busbee Bridges LA and Nashville

By Drew Kennedy

Jun 21 2011

Chances are, you’ve tapped your toe along to one of busbee’s creations, even if this is your first encounter with his name. Songs like Lady Antebellum’s chart-topper “Our Kind of Love,” Timbaland’s “If We Ever Meet Again,” featuring Katy Perry, and Rascal Flatts’ “Summer Nights” bear his musical fingerprints: thoughtful lyrics whose messages cut through, even after the melodies have initially bewitched the listener.

He is one of only a handful of hitmakers who splits his time evenly between Los Angeles and Nashville. In a contemporary music soundscape where crossover success is coveted and relatively common, busbee stands out because of his simultaneous success in both markets — not because he’s conquered one and is ready for the other. And a broad cross-section of artists has noticed.

The list of busbee admirers is a cross-genre who’s who: Timbaland, Lady Antebellum, Rascal Flatts, Keith Urban, Jason Aldean, Toni Braxton, Backstreet Boys, Better Than Ezra — and that’s not even half of it. All of these artists have recorded at least one busbee-penned gem. At face value, his success is staggering, but conversationally, this musical juggernaut is unassuming and appreciative.

“I truly feel fortunate to have found a home in multiple genres,” he says. “I honestly don’t know how it happened, other than hard work and loving a lot of different kinds of music. I have also been very fortunate to have had doors of opportunity opened to me by various people who have believed in what I do.”

But busbee is a craftsman at heart. He understands that in the midst of the music business whirlwind, one can only control so much. So with Zen-like concentration, busbee lets go, as he humbly and heroically focuses on the song.