Country music is loaded with artists who sing their way into superstar status. But what happens when they’re also ace in the recording studio? And they’re not only producing themselves, but they’re also producing other singers.
Country music has a crop of highly successful hitmakers who are working behind the scenes to build the next generation of the genre’s stars.
Kristian Bush, Tim McGraw, Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild, and Rascal Flatts’ Jay DeMarcus are among the country stars who also produce hits for other artists.
Here’s the tune-up:
Videos by American Songwriter
Kristian Bush
Kristian Bush of Sugarland fame not only produces Sugarland, but he also co-produced the duo’s recent single with Little Big Town, a cover of Phil Collins’ 1985 release “Take Me Home.” He’s also produced songs for Lindsay Ell, Tyler Farr, and Frankie Ballard.
Currently, his handiwork can be heard on country radio in the form of Runaway June’s new song “New Kind of Emotion,” and he just picked up an Academy of Country Music Awards nomination for producing Megan Moroney’s Album of the Year contender Am I Okay? (I’ll Be Fine).
Bush discovered Moroney when she served as his intern in Georgia and has helped guide her career and music since then. Moroney recently launched her 50-date “Am I Okay?” headlining tour and will perform on the ACM Awards in a couple of weeks.
In addition to Sugarland, Bush is also a solo artist who plays with his folk-pop duo, Billy Pilgrim, and his improvisational rock group, Dark Water.
Jason Aldean
Jason Aldean just nabbed a No. 1 as a producer this week for producing his duet with John Morgan, “Friends Like That.” Aldean also signed Morgan to his publishing company and label imprint Night Train Records.
The pair met through an Uber driver following one of Morgan’s early trips to Nashville. The driver took Morgan and one of his friends to dinner and mentioned he’d been in Nashville for 20 years. He said he’d been writing songs for a long time, too. The men didn’t talk again until a year later when the driver walked into the store where Morgan worked.
Morgan had been writing songs and recording demos in his bedroom, and the men reconnected to write songs. The driver was good friends with one of Aldean’s band members, and the three men started writing songs together. A couple of weeks later, Morgan was mowing his lawn when his phone rang.
“I’m like, ‘Hello?’” Morgan said. “He’s like, ‘Hey man, this is Jason Aldean. I got your number from Tulley. I just want to give you a call.’ It was just funny. He was like, ‘Man, I heard some of your stuff. What are you doing now?’”
The conversation led to the men working together. Aldean signed Morgan to his publishing company and his record label.
“What I loved about him is he saw me as an artist, too,” Morgan explained, “not just a writer, a track guy. It was a great growing time for me to learn where my lane was.”
Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild
Karen Fairchild met Shelby Lynne through Ashley Monroe, and the women started writing songs together. Fairchild was enamored with Lynne’s creativity but also found her intimidating. However, when they met, everything changed. Fairchild told Variety that when she walked in the door the first time, Lynne gave her a big hug.
“Shelby just has that Alabama, Southern drawl, and she was like, ‘Hey sis, I’ve been watching you for a long time,’” Fairchild said. “And I think we wrote three songs that day, she and Ashley and I; we just hit it off.”
The women convinced her to rerecord and rerelease her renowned I Am Shelby Lynne that day, too. Fairchild stepped up as co-producer and manager out of necessity.
“I feel a little bit like a gatekeeper for her, and I want to make sure that she’s taken care of and celebrated,” Fairchild told Variety. “So, she’s letting me do it. Or we’re doing it together, just seeing what happens next. Whatever she wants to do, we’ll just do, following her lead.”
Tim McGraw
Tim McGraw has a closer-than-typical relationship with new artist Timothy Wayne. The up-and-coming singer is signed to MCA (formerly UMG Nashville) and is McGraw’s nephew. McGraw is co-producing Wayne with Byron Gallimore.
Wayne recently released “That’d Be You,” which he co-wrote with Mark Collie and Jamie Moore. McGraw and Gallimore produced it.
“I came into the studio with the idea of writing a love song,” Wayne said in a statement. “I had the melody, so I called Mark Collie, and he reached out to Jamie Moore to set up the session. We started tossing around ideas, and after experimenting with the melody and lyrics, ‘That’d Be You’ came to life. It was a really special moment when we finished. This song means a lot to me, especially since it was inspired by my girlfriend, whom I met at LSU. I wrote it not long after we started dating.”
Rascal Flatts’ Jay DeMarcus
Rascal Flatts’ Jay DeMarcus produces other artists and has his own record label, Red Street Records. He just co-produced Chris Lane’s new Abby Anderson collaboration, “Fire We Found,” for his label, also home to artists including Jason Crabb, Ryan Larkins, and Neon Union.
DeMarcus has worked behind the scenes for years, producing music for both country music icons and up-and-comers. As a producer, DeMarcus has worked with Reba McEntire, Rascal Flatts, Chicago, Alabama, Jo Dee Messina, Kix Brooks, Ronnie Dunn, Lucy Hale, and more.
(Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
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