Written by Bill Anderson and Jon Randall.

Bill had set up a writing session with Jon when he happened to see him in a parking lot. He mentioned the upcoming writing session and mentioned he was looking forward to it because he had a really nice line that he want to incorporate or write about. Jon kinda made a comment to the effect that he really didn't care about the upcoming session. He explained that it was only 2pm and already he had lost his publishing deal, his record company had said they were terminating his record deal, and to top that off, he had been thrown out of his apartment. What else could go wrong the rest of the day?

Bill walked off after talking with Jon a bit. Jon ended up asking a friend of his if he could stay on his couch for a few days until he could find a place to call his own. The friend agreed and for the next several weeks Jon took comfort in the bottle mostly staying inebriated. He remembered the writing session and sobered up. Before he headed out to the writing session with Bill, he apologized to his friend for the things he had put his friend through for the past few weeks. His friend replied to Jon with a few things. "No problem Jon, that's what friends are for. I've put the bottle to my head and pulled the trigger a few times myself."

Jon headed to the writing room at Sony studios with that line stuck in his head. The writing room at Sony was the only room with no outside view so with nothing to distract them, Jon and Bill settled in to write. Jon asked Bill about the line that Bill had mentioned several weeks ago in the parking lot but had never told him what it was. Bill replied he was thinking about the line.... "The burning end of a midnight cigarette" but wasn't sure where to take it from there.

Over the next several hours..... they wrote Whiskey Lullaby. The song was pitched to Nashville artists, and the Dixie Chicks put it on hold. Unfortunately, they were in the midst of the big controversy over what they had said about the president while onstage, and with all the drama around that issue, they ended up eventually passing on the song. Brad Paisley heard it and wanted it but he wanted to do it as a duet and wanted Allison Krauss to sing it.....and the rest, as they say.... is history. It peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and #41 on the Hot 100, but became a huge success, winning the CMA Song of the Year and earning multiple Platinum certifications.


You can find my music at:
www.herbhartley.com
Add nothing that adds nothing to the music.
You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.

The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.