Coming Soon: Country's Biggest Hits, In Demo Form

Videos by American Songwriter

“It all starts with a song.” That phrase has become for Nashville a lover’s casual “I love you too” that, despite its truth, has become tired and trite from years of overuse without any attempt to discover why it’s true.

On October 19 Warner Bros. Records is correcting this and reminding us of why “It all starts with a song” is true, with the release of The Original Songwriter Demos Volumes 1 & 2.

As the name suggests, these two discs present hit songs like “The Dance” (Tony Arata) and “Jesus Take the Wheel” (Hillary Lindsey, Gordie Sampson, Brett James) as the artists, Garth Brooks and Carrie Underwood, originally heard them, before they belonged to anyone but the hands and minds that penned them.

The album presents each song in its original form, as the writer first intended it to sound. The Original Songwriter Demos Volumes 1 & 2 offers twenty years’ worth of inspiration.

Track listing for the Original Songwriter Demos:

Volume 1

1. The Dance – Garth Brooks (Tony Arata)
2. Strawberry Wine – Deanna Carter (Matraca Berg, Gary Harrison)
3. Something Like That – Tim McGraw (Rick Ferrell, Keith Follese)
4. Independence Day – Martina McBride (Gretchen Peters)
5. Bless the Broken Road – Rascal Flatts (Jeff Hanna, Marcus Hummon, Bobby Boyd)
6. It’s Five O’ Clock Somewhere – Alan Jackson (Jim Brown, Donald Rollins)
7. She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy – Kenny Chesney (Jim Collins, Paul Overstreet)
8. I Hope You Dance – LeAnn Womack (Mark Sanders, Tia Sillers)
9. Amazed – Lonestar (Marv Green, Chris Lindsey, Aimme Mayo)
10. The House That Built Me – Miranda Lambert (Tom Douglas, Allen Shamblin)

Volume 2

1. Check Yes Or No – George Strait (Dana Hunt, Danny Wells)
2. If Tomorrow Never Comes – Garth Brooks (Kent Blazy, Garth Brooks)
3. It’s Your Love – Tim McGraw and Faith Hill (Stephony Smith)
4. If You’re Going Through Hell – Rodney Adkins (Dave Berg, Annie Tate, Sam Tate)
5. I Swear – John Michael Montgomery (Gary Baker, Frank Myers)
6. How Do I Live – LeAnn Rimes (Diane Warren)
7. Ain’t Nothing ‘Bout You – Brooks and Dunn (Rivers Rutherford, Tom Shapiro)
8. Every Day – Rascal Flatts (Alissa Moreno, Jeffrey Steele)
9. How Forever Feels – Kenny Chesney (Wendell Mobley, Tony Mullins)
10. Jesus Take the Wheel – Carrie Underwood (Hillary Lindsey, Gordie Sampson, Brett James)