Wayne Kirkpatrick (born c. 1961) is an American songwriter and musician born in

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of counties ...

who now lives in Nashville, Tennessee. He graduated from Baton Rouge Magnet High School in 1979. His younger brother is American screenwriter and director

Karey Kirkpatrick Karey Kirkpatrick is an American screenwriter, film director, and producer. His films include Chicken Run, ''The Rescuers Down Under'', '' James and the Giant Peach,'' ''Over the Hedge'', ''The Spiderwick Chronicles'', ''Charlotte's Web'', and ...

. Kirkpatrick has spent most of his career in the background, often providing background vocals, playing guitar, playing keyboards or writing songs for other artists. Writing in Contemporary Christian, Country, and Pop styles, his songs have been recorded by

Little Big Town Little Big Town is an American country music vocal group from Homewood, Alabama. Founded in 1998, the group has comprised the same four members since its founding: Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman (née Roads), Phillip Sweet, and Jimi Westbr ...

Faith Hill Audrey Faith McGraw (; born September 21, 1967), known professionally as Faith Hill, is an American singer and actress. She is one of the most successful country music artists of all time, having sold more than 40 million albums worldwide. Hill' ...

, Garth Brooks,

Babyface Babyface or Baby Face can refer to: Nicknames * Lester Joseph Gillis a.k.a. Baby Face Nelson, an infamous 1930s bank robber * Roosevelt "Baby Face" Willette (1933–1971), an American hard bop and soul-jazz musician * "Baby Face", Jimmy McLarnin ...

Amy Grant Amy Lee Grant (born November 25, 1960) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. She began in contemporary Christian music (CCM) before crossing over to pop music in the 1980s and 1990s. She has been referred to as "The Queen of Christia ...

, Rich Mullins, Joe Cocker,

Kathy Mattea Kathleen Alice Mattea (born June 21, 1959) is an American country music and bluegrass singer. Active since 1984 as a recording artist, she has charted more than 30 singles on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs charts, including four that reac ...

Martina McBride Martina Mariea McBride (née Schiff, born July 29, 1966) is an American country music singer-songwriter and record producer. She is known for her soprano singing range and her country pop material. McBride was born in Sharon, Kansas, and reloc ...

Wynonna Judd Wynonna Ellen Judd or simply Wynonna ( ; born Christina Claire Ciminella; May 30, 1964) is an American country music singer. She is one of the most widely recognized and awarded female country singers. In all, she has had 19 No. 1 singles, incl ...

Trisha Yearwood Patricia Lynn Yearwood (born September 19, 1964) is an American singer, actress, author and television personality. She rose to fame with her 1991 debut single " She's in Love with the Boy," which became a number one hit on the ''Billboard'' c ...

, Bonnie Raitt, Susan Ashton,

Michael W. Smith Michael Whitaker Smith (born October 7, 1957) is an American musician who has charted in both contemporary Christian and mainstream charts. His biggest success in mainstream music was in 1991 when " Place in This World" hit No. 6 on the '' ...

Jill Phillips Jill Anne Gullahorn (''née'', Phillips; born February 15, 1976) is an American Christian musician based out of Nashville, Tennessee, who brings a folk rock and roots rock sound with contemporary Christian music themes. Early and personal lif ...

Michael Crawford Michael Patrick Smith, (born 19 January 1942), known professionally as Michael Crawford, is an English tenor, actor and comedian. Crawford is best known for playing both the hapless Frank Spencer in the sitcom '' Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em'' a ...

, Peter Frampton,

Casting Crowns Casting Crowns is a contemporary Christian and Christian rock band started in 1999 by youth pastor Mark Hall, who serves as the band's lead vocalist, as part of a youth group at First Baptist Church in Downtown Daytona Beach, Florida. They later ...

and Eric Clapton, whose version of Kirkpatrick's "

Change the World "Change the World" is a song written by Tommy Sims, Gordon Kennedy, and Wayne Kirkpatrick and recorded by country music artist Wynonna Judd. A cover version was recorded by English singer Eric Clapton for the soundtrack of the 1996 film ''Ph ...

" won the

Grammy Award for Song of the Year The Grammy Award for Song of the Year is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. The Song of the Year award is one of the four most prestigious categories at t ...

. At the

24th GMA Dove Awards The 24th Annual GMA Dove Awards were held on April 1, 1993, recognizing accomplishments of musicians for the year 1992. The show was held in Nashville, Tennessee, and was hosted by Barbara Mandrell. Award recipients *Artist of the Year ** Michael ...

, Kirkpatrick received the award for Producer of the Year. In 2005, Kirkpatrick started to produce

alongside the group starting with their second album ''

The Road to Here ''The Road to Here'' is the second studio album by the American country music group Little Big Town. The album was released on October 4, 2005 on Equity Records and has been certified Platinum by the RIAA. The album was nominated for Best Countr ...

'' and also the next two '' A Place to Land'' and '' The Reason Why''. He also co-wrote most of the songs on all three albums with the group. Also in 2005, ''

'' came out for

. Kirkpatrick has writing credit on 12 of the 13 songs. He has solo writing credits on one song, "Looking for the Reason", with the rest written with him and part/all of the group or with other songwriters. He co-wrote with group members on their highest-charting song "Bring It On Home", which made it to No. 4 on Hot Country 100 songs chart. Kirkpatrick also wrote Little Big Town's 'signature' song, "Boondocks", which they use as the closing song at every show. In 2007,

and Kirkpatrick went back into the studio to make a new record, '' A Place to Land''. He co-wrote 12 of the 16 tracks on the Deluxe Edition, including the first song that

sang together called "Love Profound". In 2010, the newest record from

, '' The Reason Why'', was released which Kirkpatrick co-produced. The record debuted at No. 1, a first for Little Big Town. He co-wrote 7 of the 12 songs with the group, including the hit "

Little White Church "Little White Church" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music band Little Big Town, written by the band along with Wayne Kirkpatrick. It was released in March 2010 as the lead-off single from their album '' The Reason Why'', re ...

". Kirkpatrick has said that Karen Fairchild, Jimi Westbrook, Kimberly Schlapman and Philip Sweet have made him feel like the fifth member of the band. In 2000, Kirkpatrick released a solo project entitled ''The Maple Room'' that included "Wrapped Up in You", a song that would later become a hit for Garth Brooks, and "My Armageddon", which was originally slated for Brooks' '' Garth Brooks in ... The Life of Chris Gaines'' project. Kirkpatrick served as a primary songwriter on that album, along with Gordon Kennedy and

Tommy Sims Tommy Sims is an American bassist, songwriter, record producer and bandleader. Music career From 1987 to 1989 Sims was the bassist for the Christian rock band White Heart, which he left to become a studio musician and producer. During 1992 ...

. Later in 2000, he teamed up with Kennedy and several other songwriters (

Phil Madeira Philip Kamm Madeira (born 1952) is an American songwriter, producer, musician and singer. He was raised in Barrington, Rhode Island, and attended Taylor University, graduating in 1975. His songs have been recorded by The Civil Wars, Buddy Mill ...

and Billy Sprague) to record ''Coming From Somewhere Else'', which was a CD of their own music that had previously been recorded by other artists, including "Change the World". Around 2010, Wayne and his brother Karey began working on the musical ''

Something Rotten! ''Something Rotten!'' is a musical comedy with a book by John O'Farrell and Karey Kirkpatrick and music and lyrics by Karey and Wayne Kirkpatrick. Set in 1595, the story follows the Bottom brothers, Nick and Nigel, who struggle to find succes ...

''. In 2015, they were nominated for a

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

for Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre (along with many other awards), while Karey was also nominated for a

for Best Book of a Musical with British author John O'Farrell.

References

BMI article
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirkpatrick, Wayne 1960s births musicians from Nashville, Tennessee Living people American country songwriters American male songwriters Broadway composers and lyricists American country guitarists American male guitarists Musicians from Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge Magnet High School alumni Grammy Award winners Resonator guitarists Songwriters from Tennessee Songwriters from Louisiana Guitarists from Louisiana Guitarists from Tennessee 20th-century American guitarists Country musicians from Tennessee Country musicians from Louisiana 20th-century American male musicians