Billy Currington – ‘Little Bit of Everything’ Song Commentary

Billy Currington tells his personal stories behind each track on his long-awaited new album, 'Little Bit of Everything.'

'Swimmin' in Sunshine'
(Brett Beavers, Jim Beavers)
I remember when I heard this one. From the first listen it was a keeper for me, you know? It just had that feel of a summertime song, and I just kinda saw a video in my head, of people on the beach. It also reminded me of when I was growing up, of how we would be when we went to the beach. We'd stay all weekend...all the lyrics in the song reminded me of me and my buddies waking up, not really knowing where we were, and the solar powers of the sun got us going again. I miss the beach.

'Life & Love and the Meaning Of'
(Billy Currington, Tony Martin, Mark Nesler)
I wrote this song with two of my favorite writers, Mark Nesler and Tony Martin, and it was a title that Tony had had for quite some time. We were all just throwing out different titles that day, and that was one that just kind of stood out for us. And it was real simple. We just thought about everything, where I was at that point in my life, which was how we came up with the first line of that song, and it just went from there. The melody developed on its own, and everything just kind of fell into place.

'Every Reason Not to Go'
(Billy Currington, Tony Martin, Mark Nesler)
When it came time to record this one, I was reminded of it by my publishing company, so I revisited it and remembered how special it was to me, and how it meant a lot to me, and how I think it relates to a lot of people's relationships – mine for sure – how people decide at a moment in time that they think they need to move on, and how I could think of nine million reasons why they shouldn't. That's how this one came about.

'Don't'
(Jonathan Singleton, Jim Beavers)
I'll never forget. A guy named Joe Fisher from our record label was taking me around to publishing meetings one day, and we'd heard about three hundred songs. He was taking me back to my truck, and he said 'Man, there's one more song that I got a couple of days ago, and it's a song called 'Don't'. It's got everything that you like.' And he started playing it, and when it was over I was in total agreement...it had that R&B feel that I love. The lyrics were saying everything that I felt many people could relate to. I asked if he could keep that song around, and he said yes, and about two weeks later, I went in and recorded the song. I sent it to the label and they loved it just as much as I did, and we decided it would be the first single.

'People Are Crazy'
(Bobby Braddock, Troy Jones)
Just the title alone, when I was pitched this song, I was sure at that point that I was going to record it, I didn't care how it sounded. I just loved the title. I couldn't wait to put it in my truck and listen to it. I remember when I popped it in, and from the first verse to the first chorus, it just put a big smile on my face. I was like, 'You know, I've been waiting on a song like this for a long time.' I was just thankful that they sent it my way. I just got addicted to the song. I found myself wanting to listen to this song over and over. Carson Chamberlain - the producer I was working with - had heard it too, and we were both in agreement that this had to go on the album so that's kinda how this song got chosen. It's just a words-of-wisdom kind of song. It's got a laid-back melody that just puts you in that happy zone.

'Everything'
(Jim Beavers, Chris Hennessee)
From the get-go, when you hear the guitar start off, it just has that feel, that groove, that you just don't want to get out of, you know? It's just a great groovy song, and it's very simple. You love everything about this person, everything about her turns you on. I don't know, it just had that cool factor to me. I couldn't get it out of my head. That was the one thing about this song. I remember after I heard the demo, for nights and nights on end, I would wake up by the melody and the lyrics, and that right there told me I better record it. If it's got that effect on me, it'll probably have that effect on other people too.

'Walk On'
(Ashley Gorley, Bryan Simpson, Wade Kirby)
When I heard walk on, it took me to the city of Manhattan. For some reason, that's all I could picture when I heard the song. It just had that really cool vibe to it, and I felt like the song lyrically was one of the best songs that I had to pick from out of the thousands and thousands that I listened to. I still feel that it's one of the best-written songs on this album. I just thought, whoever wrote this song wrote a really great song. The melody had no holes in it, and it's very simple – what I call a pretty unique song. I felt I could lend my voice to it, and make it really soar.

'No One Has Eyes Like You'
(Billy Currington, Brett Jones)
That's a song that a buddy of mine, named Brett Jones, and myself wrote about five years ago. It was actually meant to be on my last album, but I just didn't want to 'love' that one up too much. To me, this song, as a writer, is by far probably my best piece of work. The best lyrically. And I think it has a great melody, and it was one of the songs I started playing acoustically in many different places, whether it be on the bus, or at a show somewhere, and it just seemed to always go over well, and as time went on people started requesting that song, and I knew it was something special. I didn't know when it was going to make it onto an album, so when this one came up here, I made sure there was no way it was not going to make it onto the album. I feel like it's a great recording, and I'm very proud of it.

'That's How Country Boys Roll'
(Billy Currington, Brett Jones, Dallas Davidson)
Okay, I had to have a redneck song on here. I for sure wanted a really rockin' good country song. This song was written on a trip to Key West. I had no plans to write any songs. We ended up bringing a guitar, and one of the guys started playing this groove, and singing the title, 'that's how country boys roll', you know, the melody along with that title, and everybody just kind of perked up like 'Okay, we're gonna finish this song.' We kinda felt it all that moment and thought we'd write us up a good country song. I always love playing this song live. I hope it becomes a single one of these days. I can just imagine driving down the highway rocking out to this song.

'I Shall Return'
(Billy Currington, Bob DiPiero, Scotty Emerick)
'I Shall Return' came about kind of on accident also. I was sitting in an office at a publishing company one day, playing on my gut string guitar, and the first line of the song just kind of fell out with the melody. As I was singing it, two writers, two of my buddies, happened to be walking by the room at that time. They asked me what I was singing, I told them, just kind of goofing around, and they said 'Man, we oughta finish this!' It was finished in a couple of hours. It remains a fun track for me on the album, and I love to hear it, love to hear the guitars in it. I doubt it will ever be a single, but who knows? It's good to have on the album.

'Heal Me'
(Tony Stampley, Bonnie Swayze)
This song was sent to me by a friend of mine out in L.A. He was like, 'Man, I heard
this song the other day, and I'm sending it to you because I feel like it's the type of song you really sing well. I don't know if you'll have any interest in it or not, but I'm sending it your way.' I got it and listened to it and immediately loved the song. I didn't think too much else about it, but when it came time to record, I went back over that song again and played it for everybody who was involved, and everybody hands-down agreed that it was a great song. We did it, and the same day that I recorded it, I called up the guy who sent it to me and said 'Man, I need the writers on this song.' And he was like 'Man, my mom wrote that song!' 'Are you kidding me?' 'Yeah, my mom Bonnie Swayze wrote this song!' She'd never had a cut before, ever, but man, she wrote a great song. She wrote that song by herself, all the lyrics and the melody, and sang it to a guitar player in Nashville. He helped her get the demo together, and it was the first thing she'd ever done. To me, that was special.