Nashville songwriting star J.T. Harding reveals his hard-luck climb to chart-topping success
He's written hits for Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney, Blake Shelton and more — 'Nashville is the living, breathing American dream at work,' Harding tells Fox News Digital
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Ask hit songwriter J.T. Harding — born in Detroit and now a Nashville resident — to share his views about why country music is so important to Americans, and you'll practically get a poem.
Harding is a songwriting star who made it big after humble beginnings. He shared key life lessons in a new interview just as his new book was going on sale.
"Whether it’s about a good or a bad day at work, a heartbreak or falling in love and feeling a first kiss, when a country song comes on the radio people say, ‘This song is about me’ because the lyrics are so relatable," Harding told Fox News Digital in an interview ahead of the publication of his book, "Party Like a Rockstar."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Nashville is the living, breathing American dream at work."
Harding has written hits for Keith Urban ("Somewhere in My Car"), Kenny Chesney ("Bar at the End of the World"), Blake Shelton ("Sangria"), Uncle Kracker ("Smile") and many more.
Fox News Channel's Dana Perino told Fox News Digital that "J.T. Harding's [new] book had me laughing, crying, and then laughing again. It's the perfect memoir for readers of all ages. I can’t recommend it highly enough. Party like a rockstar, indeed!"
Read on for some revealing details about J.T. Harding.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News Digital: Your love for country music practically leaps off every page of your book. Why is country music so important in America, in your view?
J.T. Harding: The motto for country music has always been, "Three chords and the truth" — three simple guitar chords and the lyrics over them are the truth. Whether it’s about a good or a bad day at work, a heartbreak or falling in love and feeling a first kiss, when a country song comes on the radio people say, "This song is about me" because the lyrics are so relatable.
J.T. Harding co-wrote "Sangria," a hit in 2015 for Blake Shelton, shown here with Gwen Stefani at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards in Jan. 2020 in Los Angeles. Says songwriter Harding in his book, "Surrounding myself with people more talented than I am has made all the difference in my life." (Photo by David Crotty/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
Harding (con't): It's not only country music. Certainly Bruce Springsteen and Prince songs make me feel like that.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}But country music has always been based on storytelling lyrics that are three-minute movies!
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I grew up in Detroit. Camping to me is a hotel and a hair dryer. I wasn’t near a farm. I didn't ride on tractors. But when I heard the song "Marina del Rey" by George Strait, I had to pull my car over to the side of the road and sit there listening because it was so relatable.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}I fell in love with country music then and there.
J.T. Harding has written number-one songs for Keith Urban (shown here in Nashville in November 2021), Kenny Chesney, Blake Shelton, Dierks Bentley, Jake Owen and Uncle Kracker — Harding wrote the 3-million-selling song "Smile" for Uncle Kracker. Nashville "is a small town that's a big city," Harding told Fox News Digital. (Photo by John Shearer/Getty Images for CMA)
Harding (cont'd): Nashville is called "music city." The reason it’s an important city is because it's full of dreamers, people who want to write songs, who want to get discovered.
It's also a community. Everyone is supportive of each other.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}It's a small town that’s a big city.
J. T. Harding is author of "Party Like a Rockstar." He told Fox News Digital about his climb to success in the music business, "Keep working, keep being nice to people — and don't get bitter." (Fred Hayes)
Harding (cont'd): People move here to make things happen — and do. Nashville is the living, breathing American dream at work.
Fox News Digital: What are some of the life lessons you've learned in your career?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Harding: My heart's been broken more than the ice cream machine at McDonald’s because of the music business. But what I’ve learned is that you have to take a deep breath, regroup and persevere.
Keep working, keep being nice to people — and don't get bitter.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}As far as songwriting goes, I thought when I came to Nashville, if I could just write a song with someone who was already a success, then that would make me a success, too. That's not how it happens. You can’t leapfrog to the front of the line. Find your own tribe and rise together.
Harding (far left) along with his band before they opened for Uncle Kracker. "Find your own tribe and rise together," Harding told Fox News Digital about creating success in any field or endeavor. (J.T. Harding)
Fox News Digital: If you had to do it all over again, would you do anything different in your career?
Harding: If I could do it all over again, I would tell myself to relax and trust myself more. There's magic in the climb.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}All the twists and turns and roadblocks I had to maneuver around are the most fun to talk about now, looking back.
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Fox News Digital: What's the most surprising thing you learned about some of your heroes and music icons along the way?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Harding: The most surprising thing I’ve learned about being around my heroes is how calm, confident and talented they are. I’ve never been in a room with someone famous who wasn’t incredibly focused on what they wanted to achieve — and that’s inspiring. You do not become a superstar by accident, I'm convinced of that.
"I want to be as kind as I can to people because God has been incredibly kind to me."
Fox News Digital: Regarding your upbringing in Detroit, you say you feel like you were "taken by the hand of God and given to the greatest parents ever." Tell us more about that.
Harding: Growing up, I mainly went to church on Christmas and Easter. My dad even teased me once when I said, "Are we going to the Christmas church?" I didn’t know any better.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}I believe that the universe was created by something great, something loving, something forgiving. I feel that people are allowed to call it whatever they want in their own heart.
J.T. Harding (at left), with Uncle Kracker and Steve Taylor during a Zoom show. Early on in his career, Harding said, "I didn’t know anybody in the business or how to write songs that made the hair stand up on someone's neck." (J.T. Harding)
Harding (cont'd): When I come up against an obstacle, or a disappointment, I remind myself that the day I was born and given up for adoption, I landed in the hands of the greatest parents anyone has ever known.
I truly believe God made that happen. So I lean back on that, and it gives me strength. It reminds me to have faith and be as kind as I can to people because God has been incredibly kind to me.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News Digital: Your parents inspired your work ethic, you say. Can you share more?
Harding: My parents and everyone else’s parents I knew in Michigan worked very hard. I would overhear my dad in the basement rehearsing a sales pitch for a meeting he had.
My mom was a tax person — for the first four months of every year, she would have her head down doing all the paperwork for her clients like she was on a mission.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}J.T. Harding as a kid, with some of his closest pals (he's in the red pants). ( J.T. Harding)
Harding (cont'd): On the weekends we cleaned house and mowed the lawn. I’m allergic to all of that kind of work, but it instilled in me that things don’t just happen. You have to make them happen.
So when I put bands together, we rehearsed like an army when I started writing songs.
Harding (cont'd): If I knew my name was going to be on it, I wanted to make sure it was something I’d be proud of every time. My dad told me you can do anything you want to do in this life — just do it your best.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News Digital: You also say you "just had to go for it." Why?
Harding: I didn’t know anybody in the business or how to write songs that made the hair stand up on someone's neck.
J. T. Harding's new book, just out, is "Party Like a Rockstar: The Crazy, Coincidental, Hard-Luck and Harmonious Life of a Songwriter." (Twelve Books, Grand Central Publishing)
Harding (cont'd): I didn’t have any sort of map besides Van Halen interviews.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}My book is the book I wish someone had written when I dreamed of being in the music business.
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My story is a wild and funny rollercoaster ride full of colorful characters. I’m so excited to share it with everybody and anybody who has a dream and is figuring out how to chase it.