EXPERT TESTIMONY

Given by Grammy-winning songwriter Lori McKenna to Mark Small

A Career Built to Her Specs

Lori McKenna

Lori McKenna has become one of country music’s most an everyday writer, and if I lived there I’d feel the pressure to sought-after songwriters without having ever having lived write everyday because everyone else does. I don’t know if in Nashville. A lifelong Massachusetts resident, she opted to that would be good for me. I like to get an idea and let it grow. stay local even when it became apparent that moving to the Music City could boost her career. “My life would be easier if In addition to writing, you still make albums and I lived there, but the lives of those in my family would not be tour as an artist. easier,” she says. McKenna is a married mother of five chil- I do. After I released The Bird and the Rifle I did a tour of about dren who puts family first and has succeeded at building a 16 shows. Unless I am touring an album, I only do shows here career on her own terms. and there, I don’t go out for a year at a time like others do. If So far, McKenna has nabbed two Grammy Awards in the you do that, it’s hard to write, and writing is my favorite part. Best Country Song category. The first was in 2015 for cowriting I want to be able to write and get my songs cut by bigger the hit “Girl Crush” for Little Big Town. The second came ear- artists. My manager Beth told me that having my artist side lier this year for “Humble and Kind,” a smash for Tim McGraw. makes me a better writer overall. She taught me that I could The latter was also the first song written by a solo songwriter do both things in a way that honors each without having to to reach number one on Billboard’s country charts in four years. pick one over the other. It’s two jobs, but if you’re not writing every day or playing a show every weekend, you can do both. She has also won awards from the Country Music Association, the Academy of Country Music, the Nashville Songwriters After having a recording contract with Warner International, ASCAP, and the Boston Music Awards. Reba Music Nashville, what made you return to McEntire, Alison Krauss, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Keith Urban, recording for indie labels? Hunter Hayes, Mandy Moore, and Sara Evans are among the I remember making the Unglamorous record [2007] for many artists who have recorded her songs. Warner Bros with Byron Gallimore and Tim McGraw pro- McKenna started writing as a teenager, but she didn’t start ducing. There were a lot of musicians and this grand way of singing her songs at open mic nights around Boston until she making a record that was so much fun. I remember an A&R was 28 and had three children. Since releasing her debut album guy from the label coming in and saying, “We’re going to sell Paper Wings and Halo in 2000, McKenna has completed nine a million records!” But I was thinking, “No we’re not.” I was more. The music on her 2016 album, The Bird and the Rifle, net- a little scared thinking that if it took off and we had a hit ted her three Grammy nominations. A year after she signed a on country radio that I wouldn’t be able to chase it. But that publishing deal in 2004, Faith Hill cut four of McKenna’s songs, didn’t happen. I learned so much and it was a great experience for me. and her songwriting career began to lift off. She estimates that When it came time to make the next record, the 360-deal was in she has written more than 1,000 songs to date. play. I loved the people at Warner—the president and A&R peo- McKenna, who is self-taught, spent two afternoons last ple—but I would have had to take a 360-deal where they would summer sharing her hard-won wisdom with Berklee songwrit- take a part of my publishing, merch, and touring. I couldn’t hand ers. She imparted two key points: First, each songwriter has to over any of my publishing. That’s what was keeping me afloat. find his or her path to a career, and second, until you are writing So I asked to get out. It was a fun experience before we all went great songs, no one can help you make your career a success. our separate ways.

Was it an adjustment for you to begin cowriting What has been your reaction when you hear the with others after working so long on your own? version a top singer and producer have made of When I first got a publishing deal, I was about 35 and had your song for the first time? never cowritten a song. Some of my songwriter friends were I got a text from Karen Fairchild [of Little Big Town] when telling me that if I hadn’t been cowriting, I shouldn’t start. they were cutting “Happy People” saying she couldn’t wait But I started and loved it. So many things opened up. Looking for me to hear it. I had five songs on that record [The Breaker]. back years later, I find now that writing songs as part of a I was in Nashville when they finished, and Karen invited me community is one of my strengths. to meet them for a glass of wine. Four of us sat in her car lis- tening to the mixes. It’s always in a car! I remember the first How often do you go to Nashville for writing time I heard [Tim McGraw’s version of] “Humble and Kind” sessions? I was in a publisher’s car outside Sony Publishing. I just lost I’m down there two or three times a month and I usually stay it—it was so good. I’ve been really lucky that I’ve never heard for three days on each trip. I miss opportunities sometimes my song and thought, “Oh no. What have they done?” because I’m not living there, but that’s good in a way. I’m not

28 Berklee today