Featured Songwriter: Ashley Gorley

I am kicking off a new segment of my blog which is to discuss prolific songwriters and what makes them so popular.

First up, Ashley Gorley has won more than a dozen Songwriter of the Year awards (through different organizations) and written 43 # 1 singles for artists such as Sam Hunt, Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton, Dierks Bentley, and tons of other country artists you know and love. You can listen to those hits on the Spotify playlist at the bottom of this article.

I am going to list three samples of songs on with he was Head Writer and discuss what makes these songs hits.

Marry Me, Thomas Rhett

She wants to get married, she wants it perfect
She wants her grand-daddy preaching the service
Yeah, she wants magnolias out in the country
Not too many people, save her daddy some money

Ooh, she got it all planned out
Yeah, I can see it all right now

I’ll wear my black suit, black tie, hide out in the back
I’ll do a strong shot of whiskey straight out the flask
I’ll try to make it through without crying so nobody sees
Yeah, she wanna get married
But she don’t wanna marry me

I remember the night when I almost kissed her
Yeah, I kinda freaked out, we’d been friends for forever
And I always wondered if she felt the same way
When I got the invite, I knew it was too late

And I know her daddy’s been dreading this day
Oh, but he don’t know he ain’t the only one giving her away

I’ll wear my black suit, black tie, hide out in the back
I’ll do a strong shot of whiskey straight out the flask
I’ll try to make it through without crying so nobody sees
Yeah, she wanna get married
But she don’t wanna marry me

Bet she got on her dress now, welcoming the guests now
I could try to find her, get it off of my chest now
But I ain’t gonna mess it up, so I’ll wish her the best now

So I’m in my black suit, black tie, hiding out in the back
Doing a strong shot of whiskey straight out the flask
I’ll try to make it through without crying so nobody sees
Yeah, she wanna get married
Yeah, she gonna get married
But she ain’t gonna marry me
Whoa, she ain’t gonna marry me, no

Heartbeat, Carrie Underwood

I love it when we’re at a party in a down-town crowd
Oh but I can hear you call me baby with the music up loud
Red wine, good times, no I don’t mind being with everyone else
And then there’s night life tonight that I, I want you to myself

And tonight I wanna drive so far we’ll only find static on the radio
And we can’t see those city lights and I love the way you look in a firefly glow
Saying everything without making a sound,
A cricket choir in the background, underneath a harvest moon
Standing on your shoes in my bare feet, dancing to the rhythm of your heartbeat
Oh woah, and we’re dancing to the rhythm of your heartbeat

I wanna feel it like a kick drum, beating faster in your chest
I wanna feel you holding onto me and make me hold my breath
You pull me closer, my head on your shoulder, baby we won’t beat the song
We’ll make a fallen star wish, one more slow kiss, what are we waiting on?

And tonight I wanna drive so far we’ll only find static on the radio
And we can’t see those city lights and I love the way you look in a firefly glow
Saying everything without making a sound,
A cricket choir in the background, underneath a harvest moon
Standing on your shoes in my bare feet, dancing to the rhythm of your heartbeat
Yeah we’re dancing to the rhythm of your heartbeat

I wanna feel it like a kick drum, beating faster in your chest

And tonight I wanna drive so far we’ll only find static on the radio
And we can’t see those city lights and I love the way you look in a firefly glow
Saying everything without making a sound,
A river rolling in the background, underneath a harvest moon
Standing on your shoes in my bare feet, dancing to the rhythm of your heartbeat
And we’re dancing to the rhythm of your heartbeat

Rumor, Lee Brice

Girl, you know I’ve known you forever
How many nights we hung out together
Same little crowd, little bar, little town
‘Round this old dance floor
My boys are laughing and tap me on the shoulder
Making a motion like, “Could y’all get any closer?”
They wanna know what’s up why I’m still holding ya
Even when the song is over

There’s a rumor going ’round about me and you
Stirring up our little town the last week or two
So tell me why we even trying to deny this feeling
I feel it, don’t you feel it too?
There’s a rumor going ’round, and ’round, and ’round
What d’you say we make it true?
We make it true
Oh, we make it true

Well I can shut ’em down, tell ’em all they’re crazy
I can do whatever you want me to do, baby
Or you could lay one on me right now
We could really give them something to talk about

There’s a rumor going ’round about me and you
Stirring up our little town the last week or two
So tell me why we even trying to deny this feeling
I feel it, don’t you feel it too?
There’s a rumor going ’round, and ’round, and ’round
What d’you say we make it true, baby?

Oh, be honest, girl, now
Do you want to do this or not?
Should we keep them talking, girl
Or should we just make ’em stop?

There’s a rumor going ’round about me and you
Stirring up our little town the last week or two
Oh, tell me why we even trying to deny this feeling
I feel it and you feel it too
There’s a rumor going ’round, and ’round, and ’round
What d’you say we make it
Make it true
What d’you say we make it true?
Come on over here
Let’s really give them something to talk about, baby
(Talk about, baby) there’s a rumor going ’round

What do these songs share in common?

One of the most prominent elements I notice that Ashley’s songs tend to give more detail to a scene. As if he specifically wrote the song for a music video. If you watched the Thomas Rhett music video, the verses pretty much describe exactly what is happening in the video. As a listener, this type of writing makes for very fun listening, as if I am being told a story.

Do you notice anything about his music that makes it so popular? Be sure to comment.