The story behind

“My Mistake to Make”

When I was a music major at Belmont University, I took a songwriting class. A guy in my class kept going on and on about this pop folk artist named Jonatha Brooke. So, one day I went down to CD Warehouse (do you remember those?!) and bought her Steady Pull album. I immediately understood why my classmate was gushing over her songwriting. She quickly became one of my favorite singer/songwriters (and someone I’d go on to meet and even work with in the studio years later).

There’s a song on Jonatha’s Steady Pull album called “I’ll Take it From Here.” Knowing more about Jonatha today than I did back then, I’m pretty sure the context of that title was more about moving on from a failed relationship. I internalized it for myself and resonated with the feeling of independence and self responsibility — something that was fairly new to me as a young college student living away from home for the first time. 

That lyric inspired the title, “My Mistake to Make.” Biff introduced me to Chuck Jones and set up a cowrite. Chuck is a soulful, Memphis boy. You’ve heard his songs on the radio, made famous by Deanna Carter, John Berry, Diamond Rio, to name a few. 

I brought this title idea to Chuck and he jumped right on it. Within a few hours, we had the song written. The song isn’t completely autobiographical. We took some poetic license, but the sentiment is true and the song feels very personal to me. You’ll notice another acclaimed female singer/songwriter, Shelby Lynne, is mentioned in the first verse. Her album, I Am Shelby Lynne, was the talk of the town around the time we wrote this song and I absolutely loved it.

Watch the video for more…

Here’s a blog I wrote about the first time I got to work with Jonatha Brooke!