We take you behind the scenes and explore the making of one of our favorite tunes with The Song Remembers When…
Song: “Southern Girl”
Songwriters: Jaren Johnston, Rodney Clawson, and Lee Thomas Miller
Album: Two Lanes of Freedom
In the summer of 2013, Tim McGraw released the fourth single from his album Two Lanes Of Freedom. For Tim, releasing “Southern Girl” was a no brainer. They’d been playing a lot of the new music on tour, and it wasn’t even a full weekend of shows before the crowds started to yell out for “Southern Girl.”
Jaren Johnston of The Cadillac Three was one of the writers. Jaren said that after the song had been written, he took it home and felt like it was missing something. So, he added the lines “southern girl, rock my world.” Knowing that Tim was interested in the song, he looked up the color of Faith Hill’s eyes and added “hazel eyes and golden curls.” According to Jaren, once Tim heard that part, it cemented the deal.
In November 2013, “Southern Girl” peaked just shy of the top spot, hanging at number two for two consecutive weeks.