Luke Laird shares stories from his life and career as part of the Museum’s Poets and Prophets interview series, which highlights legendary songwriters. This live interview and performance was recorded on October 28, 2023.

During the interview with the Museum’s Dave Paulson, Laird shares about his first visit to Nashville as a teenager with his family, which included stops at iconic Music City locations: Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge; Opryland, where he met songwriter Tim Nichols; the Nashville Palace, where Laird took the stage to perform with the house band; and the Bluebird Café, where he met songwriter Tony Arata and realized he aspired to be a professional songwriter. Laird later discusses his move to the area from his home of Hartstown, Pennsylvania, to attend Middle Tennessee State University as a recording industry management major and his excitement over securing a spot to perform at the Bluebird’s songwriters night while in college. He also talks about collaborating with artist-songwriters including Carrie Underwood, Kacey Musgraves, and Eric Church.

Laird performs the song “Give Me Back My Hometown,” which he co-wrote with Church and reached #1 on the “Billboard” Country Airplay chart. He opens up about his struggle with sobriety and performs “That’s Why I Don’t Drink Anymore,” from his 2020 album, “Music Row.” Through Laird’s voice memos and preliminary recordings, the audience also gets a peek into his thought process for “Hard to Forget,” recorded by Sam Hunt, which samples Webb Pierce’s “There Stands the Glass.” Laird closes the show with a performance of Kenny Chesney’s #1 Country Airplay song “American Kids” and demonstrates his contributions to the overall groove of the song.

After graduating from MTSU in 2001, Laird took a job as assistant tour manager for Country Music Hall of Fame duo Brooks & Dunn, and the following year signed his first song-publishing contract. He has written more than twenty #1 songs since 2007, when Carrie Underwood reached the top of the country chart with “So Small,” which she co-wrote with Laird and Hillary Lindsey. Laird’s biggest hits also include Eric Church’s “Drink in My Hand,” Sara Evans’s “A Little Bit Stronger,” Little Big Town’s “Pontoon,” Blake Shelton and Trace Adkins’s “Hillbilly Bone,” and others. As a producer, Laird has worked with Brett Eldredge, Mickey Guyton, Thomas Rhett, and others. He co-produced Kacey Musgraves’s albums “Same Trailer Different Park” (which won a Grammy for Best Country Album) and “Pageant Material,” and he co-wrote six songs on each album. Laird also co-wrote Musgraves’s Grammy-winning song “Space Cowboy,” from her third major-label album, “Golden Hour.” His other accolades include six Country Music Association Triple Play Awards (2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017) and the Academy of Country Music’s Songwriter of the Year award (2015). In 2011, Laird and his wife, Beth Mason Laird, co-founded Creative Nation, a music publishing and management company.

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