BEHIND THE SONG: "Hillbilly Bone"

On Wednesday, May 12th, the Music Row community gathered to toast the success of Blake Shelton’s sixth number one song “Hillbilly Bone.” The song was written by two Nashville songwriters who aren’t strangers to the top of the charts: Craig Wiseman and Luke Laird. Craig has been a part of a total of 18 number one songs including Kenny Chesney’s “The Good Stuff” and Tim McGraw’s “Live Like You Were Dying,” while Luke has co-written a few of Carrie Underwood’s chart-toppers like “Last Name,” “So Small” and her most recent number one “Temporary Home.”

Although both of the writers have had their share of success, having a chart topping song is something that never gets old. Wiseman shares, “I have had a few and people are always like, ‘Oh, by now I guess you’re used to it,’ but that’s the great thing about the music business there’s always, always enough songs that crash and burn and enough things that fall through that make you appreciate those number ones when they happen.” Laird adds, “It’s very exciting. Some people don’t realize how many songs you actually write to get [here.]”

When it came to the writing session for the “Hillbilly Bone,” the pair had initially been working on a different song but then decided to pursue something else. They also had a little inspiration from a unique source. Craig explains, “Luke’s got this guy called ‘Snowflake,’ who’s this alter personality. He does this blue-eyed rapper thing that is freakin’ killer. This motivated me through the first half of it, and then I realized ‘Oh my God, this is a hit song.’” Luke says that a couple of specific lines in the song really caught his attention. He shares, “Craig said those first two lines – the Conway Twitty [line] – and I about lost it on the floor. I just thought it was so funny, and it just felt right.”

When Blake cut the tune for his first Six-Pak album, it came as a surprise to the writers. Laird explains, “It just caught me completely off guard when they called and said Blake Shelton was cutting it. I was like, ‘What?’ I was so excited.” Craig adds of Shelton, “I kept hearing that he’s a great guy, hilarious guy…you would love hanging out with him… I had no idea that he could sing with that sense of humor.” The addition of Trace Adkins to the track was “perfect,” according to Wiseman.

For Craig, one of the keys to the success of “Hillbilly Bone” was that it amused people. He says, “You try to entertain people. You know, if you’re sitting there boring yourself writing a song, guess what the reaction is probably going to be? This was probably a textbook example of that. We thoroughly entertained ourselves through every moment, every aspect of this thing. We were just having a great time.”

Image courtesy of Warner Music Nashville

Nikita Palmer for Citadel Digital © 2010

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