Anyone who knows me or has followed me for some time, knows how much I like Country Music, especially Dolly Parton, Deana Carter & Jo Dee Messina.

When I found out about the new Off Broadway musical, Music City, I was hoping I'd get to interview Composer & Lyricist, JT Harding.

Much to my delight, that is exactly who Music City's  press team wanted me to spotlight!

Multi-platinum hitmaker JT Harding has written chart-topping songs for Uncle Kracker (global hit "Smile"), Blake Shelton, Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney, Darius Rucker, and many more.

In this interview, JT answered my call to share:

• How a multi-platinum hitmaker made the leap from Nashville radio to writing a brand new musical
• The story behind the toughest song in Music City and how he finally cracked it during a snowy Michigan writing session
• What audiences should know before they walk into this gritty, authentic Nashville story of love, dreams, and survival
• The unlikely “big break” that came from getting booed off stage opening for LINKIN PARK…and why he kept going
• The MTV-fueled influences, favorite beers, guitars, sunny escapes, and one last piece of advice he wants every dreamer to hear
• So much more

Connect with JT: Instagram

Connect with Music City: Website, Facebook, Instagram

Welcome to Music City, the new musical by Billboard Chart-topping songwriter JT Harding, with book by Peter Zinn and directed by Eric Tucker.

Follow two young singer-songwriters into the Wicked Tickle, an East Nashville bar that serves up cheap beer, open mics, and dreams of big breaks. The bar regulars bravely pursue love and music in the face of addiction, poverty, and haunting pasts. But in Nashville, heartbreak is the only thing they hand out for free.

The soaring, soul-piercing ballads and hard-hitting, heart-thumping showstoppers including “Smile,” “Sangria,” and “Somewhere In My Car” celebrate contemporary country music while pushing the genre beyond expectations. 

Music City is an intimate, gritty, and thrilling take on the world of beers, guitars, sawdust, and sunshine.

Music City plays at St. Luke's Theatre in NYC through October 31, 2026. Click Here for tickets! 

1. You are a multi platinum songwriter who has written songs for Blake Shelton, Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney, Darius Rucker, Uncle Cracker & many others. Now, you wrote the music & lyrics for the new musical, Music City. How did this project come your way? The project came my way after a spark was lit in Detroit rock city, Peter Zinn and I met each other in seventh grade. We went to see the band KISS and wore the makeup.

After high school Peter followed his leather shoes to the theater world and I followed my checkerboard vans to Los Angeles to write songs, all these years later we came back together and he wrote the book to my songs.

2. How does your songwriting process differ for musical theatre as compared to country music? The process is exactly the same. I try to be incredibly truthful in my songwriting. I try to write exactly what someone said when we were breaking up or falling in love, or what type of cigarettes someone was smoking when we jumped the fence at a drive-through when we were teenagers.

The characters in our show are so real to me, thanks to Peter's writing, it was very easy to write songs about them.

Country music is three chords and the truth. I keep the guitar chords very simple and keep the lyrics truthful.

3. What do you get from working in the musical theatre that you don't get from country music? What I get from working in the theater is weeks on end in my favorite city on the planet New York City.

Every day is a choose your own adventure storybook: do I ride the subway, do I jump in a cab or do I walk the graffiti hickey-ied streets to rehearsal. Without a drop of alcohol, I'm instantly intoxicated by the energy of the city.

Stephen Michael Spencer, Lauren LOLO Pritchard,
Jonathan Judge-Russo in Music City
Photo Credit: Jeremy Daniel

4. What was the hardest song to write for Music City & why was it so difficult? The hardest song to write is actually the biggest hit in the show, it's called "Smile." We couldn't figure out what to do in the second verse, we sat for hours as the snow fell outside the house in Michigan. We were writing and flipping ideas around like a Rubik's cube, eventually we got it right.

5. What do you want audiences to know about this show before they come see it? I want audiences to know that the show is authentic, edgy and it's truly Nashville as it is today, hard-working people hanging on by the edge. Their hearts are broken more than a McDonald's ice cream machine by the music biz, but it's ultimately a party, so bring a date.

6. According to press notes, Music City "follows two young singer-songwriters into the Wicked Tickle, an East Nashville bar that serves up cheap beer, open mics, and dreams of big breaks." What would you say was your biggest break thus far? My biggest break was when I worked for the band LINKIN PARK on a world tour. They started letting me open for them and that's how I landed a writing deal.

People started talking about "the singer songwriter that would get booed off opening for LINKIN PARK, but he kept playing despite things being thrown at him," that was me. True story.

7. Press notes also state, "The bar regulars bravely pursue love and music in the face of addiction, poverty, and haunting pasts." What is something that haunts you from your past? I have a great life. Nothing haunts me much, but I've had loved ones pass away. I would've liked to say I love you a few more times.

8. You grew up watching MTV which inspired you to start your own bands in school. Who were some of your early influences that you watched on MTV? MTV was my favorite babysitter for years. My favorite bands were Van Halen, Duran Duran & Prince.

9. Music City is also described as an intimate, gritty, and thrilling take on the world of beers, guitars, sawdust, and sunshine. I am going to break this down into a few questions:

• Favorite beer: Blue Moon with a slice of orange
• Favorite guitar: BC rich Mockingbird
• Favorite place to take in the Sun: St. John Virgin Islands

10. What is something we didn't get to talk about that you'd like my audience to know about you? People ask me for advice. My road to hit songwriting is a roller coaster without a seatbelt.

I put it all in my best selling memoir called Party Like A Rockstar. Feel free to look it up. I did the audio version too. I've never met a microphone I didn't like!

Thank You, great questions!

JT Harding
Photo Courtesy of Music City Press Team

More on JT Harding:

JT Harding was born and raised in South Detroit, currently residing in Nashville. His catalogue holds over 1 billion streams, with song credits for Blake Shelton, Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban and the worldwide hit “Smile” with Uncle Kracker.

His best-selling memoir, Party Like a Rockstar, is available everywhere books are sold.

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