Songwriters already get inspiration from their favorite artists everyday, so why not write songs about them? Here are three country songs that bit the bullet, and wrote songs inspired by other country artists.
“Springsteen” by Eric Church
Eric Church wrote “Springsteen” after attending a concert with a girl he was interested in at the time. Although the artist at the concert actually wasn’t Springsteen at all, to Church, the Boss seemed like the perfect person to center the song around. Springsteen would later share his love for the song on a letter to Church, which was written on the back of one of his setlists.
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“It’s a pretty incredible note,” Church later admitted to Billboard. “It’s the first time I’ve officially heard from him. I had heard he was a fan of the song, but it’s the first time I officially heard. It means the world to me — and the set list is three hours and 37 minutes. That impressed me, too.”
“Johnny & June” by Heidi Newfield
Not only is this song an ode to Johnny Cash and June Carter, but also their love for each other. Newfield, who struck up a friendship with the country stars in the later years of their lives, actually got to spend Christmas with them one year, as she told Bethany Bowman. It was then that the “Johnny & June” singer got to see their love unfold in real time.
“Getting to spend Christmas with them in such an intimate way is an experience I will never forget,” she shared. “Their love and respect for one another was palpable. It was precious to watch them at that time in their lives when they were older.”
“Tim McGraw” by Taylor Swift
This one felt like an obvious addition, even though the song itself isn’t really about Tim McGraw. It’s an ode to teenage love, as is the case for much of a young Taylor Swift’s work. The starlet revealed to The Boot that her reason for choosing Tim specifically actually stemmed from genuine admiration.
“The concept for this song hit me because I was dating a guy who moved away, and it was going to be over for us,” she explained. “So I started thinking of things that I knew would remind him of me. The first thing that came to mind was that my favorite song is by Tim McGraw.”
Photo by: Ebet Roberts/Getty Images
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