Synopses & Reviews
Youve heard them on the radio, listened to them on repeat for days, and sang along at the top of your lungsbut have you ever wondered about the real stories behind all your favorite country songs? Nashville Songwriter gives readers the first completely authorized collection of the true stories that inspired hits by the biggest multi-platinum country superstars of the last half centuryrecounted by the songwriters themselves. Award-winning music biographer Jake Brown gives readers an unprecedented, intimate glimpse inside the world of country music songwriting.
Featuring exclusive commentary from country superstars and chapter-length interviews with todays biggest hit-writers on Music Row, this book chronicles the stories behind smash hits such as:
Willie Nelsons Always on My Mind”
Tim McGraws Live Like You Were Dying,” Southern Voice,” and Real Good Man”
George Joness Tennessee Whiskey”
Carrie Underwoods Jesus Take the Wheel” and Cowboy Casanova”
Brooks and Dunns Aint Nothing Bout You”
Lady Antebellums We Owned the Night” and Just a Kiss”
Brad Paisleys Mud on the Tires,” We Danced,” and Im Still a Guy”
Luke Bryans Play It Again,” Crash My Party,” and Thats My Kind of Night”
The Oak Ridge Boyss American Made”
George Straits Ocean Front Property” and The Best Day,”
Rascal Flattss Fast Cars and Freedom,” and Take Me There”
Kenny Chesneys Living in Fast Forward” and When the Sun Goes Down”
Ricochets Daddys Money”
Montgomery Gentrys If You Ever Stop Loving Me”
The Cricketss I Fought the Law”
Tom T. Halls A Week in a County Jail” and That Song Is Driving Me Crazy”
Trace Adkinss Youre Gonna Miss This”
David Lee Murphys Dust on the Bottle”
Jason Aldeans Big Green Tractor” and Fly Over States”
And many more top country hits over the past 40 years!
Review
"
Nashville Songwriter is an outstanding read from cover to cover. If you have any interest at all in what goes on behind the scenes in the songwriting business, you need to read this book."
American Songwriter Magazine
"You know the words, but do you know the story behind them? In a new book, Nashville Songwriter, music biographer Jake Brown interviews elite country songwriters 'to get the true stories behind country musics biggest and most enduring hits.'"
Parade Magazine
"With back stories on such titles as Willie Nelsons "Always On My Mind," Carrie Underwoods Jesus, Take the Wheel” and Tim McGraws "Live Like You Were Dying," the book puts songwriters in the spotlight, including artist-writers Bill Anderson, Tom T. Hall and David Lee Murphy, as well as such full-time authors as Neil Thrasher ("Fly Over States"), Tom Shapiro ("Aint Nothing Bout You"), Dallas Davidson ("Play It Again") and Dean Dillon ("Ocean Front Property")."
Billboard Country
About the Author
Award-winning Music biographer Jake Brown has written 35 published books in his decade-long career, featuring many authorized collaborations with some of rock's biggest artists, including 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Heart (with Ann and Nancy Wilson), living guitar legend Joe Satriani, heavy metal pioneers Motorhead (with Lemmy Kilmister), late hip hop icon Tupac Shakur (with the estate), late Funk pioneer Rick James, superstar country music anthology Nashville Songwriter, and the all-star rock producers anthology Behind the Boards, among many others. Brown has also appeared as the featured biographer of record on Fuse TVs Live Through This series and Bloomberg TVs Game Changers series. In 2012, Brown won the Association for Recorded Sound Collections Awards in the category of Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research.