A country way of life, Episode 5 (Weldon Myrick, Byron Gallimore, Natalie Hemby)

Author: Jonny Brick.

Producer: Byron Gallimore

The sound of Tim McGraw has been masterminded by producer Byron Gallimore, who spotted McGraw performing at a bar and has said he has ‘an incredible sense of who he is and what he wants to do’. The 30-year partnership began with McGraw’s self-titled debut album in 1993 album and continues to this day; Gallimore produced the 2023 album Standing Room Only.

Having made a living as a farmer who also wrote songs, Gallimore moved to Nashville to run Charley Pride’s publishing company. Pride cut his compositions Missin’ Mississippi and Ev’ry Heart Should Have One. Gallimore also worked with Faith Hill on the album Breathe, whose title song was a number two pop hit.

Jo Dee Messina, Phil Vassar and Sugarland also called upon Gallimore’s services for tracks like Bye Bye, Just Another Day In Paradise and Stuck Like Glue.

Player: Weldon Myrick

The Nashville A Team contained multitudes, and Weldon Myrick was another studio cat who played steel guitar on some of country’s finest cuts. That’s Myrick that you can hear on Once a Day, the Connie Smith standard, on Drift Away by Dobie Gray and Jerry Jeff Walker’s original version of Mr Bojangles.

Born in Texas, young Weldon picked up his brother’s steel guitar and began appearing on radio stations at the age of 13 playing sessions, coming across fellow Texan Buddy Holly along the way. Initially hired by Bill Anderson, who wrote Once a Day, Myrick went on to play steel guitar as part of the Opry band for three decades.

Over in the studio, he backed Kris Kristofferson, David Allan Coe, Reba McEntire and Linda Ronstadt. He also played pedal steel on Paper Roses by Marie Osmond and on Alan Jackson’s early albums, including the track Chattahoochee.

Songwriter: Natalie Hemby

It seemed obvious that Natalie Hemby would follow her father Tom into the music business. He was a guitarist who went on the road with Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald and Vince Gill, although his biggest success came as part of Amy Grant’s band. What’s more, Natalie’s mum Deanna was Amy’s PA.

Having put aside her dream to be a performer, it took Natalie a decade of plugging away for her to become an A-List collaborator and writing partner, mainly to Miranda Lambert. Having married Mike Wrucke, who co-produced Lambert’s first three albums on a major label, Hemby and Lambert struck up a professional and personal relationship.

The pair wrote White Liar, Only Prettier and Highway Vagabond together, as well as seven cuts on the album Platinum including the radio hit Automatic and the underrated Priscilla, a song where Lambert felt sympathy with Elvis Presley’s wife, given that she had also married a musician.

Hemby was a co-writer on three tracks on the Kacey Musgraves album Golden Hour including closing ballad Rainbow. She was also in the room for two showstoppers that Lady Gaga sang in the movie A Star Is Born, Always Remember Us This Way and I’ll Never Love Again.

At writer’s rounds, Hemby plays a song called Jealous that was written with and recorded by British r’n’b act Labrinth. She often tells the story of buying a Pontoon boat and how, when the song of that name came on the radio, the guy selling her the boat said he hated the song; little did he know that he was selling the boat to the lady who came up with the initial opening line ‘back this bitch up into the water’.

Hemby also plays songs from the two albums she released under her own name, one of which was named Puxico after a town in her home state of Illinois where her grandpa lived. She is also a quarter of The Highwomen, the supergroup made up of her, Brandi Carlile, Amanda Shires and Maren Morris, who released their self-titled album in 2019.

All Episodes can be found here

For more country music evangelism, go to countrywol.com where you can read Monday essays, Friday reviews and Sunday Hymn Sheets. Follow Jonny’s Country Music Calendar at the Country Way of Life Facebook page (facebook.com/acountrywayoflife).