From Blake Shelton’s R&B-tinged “Sure Be Cool If You Did” to Maren Morris’ soulful surprise hit “The Bones”, Jimmy Robbins’ lyrical fingerprints are all over contemporary country music. Born in Raleigh, North Carolina, on this day (September 3) in 1989, the songwriter has amassed 12 chart-topping hits — all before his 40th birthday. He achieved three of those number-one hits in the same 12-month period, winning the prestigious CMA Triple Play Award in 2014.
Today, we’re taking a look at the life and career so far of James Michael Robbins, who turns 37 years old today.
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Jimmy Robbins Has a Passion for “Real Stories”
Raised in North Carolina’s capital city, Jimmy Robbins has a background in performing, having spent his teenage years touring with various pop-punk bands.
That path led him from his hometown to first New York, then Los Angeles, before he moved to Nashville in 2012.
His arrival on Music Row coincided with a shift toward more narrative-driven storytelling in country music. Robbins has found ample success in that lyrical vein, penning more than 300 songs across multiple genres.
“I got here at a time where the format was ready for… maybe the lyric was different from what I was writing in my pop-rock bands, but melodically and stuff, they were kind of the same songs,” he told Songwriting magazine in July 2026.
His commitment to the craft of storytelling is a common thread among the number-one songs he has penned in the last two decades. Robbins’ number-one hits include “half of my hometown” (Kelsea Ballerini and Kenny Chesney), “The Bones” and “I Could Use A Love Song” (Maren Morris), “It Goes Like This” (Thomas Rhett), “Sure Be Cool If You Did” (Blake Shelton), “We Were Us” (Keith Urban & Miranda Lambert), “Whatever She’s Got” (David Nail), “Beachin’” (Jake Owen), “Lights Come On” (Jason Aldean), and “Think A Little Less” (Michael Ray).
“I think real stories are so important,” Robbins told American Songwriter in 2023. “I can write a song about anything. But if there’s truth in it, then those are inevitably the ones that end up connecting. And that doesn’t mean it has to be a serious song. A fun song can be true, but as long as you’re coming from a place where it means something to somebody, it’s going to be a better song.”
Success in Contemporary Country Music
Additionally, Jimmy Robbins has collected three trophies from the Country Music Association.
He took home Musical Event of the Year twice, in 2014 — for “We Were Us” by Miranda Lambert and Keith Urban — and 2021; for “Half Of My Hometown” by Kelsea Ballerini and Kenny Chesney.
In 2020, Robbins also won Song of the Year for Maren Morris’ “The Bones”.
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On top of his many songwriting accomplishments, he has also produced songs for Carly Pearce, Keith Urban, Brett Young, Cole Swindell, Maddie & Tae, Mickey Guyton, Sabrina Carpenter, and more.
(Photo by Lauren “Lo” Smith/CBS via Getty Images)
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Unspecified – 1974: Conway Twitty performing on the ABC tv special 'The 1974 Country Music Awards'. (Photo by Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images) -
Group shot of English rock and roll band The Rolling Stones posed in 1968. Clockwise from top left: Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman, Brian Jones (1942-1969), Mick jagger and Keith Richards. (Photo by Mark Hayward Archive/Redferns)
