Nashville Songwriters Unsung Heroes of Country

Canadian Music Star Terri Clark Takes 'I Just Wanna Be Mad' to No. 1

Oct 7, 2008 Lisa L. Rollins

When most hear a hit country song, they naturally associate it with the artist performing it. But for every hit tune, there's an unsung hero, the songwriter, to thank.

Few probably realize the true value of Nashville's stable of songwriters better than the artists themselves and their record-label personnel. Without a radio-ready, listener-friendly, track, no albums are sold, no concert tickets are snatched up and, well, no money is made.

Songwriters are among the most-talented creators in the music business, and country music is no exception. In understanding the real story behind a hit, it is valuable to go directly to the source of the song. And while most country fans may not recognize the names Kelley Lovelace or Lee Thomas Miller, many have likely heard a former No. 1 song they penned, I Just Wanna Be Mad by Montreal native Terri Clark.

Hit Songwriters Help Terri Clark Make a Chart Comeback

Released on Clark’s 2003 album for Mercury Nashville titled Pain to Kill, the song was the first single from the 12-song CD and its highest-climber on the what was then known as the Radio & Records chart, landing at No. 1, and reaching the No. 2 spot on the Billboard’s Hot Country Songs. It also scored the Canadian and U.S. country star a 2003 Juno Award for Country Recording of the Year.

The tune features a ruffled Clark crooning to her significant other that, if you don’t mind, just let her be mad for a while. All couples have spats, but this time, rather than burying the hatchet promptly, the dark-tressed singer is riled up pretty good, so back off and let her cool down in her own sweet time, thank you very much.

The writers, both Kentucky natives, crafted the song with the mission of just trying “to make it real,” recalled Lovelace in a telephone interview from his Nashville-area home. “(And) I think that’s why everybody relates to it—anybody who’s been married for any amount of time, anyway,” he added.

Choosing the Official Voice for I Just Wanna Be Mad

Although Clark’s voice is firmly etched in listeners’ minds as “the” voice behind the song, Lovelace wasn’t sure the number was one he could hear a woman singing at first.

“I played (the song) for my publisher … and I was kind of adamant that we should do a guy version, so we did both (male and female) versions,” he shared. “Everybody who heard it said, ‘That’s such a girl song.’ But I’m probably moodier than my wife ... and I think that’s the feedback Terri’s been given—it’s just so real.”

In recalling how the tune came together, Lovelace said he and Miller came up with the verses and a strong melody, but had to work to prevent the track from becoming “a little too ‘songwriter’ … and not taking us to the right place.” However, with the Coffee’s ready if you want some line, “the tone of the song was set,” said Lovelace, who won The Nashville Network’s Song of the Year prize for co-writing He Didn’t Have to Be with artist Brad Paisley.

As for how they learned Clark took their composition to the tippy-top of the U.S. charts, Miller said the news came when “a friend of ours at the (record) label called us and left messages that it went No. 1” in March 2003.

Meanwhile, I Just Wanna Be Mad, at the time, also turned Clark into the first female artist to score a No. 1 in more than two years, according to publisher BMI.

Canadian Country Music Star Makes the Song Her Own

While artist John Michael Montgomery originally planned to record the track, the Vancouver, B.C.-based Clark proved to be a wise choice and an enduring radio favorite for U.S. and Canadian country music programmers and fans alike.

“I thought it was such a great record,” Lovelace said. “It’s such a classic Terri Clark song. She stamped it and made it her own. I was blown away right from the beginning and thought it sounded like a hit.”

For more information about Clark, who's now preparing to release her first CD for Nashville's BNA label, please access her official fan site via www.terriclark.com.

Sources

"I Just Wanna Be Mad" Glady Takes #1 Seat, March 31, 2003. Retrieved Oct. 7, 2008, from http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/233686

Personal communication, Kelley Lovelace and Lee Thomas Miller, Oct. 7, 2008.

The copyright of the article Nashville Songwriters Unsung Heroes of Country in Country Music is owned by Lisa L. Rollins. Permission to republish Nashville Songwriters Unsung Heroes of Country in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Songwriter Kelley Lovelace	Pain to Kill CD by Terri Clark	Country music's Terri Clark, 2004.
Mercury Records artist Terri Clark	Songwriter Lee Thomas Miller