For their third and final—for now—installation of The Songwriter Tapes, decorated songwriters Luke Laird, Lori McKenna, and Barry Dean are yet again demonstrating the timelessness of a great song. Each volume of The Songwriter Tapes includes brand new recordings of three songs that even part-time country music fans will be familiar with, if not already fans of, and one tune that has yet to see the light of day.
Choosing the four songs for each of the songwriters to sing was a collaborative process. And while it may have been difficult to narrow it down to 12 tracks after more than 65 collective years in country music, the result is a timeless anthology of career-defining songs from as far back as 2004 and as recent as 2020.
Out March 31st, The Songwriter Tapes Vol. 3 rounds out the previous volumes with four more time-tested classics: Dean’s 2004 hit with Martina McBride, “God’s Will,” McKenna’s contribution to the well-loved canon of The Highwomen, “Crowded Table,” and the pre-release single the trio shared today, Laird performing his 2014 co-write with Eric Church, “Give Me Back My Hometown.”
“I went to write with Eric Church in his cabin. When I got there, he said, ‘I want to write a song with only one line in the chorus.’ That line was ‘Give Me Back My Hometown,’” remembers Laird. “Eric is a modern-day poet and while we were writing he came up with some incredible lines that didn’t even make it to the final version. But that’s Eric, he’s always serving the song. The one line that always makes me smile is the ‘Pizza Hut’ line. It takes me right back to growing up in northwestern Pennsylvania.”
Fans can check out the Songwriter Tapes version of “Give Me Back My Hometown” today at this link and pre-order or pre-save The Songwriter Tapes Vol. 3 ahead of its March 31st release right here. For those who have yet to explore Vol. 1 or Vol. 2, they can be streamed or purchased at their respective links. For more information, please visit creativenationmusic.com.
The Songwriter Tapes Vol. 3 Tracklist:
“Give Me Back My Hometown” performed by Luke Laird (Recorded by Eric Church in 2014)
(Luke Laird, Eric Church)
“God’s Will” performed by Barry Dean (Recorded by Martina McBride in 2004)
(Barry Dean, Tom Douglas)
“Crowded Table” performed by Lori McKenna (Recorded by The Highwomen in 2019)
(Lori McKenna, Natalie Hemby, Brandi Carlile)
“If I Had Known” performed by Barry Dean
(Lori McKenna, Barry Dean, Michael Pollack)