Cody Johnson & Carrie Underwood Celebrate Chart-Topper ‘I’m Gonna Love You’

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Pictured (L-R, back row): Warner Music Nashville’s Cris Lacy, Sony Music Publishing’s Rusty Gaston, RED Creative Group’s Kaileen Smith, Anthem Entertainment’s Gilles Godard, BMI’s Leslie Roberts and Capitol CMG Publishing’s Katie Barolak. (L-R, front row): Trent Willmon (Producer), Kelly Archer (BMI), Cody Johnson (BMI), Carrie Underwood (BMI), Travis Denning (BMI), Chris Stevens (BMI) and Studio Bank’s Ron Cox. Photo: Larry McCormack for BMI

Cody Johnson and Carrie Underwood gathered friends and industry professionals in the BMI lobby on Thursday (Aug. 21) to celebrate the success of their No. 1 single, “I’m Gonna Love You.”

The song was penned by Kelly Archer, Travis Denning and Chris Stevens, and was produced by Trent Willmon. The duet was the lead single from Johnson’s Leather Deluxe Edition album and serves as his fourth consecutive No. 1 hit and marks Underwood’s 29th career chart-topper.

Emceed by BMI’s Leslie Roberts, various industry leaders took the microphone to speak of each writer producer and artist, including Warner Music Nashville’s Cris Lacy, Sony Music Publishing’s Rusty Gaston, RED Creative Group’s Kaileen Smith, Anthem Entertainment’s Gilles Godard and Capitol CMG Publishing’s Katie Barolak.

Many of these people spoke of the song’s journey of finding success nine years after it was originally written, expressing gratitude to the writers and team members who continued to champion the song during the years it went unrecorded.

Studio Bank sponsored the event, with Ron Cox presenting a special donation in honor of the writers to Johnson’s Different Day Foundation, which provides resources to women recovering and healing from prostitution, trafficking and addiction.

“This song has done absolutely everything a songwriter dreams of,” shared Archer. “You get to write it with people you consider friends, it gets recorded by two absolute icons in the vocal game and it gets produced by someone who took very obvious care of the song.”

Stevens thanked his team, his wife who came with him to Nashville two decades ago to chase a dream and his children who were there to share the moment. He recalled first hearing the song completed and noted that he has always believed in it.

Denning took a moment to reflect on his journey to get to this point in his career. “I basically have only ever cared truly in my heart about this. I’ve been playing guitar since I was 11. I just wanted to get to Nashville and write songs. I wanted to go write with people I looked up to—my heroes—and I’ve done that. I’ve had cuts by artists I look up to and have listened to for so long. I just wanted to feel part of it, and things like this make me feel that way.”

“I’m just humbled and honored,” shared Willmon. “To make a great record you have to have a great song.” He continued on to share the story of recording the song live with both artists, noting the challenge of doing so but how their talent made the performance come together seamlessly.

“I feel like [the story of this song’s journey] is just a testament to ‘Gods got it,’” shared Underwood. “Theres so many things that are unsure about the music business. … No matter what happens, God knows what he’s doing. I feel very blessed and honored today to have played a small part in [the songwriters’] journeys and the song’s journey.”

Johnson took the microphone to share how important it was to him to have Underwood featured on the song. “God does work in mysterious ways. I think each person on the stage is proof that if you give it to Him and let Him work his timeline, not your timeline, thats how monumental things like this happen… To every single person in this room, thank you from the bottom of my heart for believing not only in me, but believing in this song.”

Lauryn Sink
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