![]() ![]() Compiled by Dave Paulson, The Tennessean He said, "They get off the bus and come down to Music Row and they give them a record deal, but they won't give me one." I had to listen to this before we started writing every time.īut anyway, he says, "You know, by the time I pay expenses and pay the band, I go and play six, eight hours a night, and I don't make anything." I said, "I think I've got an idea for you." I pulled out "Chasin' that neon rainbow, living that honky tonk dream." He'd been in town for two or three years, done all of these showcases and couldn't get a deal. He started telling me about driving down to Florida and Arkansas. He had this old Dodge van that him and the band traveled in. And he didn't get his deal until, I guess, late '88 or '89. 1 with Waylon with "Rose of Paradise" about the time we first got together in '87. it clicked immediately.Ī lot of writers wouldn't have written with that guy that hadn't had success, because you had. There's no difference in the way we think. We started talking, and Alan is from Newnan, Ga. We'd open the window and prop the door open with one of Kris' (awards) I think it was an ACM trophy. I guess Kris had so many, he forgot to take them to Hawaii with him. It's where Kris Kristofferson used to write. We went upstairs on the third floor, which was off limits according to the fire marshal, but we used to write up there anyway. We met at the old Combine (Music) building, which is not there anymore. He said, 'Would you write with me?' I said, 'Yeah, we'll get together and see what happens.' One day he called me, and said, 'Man, I'm familiar with your work.' He was a Conway Twitty and Keith Whitley fan. One night about 2 in the morning I was (driving) and I pulled over and wrote down, 'Chasin' that neon rainbow, living that honky tonk dream.' I'd pull it out and look at it, and I thought, 'I know what this is about, but I think I might have to have a co-writer.'įast-forward two or three years, and I kept seeing this tall guy with cowboy boots and a big ol' hat on at the office, which is now EMI. So I didn't know about being on the road and all that. I'd had the idea for (the song) for about two years, but I was never in a band, and I didn't play a single gig. I believe that was the first song we wrote together. This was your first co-write with Alan Jackson? McBride told the story of "Chasin' That Neon Rainbow" to Bart Herbison of Nashville Songwriters Association International. ![]() It was the first of many songs the pair would go on to write together. Luckily, he found a co-writer: a struggling singer who'd paid enough dues for the both of them. "I was never in a band, and I didn't play a single gig," the Nashville songwriter says. Jim McBride was driving late at night when the perfect hook for a song hit him: "Chasin' that neon rainbow, livin' that honky tonk dream." It'd be the perfect anthem for a musician who'd paid their dues in clubs and logged thousands of miles in a van in hopes of becoming a star. ![]()
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