Casey Michael Beathard (/ˈbɛθərd/ BETH-ərd;[4] born December 2, 1965[1][2]) is an American country music songwriter. The son of former National Football League general manager Bobby Beathard,[5] and father of Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback C. J. Beathard, and country music artist Tucker Beathard, he has co-written singles for several country music recording artists, including top-ten singles for Gary Allan, Billy Ray Cyrus, Trace Adkins, Kenny Chesney, and Eric Church.

Casey Beathard
Birth nameCasey Michael Beathard
Born (1965-12-02) December 2, 1965 (age 58)
OriginTorrance, California, U.S.[1][2]
Spring Hill, Tennessee, U.S.[3]
GenresCountry
Occupation(s)Songwriter
Years active1998–present

In 2004 and 2008, he received Broadcast Music, Inc.'s Songwriter of the Year award for his contributions.[3][6]

Early life and education edit

Beathard was born on December 2, 1965, in Torrance, California. He attended Oakton High School in Vienna, Virginia, where he was a football star and graduated in 1984. In 1990, Beathard graduated from Elon University in Elon, North Carolina, with a degree in business management. While in Elon, he was a member of Kappa Sigma Fraternity and played college football.

Career edit

In 1991, Beathard moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to find work as a songwriter. After finding work at various jobs in Nashville, he was eventually signed to a songwriting contract; his first cut as a songwriter was the title track of Kenny Chesney's 1998 album I Will Stand, which was released as a single that year.[5] (Chesney later recorded "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems", another Beathard co-write, in 2002.[5]) By the 2000s, many other country music artists had recorded Beathard's material, including Trace Adkins, Gary Allan, Tracy Byrd, and Billy Currington. For his contributions as a songwriter, Beathard received a Songwriter of the Year award from Broadcast Music Incorporated in 2004 and 2008.[6]

In 2006, he received his first credit as a record producer, when he co-produced the track "I Wanna Feel Something" on Trace Adkins' Dangerous Man album. This was also Adkins' first co-production credit.[7]

A year later, Beathard received additional honors from BMI as the co-writer of Tracy Lawrence's single "Find Out Who Your Friends Are", Lawrence's first number one in eleven years, and the first single for his personal Rocky Comfort label.[8]

Beathard's son, C. J. Beathard, is a backup quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars. He played at the University of Iowa and was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the 2017 NFL draft.[9] Another son, Tucker Beathard, is signed to Dot Records as a recording artist.

His son Clayton, a quarterback at Long Island University, was fatally stabbed during an altercation that began at around 2:50 a.m. Saturday, December 21, 2019, outside of the Dogwood Bar & Grill in Nashville.

Themes edit

Several of Casey Beathard's songs are up-tempo party anthems, occasionally centering on alcoholic beverages. The latter theme is most evident on the three cuts recorded by Byrd—"Ten Rounds with Jose Cuervo", "Drinkin' Bone", and "How'd I Wind Up in Jamaica"—as well as Trent Willmon's debut single "Beer Man", and "The World Needs a Drink" by Terri Clark.[5] He has occasionally shown a more serious side to his songs as well, such as Jeff Bates's "The Love Song", Billy Currington's "Walk a Little Straighter", Billy Ray Cyrus's "Ready, Set, Don't Go", and Eric Church's "Homeboy".[5]

Singles edit

Song title Artist Co-writers Peak Release date
"Heaven on Dirt" Gord Bamford Jason Lee Owens Jr., Phil O'Donnell, Jenee Fleenor 34 04/16/2021
"Hell of a View" Eric Church Eric Church, Monty Criswell 4 11/09/2020
"Rock On" Tucker Beathard Tucker Beathard, Marla Cannon-Goodman 2 03/06/2016
"Like a Wrecking Ball" Eric Church Eric Church 6 03/09/2015
"The Outsiders" Eric Church Eric Church 6 10/22/2013
"Like Jesus Does" Eric Church Monty Criswell 6 1/28/2013
"He's Mine" Rodney Atkins Tim James, Phil O'Donnell 23 11/7/2011
"Just Fishin'" Trace Adkins Ed Hill, Monty Criswell 6 3/21/2011
"Homeboy" Eric Church Eric Church 13 2/28/2011
"Brown Chicken Brown Cow" Trace Adkins Kenny Beard, Rivers Rutherford 39 8/17/2010
"The Boys of Fall" Kenny Chesney Dave Turnbull 1 7/12/2010
"The Breath You Take" George Strait Dean Dillon, Jessie Jo Dillon 6 7/12/2010
"Come Back Song" Darius Rucker Chris Stapleton, Darius Rucker 1 7/6/2010
"Way Out Here" Josh Thompson Josh Thompson, David Lee Murphy 15 3/29/2010
"All I Ask For Anymore" Trace Adkins Tim James 14 5/18/2009
"His Kind of Money (My Kind of Love)" Eric Church Eric Church, Shane Minor 46 3/24/2009
"Cleaning This Gun (Come On In Boy)" Rodney Atkins Marla-Cannon Goodman 1 10/1/2007
"Don't Blink" Kenny Chesney Chris Wallin 1 9/10/2007
"How 'bout Them Cowgirls" George Strait Ed Hill 3 8/24/2007
"Ready, Set, Don't Go" Billy Ray Cyrus w/ Miley Cyrus Billy Ray Cyrus 4 8/11/2007
"'Fore She Was Mama" Clay Walker Phil O'Donnell 21 10/16/2006
"The World Needs a Drink" Terri Clark Eric Church 26 8/29/2006
"Find Out Who Your Friends Are" Tracy Lawrence Ed Hill 1 8/21/2006
"Yee Haw" Jake Owen Jake Owen, Kendell Marvel 16 2/27/2006
"Do You Want Fries with That" Tim McGraw Kerry Kurt Phillips 5 5/23/2005
"I See Me" Travis Tritt Chris Mohr 32 3/5/2005
"I Got A Feelin'" Billy Currington Billy Currington, Carson Chamberlain 5 1/5/2004
"Hot Mama" Trace Adkins Tom Shapiro 5 9/22/2003
"Drinkin' Bone" Tracy Byrd Kerry Kurt Phillips 7 8/4/2003
"No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems" Kenny Chesney 2 5/26/2003
"Walk a Little Straighter" Billy Currington Billy Currington, Carson Chamberlain 8 4/21/2003
"The Love Song" Jeff Bates Jeff Bates, Kenny Beard 8 12/16/2002
"Ten Rounds with Jose Cuervo" Tracy Byrd Michael P. Heeney, Marla Cannon-Goodman 1 4/1/2002
"Where the Stars and Stripes and the Eagle Fly" Aaron Tippin Aaron Tippin, Kenny Beard 2 9/17/2001
"Right Where I Need to Be" Gary Allan Kendell Marvel 5 9/11/2000
"I Will Stand" Kenny Chesney Mark Germino 27 8/25/1998

References edit

  1. ^ a b "RolandNote Country Music Database Searches". RolandNote.com. June 30, 2015. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
  2. ^ a b "The Birth of Casey Beathard". CaliforniaBirthIndex.org. June 30, 2015. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
  3. ^ a b "Spring Hill's Casey Beathard is BMI's newly awarded Songwriter of the Year". Entertainment News. November 13, 2004. Archived from the original on February 2, 2009. Retrieved December 28, 2007.
  4. ^ Brown, Daniel. "49ers Analysis: How rookie C.J. Beathard showed promise of better days ahead," The Mercury News (San Jose, CA), Sunday, August 20, 2017. Retrieved November 27, 2020
  5. ^ a b c d e "Casey Beathard". Broadcast Music Incorporated. December 1, 2004. Retrieved December 28, 2007.
  6. ^ a b "BMI Celebrates Country Music at 2004 & 2008 Awards; Shania Twain, Toby Keith & Casey Beathard Lead Winners; Loretta Lynn Honored as BMI Icon". Business Wire. November 9, 2004. Retrieved December 28, 2007.
  7. ^ "On the Cover – Trace Adkins". Music Row. August 2006. Archived from the original on December 3, 2008. Retrieved December 28, 2007.
  8. ^ Morris, Edward (August 8, 2007). "Ed Hill, Casey Beathard Lauded for Tracy Lawrence No. 1". CMT. Retrieved December 28, 2007.
  9. ^ "C.J. Beathard Bio - Hawkeye Sports Official Athletic Site". Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved September 13, 2015.