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Jim McBride was born Jimmy Ray McBride on 28th April 1947 in Huntsville, Alabama to James Alvin and Helen Hillis McBride. He grew up in a home filled with country music, where the radio played the Grand Ole Opry and he soon absorbed the sounds of Hank Williams, Don Gibson, and other early country greats.
Jim began writing songs as a boy and wrote his first complete song at the age of twelve, but it was not until he had graduated from Lee High School in 1965 that he seriously considered pursuing a career as a songwriter.
His initial songs were recorded with a friend who could play guitar, and soon, he had bought himself an instrument and learned to play it. In the early 1970s, encouraged by Curly Putnam, he took his songs to Nashville, and several of his early compositions were recorded by acts such as The Hagers and featured on the television show "Hee Haw". However they brought him little financial success. Frustrated but persistent, he took a job, but continued to write and refine his craft.
Jim’s breakthrough came in 1980 when his co-written song “A Bridge That Just Won’t Burn,” with Roger Murrah, was recorded by Conway Twitty and reached number two on the country charts.
Jim promptly left his job with the United States Post Office and moved his family to Nashville to pursue songwriting full-time.
His first number one hit arrived soon after when Johnny Lee recorded “Bet Your Heart on Me” in 1981, establishing Jim as a hit-writing presence in the country music world. Throughout the 1980s he wrote songs that were recorded by major artists such as Mickey Gilley, Waylon Jennings, and others, including the top-ten single “Your Memory Ain’t What It Used to Be” and the #1 “Rose in Paradise,” co-written with Stewart Harris and recorded by Jennings.
The defining chapter of Jim’s career began with his collaboration with Alan Jackson in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Jim and Jackson wrote several songs together that would become staples of Jackson’s early career and of ’90s country music more broadly. Their co-written singles included “Chasin’ That Neon Rainbow,” “(Who Says) You Can’t Have It All,” “Someday,” and “A House with No Curtains.” Most notably, the song “Chattahoochee,” which celebrated youthful life around the Georgia river of the same name, became a massive hit and was named Song of the Year by the Country Music Association and ASCAP, and was among Billboard’s most performed songs of the year.
Outside of his work with Jackson, Jim penned or co-wrote other significant hits such as “What I Meant to Say,” recorded by Wade Hayes, and “Angels in Waiting,” co-written with Stewart Harris and recorded by Tammy Cochran, which reached the top ten in 2001.
Over the course of his career more than eighty major artists recorded his songs, including Johnny Cash, George Jones, Reba McEntire, Willie Nelson, Charley Pride, Kris Kristofferson, Randy Travis, Toby Keith, Trace Adkins, and Alabama. Jim’s compositions appeared on over seventy million records sold worldwide, and his songs were recognized with numerous awards from BMI, ASCAP, the Nashville Songwriters Association International, and other organizations. He also served as president of the Nashville Songwriters Association International.
Jim’s contributions were formally honored with his induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2017 and into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, affirming his place among the craft’s most respected figures. His influence endured to the end of his life as he continued writing songs and mentoring younger writers.
Jim McBride’s enormous talent lay in his seemingly effortless ability to marry simple, resonant lyrical ideas with melodies that fitted both traditional and contemporary country idioms. He had an ear for narrative and a knack for crafting songs that felt deeply rooted in everyday experience, whether capturing the wistful yearning of “Someday” or the raucous fun of “Chattahoochee.” Some critics might argue that his work - firmly within the mainstream country tradition - rarely strayed into experimental territory, but within his chosen genre he consistently produced material of high craftsmanship that connected with artists and audiences alike.
Jim’s legacy in the history of popular music is as one of the defining songwriters of late twentieth-century and early twenty-first-century country. His songs helped shape the sound of modern country music, influenced generations of performers, and bridged traditional themes with the broader commercial sensibilities that brought country to a wider audience. Through his prolific output and the enduring popularity of his compositions, he secured a permanent place in the canon of American songwriting.
Jim McBride died on the 7th of January 2026 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, at the age of 78, from undisclosed causes.
© Jim Liddane
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