3 Songwriters Who Were Behind the Biggest Hits of 90s Country

What’s the saying – “not all heroes wear capes?” Well, in this case, not all songbirds are seen by the spotlight. Songwriters live interesting lives, constantly pouring their thoughts out on paper so bigger voices can sing them aloud. But from time to time, they deserve to get a shout too. Here are some songwriters who wrote some of the biggest country hits of the 90s. You may not know their names, but you definitely know their words.

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Gretchen Peters

Wrote: “Independence Day” by Martina McBride

“Independence Day” took country music by storm when Martina McBride released it in July of 1996. The song touches on domestic violence and tells the story of a woman who does what she has to do to get freedom from her situation.

Peters shared her thought process on writing the song with SongFacts. While Peters admitted she couldn’t relate to the song’s message, she feels it through those who resonate with it the most.

“I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve done that song and had a woman come up to me at the end of a show, trying to keep it together and then just losing it and crying,” she shared. “And I usually just can feel it. I know what it means, and it’s usually that she’s been through a situation like that.”

Peters has also had hits with artists like George Strait, Trisha Yearwood, and Faith Hill.

Tony Arata

Wrote: “The Dance” by Garth Brooks

Before Garth Brooks got his hands on this song, “The Dance” was actually pitched to several labels in Nashville, all of which chose not to take it off Arata’s hands. Little did those labels know that the song would become one of Brooks’ biggest hits, as well as his “favorite” song of his, as he said in 1994.

Don Tolle, a business partner of Arata’s, credited the songwriter for being able to write a song that doesn’t have that many lyrics but says so much.

“If you go back and analyze that song, it’s a classic,” Tolle explained to Rolling Stone. “There are very few lyrics in that song. And yet every word in there needs to be there, and there’s not a single thing missing. But there’s a lot of space – it breathes.”

Arata would also go on to have songs recorded by Trisha Yearwood, Emmylou Harris, and Clay Walker.

Don Von Tress

Wrote: “Achy Breaky Heart” by Billy Ray Cyrus

When Don Von Tress wrote “Achy Breaky Heart”, which became a major crossover hit for Cyrus, he was just one of those guys “wanting to hear a song of [his] on the radio”.

Somehow, the song reached Billy Ray, who hadn’t had his big break yet. “Everybody was jumping up and down about the song. Really, something in us told us it had great potential,” Von Tress told The Tennessean. But it was Nashville, and you’re competing with a pile of great writers and great songs, so it took a while.”

When Cyrus heard “Achy Breaky Heart”, something just clicked. “Billy heard the record, and he said, ‘That’s me,’” explained Von Tress. Turns out he was right. Today, it’s still the song that people think of when they think of Billy Ray.

Photo by: Ebet Roberts/Redferns