![]() And it’s like, that’s when you kind of go, “Wow, we got lucky.Search and download from millions of songs, albums and concerts. I was looking out and women started singing it back. So, it’s Harlan County, right? So, I start playing this song, right, and after the first chorus I got verklempt. It was up (near) West Virginia in Harlan County (Kentucky). You know they’ve got the barbed wire and the guys with guns and all these women in gray. MH: One of the wildest ones, I was actually playing a women’s prison with my wife, you know with her work that she does at Thistle Farms. And ‘Broken Road’ was our song at our wedding.” You know, because their story was that story.īB: That’s what you hear, “It’s our song, it’s our song.” (My husband) bought me tickets to see you guys as a birthday (gift). JH: We were playing a gig in Oklahoma the other night, this was three days ago, and this woman comes up to me, she said, “It’s my 50th birthday party. It’s their recovery song, it’s their wedding song, they play it at funerals and everything you can imagine. What do you hear week after week, year after year since the song has been recorded?īB: I hear from everybody. And the message in that song, man, I can’t imagine what you guys hear from it. I hear all kinds of artists say they looked at it, they wanted it, they were waiting for it.īH: Songs are catalysts, songs are spiritual, they’re emotional. I know, at one point, Faith Hill wanted it and at the same time Colin Raye did, so neither one of them did it. I remember.īB: Personally, Reba McEntire told me she was going to cut it. It really was just a beautiful recording (by) the producers and all three of those guys. It was written in ‘94 and they cut it in 2004.īH: Could they have made a better record? The song was literally 10 years old when they cut it. You want a song to be brand spankin’ new, unless you’re going for a classic cover. JH: I would say it’s like the use-by date on a carton of milk. I think they were a little bit scared because it had been a single before, which is normal in this business. Or they had it before that and kept saying they were going to record it, right?īB: Right. ![]() Our record company didn’t hear any hits on the album so we moved right on from that.īH: And then, finally, Rascal Flatts get it. When we recorded it, it was probably a month and a half or two months old, the song at that point. MH: The first was on the (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s) album "Acoustic." But not that good.īH: Well, this song has been recorded multiple times. ![]() But you know, I’ve been lucky that they’re all pretty good. We won’t talk about how many songs I don’t write. I am the laziest songwriter in this town. MH: I was going to say, that’s high praise, actually. She was like, “Damn, really?”īH: And she’s one of the greatest songwriters ever. JH: And I brought it home to Matraca and she said "expletive," as a writer. We started it and I think about a week later, I came back and we put the finishes touches on it. That resonates with me." And like he said, we got to work. You had "God bless the broken road that led me straight to you." I was like, "Man, right there. JH: A little bit of the chorus and a little bit of the first verse as well. I was like, “That’s pretty great.” He starts singing and he had a good chunk. JH: He’d sat down at the piano and played this now famous (melody). … As soon as (Jeff) came back, I took what little I had and we went to work. He had married a good friend of ours, Matraca. I remember thinking that I was waiting on Jeff to get back from a honeymoon. He knew he was in love, and that everything that had happened was really blessed, in a different way of looking at it. MH: He was talking about things that had been tough, but how he was really in love. And then a couple months later, Marcus came back and played me something. I told it to Marcus one night over drinks, just how divorce and all these things bring you somewhere and then God uses that to take you where you’re supposed to go. I had the storyline in my spirit and I was trying to figure it out. In a conversation with Bart Herbison of Nashville Songwriters Association International, the writers remembered how "Bless the Broken Road" came to be.īB: Well, a lot of heartbroken roads, I guess, in my life. The country trio took the song - written by Bobby E Boyd, Jeff Hanna and Marcus Hummon - to the top of the country charts shortly thereafter. Like the protagonist in its lyrics, "Bless the Broken Road" had a complicated journey before it made its way to Rascal Flatts in 2004. "God blessed the broken road that led me straight to you.” Watch Video: Story Behind the Song: 'Bless the Broken Road'
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