger he met on a plane 568 00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:15,208 ♪ Oh Lord, what did he say 569 00:28:15,250 --> 00:28:19,166 ♪ Conversation, it came with ease ♪ 570 00:28:19,208 --> 00:28:23,166 ♪ She was just so easy to please ♪ 571 00:28:23,208 --> 00:28:27,458 ♪ Touchin' down, they went their own way ♪ 572 00:28:27,500 --> 00:28:32,500 ♪ Yesterday and now nothing's left to say ♪ 573 00:28:34,500 --> 00:28:38,750 ♪ She's gone away 574 00:28:38,791 --> 00:28:42,625 ♪ He's over the moon 575 00:28:42,666 --> 00:28:45,833 ♪ Lost in her perfume 576 00:28:49,625 --> 00:28:51,333 Yeah, that could be good. 577 00:28:51,375 --> 00:28:53,083 Then it becomes a story song. 578 00:28:53,125 --> 00:28:54,583 - [Director] That's very interesting. Is that the way it is? 579 00:28:54,625 --> 00:28:56,541 Like there's all these scraps lying around in your brain 580 00:28:56,583 --> 00:28:58,208 or in the universe and you're like? 581 00:28:58,250 --> 00:29:00,250 - Yeah, I've gotten to the point where my writing 582 00:29:00,291 --> 00:29:01,416 has become more, 583 00:29:02,666 --> 00:29:05,958 I guess abstract, for lack of a better word. 584 00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:07,166 I don't know, it's like approaching it 585 00:29:07,208 --> 00:29:09,083 like an abstract painting, 586 00:29:09,125 --> 00:29:13,458 instead of like with a title or, you know, 587 00:29:13,500 --> 00:29:15,458 a hook, or something like-- - Really? 588 00:29:15,500 --> 00:29:16,666 - Yeah. 589 00:29:16,708 --> 00:29:20,291 So I just kinda float around, you know, 590 00:29:20,333 --> 00:29:23,916 with my daughter, watching over her with the guitar, 591 00:29:23,958 --> 00:29:28,041 or take her on a walk and recite the lyrics 592 00:29:28,083 --> 00:29:31,708 and see what kinda edits itself. 593 00:29:31,750 --> 00:29:33,458 So this is very similar. 594 00:29:36,291 --> 00:29:37,916 - [Director] How is it that you put together a song? 595 00:29:37,958 --> 00:29:38,833 What's your deal? 596 00:29:39,958 --> 00:29:42,333 - I wish I knew how to write a song. 597 00:29:42,375 --> 00:29:43,791 I mean, no, I'm serious. 598 00:29:45,333 --> 00:29:49,500 I know there's craftsmen in town who can write on a dime. 599 00:29:49,541 --> 00:29:50,958 And I'm not one of those. 600 00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:54,583 I have a habit of playing the guitar every day. 601 00:29:54,625 --> 00:29:59,083 And within that habit, I hope that something comes up. 602 00:29:59,125 --> 00:30:00,666 But it doesn't always. 603 00:30:00,708 --> 00:30:03,958 A lot of younger writers have come up to me over the years. 604 00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:06,541 And the only advice I can give is to write songs. 605 00:30:06,583 --> 00:30:07,625 You just have to do it. 606 00:30:07,666 --> 00:30:09,291 - Professional songwriting in Nashville 607 00:30:09,333 --> 00:30:10,625 is not what people think it is. 608 00:30:10,666 --> 00:30:12,500 Most people think songwriters smoke weed 609 00:30:12,541 --> 00:30:15,458 and walk around the streets and hope that inspiration hits. 610 00:30:16,958 --> 00:30:19,791 That's sort of a good way to be a poor songwriter. 611 00:30:19,833 --> 00:30:22,375 You know, you have to treat it like a job, you really do. 612 00:30:22,416 --> 00:30:24,291 You know, Nashville has bit of a tradition of that 613 00:30:24,333 --> 00:30:25,791 that started in the '70s. 614 00:30:25,833 --> 00:30:27,458 Before then, it was more like that. 615 00:30:27,500 --> 00:30:29,208 It was just, let's wait on inspiration. 616 00:30:29,250 --> 00:30:30,625 And then a few guys kinda said, 617 00:30:30,666 --> 00:30:31,958 "You know what, I'm gonna keep office hours." 618 00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:34,625 - In the 1950s and '60s and into the '70s 619 00:30:34,666 --> 00:30:36,000 and through the '70s, really, 620 00:30:36,041 --> 00:30:38,875 I wrote virtually everything I wrote by myself. 621 00:30:38,916 --> 00:30:40,500 I thought you had to go lock yourself 622 00:30:40,541 --> 00:30:43,208 in a dark room somewhere, pull down the shades at midnight, 623 00:30:43,250 --> 00:30:45,458 and sit there until three or four in the morning 624 00:30:45,500 --> 00:30:47,083 and see how miserable you could get 625 00:30:47,125 --> 00:30:48,625 and write a sad country song. 626 00:30:48,666 --> 00:30:51,125 Then I discovered a thing called cowriting. 627 00:30:51,166 --> 00:30:52,666 - You go in. 628 00:30:52,708 --> 00:30:54,791 You write either with a friend that you know well 629 00:30:54,833 --> 00:30:56,416 or someone you've never met. 630 00:30:56,458 --> 00:30:59,250 And your job is to let your guard down 631 00:30:59,291 --> 00:31:01,000 and just be honest with them. 632 00:31:01,041 --> 00:31:02,958 - I think it's interesting that songwriting 633 00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:06,041 is one of the only mediums where you shape things together. 634 00:31:06,083 --> 00:31:07,833 Like nobody starts a painting 635 00:31:07,875 --> 00:31:10,333 and hands it to someone else to finish. 636 00:31:10,375 --> 00:31:12,000 But I love that about songwriting 637 00:31:12,041 --> 00:31:15,333 because some of my favorite ideas 638 00:31:15,375 --> 00:31:18,166 would never have come along if I didn't have his brain 639 00:31:18,208 --> 00:31:19,666 or someone else's brain in the room. 640 00:31:19,708 --> 00:31:21,833 - The most amazing thing about what I do is, 641 00:31:21,875 --> 00:31:24,375 you know, Monday through Friday is I go 642 00:31:24,416 --> 00:31:26,083 and I sit in little rooms on Music Row 643 00:31:26,125 --> 00:31:29,125 with other songwriters, and I have for 20 years. 644 00:31:29,166 --> 00:31:30,750 And we all do life together. 645 00:31:33,041 --> 00:31:37,000 - I'm like in a bit of a weird mood. I'm like super pumped 646 00:31:37,041 --> 00:31:38,333 to be here. 647 00:31:38,375 --> 00:31:40,500 I had a big fight with Raleigh, of course. 648 00:31:40,541 --> 00:31:44,000 I feel like I've been - Oh no. in this cycle before. 649 00:31:44,041 --> 00:31:46,583 So I'm like juggling that in my brain. 650 00:31:46,625 --> 00:31:48,125 - Pain and beauty. 651 00:31:48,166 --> 00:31:50,708 - And all of it is like I was just an asshole this morning 652 00:31:50,750 --> 00:31:52,708 is basically what it comes down to. 653 00:31:52,750 --> 00:31:54,041 That's the truth. 654 00:31:54,083 --> 00:31:56,875 And so like, trying to deal with that. 655 00:31:56,916 --> 00:31:57,916 - That's what we do all morning. 656 00:31:57,958 --> 00:31:59,208 You know, we're drinking coffee. 657 00:31:59,250 --> 00:32:01,625 We're talking about what happened last weekend 658 00:32:01,666 --> 00:32:03,041 or last night. 659 00:32:03,083 --> 00:32:05,250 And then you start talking about song ideas. 660 00:32:05,291 --> 00:32:08,166 [gentle strumming] 661 00:32:11,500 --> 00:32:13,500 - I love this line. I don't remember where I heard it, 662 00:32:13,541 --> 00:32:17,208 but like a building's rooms I've never explored. 663 00:32:17,250 --> 00:32:18,541 - Ooh. 664 00:32:18,583 --> 00:32:20,708 - I think it's beautiful. 665 00:32:23,291 --> 00:32:25,583 - I got this kinda dumb idea. 666 00:32:25,625 --> 00:32:27,208 - [Caitlyn] I like dumb ideas. 667 00:32:27,250 --> 00:32:31,250 - It's called It Ain't a Lie If It's the Truth. 668 00:32:31,291 --> 00:32:32,458 - [Woman] If It Ain't a Lie? 669 00:32:32,500 --> 00:32:33,625 - It Ain't a Lie - It Ain't a Lie. 670 00:32:33,666 --> 00:32:35,791 If It's the Truth. 671 00:32:35,833 --> 00:32:37,166 ♪ If ain't a lie 672 00:32:37,208 --> 00:32:41,541 ♪ Ain't a lie, it's the truth, yeah ♪ 673 00:32:42,708 --> 00:32:45,083 - It's just this ping-pong process 674 00:32:45,125 --> 00:32:47,250 of song idea, song idea, song idea. 675 00:32:47,291 --> 00:32:49,250 And then all of the sudden, someone says something 676 00:32:49,291 --> 00:32:51,375 that rings a bell. 677 00:32:57,875 --> 00:33:01,708 ♪ Baby you're my lighthouse 678 00:33:01,750 --> 00:33:05,083 ♪ La la la la lighthouse 679 00:33:05,125 --> 00:33:07,416 - Did you say, "Baby, you're my lighthouse?" 680 00:33:07,458 --> 00:33:11,250 ♪ Baby, you're my lighthouse 681 00:33:11,291 --> 00:33:13,791 ♪ Oh my lighthouse - I love something like that. 682 00:33:13,833 --> 00:33:17,000 - I don't know what it is. [humming] 683 00:33:19,083 --> 00:33:21,791 - At the end of the day, we're all making it up. 684 00:33:21,833 --> 00:33:24,625 It's just, it is truly a mess. 685 00:33:24,666 --> 00:33:26,916 And it isn't as scientific as you think. 686 00:33:26,958 --> 00:33:28,958 And it's like no, it's not right, no it's not right. 687 00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:30,666 I don't know, more of a milkshake sound. 688 00:33:30,708 --> 00:33:33,291 And then suddenly you've got something that's great. 689 00:33:33,333 --> 00:33:36,333 ♪ When I'm lost on a world and sea ♪ 690 00:33:36,375 --> 00:33:40,958 - Oh, I like that, when I'm lost on a world and sea. 691 00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:42,791 - I'd love to like, 692 00:33:42,833 --> 00:33:45,208 so that's kinda like a bit more like abstract. 693 00:33:45,250 --> 00:33:47,500 I'd like to bring it into - Real world? 694 00:33:47,541 --> 00:33:48,625 like some real like. 695 00:33:48,666 --> 00:33:50,500 ♪ You're my lighthouse 696 00:33:50,541 --> 00:33:54,000 ♪ Shining on a silver sun 697 00:33:54,041 --> 00:33:56,166 ♪ Baby you're the only one 698 00:33:56,208 --> 00:33:57,125 - I love that. 699 00:33:57,166 --> 00:33:58,833 ♪ Make me feel the way I do 700 00:33:58,875 --> 00:34:00,125 - I don't know. 701 00:34:00,166 --> 00:34:01,916 I like that. - I love that. 702 00:34:01,958 --> 00:34:05,208 - Now, we need a hit chorus, 703 00:34:05,250 --> 00:34:07,625 and we need two verses. 704 00:34:07,666 --> 00:34:09,500 It needs to be simple, 705 00:34:09,541 --> 00:34:12,625 but it needs to be profound, you know. 706 00:34:12,666 --> 00:34:14,541 We need to be brief. 707 00:34:14,583 --> 00:34:16,333 But when you start getting into those things, 708 00:34:16,375 --> 00:34:18,458 this is a different part of your brain 709 00:34:18,500 --> 00:34:21,125 from the part of the heart that made you think of the idea 710 00:34:21,166 --> 00:34:22,125 in the first place. 711 00:34:23,375 --> 00:34:27,750 ♪ And when you lay down next to me ♪ 712 00:34:27,791 --> 00:34:32,666 ♪ I can see everything clearly 713 00:34:32,708 --> 00:34:34,333 ♪ Baby you're my lighthouse 714 00:34:34,375 --> 00:34:36,541 - Oh. - Because we've only been 715 00:34:36,583 --> 00:34:38,416 singing the back half. - Yes. 716 00:34:38,458 --> 00:34:40,166 - And I think that - Right. 717 00:34:40,208 --> 00:34:41,708 makes it enough. 718 00:34:41,750 --> 00:34:44,208 And it's like any trouble rolls away. 719 00:34:44,250 --> 00:34:46,208 ♪ Any trouble rolls away 720 00:34:46,250 --> 00:34:47,083 - Yes, yes. 721 00:34:49,125 --> 00:34:50,666 - Do I know if you're gonna like the song? 722 00:34:50,708 --> 00:34:52,166 I have no idea. 723 00:34:52,208 --> 00:34:53,958 You may not even understand what we're talking about. 724 00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:56,541 And I've completely miss the point altogether. 725 00:34:56,583 --> 00:34:59,833 But if I can get done and I can look at it and say 726 00:34:59,875 --> 00:35:01,541 I believe this is a hit idea 727 00:35:01,583 --> 00:35:04,916 and I think we wrote it as well as we possibly could've, 728 00:35:04,958 --> 00:35:07,333 then I think the song is finished. 729 00:35:07,375 --> 00:35:10,083 - Okay, I'm gonna play it from the top. 730 00:35:10,125 --> 00:35:15,125 ♪ I got yesterday's problems settling in my head ♪ 731 00:35:17,333 --> 00:35:19,541 ♪ And it's so damn loud 732 00:35:19,583 --> 00:35:24,583 ♪ That I don't even wanna get out of bed ♪ 733 00:35:25,791 --> 00:35:28,750 ♪ But when you lay down next to me ♪ 734 00:35:28,791 --> 00:35:33,166 ♪ I can see everything clearly 735 00:35:33,208 --> 00:35:36,875 ♪ Baby, you're my lighthouse 736 00:35:36,916 --> 00:35:40,416 ♪ Shining like a silver sun 737 00:35:40,458 --> 00:35:43,583 ♪ Baby, you're the only one 738 00:35:43,625 --> 00:35:47,458 ♪ With the power I need 739 00:35:47,500 --> 00:35:50,916 ♪ Baby, you're my lighthouse 740 00:35:50,958 --> 00:35:54,416 ♪ Any time I see your face 741 00:35:54,458 --> 00:35:57,958 ♪ Yeah, you drive the blues away ♪ 742 00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:02,208 ♪ Oh, it just rolls out to the sea ♪ 743 00:36:04,583 --> 00:36:05,416 Yeah. 744 00:36:08,833 --> 00:36:12,333 - Anybody who's made a career as a writer will tell you, 745 00:36:12,375 --> 00:36:15,833 really in some ways, it's not even the end product. 746 00:36:15,875 --> 00:36:18,625 It's the process that's most important. 747 00:36:18,666 --> 00:36:20,125 - The best writing rooms, to me, 748 00:36:20,166 --> 00:36:22,166 are when there's three people in the room. 749 00:36:22,208 --> 00:36:25,708 Then those three people form pretty specific functions. 750 00:36:25,750 --> 00:36:27,208 - Nowadays you might have a track guy. 751 00:36:27,250 --> 00:36:29,958 And then you got another lyric guy, you got an idea guy. 752 00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:31,208 I need a melody guy. 753 00:36:31,250 --> 00:36:32,666 I'm decent at it, 754 00:36:32,708 --> 00:36:34,166 but I'd rather have somebody that's great at it. 755 00:36:34,208 --> 00:36:35,791 If it's one of the best idea's I've had all year, 756 00:36:35,833 --> 00:36:38,958 one thing I do not want to do is write about myself, 757 00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:40,458 'cause it's not gonna be a hit. 758 00:36:40,500 --> 00:36:42,541 Most everybody in Nashville does not know how 759 00:36:42,583 --> 00:36:43,916 to do the whole thing. 760 00:36:43,958 --> 00:36:46,541 The track guy's amazing, the track girl, 761 00:36:46,583 --> 00:36:48,333 whoever it is, it's amazing. 762 00:36:48,375 --> 00:36:49,791 What they do, I can't do that. 763 00:36:49,833 --> 00:36:51,625 But it sounds badass when you walk in that room 764 00:36:51,666 --> 00:36:52,500 and they've got something going, 765 00:36:52,541 --> 00:36:54,166 it's something going. 766 00:36:54,208 --> 00:36:58,208 [percussion and keyboard music] 767 00:37:11,375 --> 00:37:12,791 - Oh, I love acoustics, you know. 768 00:37:12,833 --> 00:37:16,166 [acoustic guitar music] 769 00:37:27,250 --> 00:37:28,208 Most of the time I hear the phrasing first 770 00:37:28,250 --> 00:37:29,750 before a actual lyric. 771 00:37:30,666 --> 00:37:33,416 [humming lyrics] 772 00:37:34,875 --> 00:37:39,875 ♪ Yeah, I've been alone fighting all day long ♪ 773 00:37:41,166 --> 00:37:44,000 [mumbling lyrics] 774 00:37:45,333 --> 00:37:46,208 I don't know. 775 00:37:46,250 --> 00:37:47,666 I mean, shit, you know, I mean. 776 00:37:47,708 --> 00:37:50,625 [mumblings lyrics] 777 00:37:52,333 --> 00:37:54,250 Just kind of make it up, you know. 778 00:37:54,291 --> 00:37:55,208 [mumblings lyrics] 779 00:37:55,250 --> 00:37:56,166 I don't know, it's not bad. 780 00:37:56,208 --> 00:38:00,083 ♪ I don't know 781 00:38:00,125 --> 00:38:05,125 ♪ Where the time has gone, but it sure goes ♪ 782 00:38:06,500 --> 00:38:11,458 ♪ Quicker than a wrong word I can't say ♪ 783 00:38:12,916 --> 00:38:17,791 ♪ When you ever get it babe, there ain't no way ♪ 784 00:38:19,125 --> 00:38:20,500 You know, and some of them make sense, some of it doesn't. 785 00:38:20,541 --> 00:38:22,625 But you just kinda blindly go in a direction 786 00:38:22,666 --> 00:38:24,916 that just feels right. 787 00:38:24,958 --> 00:38:27,666 - [Director] Is there a recipe to writing a great song? 788 00:38:29,125 --> 00:38:32,416 - You know, sometimes, in anything we do in life, 789 00:38:32,458 --> 00:38:35,083 somewhere there's this mentor that you went to 790 00:38:35,125 --> 00:38:37,208 and you go back to and you really look up to. 791 00:38:37,250 --> 00:38:40,750 And mine was a Hall of Fame songwriter named Tom Shapiro. 792 00:38:40,791 --> 00:38:43,791 He used to say, "There's 5,000 ways to write a song. 793 00:38:43,833 --> 00:38:44,666 "Pick one." 794 00:38:45,541 --> 00:38:47,125 I think that's magic. 795 00:38:47,166 --> 00:38:48,666 - When I first started coming to town, I was like, 796 00:38:48,708 --> 00:38:49,958 I wanna write songs. 797 00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:53,208 I think I met with 30 publishers in town. 798 00:38:53,250 --> 00:38:56,041 And so I went around to literally every publishing house 799 00:38:56,083 --> 00:38:58,250 with my guitar, played a song. 800 00:38:58,291 --> 00:39:01,625 And I remember like how I would write songs at home 801 00:39:01,666 --> 00:39:03,625 is I would just pick up my guitar and like, 802 00:39:03,666 --> 00:39:05,625 whenever I'd kind of feel inspiration. 803 00:39:05,666 --> 00:39:07,791 But it was the first time that I saw 804 00:39:07,833 --> 00:39:09,625 like a staff songwriter. 805 00:39:09,666 --> 00:39:11,708 These writers would come in with books 806 00:39:11,750 --> 00:39:13,916 and they would have titles and titles 807 00:39:13,958 --> 00:39:15,416 and like ideas and ideas. 808 00:39:15,458 --> 00:39:17,083 And I was like what is this way of writing? 809 00:39:17,125 --> 00:39:20,125 - There's one on here called Camp Out Country Titles. 810 00:39:21,333 --> 00:39:22,833 She's been living in all of her junk, 811 00:39:22,875 --> 00:39:25,500 goin' for the kill, makin' thrills, crying diamonds. 812 00:39:25,541 --> 00:39:27,333 I don't know what those mean, yet, 813 00:39:27,375 --> 00:39:29,458 but I'm sure they'll turn into something. 814 00:39:30,458 --> 00:39:32,500 ♪ Crying diamonds 815 00:39:32,541 --> 00:39:33,666 - [Director] Yeah, come on, come on, come on, sing it. 816 00:39:33,708 --> 00:39:34,750 Give me some of it. 817 00:39:34,791 --> 00:39:37,333 Crying about an [mumbles]. 818 00:39:37,375 --> 00:39:38,916 - Oh, I don't know. 819 00:39:39,875 --> 00:39:42,708 ♪ Crying diamonds 820 00:39:44,416 --> 00:39:46,291 Now we're like the TV show Nashville. 821 00:39:47,458 --> 00:39:48,625 Like that doesn't actually happen. 822 00:39:48,666 --> 00:39:49,750 - [Director] That doesn't happen, okay. 823 00:39:49,791 --> 00:39:51,500 - I've got a notebook full of ideas. 824 00:39:51,541 --> 00:39:55,333 And it's, I mean, it's just pages and pages 825 00:39:55,375 --> 00:39:56,750 and pages of titles. 826 00:39:56,791 --> 00:39:59,625 That's the way I do it is I brainstorm titles 827 00:39:59,666 --> 00:40:01,250 as frequently as I can. 828 00:40:01,291 --> 00:40:03,208 I don't think about them when I write them down 829 00:40:03,250 --> 00:40:05,041 and then I go back to them. 830 00:40:05,083 --> 00:40:06,458 - [Director] Is there any way we could photograph that 831 00:40:06,500 --> 00:40:07,958 one day, or? 832 00:40:08,000 --> 00:40:11,291 - I would give anything for you to be able to do that, 833 00:40:11,333 --> 00:40:13,583 because it got stolen. 834 00:40:13,625 --> 00:40:14,458 - [Director] Oh shit. 835 00:40:16,125 --> 00:40:20,000 - It got stolen about four months ago out of my Jeep 836 00:40:20,041 --> 00:40:21,208 with my computer. 837 00:40:22,250 --> 00:40:23,708 It was in my backpack. 838 00:40:23,750 --> 00:40:26,958 And I couldn't have given a shit about that computer. 839 00:40:27,000 --> 00:40:31,291 But that notebook had 17 years' worth of ideas in it. 840 00:40:34,083 --> 00:40:36,208 This is a smaller notebook that I used to use. 841 00:40:36,250 --> 00:40:39,375 But I'll fill them up. 842 00:40:39,416 --> 00:40:44,416 I'll have explanations sometimes out in the margin. 843 00:40:45,708 --> 00:40:47,500 And it's not necessarily that there's going to be 844 00:40:47,541 --> 00:40:49,416 a great title in there. 845 00:40:49,458 --> 00:40:51,708 It's just thoughts, and it's phrases 846 00:40:51,750 --> 00:40:53,333 that can make me think of other things. 847 00:40:53,375 --> 00:40:54,625 - [Director] It's fodder, your writing fodder. 848 00:40:54,666 --> 00:40:56,083 - Exactly. 849 00:40:56,125 --> 00:40:58,250 - It always starts with words for me. 850 00:40:58,291 --> 00:41:00,291 And I suppose that's because I'm a singer, 851 00:41:00,333 --> 00:41:02,333 so I'll overhear something, 852 00:41:02,375 --> 00:41:04,541 somebody having a conversation at a table 853 00:41:04,583 --> 00:41:06,750 or something in a movie will, 854 00:41:06,791 --> 00:41:07,708 I'll love a line. 855 00:41:07,750 --> 00:41:08,958 I'll think it's so well-written, 856 00:41:09,000 --> 00:41:11,041 and something about it will get in my head. 857 00:41:11,083 --> 00:41:14,208 A lot of times, I think I write most of my songs in the car, 858 00:41:14,250 --> 00:41:15,916 just driving. 859 00:41:15,958 --> 00:41:18,166 And there's something about the speed of that 860 00:41:18,208 --> 00:41:20,416 and everything just flying past so much, 861 00:41:20,458 --> 00:41:23,083 which is the exact speed of my brain. 862 00:41:23,125 --> 00:41:26,458 It's like I don't feel like I'm tripping over myself 863 00:41:26,500 --> 00:41:28,208 and everything's coming out smooth. 864 00:41:30,000 --> 00:41:31,333 - I think songwriters think a little differently. 865 00:41:31,375 --> 00:41:32,791 You see the world a little differently. 866 00:41:32,833 --> 00:41:34,625 You're always going, that's a song, that's a song. 867 00:41:34,666 --> 00:41:37,166 That dude and that girl over there, that's a song. 868 00:41:38,625 --> 00:41:41,625 - I might be in the middle of Thanksgiving dinner, 869 00:41:41,666 --> 00:41:43,666 hear a word, I gotta document it. 870 00:41:45,333 --> 00:41:47,083 - I'll be in the middle of an argument with someone 871 00:41:47,125 --> 00:41:50,041 and think, ooh, they just said a really good line. 872 00:41:50,083 --> 00:41:51,375 I'll put it down and go, okay, 873 00:41:51,416 --> 00:41:53,625 gotta get back to the actual situation. 874 00:41:56,541 --> 00:41:59,333 - That's the thing is that it really is a blessing, man. 875 00:41:59,375 --> 00:42:00,958 An idea's a blessing, and that's the thing. 876 00:42:01,000 --> 00:42:02,625 You never, you don't know where they come from. 877 00:42:02,666 --> 00:42:05,375 You don't know why something moves you in a moment. 878 00:42:05,416 --> 00:42:06,750 Your job is not to question it. 879 00:42:06,791 --> 00:42:08,708 Your job is to document. 880 00:42:08,750 --> 00:42:10,791 - Songwriting happens all year-round. 881 00:42:10,833 --> 00:42:12,541 And it happens everywhere. 882 00:42:12,583 --> 00:42:13,708 And I just try to be open enough to receive it. 883 00:42:18,458 --> 00:42:19,833 - All right. - Okay. 884 00:42:19,875 --> 00:42:21,083 - [Director] Why don't you tell me the story-- 885 00:42:21,125 --> 00:42:23,041 - Oh, the story, okay, the story of the song. 886 00:42:24,541 --> 00:42:28,166 It's just, it's a, it is a country song in itself. 887 00:42:28,208 --> 00:42:31,000 So, you know, it's just classic. 888 00:42:31,041 --> 00:42:35,083 In like three weeks' time, or in a week, really, 889 00:42:35,125 --> 00:42:38,875 my marriage went south, I lost my record deal, 890 00:42:38,916 --> 00:42:40,708 and I lost my publishing deal. 891 00:42:40,750 --> 00:42:43,875 And as most country singers, I just, you know, 892 00:42:45,375 --> 00:42:48,000 figured I could work it out in a bottle of Jack Daniels 893 00:42:48,041 --> 00:42:49,250 at some point. 894 00:42:49,291 --> 00:42:51,166 I was hanging out at my manager's house, 895 00:42:51,208 --> 00:42:56,208 and we were sitting up way too late, had way too many, 896 00:42:58,333 --> 00:43:01,000 and he commented that I'd put a bottle to my head 897 00:43:01,041 --> 00:43:02,208 and pulled the trigger. 898 00:43:02,250 --> 00:43:03,916 And I said, I said, yeah, that, man, 899 00:43:03,958 --> 00:43:06,041 wow, that's pretty. 900 00:43:06,083 --> 00:43:09,916 I scribbled that down and I lived with that idea for awhile. 901 00:43:09,958 --> 00:43:12,500 And then that's when I brought it to Bill Anderson. 902 00:43:14,000 --> 00:43:15,208 I hear a-- 903 00:43:15,250 --> 00:43:16,666 - Anybody that could come up with a line of 904 00:43:16,708 --> 00:43:19,458 he put the bottle to his head and pulled the trigger 905 00:43:19,500 --> 00:43:21,333 is a pretty special human being. 906 00:43:21,375 --> 00:43:23,708 I think that's the song that most people will say to me, 907 00:43:23,750 --> 00:43:25,708 "Gosh, I didn't realize you wrote that." 908 00:43:25,750 --> 00:43:29,458 ♪ She put him out 909 00:43:29,500 --> 00:43:33,708 ♪ Like the burning end of a midnight cigarette ♪ 910 00:43:33,750 --> 00:43:35,500 That was my line, by the way. 911 00:43:35,541 --> 00:43:39,083 ♪ She broke his heart 912 00:43:39,125 --> 00:43:44,125 ♪ Spent his whole life trying to forget ♪ 913 00:43:45,250 --> 00:43:48,583 ♪ And watched him drink his pain away ♪ 914 00:43:48,625 --> 00:43:51,416 ♪ A little lifetime 915 00:43:51,458 --> 00:43:54,750 ♪ But he never could get drunk enough ♪ 916 00:43:54,791 --> 00:43:57,375 ♪ To get her off his mind 917 00:43:57,416 --> 00:44:00,291 ♪ Until then 918 00:44:00,333 --> 00:44:01,583 ♪ He put that ♪ 919 00:44:01,625 --> 00:44:06,583 ♪ Bottle to his head and pulled the trigger ♪ 920 00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:12,916 ♪ And finally drank away her memory ♪ 921 00:44:14,333 --> 00:44:19,291 ♪ Life is short, but this time it was bigger ♪ 922 00:44:20,750 --> 00:44:25,458 ♪ And the strength he had to get up off his knees ♪ 923 00:44:26,625 --> 00:44:28,125 - Your first instinct when you hear something 924 00:44:28,166 --> 00:44:31,541 like Whiskey Lullaby is not what a commercial masterpiece. 925 00:44:31,583 --> 00:44:35,333 It's more like, what an artistic masterpiece. 926 00:44:35,375 --> 00:44:39,875 - It was told in a way that, uh, 927 00:44:39,916 --> 00:44:44,083 was a unique take and captured everybody's attention. 928 00:44:44,125 --> 00:44:45,750 I mean, it won every award. 929 00:44:45,791 --> 00:44:47,291 And it wasn't a new story. 930 00:44:47,333 --> 00:44:50,083 You need to tell somebody something they already know 931 00:44:50,125 --> 00:44:52,416 or something they've already lived through. 932 00:44:52,458 --> 00:44:56,166 But the secret is in telling it in a way 933 00:44:56,208 --> 00:44:57,666 that they haven't heard. 934 00:44:57,708 --> 00:44:59,666 - When things started to happen for me, 935 00:44:59,708 --> 00:45:02,583 when my artistry started to take off, 936 00:45:02,625 --> 00:45:04,541 was when I started trying to write songs for, 937 00:45:04,583 --> 00:45:07,166 I always say for the woman who worked at the bank. 938 00:45:07,208 --> 00:45:10,291 Because when I would go in to write songs every morning, 939 00:45:10,333 --> 00:45:12,333 a lot of days I would stop by the bank. 940 00:45:12,375 --> 00:45:14,500 And I would think about that woman who was the teller. 941 00:45:14,541 --> 00:45:17,291 And I would think, what's going on in her life? 942 00:45:17,333 --> 00:45:20,666 You know, what's her story and how do I tell that? 943 00:45:20,708 --> 00:45:21,958 - Write it to somebody. 944 00:45:24,541 --> 00:45:27,958 Don't just write a song like espousing something. 945 00:45:28,000 --> 00:45:29,375 To someone. 946 00:45:29,416 --> 00:45:31,375 You're writing, you're always singing to somebody. 947 00:45:31,416 --> 00:45:32,625 When I moved to Nashville, 948 00:45:32,666 --> 00:45:34,375 I was dating a girl back in West Virginia, 949 00:45:34,416 --> 00:45:35,958 had been dating her for a couple of years, 950 00:45:36,000 --> 00:45:37,375 actually, through college. 951 00:45:37,416 --> 00:45:40,666 And two weeks after transferring here found out 952 00:45:40,708 --> 00:45:44,583 that she had sort of gone to my best friend 953 00:45:44,625 --> 00:45:45,958 at home for consolation. 954 00:45:46,916 --> 00:45:48,750 And it was devastating. 955 00:45:48,791 --> 00:45:51,375 I mean it was, in some ways, the greatest thing 956 00:45:51,416 --> 00:45:53,083 she could've ever done for me. 957 00:45:53,125 --> 00:45:55,833 And so I would sit and I would put her photograph 958 00:45:55,875 --> 00:46:00,375 on the desk and I would write to her. 959 00:46:00,416 --> 00:46:03,375 And I wrote the song Another You to her 960 00:46:03,416 --> 00:46:06,750 and got it cut and went to number two on the chart. 961 00:46:06,791 --> 00:46:08,583 - You're trying to almost sell a house. 962 00:46:08,625 --> 00:46:10,833 Your song's like an open house. 963 00:46:10,875 --> 00:46:12,916 You bring a listener into the foyer 964 00:46:12,958 --> 00:46:17,000 and if he doesn't like what he sees in the foyer, 965 00:46:17,041 --> 00:46:18,500 he's gonna walk out. 966 00:46:18,541 --> 00:46:22,083 So give them a nugget of some truth, of something, 967 00:46:22,125 --> 00:46:23,791 so they'll continue to listen. 968 00:46:23,833 --> 00:46:25,166 And that's what's so good in Nashville. 969 00:46:25,208 --> 00:46:28,083 A lot of the writers here have done the work, 970 00:46:28,125 --> 00:46:30,958 you know, in putting the right furniture in their songs. 971 00:46:32,125 --> 00:46:35,166 Interesting furniture, interesting decoration. 972 00:46:36,666 --> 00:46:41,666 ♪ As lonely as these days are long ♪ 973 00:46:42,833 --> 00:46:47,250 ♪ As dark as the night bird's song ♪ 974 00:46:48,125 --> 00:46:50,708 ♪ A strange way of livin' 975 00:46:50,750 --> 00:46:55,750 ♪ It's bled my heart dry 976 00:46:57,458 --> 00:47:02,458 ♪ Well, I'm lonesome but too stoned to cry ♪ 977 00:47:06,208 --> 00:47:11,166 ♪ My clothes, they're ragged and worn ♪ 978 00:47:12,666 --> 00:47:17,375 ♪ Like a sailor who's caught in the worst kind of storm ♪ 979 00:47:18,291 --> 00:47:20,750 ♪ The water keeps risin' 980 00:47:20,791 --> 00:47:25,791 ♪ But I'm gettin' by 981 00:47:27,708 --> 00:47:29,958 ♪ I keep walkin' 982 00:47:30,000 --> 00:47:33,250 ♪ I'm too stoned to fly 983 00:47:33,291 --> 00:47:36,416 - At the end of the day, everybody wants a great lyric, 984 00:47:36,458 --> 00:47:38,458 a real lyric, a raw lyric. 985 00:47:38,500 --> 00:47:41,333 And that's what Nashville brings, I think, to LA 986 00:47:41,375 --> 00:47:45,083 and to New York is we learned from these guys 987 00:47:45,125 --> 00:47:49,333 that are twisting hooks, they're painting pictures, they're, 988 00:47:49,375 --> 00:47:52,458 I mean, the Nashville songwriting poets, 989 00:47:52,500 --> 00:47:55,166 like Kris Kristofferson taught us how to write. 990 00:47:55,208 --> 00:48:00,208 ♪ Take the ribbon from your hair ♪ 991 00:48:01,375 --> 00:48:05,000 ♪ Shake it loose and let it fall ♪ 992 00:48:06,375 --> 00:48:09,875 - Kris had made such an impact. 993 00:48:09,916 --> 00:48:13,166 He was the first writer to really introduce the bedroom 994 00:48:13,208 --> 00:48:15,375 to country music. 995 00:48:15,416 --> 00:48:17,875 Take the ribbon from your hair, shake it loose, 996 00:48:17,916 --> 00:48:19,416 let it fall. 997 00:48:19,458 --> 00:48:22,208 Lay it soft against my skin like the shadows on the wall. 998 00:48:22,250 --> 00:48:25,125 Very poetic stuff, but it was very seductive 999 00:48:25,166 --> 00:48:26,791 and it was smart. 1000 00:48:26,833 --> 00:48:31,375 The great artists like Kris Kristofferson or Guy Clark 1001 00:48:31,416 --> 00:48:34,500 or Townes Van Zandt or John Prine, 1002 00:48:34,541 --> 00:48:36,333 those are the teachers. 1003 00:48:37,750 --> 00:48:41,375 - Guy Clark and I would be writing these songs. 1004 00:48:41,416 --> 00:48:46,416 And it was kind of like being able to hang out and paint 1005 00:48:47,541 --> 00:48:50,833 with Picasso, you know, for 20-some years. 1006 00:48:50,875 --> 00:48:52,791 - Where melody and poetry meet 1007 00:48:54,125 --> 00:48:57,041 is where I wanna be. 1008 00:48:57,083 --> 00:49:01,041 That's what I learned from a great artist like Guy Clark. 1009 00:49:01,083 --> 00:49:02,375 And I'd go over to his house and he'd say, 1010 00:49:02,416 --> 00:49:04,541 "Hey man, if you write a good song, 1011 00:49:05,958 --> 00:49:09,000 "a really good song, people are gonna hear it. 1012 00:49:10,041 --> 00:49:11,125 "End of story." 1013 00:49:12,125 --> 00:49:14,625 [light music] 1014 00:49:19,083 --> 00:49:23,500 ["I Fall to Pieces" by Patsy Cline] 1015 00:49:27,458 --> 00:49:32,458 ♪ I fall to pieces 1016 00:49:36,750 --> 00:49:40,416 ♪ Each time I see you again 1017 00:49:42,958 --> 00:49:44,500 - I was obsessed with Patsy Cline. 1018 00:49:44,541 --> 00:49:46,666 And one of my first memories of songwriting 1019 00:49:46,708 --> 00:49:50,291 was when it would say written by Harlan Howard, 1020 00:49:50,333 --> 00:49:52,291 I was like, well, who is Harlan Howard? 1021 00:49:56,791 --> 00:49:58,500 - A lot of people thought that Harlan Howard, 1022 00:49:58,541 --> 00:49:59,958 and there's a great argument to be made, 1023 00:50:00,000 --> 00:50:02,583 was the greatest songwriter that ever, 1024 00:50:02,625 --> 00:50:05,208 you know, put a pencil to a piece of paper in Nashville. 1025 00:50:05,250 --> 00:50:08,583 - I think if you're not in some way influenced by him, 1026 00:50:08,625 --> 00:50:10,625 you're missing the boat big time. 1027 00:50:10,666 --> 00:50:12,708 And you need to go back and listen. 1028 00:50:12,750 --> 00:50:17,166 Because I just think he did so much with so little. 1029 00:50:17,208 --> 00:50:18,416 The Three Chords and the Truth, 1030 00:50:18,458 --> 00:50:20,958 I think that can be overlooked sometimes, 1031 00:50:21,000 --> 00:50:23,000 but simple is the hardest thing to be. 1032 00:50:24,833 --> 00:50:26,875 - I admire the kind of songwriter that can, 1033 00:50:26,916 --> 00:50:30,458 that's what, you know, John Lennon was going for I think, 1034 00:50:30,500 --> 00:50:33,083 more and more was the simplicity, 1035 00:50:33,125 --> 00:50:37,125 the elegant simplicity of just two or three words, 1036 00:50:37,166 --> 00:50:38,000 two or three chords. 1037 00:50:38,041 --> 00:50:39,041 I think that's amazing. 1038 00:50:39,083 --> 00:50:40,541 - It's economy. 1039 00:50:40,583 --> 00:50:42,958 That's what I try to do every day is boil down a topic. 1040 00:50:43,000 --> 00:50:45,750 What's the essence of what we're trying to say? 1041 00:50:45,791 --> 00:50:48,333 He stopped loving her today. 1042 00:50:48,375 --> 00:50:52,000 You know, so simple, but it says so much. 1043 00:50:52,041 --> 00:50:54,708 And the feeling is not simple. 1044 00:50:54,750 --> 00:50:57,458 It's complex and it's timeless. 1045 00:50:57,500 --> 00:50:59,666 - The song may not be your cup of tea, 1046 00:50:59,708 --> 00:51:03,625 but you will walk out of there going, that was the truth. 1047 00:51:05,041 --> 00:51:06,833 And that can't be denied. 1048 00:51:06,875 --> 00:51:09,166 - Songwriting for me has to be truth. 1049 00:51:10,083 --> 00:51:11,041 It has to be true. 1050 00:51:11,083 --> 00:51:12,708 It has to have some kind of, 1051 00:51:12,750 --> 00:51:14,250 something that rings true for me. 1052 00:51:14,291 --> 00:51:16,708 If it doesn't have that, you know it, 1053 00:51:16,750 --> 00:51:18,083 especially when you get in front of an audience 1054 00:51:18,125 --> 00:51:19,958 and attempt to sing that song, 1055 00:51:20,000 --> 00:51:23,416 because the audience can tell when you're lying. 1056 00:51:23,458 --> 00:51:24,875 - Harlan's on to something. 1057 00:51:24,916 --> 00:51:26,250 You don't really need anything more 1058 00:51:26,291 --> 00:51:27,333 than three chords and the truth, 1059 00:51:27,375 --> 00:51:28,916 truth being underlined. 1060 00:51:28,958 --> 00:51:32,125 I tend to stay more in the five or six chord range myself. 1061 00:51:32,166 --> 00:51:33,833 - For me, it's more like seven chords 1062 00:51:33,875 --> 00:51:35,500 and the perceived truth [laughs]. 1063 00:51:36,958 --> 00:51:39,333 - Well, I don't know about any three chords [laughs]. 1064 00:51:39,375 --> 00:51:40,875 I may know four or five, 1065 00:51:40,916 --> 00:51:42,500 and I know where to buy one of these. 1066 00:51:42,541 --> 00:51:45,541 - Now it's more like four chords and a pickup. 1067 00:51:45,583 --> 00:51:47,625 - Now it's two chords and a loop [laughs]. 1068 00:51:48,791 --> 00:51:53,208 - But I think if your truth is your truth, 1069 00:51:53,250 --> 00:51:56,208 the important thing is that you're wearing it on your sleeve 1070 00:51:56,250 --> 00:51:59,625 and really willing to put it out there for people to hear 1071 00:51:59,666 --> 00:52:02,583 and disagree with or agree with. 1072 00:52:02,625 --> 00:52:05,833 [soft distorted music] 1073 00:52:18,791 --> 00:52:20,708 So much of songwriting just comes 1074 00:52:20,750 --> 00:52:23,583 from a point of inspiration, 1075 00:52:23,625 --> 00:52:26,416 and then you just run as fast as you can 1076 00:52:26,458 --> 00:52:28,083 into the middle of nowhere 1077 00:52:28,125 --> 00:52:32,291 and try to describe what it is you're seeing or feeling. 1078 00:52:33,583 --> 00:52:37,000 [soft music and humming] 1079 00:53:03,125 --> 00:53:04,625 - I had an experience writing a song 1080 00:53:04,666 --> 00:53:06,458 with one of my favorite cowriters. 1081 00:53:06,500 --> 00:53:07,916 I opened up an idea. 1082 00:53:07,958 --> 00:53:10,166 It was painful, the process of it, 1083 00:53:10,208 --> 00:53:11,708 'cause I was really, 1084 00:53:11,750 --> 00:53:13,875 it was like confessing things 1085 00:53:13,916 --> 00:53:17,166 that I didn't even wanna know about myself. 1086 00:53:17,208 --> 00:53:19,375 And I came home to Chuck, 1087 00:53:20,541 --> 00:53:22,208 and I played it for him and he said, 1088 00:53:22,250 --> 00:53:24,541 "That's the best song you've ever written." 1089 00:53:25,416 --> 00:53:27,875 And I just cried and I said, 1090 00:53:27,916 --> 00:53:32,916 "Well, if that's what it takes, then I quit." 1091 00:53:33,875 --> 00:53:36,666 [laughs] I said, "It's too hard." 1092 00:53:36,708 --> 00:53:40,791 - Yeah, I think it's the one thing we're obligated to do 1093 00:53:41,750 --> 00:53:43,666 is tell it true. 1094 00:53:46,333 --> 00:53:48,666 You know, pretty much everything 1095 00:53:48,708 --> 00:53:51,833 people go through is universal. 1096 00:53:51,875 --> 00:53:56,083 And if you tell it true, it's gonna resonate. 1097 00:53:56,125 --> 00:53:58,708 - And truth doesn't always have to be like 1098 00:53:58,750 --> 00:54:01,041 rock you to your core truth, 1099 00:54:01,083 --> 00:54:03,791 like, oh man, that's some deep stuff right there. 1100 00:54:03,833 --> 00:54:05,458 That really hits me where I live. 1101 00:54:05,500 --> 00:54:07,625 Sometimes the funniest things are true. 1102 00:54:07,666 --> 00:54:12,458 - I got a call from a legendary A&R guy, John Kalodner. 1103 00:54:12,500 --> 00:54:17,500 John Kalodner put me into the room with Joe Perry 1104 00:54:18,416 --> 00:54:20,125 and Steven Tyler to write a song. 1105 00:54:20,166 --> 00:54:23,541 The day I got there, they had gone to a bar. 1106 00:54:23,583 --> 00:54:27,208 And it was kind of this kind of very swanky bar. 1107 00:54:27,250 --> 00:54:30,583 And at the very end was this gorgeous blonde 1108 00:54:30,625 --> 00:54:35,041 and from behind, just curvy, and teased up hair. 1109 00:54:35,083 --> 00:54:37,041 And so they were all drawing straws, 1110 00:54:37,083 --> 00:54:39,041 trying to figure out who was gonna go up to her. 1111 00:54:39,083 --> 00:54:41,500 And so suddenly, the blonde turns around 1112 00:54:41,541 --> 00:54:44,958 and it's Vince Neil of Motley Crue. 1113 00:54:45,000 --> 00:54:50,000 And so that's when they all went oh my God, oh my God, that. 1114 00:54:50,916 --> 00:54:53,875 ♪ Dude looks like a lady 1115 00:54:53,916 --> 00:54:56,916 ♪ Dude looks like a lady 1116 00:54:56,958 --> 00:54:59,416 - Life has a funny way of like giving you signs 1117 00:54:59,458 --> 00:55:00,625 before they happen. 1118 00:55:00,666 --> 00:55:03,750 I was in a studio in New York late at night. 1119 00:55:03,791 --> 00:55:04,666 I snuck into the studio. 1120 00:55:04,708 --> 00:55:06,208 My friend was the engineer. 1121 00:55:06,250 --> 00:55:08,416 So I was going in there late at night to get my demos out. 1122 00:55:10,416 --> 00:55:11,875 I was in the hallway just kinda hanging out 1123 00:55:11,916 --> 00:55:14,125 and I looked up and these two bodyguards came in 1124 00:55:14,166 --> 00:55:15,916 with Britney Spears. 1125 00:55:15,958 --> 00:55:18,583 And she walked by and I said to myself, 1126 00:55:18,625 --> 00:55:20,666 I'm gonna work with her one day. 1127 00:55:20,708 --> 00:55:22,375 I don't know how, but I'm gonna work with her one day. 1128 00:55:22,416 --> 00:55:25,666 [light keyboard music] 1129 00:55:28,875 --> 00:55:30,333 I have a few more, 1130 00:55:30,375 --> 00:55:32,541 we kind of like to leave the biggies for the last. 1131 00:55:32,583 --> 00:55:35,333 We got Britney up here, Celine up here, 1132 00:55:35,375 --> 00:55:38,208 Bruno, Ne-Yo, 1133 00:55:38,250 --> 00:55:40,666 Cher and Christina Aguilera, Whitney Houston, 1134 00:55:40,708 --> 00:55:42,500 and Michael Jackson. 1135 00:55:42,541 --> 00:55:43,458 - [Director] What? 1136 00:55:43,500 --> 00:55:44,833 - Yeah. - What? 1137 00:55:44,875 --> 00:55:47,125 - Yeah, so this is like royalty lane right here, 1138 00:55:47,166 --> 00:55:48,333 whatever you wanna call it. 1139 00:55:48,375 --> 00:55:49,500 So I think I had to convince myself 1140 00:55:49,541 --> 00:55:50,291 I was a songwriter before anyone else said, 1141 00:55:50,333 --> 00:55:52,125 "You're a songwriter." 1142 00:55:52,166 --> 00:55:55,625 - [Director] When did you go wow, I've arrived? 1143 00:55:55,666 --> 00:55:57,291 - When Elvis cuts one of your songs. 1144 00:55:57,333 --> 00:55:59,875 I mean, in my instance, that was it. 1145 00:55:59,916 --> 00:56:03,333 I mean, that was no getting around it. 1146 00:56:03,375 --> 00:56:05,208 I mean, he was the man. 1147 00:56:05,250 --> 00:56:08,666 And I had some of the first songs I wrote, 1148 00:56:08,708 --> 00:56:11,250 I wrote with him in mind. 1149 00:56:11,291 --> 00:56:13,666 I saw him on the back of a flatbed truck 1150 00:56:13,708 --> 00:56:17,333 at the Hub Motor Company parking lot. 1151 00:56:17,375 --> 00:56:18,541 And all the girls went crazy. 1152 00:56:18,583 --> 00:56:21,250 And I thought to myself, boy, 1153 00:56:22,458 --> 00:56:24,333 if I can't do that, I'm gonna get a song to him 1154 00:56:24,375 --> 00:56:25,416 if nothing else. 1155 00:56:26,333 --> 00:56:28,791 ["In the Ghetto" by Mac Davis] 1156 00:56:28,833 --> 00:56:33,833 ♪ As the snow flies 1157 00:56:35,041 --> 00:56:36,833 ♪ On a cold and gray Chicago morning ♪ 1158 00:56:36,875 --> 00:56:41,875 ♪ A poor little baby child is born in the ghetto ♪ 1159 00:56:44,583 --> 00:56:49,583 ♪ And his mama cries 1160 00:56:50,750 --> 00:56:52,791 ♪ 'Cause if there's one thing she don't need ♪ 1161 00:56:52,833 --> 00:56:55,500 ♪ It's another little hungry mouth to feed ♪ 1162 00:56:55,541 --> 00:56:58,000 ♪ In the ghetto 1163 00:56:58,041 --> 00:56:59,625 - For me, I like to have an artist in mind 1164 00:56:59,666 --> 00:57:01,166 when I write a song, 1165 00:57:01,208 --> 00:57:04,375 'cause I try to kinda put my voice into that artist's voice. 1166 00:57:04,416 --> 00:57:06,958 And that artist could be a male or female. 1167 00:57:07,000 --> 00:57:08,750 - P!nk, she's a massive artist. 1168 00:57:08,791 --> 00:57:10,875 Her recording your song is this, 1169 00:57:10,916 --> 00:57:12,833 you know, it affected us greatly. 1170 00:57:12,875 --> 00:57:14,458 And she said something, she said, 1171 00:57:14,500 --> 00:57:16,041 "LA Reed always told me, 1172 00:57:18,041 --> 00:57:19,208 "'Smart artists will cut a song, 1173 00:57:19,250 --> 00:57:20,958 "'even if they didn't write it." 1174 00:57:22,041 --> 00:57:23,333 And it was like, wow. 1175 00:57:23,375 --> 00:57:24,875 - And we get these pitch sheets, 1176 00:57:24,916 --> 00:57:26,958 the publishing companies get these sheets-- 1177 00:57:27,000 --> 00:57:29,625 - No kidding, explain this. - From the record company. 1178 00:57:29,666 --> 00:57:31,500 And it'll give everybody on their label 1179 00:57:31,541 --> 00:57:33,916 that's looking for songs to record. 1180 00:57:33,958 --> 00:57:35,500 So you go down and you kinda see. 1181 00:57:35,541 --> 00:57:37,208 And that helps you go, hey man, 1182 00:57:37,250 --> 00:57:38,833 I've got a song that I just wrote last week 1183 00:57:38,875 --> 00:57:40,833 that's perfect for what they're looking for. 1184 00:57:40,875 --> 00:57:42,958 And then you send it over and see if they hear it 1185 00:57:43,000 --> 00:57:44,541 and it ends up on the record. 1186 00:57:44,583 --> 00:57:46,750 And interestingly enough, sometimes you write a song 1187 00:57:46,791 --> 00:57:48,916 that you were writing for that. 1188 00:57:48,958 --> 00:57:51,250 It didn't work for them, but a year later, 1189 00:57:51,291 --> 00:57:52,750 it ends up on someone else's record. 1190 00:57:52,791 --> 00:57:54,833 - Our biggest song that we had together 1191 00:57:54,875 --> 00:57:56,375 was Change the World. 1192 00:57:56,416 --> 00:57:59,083 - It got pitched out of PolyGram Music Publishing Company 1193 00:57:59,125 --> 00:58:00,958 and Don Potter took it 1194 00:58:02,125 --> 00:58:04,916 from there for Wynonna Judd's next project. 1195 00:58:04,958 --> 00:58:07,083 We were told that it was gonna be a single for her 1196 00:58:07,125 --> 00:58:08,625 and all this stuff. 1197 00:58:08,666 --> 00:58:10,416 And then we watched them put out one, then two, 1198 00:58:10,458 --> 00:58:11,791 then three singles from that record, 1199 00:58:11,833 --> 00:58:13,208 and none of them were this song. 1200 00:58:13,250 --> 00:58:15,500 So we were just sort of like wow. 1201 00:58:15,541 --> 00:58:17,541 About the time that we were digesting the fact 1202 00:58:17,583 --> 00:58:19,291 that we were not gonna have a song 1203 00:58:19,333 --> 00:58:21,625 out as a single with her, 1204 00:58:21,666 --> 00:58:24,208 Clapton puts it out on the soundtrack 1205 00:58:24,250 --> 00:58:27,125 to Summer of '96 and the movie Phenomenon. 1206 00:58:27,166 --> 00:58:32,166 ["Change the World" by Wayne Kirkpatrick and Gordon Kennedy] 1207 00:58:36,500 --> 00:58:41,125 ♪ If I could be king 1208 00:58:41,166 --> 00:58:45,666 ♪ Even for a day 1209 00:58:45,708 --> 00:58:50,166 ♪ I'd take you as my queen 1210 00:58:50,208 --> 00:58:55,208 ♪ I'd have it no other way 1211 00:58:56,125 --> 00:58:59,208 ♪ And our love would rule 1212 00:58:59,250 --> 00:59:04,250 ♪ In this kingdom we had made 1213 00:59:05,166 --> 00:59:09,375 ♪ Till then I'll be a fool 1214 00:59:09,416 --> 00:59:13,250 ♪ Wishing for a day 1215 00:59:13,291 --> 00:59:18,291 ♪ I could change the world 1216 00:59:19,666 --> 00:59:22,958 ♪ I would be the sunlight in your universe ♪ 1217 00:59:23,000 --> 00:59:27,416 ♪ 'Cause you would think my love was really something good ♪ 1218 00:59:27,458 --> 00:59:32,458 ♪ Baby, if I could change the world ♪ 1219 00:59:34,583 --> 00:59:39,583 ♪ Baby, if I could change 1220 00:59:43,541 --> 00:59:46,291 ♪ The world 1221 00:59:46,333 --> 00:59:47,375 - There's a vast majority of songs 1222 00:59:47,416 --> 00:59:51,333 that have come professional songwriters 1223 00:59:51,375 --> 00:59:53,416 that they said, "I don't know where this came from," 1224 00:59:53,458 --> 00:59:56,291 or "I was driving down the road one day, 1225 00:59:56,333 --> 00:59:59,875 "and I saw this thing, and I had to write about this." 1226 00:59:59,916 --> 01:00:02,875 "I had to walk into this room and tell you this story 1227 01:00:02,916 --> 01:00:04,375 "and write about it." 1228 01:00:04,416 --> 01:00:07,250 And then there's that whole other side where, you know, 1229 01:00:07,291 --> 01:00:09,541 you get a list of things that a certain artist 1230 01:00:09,583 --> 01:00:11,208 is looking for and you need to write 1231 01:00:11,250 --> 01:00:13,208 about these specific things. 1232 01:00:13,250 --> 01:00:14,458 But I've been in many rooms 1233 01:00:14,500 --> 01:00:17,541 where you may have that list of directives, 1234 01:00:18,708 --> 01:00:20,083 but the room and the energy in the room 1235 01:00:20,125 --> 01:00:21,333 takes you somewhere else. 1236 01:00:21,375 --> 01:00:23,708 And that ends up being the thing that gets cut. 1237 01:00:23,750 --> 01:00:25,750 - Wow, really? - Yeah. 1238 01:00:27,166 --> 01:00:29,958 - [Director] Can you give me like an example of that, 1239 01:00:30,000 --> 01:00:32,166 like in your own, where that happened to you? 1240 01:00:32,208 --> 01:00:34,625 - Um, yeah, well, yes. 1241 01:00:35,833 --> 01:00:40,833 It was summer day, 16th Avenue, 1242 01:00:42,000 --> 01:00:43,875 and it was in a house on the row. 1243 01:00:43,916 --> 01:00:47,000 I went up to the attic to write with Katie Herzig. 1244 01:00:47,041 --> 01:00:49,750 And we'd been given a set of directives, 1245 01:00:49,791 --> 01:00:53,541 you know, different artists who were looking for things 1246 01:00:53,583 --> 01:00:56,125 in a specific lane to write in. 1247 01:00:57,250 --> 01:00:58,916 I didn't want to write anything. 1248 01:00:58,958 --> 01:01:01,750 And I'm sitting there with my head back on the couch, 1249 01:01:01,791 --> 01:01:05,833 and Katie starts playing these really open chords, 1250 01:01:05,875 --> 01:01:08,750 and she's only hitting two strings every time, 1251 01:01:08,791 --> 01:01:10,250 sliding up and down. 1252 01:01:10,291 --> 01:01:14,833 And I just pictured in my head this image of a man 1253 01:01:16,250 --> 01:01:17,208 on the street who was also having a really bad day, 1254 01:01:17,250 --> 01:01:19,416 but worse than I was having. 1255 01:01:19,458 --> 01:01:21,250 Didn't have a home to go to, 1256 01:01:21,291 --> 01:01:25,208 didn't have a car to get in after all was said and done. 1257 01:01:25,250 --> 01:01:27,791 And the lyrics flowed really quickly. 1258 01:01:27,833 --> 01:01:30,500 And 20 minutes in, we had this song 1259 01:01:30,541 --> 01:01:34,125 that was nothing like the directives. 1260 01:01:34,166 --> 01:01:37,333 But that was the only song of mine 1261 01:01:37,375 --> 01:01:40,666 that has ever gotten Grammy recognition. 1262 01:01:40,708 --> 01:01:45,041 ["Heaven's My Home" by Ruby Amanfu] 1263 01:01:56,083 --> 01:02:00,416 ♪ When I was born 1264 01:02:00,458 --> 01:02:04,041 ♪ My daddy said I was broken 1265 01:02:04,083 --> 01:02:07,958 ♪ The beginning of the end 1266 01:02:08,000 --> 01:02:11,708 ♪ Of a life I hadn't chosen 1267 01:02:11,750 --> 01:02:15,833 ♪ He taught me how to give up 1268 01:02:15,875 --> 01:02:20,208 ♪ He taught me how to work the system ♪ 1269 01:02:20,250 --> 01:02:24,375 ♪ But I never had the time 1270 01:02:24,416 --> 01:02:28,625 ♪ I never had the luxury 1271 01:02:28,666 --> 01:02:32,250 ♪ Life's hard, I've always known that ♪ 1272 01:02:32,291 --> 01:02:36,500 ♪ I've never been handed no welcome mat ♪ 1273 01:02:36,541 --> 01:02:40,375 ♪ When I die, please don't cry 1274 01:02:40,416 --> 01:02:44,791 ♪ 'Cause heaven's my home anyhow ♪ 1275 01:02:44,833 --> 01:02:47,000 [humming] 1276 01:02:48,916 --> 01:02:52,000 - Any time I do a song and it feels magical, 1277 01:02:52,041 --> 01:02:53,416 it may not always get to the place 1278 01:02:53,458 --> 01:02:55,250 that I think it should get to. 1279 01:02:55,291 --> 01:02:57,250 But those ones always find a home. 1280 01:02:57,291 --> 01:02:59,750 - One of my good friends was Bob Beckham, 1281 01:02:59,791 --> 01:03:02,750 and he ran Combine Music. 1282 01:03:02,791 --> 01:03:05,500 And Bob called me, he said, 1283 01:03:05,541 --> 01:03:08,666 "I got this new writer kid in town named Kris Kristofferson 1284 01:03:08,708 --> 01:03:09,916 "and he's written three songs. 1285 01:03:09,958 --> 01:03:10,750 "You come listen. 1286 01:03:10,791 --> 01:03:11,666 "I want you to record. 1287 01:03:11,708 --> 01:03:12,958 "Pick any one you want." 1288 01:03:13,000 --> 01:03:15,083 So I said, okay. So I went over and he played 1289 01:03:15,125 --> 01:03:16,708 Help Me Make It Through the Night, 1290 01:03:16,750 --> 01:03:18,000 Sunday Morning Coming Down, 1291 01:03:18,041 --> 01:03:20,208 and I think For the Good Times. 1292 01:03:20,250 --> 01:03:21,666 And I said, 1293 01:03:21,708 --> 01:03:22,916 "Well, I sure love that Sunday Morning Coming Down. 1294 01:03:22,958 --> 01:03:24,125 "I'll cut that." 1295 01:03:24,166 --> 01:03:26,375 I put out Sunday Morning Come Down. 1296 01:03:26,416 --> 01:03:27,791 [blows a raspberry] 1297 01:03:27,833 --> 01:03:29,625 Sold 12. 1298 01:03:29,666 --> 01:03:31,375 ["Sunday Morning Coming Down" by Ray Stevens] 1299 01:03:31,416 --> 01:03:33,583 [humming] 1300 01:03:40,458 --> 01:03:42,250 Johnny Cash cut it a couple years later, 1301 01:03:42,291 --> 01:03:43,791 and it was a big hit for Johnny Cash. 1302 01:03:43,833 --> 01:03:45,208 And I finally figured out, 1303 01:03:45,250 --> 01:03:47,166 I didn't have the image to sell a song 1304 01:03:47,208 --> 01:03:49,458 about being stoned on Sunday morning. 1305 01:03:49,500 --> 01:03:51,750 My image is just too clean. 1306 01:03:51,791 --> 01:03:55,000 If a song is a hit, it's a hit. 1307 01:03:55,041 --> 01:03:57,791 I just wasn't the right one to sell it. 1308 01:03:57,833 --> 01:04:00,291 ♪ Well, I woke up Sunday morning ♪ 1309 01:04:00,333 --> 01:04:05,333 ♪ With no way to hold my head that didn't hurt ♪ 1310 01:04:07,458 --> 01:04:09,750 ♪ And the beer I had for breakfast ♪ 1311 01:04:09,791 --> 01:04:14,791 ♪ Wasn't bad, so I had one more for dessert ♪ 1312 01:04:15,916 --> 01:04:17,583 - You know, when a song is Song of the Year, 1313 01:04:17,625 --> 01:04:21,166 or just a massive hit, impacting hit, 1314 01:04:21,208 --> 01:04:22,208 there's a reason for that. 1315 01:04:22,250 --> 01:04:23,875 Something speaks to people. 1316 01:04:23,916 --> 01:04:25,750 Like what hurts the most, you know. 1317 01:04:25,791 --> 01:04:28,833 A real song, again, that was about my father 1318 01:04:28,875 --> 01:04:31,541 and the time that he had left in his life, 1319 01:04:31,583 --> 01:04:33,958 when he had sent me out to go, 1320 01:04:34,000 --> 01:04:35,416 "Go do your music, man," 1321 01:04:35,458 --> 01:04:38,333 and I didn't get to see him for a bit near the end, 1322 01:04:38,375 --> 01:04:39,666 till the very end. 1323 01:04:39,708 --> 01:04:41,125 And you know, all that time, I was like, 1324 01:04:41,166 --> 01:04:42,000 man, I could've been here. 1325 01:04:42,041 --> 01:04:42,916 I could've been here. 1326 01:04:42,958 --> 01:04:44,833 And he wanted me out there. 1327 01:04:44,875 --> 01:04:47,458 He knew, you know, I didn't know, but he knew. 1328 01:04:47,500 --> 01:04:49,208 And so that's what that song was about. 1329 01:04:49,250 --> 01:04:52,416 And then it ends up being this massive love song 1330 01:04:52,458 --> 01:04:56,208 that strikes a chord throughout the world. 1331 01:04:56,250 --> 01:04:58,416 And then you know, and then I lost my son 10 years ago, 1332 01:04:58,458 --> 01:05:00,708 and that song became a whole new song for me. 1333 01:05:03,375 --> 01:05:08,000 ♪ I can take the rain on the roof of this empty house ♪ 1334 01:05:08,041 --> 01:05:10,208 ♪ That don't bother me 1335 01:05:10,250 --> 01:05:15,250 ♪ I can take a few tears now and then and just let 'em out ♪ 1336 01:05:16,416 --> 01:05:19,791 ♪ I'm not afraid to cry every once in a while ♪ 1337 01:05:19,833 --> 01:05:22,541 ♪ Even though going on with you gone ♪ 1338 01:05:22,583 --> 01:05:24,416 ♪ Still upsets me 1339 01:05:24,458 --> 01:05:27,291 ♪ There are days every now and again ♪ 1340 01:05:27,333 --> 01:05:29,291 ♪ I pretend I'm okay 1341 01:05:29,333 --> 01:05:33,500 ♪ But that's not what gets me 1342 01:05:33,541 --> 01:05:37,750 ♪ What hurts the most 1343 01:05:37,791 --> 01:05:41,125 ♪ Was being so close 1344 01:05:41,166 --> 01:05:45,166 ♪ And having so much to say 1345 01:05:45,208 --> 01:05:49,208 ♪ And watching you walk away 1346 01:05:49,250 --> 01:05:53,166 ♪ And never knowin' 1347 01:05:53,208 --> 01:05:57,041 ♪ What could've been 1348 01:05:57,083 --> 01:06:00,916 ♪ And not seeing that loving you ♪ 1349 01:06:00,958 --> 01:06:04,708 ♪ Is what I was trying to do 1350 01:06:06,333 --> 01:06:07,541 - You just never know 1351 01:06:07,583 --> 01:06:11,625 when you sit down and put some words on paper 1352 01:06:11,666 --> 01:06:13,125 and give it a melody, 1353 01:06:13,166 --> 01:06:15,833 you don't know where the thing is gonna fly off to 1354 01:06:15,875 --> 01:06:17,500 and who it's gonna touch. 1355 01:06:17,541 --> 01:06:20,208 - I had a man tell me he was in his car driving out 1356 01:06:20,250 --> 01:06:23,416 in the swamps of Louisiana listening to the radio. 1357 01:06:23,458 --> 01:06:25,750 He said, "I was gonna commit suicide." 1358 01:06:25,791 --> 01:06:27,916 And he said, "Your song came on the air 1359 01:06:27,958 --> 01:06:30,875 "about five little fingers, about your daughter." 1360 01:06:30,916 --> 01:06:34,708 And he said, "I realized that I really had more 1361 01:06:34,750 --> 01:06:36,791 "to live for than I thought I did. 1362 01:06:36,833 --> 01:06:38,458 "I pulled over to the side of the road. 1363 01:06:38,500 --> 01:06:39,791 "I listened to your song. 1364 01:06:39,833 --> 01:06:41,791 "I turned the car around, I went home." 1365 01:06:42,958 --> 01:06:45,041 That's when being a songwriter is special. 1366 01:06:47,541 --> 01:06:50,791 - I mean, it's just one of those weird things 1367 01:06:50,833 --> 01:06:53,541 where you never know in my world 1368 01:06:53,583 --> 01:06:56,000 what day is gonna be a day that's gonna change your life 1369 01:06:56,041 --> 01:06:59,458 or change other people's lives, you know. 1370 01:06:59,500 --> 01:07:02,041 I show up at this building pretty much every day, 1371 01:07:02,083 --> 01:07:04,291 and I sit in a room this big. 1372 01:07:04,333 --> 01:07:06,375 And that particular day, 1373 01:07:06,416 --> 01:07:08,750 I remember not even really want to go to work, 1374 01:07:08,791 --> 01:07:10,125 which is unlike me. 1375 01:07:10,166 --> 01:07:12,250 But I thought, you know, Connie Harrington, 1376 01:07:12,291 --> 01:07:13,750 I saw her on my calendar. 1377 01:07:13,791 --> 01:07:15,791 And I thought, you know, worst case scenario, 1378 01:07:15,833 --> 01:07:18,125 we'll go out to lunch, she'll be fine. 1379 01:07:18,166 --> 01:07:23,000 So Connie had just pieces of paper and Post-It notes, 1380 01:07:23,041 --> 01:07:25,625 and she's always shuffling through all these ideas. 1381 01:07:25,666 --> 01:07:28,958 She came to this one and she started to cry. 1382 01:07:29,000 --> 01:07:30,375 And I was like, what's that? 1383 01:07:31,875 --> 01:07:32,791 - I was 1384 01:07:36,250 --> 01:07:39,833 driving home, and I listen to talk radio, 1385 01:07:39,875 --> 01:07:42,333 NPR radio, regularly. 1386 01:07:42,375 --> 01:07:45,166 And then this man comes on. 1387 01:07:45,208 --> 01:07:48,625 He was trying to petition to get the right 1388 01:07:48,666 --> 01:07:51,541 to put flags on the graves 1389 01:07:53,250 --> 01:07:56,333 of not just his son's grave, 1390 01:07:56,375 --> 01:07:58,541 whom he lost in Afghanistan, 1391 01:07:58,583 --> 01:08:01,416 but all the soldiers in that particular cemetery. 1392 01:08:02,833 --> 01:08:07,125 And they asked him how did he cope with losing his son. 1393 01:08:08,291 --> 01:08:10,791 And he said, "I drive his truck." 1394 01:08:10,833 --> 01:08:13,500 And he said, "It burns gas like crazy, 1395 01:08:13,541 --> 01:08:15,250 "but we drive it anyway." 1396 01:08:16,208 --> 01:08:17,916 Because he felt closest to him. 1397 01:08:19,083 --> 01:08:20,375 - She literally was crying so hard 1398 01:08:20,416 --> 01:08:22,833 that she could not even tell me the title. 1399 01:08:22,875 --> 01:08:26,666 She would get the story started and then break down. 1400 01:08:26,708 --> 01:08:28,500 - And I'm driving, you know, 1401 01:08:28,541 --> 01:08:31,708 and I keep little yellow Post-It notes. 1402 01:08:31,750 --> 01:08:33,958 And I'm writing down the details of the truck 1403 01:08:34,000 --> 01:08:37,333 and sticking them on my dash, trying not to wreck. 1404 01:08:37,375 --> 01:08:41,375 And I thought that deserves to be written about. 1405 01:08:42,916 --> 01:08:44,833 - I mean, we just literally cried our way 1406 01:08:44,875 --> 01:08:48,375 through about four hours of just imagery, 1407 01:08:48,416 --> 01:08:50,041 writing words on a page. 1408 01:08:50,083 --> 01:08:54,375 I felt so strong that I had to treat this idea 1409 01:08:54,416 --> 01:08:56,708 with kid gloves, because I knew that there hadn't been 1410 01:08:56,750 --> 01:08:58,916 a lot of songs written about grief. 1411 01:08:58,958 --> 01:09:01,041 - But we both agreed at the end of the day 1412 01:09:02,458 --> 01:09:05,833 it would be good to get a guy's perspective on it. 1413 01:09:05,875 --> 01:09:10,708 So we debated who that should be, 1414 01:09:10,750 --> 01:09:12,958 and arrived at Jimmy Yeary. 1415 01:09:14,125 --> 01:09:16,541 - There's, you know, eight male songwriters 1416 01:09:16,583 --> 01:09:19,333 just in this building we could've called. 1417 01:09:19,375 --> 01:09:21,000 And if we had called any of the other ones, 1418 01:09:21,041 --> 01:09:23,708 it would be I Drive Your Truck that we have today. 1419 01:09:23,750 --> 01:09:26,541 And so we booked another writing appointment 1420 01:09:26,583 --> 01:09:29,791 and he came in, and me and him got the guitars out. 1421 01:09:29,833 --> 01:09:32,125 He had kind of a melody going. 1422 01:09:32,166 --> 01:09:33,458 It was perfect. 1423 01:09:33,500 --> 01:09:36,291 - When I write, when I get so far 1424 01:09:36,333 --> 01:09:37,875 and I realize today's going well enough, 1425 01:09:37,916 --> 01:09:40,625 this is gonna be a real song, 1426 01:09:40,666 --> 01:09:44,250 I will type in the date and I will type in the title. 1427 01:09:44,291 --> 01:09:46,000 And when I did that, 1428 01:09:49,666 --> 01:09:52,958 I just stopped, burst into tears, 1429 01:09:53,000 --> 01:09:54,375 and they're like, "What's wrong?" 1430 01:09:54,416 --> 01:09:55,875 I'm like. 1431 01:09:55,916 --> 01:09:58,416 We're wrote that song on June 21. 1432 01:10:00,458 --> 01:10:03,666 When I zoomed in on the picture 1433 01:10:03,708 --> 01:10:06,083 of Jared C. Monti's grave, 1434 01:10:06,125 --> 01:10:07,708 he was killed June 21. 1435 01:10:09,833 --> 01:10:13,250 - The second she said it, I got a chill up my body, 1436 01:10:13,291 --> 01:10:16,666 because I knew this is important. 1437 01:10:16,708 --> 01:10:18,666 We have got to get this in the right hands 1438 01:10:18,708 --> 01:10:20,250 and the right artist. 1439 01:10:20,291 --> 01:10:23,583 And Lee Brice took it all the way to number one, 1440 01:10:23,625 --> 01:10:26,000 which was unbelievable. 1441 01:10:26,041 --> 01:10:29,583 But all along, though, we're fantasizing, thinking, 1442 01:10:30,541 --> 01:10:32,041 has that dad heard it? 1443 01:10:33,791 --> 01:10:35,375 This guy that said it on the interview, 1444 01:10:35,416 --> 01:10:37,833 is it possible that he's a country music fan, 1445 01:10:37,875 --> 01:10:39,666 that he would hear this song? 1446 01:10:39,708 --> 01:10:44,041 ["I Drive Your Truck" by Lee Brice] 1447 01:11:04,916 --> 01:11:07,666 - The last time I talked to my son, 1448 01:11:07,708 --> 01:11:08,666 the phone rang. 1449 01:11:09,875 --> 01:11:12,125 "Hi Pop, how you doing, happy Father's Day." 1450 01:11:13,541 --> 01:11:17,166 And he was on a satellite phone in Afghanistan 1451 01:11:18,250 --> 01:11:19,250 talking to me. 1452 01:11:20,500 --> 01:11:23,416 And we talked for a while, and then he said, 1453 01:11:23,458 --> 01:11:25,875 "Pop, I gotta go, we're going on a mission." 1454 01:11:28,375 --> 01:11:32,125 That was on June 18, 2006. 1455 01:11:33,500 --> 01:11:36,416 And he left for the mission, and three days later, 1456 01:11:36,458 --> 01:11:39,166 I had men walking up my driveway 1457 01:11:39,208 --> 01:11:40,750 to tell me he had been killed. 1458 01:11:52,125 --> 01:11:55,291 That's the Medal of Honor. 1459 01:12:00,125 --> 01:12:01,291 - [Director] How did it make you feel 1460 01:12:01,333 --> 01:12:02,666 when you heard that song for the first time? 1461 01:12:05,166 --> 01:12:06,166 - Sad. 1462 01:12:07,500 --> 01:12:08,416 Tearful. 1463 01:12:10,833 --> 01:12:12,333 It was very difficult to listen to. 1464 01:12:12,375 --> 01:12:14,125 I mean, I only got, 1465 01:12:14,166 --> 01:12:15,791 I think I only got partway through the song, 1466 01:12:15,833 --> 01:12:17,708 I had to shut it off. 1467 01:12:17,750 --> 01:12:19,500 And it's still pretty much that way. 1468 01:12:19,541 --> 01:12:23,333 I still don't get to get all the way through. 1469 01:12:27,166 --> 01:12:29,583 - [Director] Have your other kids heard the song? 1470 01:12:29,625 --> 01:12:30,458 - Oh yeah. 1471 01:12:32,875 --> 01:12:34,958 Both my daughter and my son are so hurt 1472 01:12:35,000 --> 01:12:36,875 by their brother's death 1473 01:12:36,916 --> 01:12:40,000 that they've reacted in-- [doorbell rings] 1474 01:12:40,041 --> 01:12:43,000 [knocking on the door] 1475 01:12:43,041 --> 01:12:43,875 I'm sorry. 1476 01:12:49,166 --> 01:12:50,666 - Paul? - Yeah. 1477 01:12:50,708 --> 01:12:54,208 - Connie Harrington. - Oh my God in heaven. 1478 01:12:55,125 --> 01:12:57,291 - Merry Christmas. 1479 01:12:57,333 --> 01:13:00,500 [laughing and crying] 1480 01:13:16,708 --> 01:13:18,833 - Is that Jessi? - Mm-hm. 1481 01:13:18,875 --> 01:13:20,125 - [Connie] It's me and Jessi. 1482 01:13:20,166 --> 01:13:22,583 - Oh my God, I can't believe we're here. 1483 01:13:22,625 --> 01:13:23,458 Oh my God. 1484 01:13:24,708 --> 01:13:26,541 - They didn't tell me this was gonna happen. 1485 01:13:26,583 --> 01:13:28,875 - [Jessi] Well, we wanted to surprise you. 1486 01:13:28,916 --> 01:13:29,750 - Oh God. 1487 01:13:31,250 --> 01:13:32,250 - I'm sorry. 1488 01:13:33,166 --> 01:13:34,958 Oh my gosh, here we, 1489 01:13:35,000 --> 01:13:37,083 look at you, here we are. 1490 01:13:42,125 --> 01:13:46,833 - Those are the mud still in the bottom of the boots. 1491 01:13:46,875 --> 01:13:47,666 - Wow. 1492 01:13:47,708 --> 01:13:49,125 - That is unreal. 1493 01:14:03,750 --> 01:14:08,583 ["I Drive Your Truck" by Jessi Alexander] 1494 01:14:10,291 --> 01:14:13,375 ♪ 89 cents in the ashtray 1495 01:14:13,416 --> 01:14:18,416 ♪ Half empty bottle of Gatorade rollin' on the floor ♪ 1496 01:14:21,625 --> 01:14:25,041 ♪ That dirty Braves cap on the dash ♪ 1497 01:14:25,083 --> 01:14:28,583 ♪ Dog tags hanging from the rear view ♪ 1498 01:14:28,625 --> 01:14:32,041 ♪ Old Skoal can and cowboy boots ♪ 1499 01:14:32,083 --> 01:14:37,083 ♪ A Go Army shirt folded in the back ♪ 1500 01:14:38,708 --> 01:14:41,916 ♪ This thing burns gas like crazy ♪ 1501 01:14:41,958 --> 01:14:45,250 ♪ But I don't mind 1502 01:14:45,291 --> 01:14:48,875 ♪ People got their ways of copin' ♪ 1503 01:14:48,916 --> 01:14:51,750 ♪ Yeah, I got mine 1504 01:14:51,791 --> 01:14:55,791 ♪ I drive your truck 1505 01:14:55,833 --> 01:14:59,208 ♪ I roll every window down 1506 01:14:59,250 --> 01:15:02,625 ♪ And I burn up 1507 01:15:02,666 --> 01:15:05,458 ♪ Every back road in this town 1508 01:15:05,500 --> 01:15:09,125 ♪ Find a field and tear it up 1509 01:15:09,166 --> 01:15:12,916 ♪ Till all the pain's a cloud of dust ♪ 1510 01:15:12,958 --> 01:15:16,083 ♪ Yeah sometimes 1511 01:15:16,125 --> 01:15:21,125 ♪ I drive your truck 1512 01:15:23,125 --> 01:15:26,833 ♪ I leave that radio playin' 1513 01:15:26,875 --> 01:15:31,875 ♪ The same ol' country station where you left it ♪ 1514 01:15:33,708 --> 01:15:38,083 ♪ Yeah man, I crank it up 1515 01:15:38,125 --> 01:15:41,333 ♪ You'd probably punch my arm right now ♪ 1516 01:15:41,375 --> 01:15:46,375 ♪ If you could see this tear rollin' down my face ♪ 1517 01:15:47,583 --> 01:15:50,500 ♪ Well, man, I'm tryin' to be tough ♪ 1518 01:15:50,541 --> 01:15:53,791 ♪ Your mom asked me this morning ♪ 1519 01:15:53,833 --> 01:15:57,291 ♪ If I'd been by your grave 1520 01:15:57,333 --> 01:16:02,333 ♪ But that flag and stone ain't where I feel you anyway ♪ 1521 01:16:03,250 --> 01:16:07,375 ♪ I drive your truck 1522 01:16:07,416 --> 01:16:10,416 ♪ I roll every window down 1523 01:16:10,458 --> 01:16:13,708 ♪ And I burn up 1524 01:16:13,750 --> 01:16:16,541 ♪ Every back road in this town 1525 01:16:16,583 --> 01:16:20,208 ♪ I find a field, I tear it up 1526 01:16:20,250 --> 01:16:23,916 ♪ Till all the pain's a cloud of dust ♪ 1527 01:16:23,958 --> 01:16:28,958 ♪ Yeah sometimes I drive your truck ♪ 1528 01:16:31,000 --> 01:16:32,833 ♪ Ooh 1529 01:16:41,125 --> 01:16:44,416 ♪ Well, I've cussed, I've prayed, I've said goodbye ♪ 1530 01:16:44,458 --> 01:16:48,000 ♪ I've shook my fist, asked God why ♪ 1531 01:16:48,041 --> 01:16:53,041 ♪ These days when I'm missing you this much ♪ 1532 01:16:54,250 --> 01:16:55,916 I know you miss him. 1533 01:16:59,000 --> 01:17:03,083 ♪ I drive your truck 1534 01:17:03,125 --> 01:17:06,416 ♪ Roll every window down 1535 01:17:06,458 --> 01:17:09,291 ♪ Burn up 1536 01:17:09,333 --> 01:17:12,166 ♪ Every back road in this town 1537 01:17:12,208 --> 01:17:15,333 ♪ Find a field, tear it up 1538 01:17:15,375 --> 01:17:19,208 ♪ Till all the pain's a cloud of dust ♪ 1539 01:17:19,250 --> 01:17:22,166 ♪ Sometimes 1540 01:17:22,208 --> 01:17:23,625 Jerry, sometimes. 1541 01:17:25,541 --> 01:17:28,625 ♪ I drive your truck 1542 01:17:29,583 --> 01:17:31,750 [humming] 1543 01:17:42,833 --> 01:17:45,125 - Thank you. - Thank you, God bless you. 1544 01:17:45,166 --> 01:17:48,625 [muffled speaking] 1545 01:17:48,666 --> 01:17:50,333 - [Paul] I miss him. 1546 01:17:59,125 --> 01:18:02,208 [lively piano music] 1547 01:18:14,666 --> 01:18:16,875 ♪ Ooh yeah 1548 01:18:30,708 --> 01:18:33,333 ♪ One of these days 1549 01:18:33,375 --> 01:18:36,333 ♪ I'm gonna pay off this loan 1550 01:18:36,375 --> 01:18:41,375 ♪ I took out trying to keep up with the Jones ♪ 1551 01:18:42,541 --> 01:18:45,041 ♪ One of these days 1552 01:18:45,083 --> 01:18:48,250 ♪ I'm gonna pay off these taxes ♪ 1553 01:18:48,291 --> 01:18:53,291 ♪ So Uncle Sam can get off my foreign assets ♪ 1554 01:18:54,041 --> 01:18:55,375 ♪ God knows I will 1555 01:18:55,416 --> 01:18:58,833 ♪ Lord knows I will 1556 01:18:58,875 --> 01:19:03,875 ♪ When my money get right yeah 1557 01:19:05,208 --> 01:19:09,083 ♪ When my money get right yeah 1558 01:19:10,166 --> 01:19:11,625 Everybody's creative in some way. 1559 01:19:12,666 --> 01:19:14,250 Some people cook. 1560 01:19:14,291 --> 01:19:15,833 Some people paint. 1561 01:19:15,875 --> 01:19:17,416 Some people dance. 1562 01:19:17,458 --> 01:19:19,125 That's the connecting piece. 1563 01:19:19,166 --> 01:19:20,083 We all have that. 1564 01:19:21,250 --> 01:19:22,500 We all have that. 1565 01:19:22,541 --> 01:19:25,541 We don't all acknowledge it, but we all have it. 1566 01:19:25,583 --> 01:19:27,083 And that's what songwriting is. 1567 01:19:27,125 --> 01:19:30,000 It's being able to see art in life, 1568 01:19:30,041 --> 01:19:31,458 but interpret that in words. 1569 01:19:31,500 --> 01:19:33,875 For some people, that'd be with brushes. 1570 01:19:33,916 --> 01:19:35,750 For us, it's words and music. 1571 01:19:36,958 --> 01:19:39,750 - At the end of the day, we're all the same guy. 1572 01:19:39,791 --> 01:19:42,458 We're staring at an empty page, 1573 01:19:42,500 --> 01:19:44,125 and we're sitting with a guitar, 1574 01:19:44,166 --> 01:19:46,625 and we're just trying to mean something. 1575 01:19:47,750 --> 01:19:49,666 If it means something to somebody else. 1576 01:19:49,708 --> 01:19:52,291 - We're more connected than we all think. 1577 01:19:52,333 --> 01:19:54,208 And in this world right now, 1578 01:19:54,250 --> 01:19:57,458 I think people are longing to feel like we're all connected. 1579 01:19:58,708 --> 01:20:01,250 So I mean, I think songwriting is more important 1580 01:20:01,291 --> 01:20:02,500 than it's ever been. 1581 01:20:02,541 --> 01:20:04,666 - You know, music's one of the only things 1582 01:20:04,708 --> 01:20:08,125 that I know of in the world that can turn bad into good. 1583 01:20:08,166 --> 01:20:11,250 Whatever's the worst thing that ever happened to you 1584 01:20:11,291 --> 01:20:14,125 can become a song that'll make your life better 1585 01:20:14,166 --> 01:20:15,666 and a song that'll improve the life 1586 01:20:15,708 --> 01:20:17,375 of anybody that hears it 1587 01:20:17,416 --> 01:20:19,541 who has a shared common experience. 1588 01:20:19,583 --> 01:20:22,791 Or even a sad song can be good for all kinds of people. 1589 01:20:22,833 --> 01:20:24,583 There's not many things that turn bad into good, 1590 01:20:24,625 --> 01:20:26,625 and I get to be connected to one of them. 1591 01:20:26,666 --> 01:20:30,166 - Classic songwriters, their songs will be around 1592 01:20:30,208 --> 01:20:33,083 a lot longer than you or I. 1593 01:20:33,125 --> 01:20:36,500 And it's because they're good. 1594 01:20:37,791 --> 01:20:39,000 You know, it's that simple. 1595 01:20:39,041 --> 01:20:40,625 - If you listen to Top 40 music today, 1596 01:20:40,666 --> 01:20:43,416 how many of those songs are gonna be around 1597 01:20:43,458 --> 01:20:45,375 in 50 years from now? 1598 01:20:45,416 --> 01:20:48,125 I think the answer's probably very few. 1599 01:20:48,166 --> 01:20:50,833 And I feel like I listen to the best songs 1600 01:20:50,875 --> 01:20:52,125 that come out of Nashville 1601 01:20:52,166 --> 01:20:54,041 are the songs that I think we'll be singing 1602 01:20:54,083 --> 01:20:55,291 100 years from now. 1603 01:20:55,333 --> 01:20:59,500 - This is a songwriting town, period. 1604 01:21:01,166 --> 01:21:04,125 Everything else is in the next paragraph. 1605 01:21:04,166 --> 01:21:06,416 - These people are geniuses. 1606 01:21:06,458 --> 01:21:08,916 And so I'm proud to be from Nashville, 1607 01:21:08,958 --> 01:21:12,416 because there are more kinds of music here, 1608 01:21:12,458 --> 01:21:16,791 more people doing it on a real high, professional level 1609 01:21:16,833 --> 01:21:19,958 than anywhere in the world. 1610 01:21:20,000 --> 01:21:22,250 - There are times when I could probably make 1611 01:21:22,291 --> 01:21:24,625 a little bit more money doing something else. 1612 01:21:24,666 --> 01:21:28,875 But, I just wouldn't be happy doing something else. 1613 01:21:30,083 --> 01:21:32,458 And I don't know how to do anything else. 1614 01:21:32,500 --> 01:21:36,500 - I don't think you write with this false hope 1615 01:21:36,541 --> 01:21:41,333 that you're gonna make it big, you're gonna make it rich. 1616 01:21:41,375 --> 01:21:43,291 I think you write because that's what you do, 1617 01:21:43,333 --> 01:21:44,333 that's what you are. 1618 01:21:45,583 --> 01:21:48,208 - This is better than a royalty check, right, 1619 01:21:48,250 --> 01:21:49,375 this moment right here. 1620 01:21:50,916 --> 01:21:53,541 It's bigger, better in the grand scheme of things. 1621 01:21:53,583 --> 01:21:57,708 This means more than that because it's a memory. 1622 01:21:57,750 --> 01:21:59,000 We've made a memory. 1623 01:21:59,041 --> 01:22:00,291 Instead of money, we made a memory. 1624 01:22:01,500 --> 01:22:04,666 - A song has the power to soothe your soul. 1625 01:22:04,708 --> 01:22:07,416 It has the power to speak the words 1626 01:22:07,458 --> 01:22:08,958 that you don't know how to speak. 1627 01:22:09,000 --> 01:22:13,208 It has the power to give you hope that you didn't have. 1628 01:22:13,250 --> 01:22:17,750 - And I'm ever amazed there's what, 12 notes, 26 letters, 1629 01:22:17,791 --> 01:22:21,041 and I'm ever amazed because it never fails 1630 01:22:21,083 --> 01:22:23,625 that I'll turn on the radio and go, dah. 1631 01:22:25,250 --> 01:22:29,791 I mean, it's like that idea is so good and so obvious 1632 01:22:29,833 --> 01:22:31,666 and done so well. 1633 01:22:31,708 --> 01:22:34,750 You would think we'd run out of things like that. 1634 01:22:34,791 --> 01:22:36,250 But not in this town. 1635 01:22:36,291 --> 01:22:38,458 - People say, "Well, is it any harder than it was 1636 01:22:38,500 --> 01:22:39,916 "20 years ago in Nashville?" 1637 01:22:41,125 --> 01:22:43,583 Yeah, I just tell, it's always been impossible. 1638 01:22:43,625 --> 01:22:45,166 It's always never gonna happen. 1639 01:22:45,208 --> 01:22:46,750 It's always nothing but Catch-22s. 1640 01:22:46,791 --> 01:22:49,791 It's always just screwed up and it's never gonna happen. 1641 01:22:49,833 --> 01:22:53,583 And every week, there are Number One parties for kids, 1642 01:22:53,625 --> 01:22:55,666 first Number One parties for kids. 1643 01:22:55,708 --> 01:22:59,583 - Go to a bar with your friends and drink a beer 1644 01:22:59,625 --> 01:23:01,458 with no music going. 1645 01:23:01,500 --> 01:23:03,416 You know, just think of all the things 1646 01:23:03,458 --> 01:23:08,041 that very rarely you do that you don't hear music. 1647 01:23:08,083 --> 01:23:12,250 And everybody forgets that it started with a songwriter. 1648 01:23:12,291 --> 01:23:16,375 It started with somebody that got up and went in a room 1649 01:23:16,416 --> 01:23:21,416 and had the nerve to put their journal to music. 1650 01:23:22,625 --> 01:23:24,291 - It's just crazy that it's an industry, 1651 01:23:24,333 --> 01:23:26,833 an industry where you go to work 1652 01:23:26,875 --> 01:23:29,125 having no idea what you're actually going to produce, 1653 01:23:29,166 --> 01:23:30,583 and you're gonna take an idea 1654 01:23:30,625 --> 01:23:32,500 that's floating around your head and put it on paper 1655 01:23:32,541 --> 01:23:34,916 and make it, you know, actually concrete, 1656 01:23:34,958 --> 01:23:36,958 which turns into, hopefully, a song, 1657 01:23:37,000 --> 01:23:39,250 which turns into a demo, which turns into maybe, 1658 01:23:39,291 --> 01:23:40,958 hopefully a record cut, 1659 01:23:41,000 --> 01:23:42,791 which then people over the world hear. 1660 01:23:42,833 --> 01:23:45,666 It's like what, how is that even a job? 1661 01:23:45,708 --> 01:23:48,625 - To go from there's a song I wrote 1662 01:23:48,666 --> 01:23:51,041 that my publisher walked into the room and said, 1663 01:23:51,083 --> 01:23:53,458 "That's a hit," then five months later 1664 01:23:53,500 --> 01:23:55,625 Rhianna wants to cut it, 1665 01:23:55,666 --> 01:24:00,666 then I think six months later, the first time 1666 01:24:02,166 --> 01:24:05,416 it's being performed is at the Grammy's, 1667 01:24:05,458 --> 01:24:06,833 and I'm onstage with her. 1668 01:24:08,041 --> 01:24:09,875 - There is a kind of a funny little story 1669 01:24:09,916 --> 01:24:12,250 that goes around amongst songwriters 1670 01:24:12,291 --> 01:24:15,916 that the greatest three songs ever written 1671 01:24:15,958 --> 01:24:18,666 in the history of songwriting are 1672 01:24:18,708 --> 01:24:22,625 Amazing Grace, Bridge Over Troubled Water, 1673 01:24:22,666 --> 01:24:25,708 and whatever I just finished writing. 1674 01:24:27,041 --> 01:24:28,958 - One of my favorite quotes is by Quincy Jones. 1675 01:24:29,000 --> 01:24:33,958 And he said, "You need three things to make a great record. 1676 01:24:34,000 --> 01:24:35,458 "Three things. 1677 01:24:35,500 --> 01:24:40,500 "The song, the song, and the song." [laughs] 1678 01:24:41,916 --> 01:24:45,000 - The reason I do this is that I'm chasing a feeling. 1679 01:24:45,041 --> 01:24:46,083 I'm chasing the chills. 1680 01:24:46,125 --> 01:24:47,416 - It's the best drug. 1681 01:24:48,916 --> 01:24:52,000 Besides love, it's the best drug I can think of. 1682 01:24:52,041 --> 01:24:54,250 - The beauty of my job is that I have no, 1683 01:24:54,291 --> 01:24:55,958 I've been doing it for 22 years. 1684 01:24:56,000 --> 01:24:58,041 I had 21 number one songs. 1685 01:24:58,083 --> 01:25:00,250 And I have no idea what makes a great song. 1686 01:25:01,333 --> 01:25:03,041 - They come from poets and balladiers, 1687 01:25:04,208 --> 01:25:06,958 age-old stories passed down through the years, 1688 01:25:07,000 --> 01:25:10,208 from a little baby's laughter, from lovers' tears, 1689 01:25:10,250 --> 01:25:13,541 and sometimes God just whispers in your ear. 1690 01:25:13,583 --> 01:25:16,125 [lively music] 1691 01:25:25,625 --> 01:25:28,875 [gentle country music] 1692 01:25:41,125 --> 01:25:43,666 ♪ How would a cowboy ride away 1693 01:25:43,708 --> 01:25:45,791 ♪ Off into the sun 1694 01:25:45,833 --> 01:25:50,833 ♪ How let the congregation know the wedding has begun ♪ 1695 01:25:51,750 --> 01:25:53,750 ♪ What would hush a crowd 1696 01:25:53,791 --> 01:25:56,208 ♪ Bring down the house 1697 01:25:56,250 --> 01:26:01,250 ♪ Blow the speakers out 1698 01:26:02,166 --> 01:26:04,333 ♪ How would a boxer know 1699 01:26:04,375 --> 01:26:07,083 ♪ How to climb into the ring 1700 01:26:07,125 --> 01:26:09,625 ♪ How would you know you made it home ♪ 1701 01:26:09,666 --> 01:26:12,125 ♪ If the angels didn't sing 1702 01:26:12,166 --> 01:26:17,166 ♪ What will lay its claim to your teenage pain ♪ 1703 01:26:17,958 --> 01:26:21,833 ♪ Where would you play 1704 01:26:21,875 --> 01:26:26,875 ♪ If there was no music 1705 01:26:28,041 --> 01:26:32,166 ♪ What would remind you of yourself ♪ 1706 01:26:33,083 --> 01:26:37,333 ♪ If there were no love songs 1707 01:26:38,500 --> 01:26:42,708 ♪ How would you relive how love felt ♪ 1708 01:26:44,000 --> 01:26:46,791 ♪ And what would you drive to, cry to ♪ 1709 01:26:46,833 --> 01:26:49,666 ♪ Another goodbye to 1710 01:26:49,708 --> 01:26:53,333 ♪ How would you ever get through it ♪ 1711 01:26:53,375 --> 01:26:58,375 ♪ If there was no music 1712 01:26:59,541 --> 01:27:03,708 ♪ What would remind you of yourself ♪ 1713 01:27:04,583 --> 01:27:09,041 ♪ If there was no love songs 1714 01:27:10,166 --> 01:27:14,166 ♪ How would you relive how love felt ♪ 1715 01:27:15,375 --> 01:27:18,041 ♪ What would you cry to, drive to ♪ 1716 01:27:18,083 --> 01:27:21,208 ♪ Another goodbye to 1717 01:27:21,250 --> 01:27:25,083 ♪ How would you ever get through it ♪ 1718 01:27:25,125 --> 01:27:30,125 ♪ If there was no music 1719 01:27:30,916 --> 01:27:35,333 ♪ There was no music 1720 01:27:36,250 --> 01:27:40,416 ♪ If there was no music 1721 01:27:41,208 --> 01:27:44,208 ♪ How would you do it