Ep. 259: Jessi Alexander on Writing "The Climb" The Week She Almost Quit... + What It Takes To Last as a Nashville Songwriter

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Today's guest wrote "The Climb." She also wrote "I Drive Your Truck," "Mine Would Be You," "Don't Think Jesus," and "Ain't No Love in Oklahoma." But her real story isn't the hits. It's the ten years before the first one, the five years after it when the phone stopped ringing, and what she figured out in between about how to actually last in this business.From a dropped record deal and years as what she calls a washed-up artist nobody would write with, to Song of the Year, a Grammy nomination, and a run of hits she wrote while raising three kids under three. She carries three things at once that almost no writer figures out how to hold together: a working method she can actually teach, a conviction that this is a calling and not a job, and a refusal to write the safe version of anything.And The Writer Is... Jessi Alexander!Hit subscribe and turn on notifications. Every week, we go deep with the most interesting creatives in music.Follow us on socials: @andthewriterisA special thank you to our sponsors for making these conversations possible.Our lead sponsor, NMPA — the National Music Publishers' Association. Your support means the world to us.0:00 Intro0:48 Her favorite non-songwriting songwriter trick1:54 "How do you make unavailable country men emotional?"5:33 The five songs on her Hall of Fame plaque11:07 Pool halls and stick shifts: "that color is what I draw from"12:42 The artist deal that fizzled — "I wasn't the artist type"13:31 No man's land: "no one took me seriously, I was a washed-up artist"14:01 The insane story behind writing The Climb: "just another damn day"20:11 Bud Light, a guitar pull, and a British director22:07 Being told The Climb would change her life "Sir, that doesnt happen to people like me"28:08 Nashville still said No30:38 Getting men to sing: long notes and the falsetto flip31:44 "What part of their tool belt have they not used?"34:32 The professor who told her to quit school36:18 Her album, the mergers, and Redneck Woman40:27 New mom: "they'll just put someone else in my spot"45:30 Goo