Exclusive: Chris Tompkins Talks 'Burnin' It Down'

In this Q&A, songwriter Chris Tompkins talks about his recent hit “Burnin’ It Down,” the sexy song recorded by Jason Aldean. He also shares his love for writing on the piano. For more of Tompkins’ interview with MusicRow, pick up a copy of the Publisher Issue.
Tell me about writing “Burnin’ It Down.”
I can’t believe it’s on the radio. “Burnin It Down” was written for Florida Georgia Line. It was me and Rodney [Clawson] and Brian [Kelly] and Tyler [Hubbard]. When there are four people in a room, everyone has to take on a role. Somebody has to lead the charge with what the song’s going to be about. Brian’s always in the middle of it. And I was building the beat and the music. We were talking about guns and girls and getting naked with girls, and we were all laughing while we were writing it. And then it was like, “if we are going there, let’s just go there.” Then it became almost a joke, but all of a sudden it started coming together and we kept chasing it and it turned out good. It was never talked about that they weren’t going to record it. I don’t know how Aldean heard the song, but I’m glad he did. I did the work tape/ demo, not full blown. Then I put all my tracks on a drive to give to Michael Knox and they just built it on top of it. It’s cool that Aldean cut it. He’s never had a song like that. He had “Dirt Road Anthem,” but that song is a lot different.
It’s rampant, the hip-hop beat country. The reason it works is—think about what most country fans listen to: active rock like Nickelback, country, southern rock and rap. I think what works so well with Florida Georgia Line is they bring a little bit of all that, they’re this hybrid. Joey [Moi, producer for FGL and Nickelback] comes from the rock world.
Do you usually write on guitar or piano?
Piano is my first instrument, my main workhorse. I play guitar pretty well, but about half as good as I play piano. On “Dirt” I did the slide guitar part but that was me sitting down and taking my time. I’m not by any means an amazing guitar player.
Piano has way more of a personality—kind of an out-front thing. It’s noticeable. I can open more doors with it. Even before I moved to Nashville, I spent a lot of time playing piano. I can find my way around on it better. It makes more sense to me.
How did you learn piano?
There are a few situations that played into this. I was in the high school band back in Alabama. I can’t remember the order of how this happened, but there was an old piano in the band room, in the men’s bathroom. So before football games, we’d be goofing off in there and those are my first memories of beating around on the piano. I started kind of writing these songs, but without music, because I couldn’t play. I was a drummer already. So I started writing all these lyrics and some girls told the band director that I was writing songs and he asked me if I could sing the songs I had written, so I did. He had two keyboards and a four-track recorder and started making a demo. He heard the chords behind what I was singing, and then I sang it. It was the coolest thing I’d ever seen. The same week I came from school one day—I don’t even think I told my mom about that—and my mom had randomly bought a piano for $300 bucks.
My stepfather always tells the story of the time I was supposed to mow the yard in high school, and he came home and found the job half done and the mower in the yard. He came inside to fuss at me, but heard me playing piano. He said, “Nevermind, I’ll finish the yard.” They were really supportive of me. I’d write a song when I woke up then I’d write a song when I went to bed.