Brent is a hit songwriter with cuts by Alan Jackson, Randy Travis, Lady Antebellum, Joe Nichols, Gord Bamford, Ray Stevens, and more.  He’s written a top 5 hit in the US and a #1 in Canada… so far.

First of all, “The House That Built Me” is one of the strongest hooks I’ve heard in forever.  Strong.  But, of course, a great title is only part of a commercial hit.  A big piece of the puzzle is writing that hook in a way that fits the commercial marketplace, and this is where I want to focus today.

In the 1990’s, the winning way to write “The House That Built Me” would’ve been to make it a 3-act play:

1st verse: I was a kid, put my handprints in the wet cement, etc.

Chorus: That’s the house that built me.

2nd verse: I was stuck in my bedroom after getting grounded, and that’s when I started playing guitar.

Chorus: That’s the house that built me.

Bridge: I came home to find myself again.

Chorus: That’s the house that built me.

Makes sense, right?  That would be the country 101 way to write it.  But today, most everything is “in the moment.”  Look at how the writers, Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin, still get in a bunch of snapshots of the singer’s past, but frame them in the present.  Those handprints in the front steps ARE mine.  My favorite dog IS buried in the yard. Great work.  The 1990’s were awesome, but this ain’t the 1990’s anymore.

Brent

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