Songwriter Spotlight: An Interview with Luke Laird

Luke Laird first came to Nashville with his family on vacation while he was in high school. One night on the trip, they found themselves at the Bluebird Cafe; that was when Laird realized songwriting was a real job that people have and do every day. “That was the first time I’d seen writers playing these songs that I had heard on the radio and I was blown away. That night I decided that’s what I really wanted to do,” he states.

Laird grew up in rural Pennsylvania on the western side of the state. He began his musical journey by playing piano in kindergarten. He then picked up the guitar in first grade. “As far as writing songs, I mean the second I could put two chords together, I was making up songs,” he tells The Nash News.

In high school, he developed a deep admiration for country music, specifically 90s country. When he was looking to go to college, his mom told him about Middle Tennessee State University’s Music Business program. When he made the move to town, he took his classes while participating in writer’s rounds in Music City. After graduating, he worked for Brooks & Dunn out on the road, surrounding himself with the music industry as much as he could. Eventually, he was introduced to Chris Ogelsby at BMG Music Publishing who Laird says, “Was the first guy to believe in my songs.” Two years later, Ogelsby offered Laird his first publishing deal.

Laird scored his first number one 10 years after he first moved to town in 1997. He had been writing with Hilary Lindsey for a bit and Lindsey had already established a relationship with then-rising star Carrie Underwood. The three wrote Underwood’s track “So Small.” After the writing session was over, he felt good about the song but had no idea it would be a promotional single, let alone the lead single for Underwood’s second album, Carnival Ride.“I’m grateful to Carrie because I had zero hits and she still wrote with me,” he says, “I’ll never forget the first time I heard it on the radio. It was pretty overwhelming because you just write so many songs, you think you’re a songwriter, and you hope that this is what you’ll get to do, but it’s not like hey, you signed a publishing deal, now you get to do this for the rest of you life. Every year your pub deal comes up.” He stops to think before adding a final notion. “Having that single- it was just a lot of validation.”

Another huge hit Laird has under his name is “American Kids” which ended up being huge for Kenny Chesney in 2014. Laird wrote the song with Shane McAnally and Rodney Clawson, the idea came to the three when they were talking about growing up in rural America; they all had had similar upbringings. As they were writing it, it didn’t have a title until one of them threw out the name “American Kids.” “It just kind of summed up everything,” Laird remarks. The track was on hold for Tim McGraw, then it was on hold for Little Big Town; neither cut it. McAnally, who knows Chesney personally, played him the song on his private plane to which Chesney responded, “I’m gonna cut that.” Chesney recorded it not too long after he first heard it. The summer anthem turned fan-favorite was also nominated for Best Country Song at the 2015 Grammy Awards.

Many songwriters get a front-row seat to the big successes of artists as they blossom into their own. For Laird, that artist was Kacey Musgraves. His wife, Beth Laird, used to work at BMI so she was meeting brand new songwriters every day of the week. “One day she came home, she was like ‘I met with this one girl from Texas today who I think you would like.’ It was Kacey Musgraves,” Laird tells The Nash News. Laird took himself to a showcase she was playing in and introduced himself to her. From there, Laird, alongside Shane McAnally, did the demos of her early songs.

After an established partnership, Musgraves asked Laird and McAnally to produce her first record Same Trailer Different Park; it was the first project Laird produced. It was nominated for Best Country Album at the 2014 Grammys. While the show was live, it was announced that they had won which came as a shock to Laird who wasn’t expecting it at all. Musgraves was a brand new artist on the scene and Blake Shelton had won Album of the Year at the CMAs earlier that year. “It was one of the coolest moments of my career,” he states. “I just remember looking at the front row and looking at Jay Z and Beyonce. I was like, ‘This is hilarious.’”

Laird co-produced her sophomore LP Pageant Material and co-wrote “Space Cowboy” and “Butterflies” off of her infamous third record, Golden Hour. “Kacey, she really is a true artist. She’s an extremely gifted songwriter,” Laird says with utmost pride. “She’s one of those artists who really, can literally do anything because she is such a great writer and that’s what sets her apart from a lot of artists.”

One of the more recent songs Laird has helped craft is “AA” the latest single from Walker Hayes. When “Fancy Like” was first blowing up all over social media and the radio, McAnally had told Laird that they wanted to create a song similar to the viral hit to keep the momentum going. When Laird met with Hayes for the co-write, a conversation about their sobriety sparked the idea for the song. Laird recalls, “I was like, ‘How’s it going?’ He’s like, ‘Man, just trying to stay out of AA.’” Hayes left the write knowing it would be his next single. It has since had its own TikTok dance attached to it and is climbing the country radio charts.

Besides writing for Nashville’s brightest stars, Laird and his wife Beth founded their own publishing company Creative Nation in 2011. While Beth was hesitant, they decided to try; there was nothing to lose. “We did it. You know, fortunately, signing a writer like Barry Dean early on was a big deal because he really took a risk with us,” Luke says about the business venture. “It’s been fun to curate a writing roster and a staff of people that we love hanging out with and that we believe in and are super talented. I wouldn’t trade it for anything." Creative Nation has also signed hit-makers Lori McKenna and Steve Moakler.

When asked what he’s looking forward to, he can barely contain his excitement for Creative Nation artist Kassi Ashton who is currently promoting her first radio single, “Dates In Pickup Trucks.” Ashton signed with Creative Nation before she even graduated from Belmont University. He also mentions the potential of writers Travis Wood and Derek Bahr. After beaming with excitement about the fostering of these burgeoning, young creatives, he adds, “I just wake up excited to create.”

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