The Write Stuff is an occasional series about songwriters.
“When I got to middle school, I realized, ‘Oh, nobody else writes songs?'”
McKenna tells EW with a laugh.
Credit: Rick Diamond/Getty Images
McKenna, the youngest of five siblings, grew up in a musical family.
(Two of her brothers are also songwriters.)
Thanks to a father who loved musicals, music surrounded McKenna from an early age.
Becky Fluke
“It didn’t really occur to me tonotwrite songs,” she says.
In fact, she wrote her first song in elementary school.
“There’s a folk station in Boston called WUMB.
“And I delivered this song about a rodeo.
I’d never been to a rodeo, probably never seen one on TV.
I knew nothing about rodeos, I just knew there were horses and cowboys.
The song was about a woman who lost her husband to the rodeo.”
“[My siblings] used to tease me saying it was a past-life experience.”
“It was a really folky song, but the language was country.
It was like a country folk song, which is what I’m still doing,” she says.
Though it would take McKenna another 20-plus years before she realized songwriting was a potential career.
In 2004, after releasing her albumBittertown, McKenna caught the eye ofFaith Hill.
One trip to Nashville later, and suddenly she was writing songs for other artists.
EW asked McKenna to take us through some of her most memorable hits.
“Girl Crush,” by Little Big Town
I had that title in my phone.
You’d see it on Instagram, like #girlcrush.
I didn’t know what it meant.
And we just followed the song.
That’s a once-in-a-career story to me, that song just happening the way it did.
I literally didn’t get out of my pajamas.
The hardest part was making sure each one of my five kids had a place in the song.
[Laughs] I’m like, “I think I wrote a song.”
I always say I should give Tim some publishing on that because of where he brought it.
But then, he doesn’t need any money.
[Laughs]
“Cry Pretty,” by Carrie Underwood
It started with the title.
It got thrown around the room andCarriewas willing to go there.
With someone in the public eye that much you don’t know.
She’s really great to write with.
She’s a hell of a writer.
I don’t remember exactly how the words fell out.
We didn’t know the scene, and the script was evolving so much.
But I sat on the floor of the studio.
It was like a good girl session.
Gaga was wonderful to work with.
I crumbled a little thinking about my kids.
I wrote “when you’re my age” down, and that’s where the song starts.
I couldn’t finish it, so I brought it to Liz and Hillary.
When I played them the verse, Liz started singing the chorus and Hillary found our hook.
It’s a long song.
[Laughs]
I was lucky that Liz and Hillary let me cut it.
I discussed it with Tim [McGraw].
It’s an excuse for it to be yet another very personal record.
A version of this article appears inthe August issue ofEntertainment Weekly, on sale now.
