BEHIND THE SONG: "A Little More Country Than That"

It’s not very often that a new artist sees their debut single become a number one hit, but Easton Corbin recently achieved that impressive feat with “A Little More Country Than That.”  It’s a fact that seems to overwhelm the newcomer.  Easton explains, “It feels really good, I’ll be honest with you.  It’s so surreal right now.  It’s just kind of one of those things.  Well, I haven’t been able to slow down really to tell what it feels like, we’ve been so busy.  It feels great.  It’s just a blessing.”  He continues, “I just feel so fortunate, because – a new artist, first single going number one, what’s the odds of that?  Not very good.”  The last time a debut song from a newcomer hit the top was in 2003 when Dierks Bentley did it with “What Was I Thinkin’.”

For Easton, the bearer of his good fortune was his wife Brinn.  He shares, “It was Sunday morning, and I hadn’t even got up, and my wife went and – she was looking at all the charts and stuff, and she gets to where she looks at it more than I do.”  Easton goes on, “She started hollering and shouting for joy, I guess, and woke me out of a good sleep, but that was pretty good to wake up to.”

When Easton found the song at one of Music Row’s publishing companies, he felt like it was a perfect fit.  He says, “It pretty much paints a picture of where I come from and where I grew up and so that’s why that really hit home with me, and I really related to it.”  However, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood of Lady Antebellum recently spoofed the song for those who found it not-so-relatable with their rendition of “A Little More Preppy Than That.”  Easton didn’t take offense; in fact, he thought that “it was really cool, and it was very flattering that they’d be nice enough to…give me a shout-out.”

“A Little More Country Than That” was written by Wynn Varble, Rory Lee Feek (of Joey + Rory fame) and Don Poythress five years ago at famed songwriter Mickey Newbury’s cabin on Old Hickory Lake in the Middle Tennessee area.  Wynn shares, “We wrote two songs.  Rory had an idea called ‘A Little More Country Than That,’ and we sat down and wrote that and then we wrote another one called ‘Album No. 2,’ which is the title cut to [Joey + Rory’s] new album.”  Rory chimes in, “It was a good day.” 

In an interesting turn of events, the trio was actually writing that day with a different artist than Easton in mind.  Don explains, “The funny thing is that the person that we first wrote it for wouldn’t cut it because they said that they [didn’t] wear a hat, so they didn’t feel right doing it.”  He continues, “We thought, ‘It doesn’t have to be a cowboy hat; it could be a cap,’ which is what it turned out to be with Easton.”

The writers are proud of such a traditional country tune topping the charts in a world that seems to some to be filled with songs that lean a little more pop.  Rory says, “We miss [traditional music] a lot, so I think probably [the song] draws on the kind of music we love the most and also the kind of lyric we love, just really simple stuff.  It’s not brain surgery, but for some reason, it sure does connect.”

Those on Music Row gathered to celebrate the songwriters and Easton’s success on Monday, April 12th which happened to be Easton’s birthday as well.  Look for his follow-up single from his self-titled debut album to be “Roll With It,” hitting airwaves soon.

Nikita Palmer for Citadel Digital © 2010

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