Songwriter Session feat. Tom Douglas: at The Country Music Hall of Fame (Nashville, TN) Sat. November 17, 2012

Songwriter Session feat. Tom Douglas

Country

Nashville Scene Critic's Pick …

Tom Douglas took a sensible route into songwriting, if it’s possible to say such a thing. He didn’t quit his day job in real estate until after Paul Worley had heard his song “Little Rock” at a workshop and signed him to a publishing deal, Collin Raye had cut it and it had become a bona fide hit. At 41, Douglas was anything but a starving-artist kid when the deal went down, but he certainly made up for lost time, supplying big songs to successive generations of hitmakers, from Martina McBride and Tim McGraw up through Lady Antebellum. Piano is Douglas’ instrument, and he gravitates toward the sort of sentimental balladry that makes statements about what really matters in life. That did as much for Miranda Lambert as it has for any act. She snatched up “The House That Built Me” when it was pitched to Blake Shelton, and the song’s down-to-earth vulnerability helped her win over country radio to a degree none of her ass-kicking revenge numbers had.

— JEWLY HIGHT