How would you describe the song as a music fan? I think it’s that James Taylor vibe we kinda tune into when we’re together.ĪS: Step outside the song for a moment. It’s funny though… when Garth and I write, it comes out more folky than anything else I’ve written. He’s very creative musically and lyrically, but will also listen to your suggestions. Ha! A few years later I had the pleasure of being Garth’s opening act at his historic Central Park concert where I got to witness one million fans waving their lighters and singing OUR song!ĪS: What has your overall experience been like collaborating with Garth? I just thought he was delusional because nobody had done that in country music and it seemed way too ambitious. He knew he was going to play arenas someday. We both wanted success so badly though I have to say, he saw it even clearer than I did. VS: That song summed up exactly what Garth and I were feeling. Maybe two hours? It was fast, not counting the two hours before of bad ideas. After that, the song came pretty quickly. After a few minutes, Garth said, “I got it! Turn it off.” I turned off the CD and Garth started playing the first few lines on the guitar of “The River.” It just started flowing (pun intended). Sometimes playing music frees your mind up to go other places that have nothing to do with what you’re listening to and that’s exactly what happened. What are you into lately?” I told him I had just bought the newest James Taylor album (That’s Why I’m Here) and so I put it on. Finally, Garth said, “Let’s just take a break. Anyway, Garth came over and we tried to come up with an idea to write and nothing was happening. My roommate wasn’t home that afternoon. I used to share a house with Jess Leary who went on to write hits like “Where the Green Grass Grows” and “Mi Via Loca.” Back then we were just trying to get noticed. Victoria Shaw: Garth and I wrote “The River” in my little house in East Nashville on McCarn St. For more, read our interview with Shaw, who talks about “The River” below:Īmerican Songwriter: When and where did you and Garth write “The River?” It can live on longer than anyone-even the dreamer-expects. Today the songwriter, of course, is still going strong, selling out shows, releasing music, and maintaining his status as one of the most important performers in country music, even 30 years after the release of “The River.”īut that’s what a dream can do. For the stadium-filling, “The River” is just another chance to imbue passion into the hearts of many.Īnd doing so, singing this way, both emboldens his audience and Brooks himself. Perhaps more than anything else, Brooks’ ability to inspire both large groups of people and individuals is his biggest superpower. To begin the song, Brooks delivers the lyrics with a fragile, hopeful voice: One of the greatest awards that this song has ever received was the fact that it was played at Dale Wehr’s funeral. And this is what happens when two dreamers get together and write from the heart. Victoria Shaw is a wonderful writer and a wonderful friend. “ Of all songs, most of the letters I receive concern ‘The River.’ It is a song of inspiration… a song that I will be proud of a hundred years from now. In the liner notes for his 1994 greatest hits compilation record, The Hits, Brooks wrote: And it appeared on Brooks’ album that year, Ropin’ the Wind, his third studio LP. Hot Country Songs and Canada Country Tracks. The meaning behind the song itself is centered on the idea of following your dreams no matter how turbulent life can be.įollowing its release in 1991, “The River” later hit No. Brooks co-wrote the song with award-winning American country artist Victoria Shaw (more on her below!). Just one dreamer helping another to push on through life’s rapids and impending shores.įor the 59-yeard-old Tulsa, Oklahoma-born Brooks, “The River” has lasted as one of his most beloved songs throughout the decades. So, that’s why when Brooks says he was inspired by Taylor to write his hit song, “The River,” it’s a big deal. But he’ll never know the godsend he was to our family.” I’ve tried to explain that to James, how much I appreciate it. “But if you came home and heard James Taylor on the stereo, it was going to be a good, peaceful, wonderful night. If you had an argument, you ended up in the backyard. “I owe James my life because, you know, our house was not an easy house to grow up in. “My older brother Mike brought a James Taylor record into our house and our house finally agreed on one music,” Brooks told American Songwriter in 2020. Brooks, who was raised in both a music-loving and at times-rough-and-tumble household, said that at any time, there could be fisticuffs afoot but when he came home and heard Taylor on the stereo, he knew things were okay. In our cover story with the legend Garth Brooks, he told American Songwriter how important James Taylor was to him while growing up.
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