'Blessed' Songwriter Hillary Lindsey Blossoms by Lorie Hollabaugh

'Blessed' Songwriter Hillary Lindsey Blossoms

By Lorie Hollabaugh

The instant success of Carrie Underwood's smash single "Jesus, Take the Wheel" took its creators by surprise.

When Hillary Lindsey wrote the song with Brett James and Gordie Sampson, they feared that its overtly religious tone might doom it to failure.

"I was really surprised and very grateful that it did so well," Lindsey said. "I wasn't quite sure at first how it was going to be accepted, simply because it said Jesus in it. But it obviously worked."

The song resonated so strongly with fans that it helped drive Underwood's debut album to double Platinum sales. It's not the only Lindsey song to have that effect.

Lindsey arrived in Nashville as a budding young artist hopeful in a sea of music business students at Nashville's Belmont University in the mid-1990s. The Washington, Ga., native began writing songs at 10. One of her first was about a friend of her parents going through a divorce.

"It was kind of like a diary for me," she said. "That's how it started."

A family friend, banjo player and songwriter Buddy Blackmon, suggested she move to Music City after seeing Lindsey perform. Blackmon, who has done work for Trisha Yearwood, hired her to sing her first demo and gave her a check for $40.

"I saved it," she said. "I didn't want to cash it 'cause I knew that was the start of something for me."

The story recently came full circle when producer Garth Fundis asked Lindsey to sing on some songs she had penned for Yearwood's 2005 album Jasper County.

"It was a happy song we were working on, and when I got done doing it, Trisha was there with Garth (Fundis) and they said, 'Why don't you sit at the console and listen to it with us here in the front?' So I had my eyes closed and was listening to it, and I pulled my head up and started to cry. I told her my story and said, 'You don't understand - you're the inspiration!' I was so embarrassed. But it was a cool moment."

While at Belmont, Lindsey performed at Jack's Guitar Bar and interned at Patrick Joseph Music and the MCA Nashville publicity department between college classes. In her final year of school she took off a semester and was offered a publishing contract by Pat Finch at Famous Music. She never looked back.

In her first year as a staff writer, Lindsey garnered eight cuts.

"My first cut was 'I Won't Lie,' Shannon Brown's first single," she recalled. "Then Martina McBride cut 'From the Ashes,' and that totally started it for me. I'm a huge Martina fan. I can remember being in the car with my two sisters and my dad driving us and listening to 'Independence Day' and we're all seeing who can hit the notes."

McBride became a fan of Lindsey's music as well, cutting another of her songs, "Blessed," which became the writer's first No.1 in 2002. Lindsey and co-writers James and Troy Verges had McBride in mind when they penned the joyful tune about appreciating the bounty in your life. More cuts quickly followed, including "Backseat Of A Greyhound Bus" by Sara Evans, "Shadows" by Faith Hill and "Painless" by Lee Ann Womack.

Darrell Franklin, a song-plugger for Dann Huff Productions, said Lindsey "has an old soul that goes way beyond her years."

"The results are strong melodies that artists are drawn to, and lyrics that show great depth and emotion," Franklin said. "Although she has unlimited versatility and a natural sense of commerciality, it is never at the expense of crafting a great unique melody and lyric. Hillary is one of the few writers on Music Row that you can go to for anything. She does it all and she does it all very good."

The pop community is starting to take notice. Lindsey Lohan recorded Lindsey's song, "The Very Last Moment in Time" on her first album Speak. The songwriter has also had success internationally, with Warner artist Ilse Delange and Austrian singer Verena recording Lindsey songs.

Although Lindsey has written elsewhere, she prefers Nashville.

"Nothing against L.A. or New York, but Nashville is really the place to be as a writer," she said. "Everybody had total open arms to me when I got here. It's a good town for that, full of creativity and talent. It's like college for songwriters here."

May 16, 2006

Hillary Lindsey performs at Joe's Pub in New York City during

CMA's "Country Takes NYC" in November 2005.