4 Country Artists Who Rarely Write Any of Their Own Music

Some country artists feel like it’s important to write most, if not all, of their own music. And some artists are happy to record songs written by other people. These four country artists rarely write their own music, yet manage to record songs that sound like they could have written them.

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Tim McGraw

Tim McGraw can write songs. In fact, he has written some of his own songs, including “If You’re Reading This” and “Over And Over”, the latter a collaboration with Nelly. But most of McGraw’s biggest hits, including “Live Like You Were Dying”, “Humble And Kind”, and “Something Like That” were all written by other country artists or songwriters.

“Those that know me know that I write, but I rarely cut stuff that I write,” McGraw explains. “If I write something, I’m pretty hard on it. I write for every album, but I always put the song first. The song’s gotta win and that’s just the way I am. And mine’s gonna have to really just scratch my eyeballs out to make me cut it, ’cause I’m so hard on myself with it.”

Blake Shelton

Like McGraw, Blake Shelton can write his own music. He can actually be quite a prolific songwriter, penning “All Over Me” and “Turnin’ Me On”, among others. But most of Shelton’s songs were written by someone else. In fact, he only wrote one song, “All Of My Love”, from his latest For Recreational Use Only album. His previous Body Language album also only had one song written by Shelton.

“I’m a fan of songwriters, and there’s so many great songwriters in Nashville,” Shelton tells American Songwriter. “If I look at my song next to some of these songs, I’m going, ‘Man, this is trash compared to what these writers come up with.’”

Martina McBride

Martina McBride’s lengthy career in country music is built on her picking great songs, even if she didn’t write most of them. McBride has written some, including her Top 5 “Anyway” single and “How I Feel”, both from her 2007 Waking Up Laughing record.

But for McBride, her ability to choose great songs is what makes her so successful. McBride’s last studio album, Reckless, came out in 2016. In an interview that year, she admits that songwriting changed from when she got her start in the 90s.

“Songwriting has changed, because, for the past few years, there has been a formula at country radio — ‘bro-country,’ or whatever you want to call it. But there is a formula, definitely,” McBride laments (via The Boot). “Songwriters have to make a living, and they write songs for the formula. But it’s taking a turn again back to — I don’t want to say real songs, because they are real songs — but toward songs that are more lyrics-based, more broad, that really touch on human emotions and human stories, and are not quite so one-dimensional.”

Jason Aldean

Jason Aldean has written some of his songs, including the title track of his 2023 Highway Desperado album. Aldean knows he can write songs, but he just doesn’t think they are as good as someone else’s.

“My problem was always and still is — it’s not that I don’t write or can’t write,” Aldean says (via Taste of Country). “I’m just my own worst critic.”

When Aldean moved to Nashville, he planned on being a songwriter. Unfortunately, that plan didn’t last for his entire career.

“I moved here and started writing for Warner Brothers, Warner Chappell,” he reveals. “And that’s how I got to town. So I was the guy in there writing every day and writing a ton of songs.”

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