The best songs are inspired by real, normal people and real-life situations. Here are some songs that were either inspired by fans or just regular people.
Videos by American Songwriter
“Jolene” by Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton‘s “Jolene” is famously inspired by a bank teller who was flirty towards her husband, Carl Dean. However, Parton got the idea to name the character in her song “Jolene” from a fan at a show. Parton told the story in an interview with NPR. “I got the name from a little girl that had come up to the stage for an autograph in my early early career,” she explained. “I said, ‘you are the prettiest thing I have ever seen.’ She had this red hair, green eyes, fair skin, and I said what is your name, and she said ‘Jolene.’” Parton shared that she even told the little girl she was going to write a song about her. So, if that girl ever heard it, she would know she inspired it. That has to be the biggest flex of all time.
“I Drive Your Truck” by Lee Brice
This song, written by writers Connie Harrington, Jessi Alexander and Jimmy Yeary was actually inspired by a radio interview that Harrington was listening to on Memorial Day. NPR was interviewing a man whose son had died in Afghanistan. He shared that, to honor his memory, he would drive his son’s truck. After writing the song, the writers shared in an interview that they thought Lee Brice, who was a relatively new artist at the time, was a perfect choice for the song simply because of his storytelling ability. “We felt that people would really respond to him. And he’s such a great storyteller. So we were all for it,” Harrington explained. As a result of the song coming out, Lee Brice would eventually meet Paul Monti, the father from the interview.
“We Still Drink Beer” by Luke Combs
“We Still Drink Beer” isn’t technically released, but it was fan-inspired. Combs shared in a video posted to Twitter (now X) that he wrote it after seeing a fan’s tweet. “We’re writing songs for album three,” he shared. “We were sittin’ here today and started to work on this song and I happen to get on Twitter and see this guy who tweeted me and Miller Lite and was like, ‘Hey, if you don’t reply to this I don’t know what to say.’”
Combs continued, explaining that the fan, Billy McKee, had shared a photo of him from his wedding day, where a beer box was covering his head, and his friends were standing around him drinking. Referring to McKee as “beerbox head guy,” Combs admitted, “It kind of just inspired this song, it absolutely inspired this song.”
Photo by: Frank Micelotta/The Walt Disney Company via Getty Images
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