Skip Ewing Wrote 11 No. 1 Hits… And He’s Still Changing Country Music

Skip Ewing is one of Nashville’s most respected singer-songwriters, celebrated for a legendary career as both a hit recording artist and one of country music’s elite writers. A longtime member of the Grand Ole Opry family, Ewing has written 11 No. 1 country hits and an incredible catalog of songs recorded by some of the biggest names in country music history. His songwriting credits include timeless classics like “Love, Me” for Collin Raye, “Someone Else’s Star” and “Rebecca Lynn” for Bryan White, “If I Didn’t Have You” for Randy Travis, “You Had Me From Hello” for Kenny Chesney, and the Brooks & Dunn smash “Ain’t Nothing ’Bout You,” one of the most played country songs of the 2000s. He also penned “I Don’t Have the Heart,” which became a No. 1 pop hit for James Ingram.

Still highly relevant in today’s country music scene, Skip continues to see his songs find new life with modern artists. Most recently, Lainey Wilson and ERNEST recorded “I Would If I Could,” a song Skip originally co-wrote with legendary songwriter Dean Dillon back in 1996 — proving that great country songwriting stands the test of time. As an artist himself, Ewing charted multiple Billboard country hits throughout the late 1980s and 1990s while earning a reputation as one of Nashville’s greatest storytellers. His honors include numerous ASCAP and BMI songwriting awards and decades of recognition from the Nashville songwriting community. Revered by fellow writers, artists, and fans alike, Skip Ewing’s influence on country music continues through his live performances, Grand Ole Opry appearances, and one of the most respected songwriting catalogs in Nashville history.

🎵 In This Episode:
• Skip Ewing interview
• Leaving Nashville story
• Ranch living in Wyoming
• Country music career insights
• Behind-the-11 no.1 Hits

MORE ABOUT SKIP EWING:
Website: https://share.google/00kSP4mG5u4q6jeGx
Instagram: https://share.google/vXX2w3MVxWS4E6ElE
Facebook: https://share.google/oNbYqyxUHHbqNT6TJ
YouTube: https://share.google/WtlYxHMjfldvhfwjp
Spotify: https://share.google/AyKfHtpstsdi6ITTn
Apple Music: https://share.google/MKtsRxjoUiit0kGMc

MORE ABOUT MUSICAL MILES PODCAST:
Website: https://share.google/njnmmglKCpu8nX7jn
Instagram: https://share.google/PvAJe1qGxIKhYSVZ7
Facebook: https://share.google/OcbFlCHb3fSntAVhX
TikTok: https://share.google/ikD2YSj8qEMv3ROY2
Spotify: https://share.google/ooaz1mIUqHoM9CW9z
YouTube: https://share.google/7xkaESL50rsQx93Qr

SPONSORSHIP INFORMATION:
Contact Byron Duffin
musicalmilespodcast@gmail.com
208-690-1426
SHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSORS: Click the links for more info
Our Guitar Sponsor Klos Guitars ~ www.klosguitar.com
ROPER ~ Wear The West For Discounts on Boots, Shoes and Western Apparel ClICK THE LINK:  https://eroper.com/?ref=BYRONDUFFIN
TIN HAUL ~ 30% DISCOUNTS For our Musical Miles Podcast followers Click the link to shop. https://tinhaul.com/?ref=BYRONDUFFIN
FOR PODCAST EPISODE SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES:
Contact Byron Duffin 208-690-1426
musicalmilespodcast@gmail.com

Olivia Harms, CBS The Road, Olivia Harms interview, country music podcast, ranch raised singer, country music artist, Musical Miles Podcast.

📌 Subscribe to Musical Miles Podcast for more interviews with musicians, songwriters, and rising stars in country music and beyond.

#SkipEwing #Songwriter #counrymusiclegend #CountryMusic #MusicalMilesPodcast #PodcastInterview #MusicalMiles

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:09

I've got scars where you can't see them, but if you could you'd see the roadmap of my heart All those lines and intersections where you'd think the whole damn thing would come apart. That's not how it works. That's not the role of hurt that you lose until you win. You don't fail, you learn, you rise, you try again. Start to give more than you take. Don't make as many of the same mistakes. Heart aches, hell, while the world is open. But give it time, and you'll find that you're stronger. Will you broke in?

SPEAKER_01 1:08

Oh yeah. Hey, Skip Ewing. Thanks for joining us. Welcome to Musical Miles Podcast. I'm your host, Byron Duffin, and we are here in Logan, Utah at the Cache Valley Cowboy Rendezvous. And this is uh Mr. Ewing is headlining the show tonight. And uh we're excited that you have time to sit down and visit with us a little bit, talk about your music career, and uh where where where because you've been in this game a long time. Forty plus years.

SPEAKER_00 1:35

Not quite. Not quite. Not quite, not not quite. But I but I have been in it a while. That's that's I went to Nashville right out of hike. That's what I was gonna say. I mean I and and before that I started playing guitar when I was four and just never stopped. I don't remember a time that I wasn't playing, don't remember asking for a guitar, but I did. And and uh then, you know, I I I played everything, classical to to jazz and then country, and then bluegrass, and then I just followed wherever I could. So right out of high school I got offered a job in Nashville and away I went.

SPEAKER_01 2:07

Yeah, you've been there since you were like 18 years old, right? Uh what about 1985? 85.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

85 is when I got my uh publishing deal. And um and the first song I had recorded was with George Jones. And uh wow. It just kept it just kept going, and then I got offered a record deal and and uh then after that I I was writing songs and had just a lot of artists, you know, enjoy what I what I was writing and record them, and we ended up having heads and and uh of course that went on for a while and then I took a break from Nashville because I I I was learning so much from horses, and so I uh I sold everything and I sold my house, I sold my furniture, and I just put the other stuff I had in a in a storage unit and went on the road because I found that I was uh if I was really working with horses um uh with the intention of deeply understanding that and becoming more skillful, I was learning a lot about me from every horse I was working with, and and I couldn't I couldn't pass it up. It's almost like a spiritual pursuit for me. I I felt like if I didn't do that, I wouldn't be making the the the my best efforts at being the human I wanted to be, if that makes any sense. So I did that, and then I met my my my wife, and then we moved to Wyoming, and then I had a bit of time, and while I was there, that's about eight years eight years of horses and I played some on the way. Don't show that I wasn't and um and then went you know I started messing with writing some stuff, and then Linda was like you need to put the journeys together. So I I messed I messed with it some and was gonna make a few records for fun, and all of a sudden it just took off and people liked what I was doing. I was writing by myself and not for other artists, and and um here we are with uh with uh records on the radio and uh upcoming album called Dragonfly.

SPEAKER_01 4:08

Um Well that song you just played for us is gonna be on the new album. It's a duet with May Estes. It's already out. Yeah, we we've listened to it, love it. May is I'm a big fan. I think May's gonna be the next big thing for women in country, I think.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

I I just think whether she does or doesn't, she deserves. Oh yeah. I call her I call her a superstar anyway. Uh and whether she's the next big thing, I just hope that she is supported in a way that gives her a a sustainable and long-lasting career because she's an incredible singer. She's got she's she's got a super sweet heart about her. And a million dollar personality. Yeah, she's I mean she's she's she's the whole she's the whole package. Yeah, and she's by the same token, she's you know, quite country uh with a traditional leaning. In fact, the song I just played is is kind of pushing the envelope for her, but I just knew she would sing it. Well, because it's it's pretty it's pretty new, what you know, the way we sure the way we have that produced and and uh and she I mean she just rose to the occasion. Yeah, I love her.

SPEAKER_01 5:13

She I mean you know, uh what a talent. Well let's let's back up a little bit, a couple of things be because you and I have in common the horse thing. So I I picked up a guitar at 15 and a rope, and I opted for the rope, and and then I I started playing the guitar again a couple of years ago. But but um I spent the majority of my career in sales and marketing and the ag industry. And and but I I love horses, and I can I I totally understand where you're coming from when you talk about becoming a better person and a better horseman uh and learning. And you learn a lot from horses. And so uh what a cool time in your life to experience that. Did you have that experience as a young adult? Uh I know your family, uh military family, right? So you t traveled around quite a bit as a kid?

SPEAKER_00 6:00

Yeah, my grandfather was the horseman. Okay. And he wasn't actually even my real grandfather. Okay. Uh but he was a he was a thoroughbred rancher in Southern California. So whenever I could, I wanted to go down there. I loved him. He was like John Wayne to me. Sure. He's the one who taught me about westerns and all that. But he um he uh he was the kind of guy who he he we we didn't get to ride. These were thoroughbreds. Right. So they ran at Santa Anita and those kinds of things. So I learned a lot about caring for him. He's the kind of guy who would I know we don't have a lot of time, but you'll like the story. I love the story. The story used to bring when I was a little kid. He made sure I had boots, cowboy boots to wear when I was out there. And he was pretty, you know, he was he was pretty cowboy, even though he was a thoroughbred ranch manager, right? And uh he would go and he would take a flatbed cart and he would put a row of uh of uh hay on it and then stair step it from the back to the front so it got higher so I could get way up high because feeding these thoroughbreds had those shoot feeders. You may have seen them. Basically at the top of the fence, they come down like this at bars in front of them, and you can put the hay down in the you know, and whatever else you're feeding them, grain or you know and uh and he would do that. My grandmother would hand me out the kitchen window to him where he'd pulled the cart up. And that way I could get on the hay, right? I could get on the hay and get all the way up near the top where I could still reach to get in and drop that hay down in the field. And he, you know, so I fell in in love with horses, but didn't get to ride. I was there for, you know, some some some berthing and it falling and it was you know, so I loved it, but then I didn't do anything with it for years. Started going to Wyoming in the in like 2000, I think. It was the first time I went there, and uh I fell in love with the country. I landed there and went, this is where if I put roots down here, I'll grow the strongest tree. That's what that felt like to me.

SPEAKER_01 7:55

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 7:55

So uh so you know it took me a long time to do that.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:00

But because I had so much other stuff to do, but that's the same.

SPEAKER_01 8:02

Well, we can appreciate we we live 90 miles from Jackson Hole, is where our home is. So we can see the Tetons from our backyard on a good clear morning. So um, but but that is beautiful country, and you live closer to Dew Boys, which I've announced to Dew Boys Rodeo a couple of times years ago. But uh so so I've been in that country and it's it's we could have driven down, we could have driven the ATV down to see. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:23

It takes a while, but we it's more fun about Dew Boys. We finally figured out that man, it's a it's a great it's really fun. Because we live we live pretty far out from from uh from town. From town. Yeah, there's the people don't count along with the thing. We always say, oh my gosh, you're so lucky, you're so great. And I'm like, Well, it's a trade-off though. You know, because if you want pizza delivered to you, if you want Asian food, you know, there's that that's important to you, this is probably not where you want to live. If you know if you don't know how to how to fix stuff and and and care for care for livestock, and well, you probably don't want to live here.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

But if you like the rents, and if you can handle and if you can handle those 30 below winters and the in eight foot of snow, right? And it's been a little light this winter, but uh we don't get that much snow in Dubai.

SPEAKER_00 9:09

I don't know how much you guys will get some more up high where we're at in the valley.

SPEAKER_01 9:13

We're you know we're along the Snake River. We're we're 200 yards off the Snake River. So we in this winter we've had virtually none. So that's a beautiful spot.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

That's beautiful. You can't really find I I like I actually like all of Wyoming. I mean you go farther south, the joke is it's just antelope and sagebrush. Right. But there's a lot more to it than that because just the kind of the kind of people that are in Wyoming, you start to come up, and of course Du Bois gets into the high desert striated heels just before you get up into the into Togedy. Yep, uh Togedy Pass that lead that when it goes over to the southern entrance to Yellowstone. And and uh man, I think if I had the choice, I still wouldn't live anywhere else.

SPEAKER_01 9:52

But yeah. Well you're you're lucky because that is a beautiful place. You did uh what almost 20 years in Nashville, is that right? Probably close to that. So um at what point, Skip, do you think you really realize that you'd made it in the music business? Today's episode of Musical Miles Podcast is brought to you by Roper Apparel and Footwear. Whether you're chasing songs, loading gear, or standing front row at a live show, Roper blends Western tradition with modern comfort and style, built tough, worn proud, and ready for every mile. Roper, wear the West. You could make a living at it. Was it immediately or did it take a couple years? Because they say it's a ten-year town, right?

SPEAKER_00 10:37

I've I've never heard that. They might. I've oh you've never heard that. It's a 10-year town. Um You know, I don't I don't I I'm just I'm gonna field that question differently because I don't know what making it is. Oh well, I mean when people say that you you make it okay, so and I'm I'm saying that as a as a as a way to maybe describe the the vantage point. It's like Did I did I make it when I got signed to a publishing deal? Did I make it when I had my first number one record? Did I make it after I finished working all this horseman uh uh stuff and put together this new record and now I'm singing with May Estes and I'm doing stuff in the studio and producing other records and just had a a hit with Laney Wilson in earnest? Have I, you know, have I have I still have I made it? And I I gotta say, I just I just think it's the same river, man. It's all connected. I don't there's no there's no going up to the made it stop sign and turning left or right.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

True story, and I and I love that perspective because because in in all reality, those those things, success is all perception, right? What whether it's you know success in in your bank account that affords you the opportunity to do things that you couldn't do unless you had success. You're not you're not getting to do what you want. I don't believe that because you've had 11 number ones and and you just brought one up. Uh I love the story about uh uh um Laney Wilson in Ernest with uh the song that they just released, what, in 24. Is that right? When they cut that? Uh but I mean just now on the radio, really.

SPEAKER_00 12:11

It's been cut. The thing is that they cut a series of it. You see, Laney Wilson cut one version for Apple Music. It was specific only to Apple. Okay. And that was put out, so so that, but it wasn't a radio. You couldn't you couldn't listen to it on Spotify, you could only listen to it on Apple.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

Right.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

And in the meantime, Ernest had discovered the song at the same time, and since it wasn't a a sort of something they could release everywhere, well, Ernest asked Laney if she'd do a version with him, so they sang a duet on his record of it, and then he wanted to put it out as a single, only Laney's record company had already had her with a single out, so they they couldn't release the single together. So Ernest waited and then put it out as his single. Oh well, this means that song is going on for and they played Laney and Ernest's version um on most of the on most of the radio. And it was on well, I mean it was on the charts for 50 I mean uh uh uh uh almost the full year. It wasn't a year, it was on there for and that's in the top, you know, the the top of the not it wasn't a number one record. It didn't, um I don't even know if it got to to uh to the top 20, but the plays on it were as much as uh as a number one record because it just played and played.

SPEAKER_01 13:23

Well, it had a life of its own, but the the rest of the story is you wrote that song in 1996, is that correct? With Dean Dillon. And that's the only collaboration you ever did with Dean. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_00 13:35

Yeah, that's it.

SPEAKER_01 13:36

What a song though. And but but here's the interesting thing that most people don't understand about songwriters that we love about the songwriter story is the backstory like that. A song that was written in 1996 that really didn't get recognition until 2024. And it's had three different iterations of that song. Um, and what a beautiful song. You know, and why I I you know, we we've interviewed lots of songwriters. Uh Bryce Lung had a cut that that he said, you know, uh not the on but the radio for Gary Allen that sat for five years and and and multiple other ones. Uh he told me a story about Bobby Braddock, had one that George Strait just cut that's almost 30 years old. So, you know, how crazy is that? And most people don't understand that about your catalog, how wide and deep that catalog is, and and and the life that gets breathed back into it with a song like that.

SPEAKER_00 14:28

Well, people are surprised that a song, you know, w would still be viable after a certain amount of time, right? And my approach is that I uh I I want to write songs that stand up to time. So even there's songs that have been recorded, like hits that have been recorded that are still getting a lot of play on radio that I've you know that I wrote in the 90s, or uh really when I was really getting to it was in the early 90s was when uh and but y but you know, you think how many covers there are, you know, of country songs, and maybe they've been cut, maybe you knew them, or even, you know, pop songs that are then covered by someone else. The song is still the song. The approach to the song is different, and I feel like, you know, we did a good job writing that, writing that song, and it held up when they when they came at it. And what everyone I think was surprised about on things like that is that it was unquestionably country. Oh, yeah. There's not anyone who's gonna listen to that song and go, that's not a country. You know what I should do for you? Uh uh. Um you know that because people are a lot of people are will say there's there's no um There's no traditional country now. There is no country music, people will say that and call and say that you know certain artists are not country artists and what my arms are are my arms are around the art form. Yeah. And there's other things about country music than whether it has a fiddle and a steel in it. You can put fiddle and steel on a lot of stuff, and that doesn't mean it's gonna somebody's gonna say that's a country song. And there are pop records that are made that now sound like country songs. So, but I think what it is is is that we have to, just like we should with other people that we respect, we should have a respect for the ancestry of what we do. We should have the there's a growth and development. There has been since the beginning. I mean, there was a time when the Grand Old Opry didn't let drums on there.

SPEAKER_01 16:42

Really? I did not know that.

SPEAKER_00 16:44

Yeah, there was a time where drums were not allowed on the Grand Old Opry. And and uh, you know, there's there's funny stories like that, but this is really, really country in the song we're talking about. And you don't wouldn't wouldn't think of it like that, but then when they discover it, even Laney said, it isn't she's sweet. She said I was one of the greatest writers ever. I haven't even met her, but I just want to hug her next. Are you serious? You've never met her. I just want to hug her neck for that. No, I haven't met her. What I've only text I've only texted with Ernest, I've never met him either. Oh my goodness. But the song we're talking about that says, You say that you would like to try again. You want me to open my heart and let us back in. Well, part of me wants to, so bad I can't stand it. Part of me don't to be perfectly candid I would if I could, but I can't, so I won't, but I want to. I love you so much that I'm telling you no I would if I could, but I can't, so I won't, but I won't do. And that's just I mean that's that to me, that's that's a country song. That is a country song. And it's and it's still played on you know on radio now. But I I I believe it's it all I believe it all it all belongs. It all belongs.

SPEAKER_01 18:32

Oh, I think there's a that you know, my mom used to say there's a lid for every pot, right? So regardless, no matter who's playing, we're we're we're headed to a music fest next week. There's a hundred bands, everything's from EDM to country. And and there will be thousands of people there called Treefort in Boise, Idaho. And and 90% of that music isn't really my kind of music, but guess what? I have a real appreciation for live music. There's no replacing a live music experience, in my opinion. We can listen to you on the radio, Skip, and and and as we came today, we listened to your music. It's so hard for us to listen over and over to something because we always have something new on the agenda, right? Um, a new artist or whatever. But that being said, uh music speaks to all of us differently, but live music really, really speaks to us. For 44 years, we've we've chased live music experiences from Florida to Mexico to Hawaii. You know, I mean, we just love live music. And so for us to be able to sit here with you and experience that, wow.

SPEAKER_00 19:37

Well, I appreciate you for the invite. And uh however, if I don't go do sound check for this Cache Valley Rendezvous, Cowboy Rendezvous, they're not ever going to invite me back. I'd like to play here again, so I might have to go and do that.

SPEAKER_01 19:49

I don't blame you. Well, I appreciate you taking the time once again. It's it's always fun to get to meet someone new. We'd love to uh meet artists like yourself. Of uh uh you have such a vast catalog of music and and love uh going down that road today, listening to it, because lots of good memories. Well, thanks, man. So anyway, it's nice to meet y'all. Well, we appreciate you coming. Hey from Musical Miles Podcast, I'm your host, Byron Duffin, here with Mr. Skip Ewing from Logan, Utah, at the Cash Valley Cowboy Rendezvous. We'll see y'all somewhere down the road. Audio for now. Thank you.