Originally published in our March 11, 2013 issue featuring Luke Bryan on the cover. The article is published here in its entirety.

As songwriter Connie Harrington will gladly relate, it sometimes pays to listen to the radio. In her particular case, an episode on the Here And Now program on National Public Radio provided the scenario for Lee Brice’s current hit, “I Drive Your Truck,” which Connie wrote with her good friends Jessi Alexander and Jimmy Yeary.

 

“It was around Memorial Day [2011] and I was driving home and they announced that up next would be some Memorial Day stories,” Connie begins. “A very sweet story came on about a couple in Massachusetts. They had lost one of their sons in Afghanistan, I believe, and they were asked how they coped with the loss. They said, ‘We drive his truck,’ and they went on to describe the stuff that was still in it. They would take the truck out on Sundays. The story really moved me.”

Lee Brice celebrated the success of his No. 1 single "I Drive Your Truck" Monday (May 13) at the CMA building in Nashville, with the usual array of plaques and praise that mark No. 1 parties. But this celebration also featured a special guest who provided several emotional, touching moments at the proceedings.

The song was written by Connie Harrington, Jessi Alexander and Jimmy Yeary, and was inspired by an NPR program that Connie heard while driving on Memorial Day weekend of 2011. The program centered around a man who had lost a son, who had been serving in the military in Afghanistan. When asked how he coped with the loss, the man answered that he drove his son's truck around their property to remember him. Connie believed that the story should be put into a song.

Lee Brice celebrated his #1 song, I Drive Your Truck, with a party in Nashville yesterday afternoon with some very special guests. The song was written by Connie Harrington, Jessi Alexander and Jimmy Yeary, inspired by a story that Connie read about a family who lost their son Jared, who was killed in Afghanistan while trying to save a fellow soldier. When they asked the dad how he coped with the loss of his son he said he drove his truck. The writers had never met the family and weren’t sure if they’d ever be able to track them down, but just recently they did. They called Jared’s father, Paul Monti, and recorded the conversation, which Lee heard later. When they called they introduced themselves and told Paul about the song they had written. He was very familiar with the song and told them, “We feel like this song is just right out of our story.” That’s when they revealed to him, “Well, it is you. It’s your son.” Lee says it was such a powerful moment, just to hear the father realize that the song was his story. The family had connected with the song on such a personal level but they had no idea it was written about them.

Curb Records and Lee Brice light things up with his new summer anthem, "Parking Lot Party" which will be released today, May 13th, 2013 and comes on the heels of his third #1 single in a row, "I Drive Your Truck" which was recently certified Gold by the RIAA. Lee Brice's latest album continues to impress as TEA (track equivalent album) sales for the current album, Hard 2 Loveare currently in excess of 730,000 units. *

Also recently announced, Zippo Encore, with the company's first partnership in the country music market, will be releasing two custom Lee Brice designed Zippo lighters available for sale on the road this summer when Lee joins Brad Paisley's Beat This Summer Tour presented by Cracker Barrel Old Country Store.