The Richest Man

“When COVID-19 hit, it was obvious things were going to slow down,” recalled Buddy Melton, lead singer and fiddler for repeat IBMA “Entertainer of the Year” Balsam Range. “We wanted to utilize our time and be positive.”

Their May 2020 release of “The Richest Man” was one enduring result of their downtime. “Under the circumstances, it filled a need for us and for listeners,” he said. “We can all strive to do a lot in life—to be ‘the richest man’—but it doesn’t take long to realize we’re going to leave here with the same thing we came with: nothing.”

The song quickly reached #1 on Bluegrass Today and stayed there for several weeks. “The deejays got behind it, I think, because it checked a lot of boxes for good bluegrass radio—tempo, message, etc.”  

“The Richest Man” has now earned an IBMA “Song of the Year” nomination. “Some songs have good charting action, but for whatever reason, they come and go quickly,” said Melton. “That song has stuck around, which says a lot about the quality of the writing.”

The Writing Room

Songwriters Connie Harrington, Jimmy Yeary, and Jim Beavers came together in May 2018 and began throwing out titles. “When we find one everybody’s excited about, we know we have something,” said Harrington (“Mine Would Be You”/Blake Shelton, “I Drive Your Truck”/Lee Brice). 

Beavers (“Watching Airplanes”/Gary Allen, “Sideways”/Dierks Bentley) had the magic title that day. “Like all songwriters, I keep a running list of ideas,” said Beavers. “I was reading an online forum about retiring and investments, and a guy said he wanted to spend his money now because there was no point in being ‘The Richest Man in the Graveyard.’ I thought it would be interesting to write about that man.”

Yeary (“In Another World”/Joe Diffie, “Why Wait”/Rascal Flatts) took to the idea, particularly since he and wife Sonya Isaacs had just returned from visiting Sonya’s Kentucky home. He recalled the family graveyard visit. “Seeing tombstones from the early 1600s, I thought about these people who’d never conceived of a plane, car, or other things that, if we miss or can’t get started, we complain about,” he said. “Whoever was the richest man in that graveyard would probably die today as the poorest one, so the intriguing notion arose that ‘you don’t take it with you when you go, and the size of your tombstone doesn’t make you any less dead.’”

From the title, the song kicked off in a chronological manner. “We knew,” said Yeary, “we would paint the picture of the richest man in the graveyard—got a big ole house and a big old yard—and the poorest man in the graveyard—in a box that still ain’t paid for— and compare what they each had here on earth while they were alive.” 

Nuggets 

In talking to these writers, several shared “standout” moments emerged from that day’s writing process. Beavers touched on three of them when recalling his favorite parts of the song. “First, I remember Jimmy saying, ‘A hundred-dollar bill folds in half just like a ten,’ and I thought that was the coolest line,” he said of the first line of the chorus, which Harrington also called her favorite part of the song. “Second, I remember getting excited about writing about the ‘poorest man in the graveyard,’ to show how he and the ‘richest man’ were really in the same position. Third, I remember the time change for the bridge. I love unexpected things like that in songs. Buck Owens used to do stuff like that, and it was interesting. Maybe that’s one of the things that caught the attention of Balsam Range.”

And it was. When asked about his favorite part of the song, Melton confirmed, “I love the tempo change going into the line about ‘worrying about nothing.’ It sets the song apart and lets that line be the emphasis.”

“I was thinking, this may be a crazy idea, but I just hear the bridge almost coming to a screeching halt,” said Harrington. “Maybe because the lyric conveys the feeling of trudging through, carrying worry and weight, I wanted the music to indicate that same feeling. Once you lighten up and lose that baggage, you feel light and airy again. It makes the last chorus fun.”

Balance and Genre 

On achieving a balance between clever lines and a strong emotional response, Yeary noted that sometimes what listeners hear as clever is really authenticity. “I can tell you, ‘I love my dad,’ or I can tell you, ‘I love the man who taught me how to fish.’ I can say, ‘I have toddlers at home,’ or I can say, ‘If I trip over one more sippy cup, I’m gonna punch a wall.’ This song puts a smile on our faces, but it’s also a reminder of the futility of chasing the dollar. I mean, the concept of these two guys having a conversation and being friends once assets are gone and it’s just them in the graveyard, is an entertaining picture that, at its heart, makes us think. 

While these hitmakers didn’t sit down to write a bluegrass song that day, all three are connected bluegrass fans. Yeary recently released his own number one bluegrass single, “Bone Dry,” and said that even in the country market, he writes with a ‘grassy’ bent, as he did for Tim McGraw’s cut, ‘I Called Mama.’ “I love and respect Balsam Range and their music so much,” he said. “Having this single is a huge honor.”

“When Buddy reached out to me for some songs,” said Harrington, “this one had a little bounce to it. I could envision it bluegrass. I was happy when Balsam Range cut it. I love their take on it, and I’m thrilled it did well for them.”

Melton called Harrington a friend and repeat source of great material. She wrote the group’s 2014 single, “Blue Mountain,” and other Balsam Range cuts. 

Despite the country style demo, Melton could hear a bluegrass approach. “A great song is a great song. If it’s well written and catchy, it doesn’t matter how it’s recorded. When I got the song, I kept thinking about those lyrics and sat down with the guitar and started playing with keys, tempos, styles. I brought it to the guys and went through my vision for it. It transitioned from that into what they heard and brought to it. That’s the process for all our songs.”