Wayne Kirkpatrick (born c. 1961) is an American songwriter and musician born in Greenville, MS, who now lives in

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, Tennessee. He graduated from Baton Rouge Magnet High School in 1979. His younger brother is American screenwriter and director Karey Kirkpatrick. Kirkpatrick is known for 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 had the same four members since its founding: Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman (née Roads), Phillip Sweet, and Jimi Westbrook. Fa ...

Faith Hill Audrey Faith McGraw (; born September 21, 1967), known professionally as Faith Hill, is an American Country music, country singer. She is one of the most successful country music artists of all time, having sold almost 50 million albums worldwide ...

Garth Brooks Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962) is an American Country music, country singer and songwriter. His integration of pop and rock elements into the country genre has earned him his immense popularity, particularly in the United States, ...

, Babyface,

Amy Grant Amy Lee Grant (born November 25, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She began her music career in contemporary Christian music (CCM) before crossing over to pop music in the mid-1980s. Grant has been referred to as "Honorific ...

Rich Mullins Richard Wayne Mullins (October 21, 1955 – September 19, 1997) was an American contemporary Christian music singer and songwriter best known for his contemporary worship music, worship songs "Awesome God" and "Sometimes by Step". Some of his ...

Joe Cocker John Robert "Joe" Cocker (20 May 1944 – 22 December 2014) was an English singer known for his gritty, bluesy voice and dynamic stage performances featuring expressive body movements. Most of his best-known singles, such as "Feelin' Alright ...

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, July 29, 1966) is an American country music singer and songwriter. She is known for her soprano singing range and her country pop material. McBride was born in Sharon, Kansas, and relocated to Nashville, T ...

, Wynonna Judd,

Trisha Yearwood Patricia Lynn Yearwood (born September 19, 1964) is an American country singer. 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 (magazine), Billboard'' Hot Country Songs ...

Bonnie Raitt Bonnie Lynn Raitt (; born November 8, 1949) is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. In 1971, Raitt released her Bonnie Raitt (album), self-titled debut album. Following this, she released a series of critically acclaimed Americana (mu ...

Susan Ashton Susan Ashton (born Susan Rae Hill; July 17, 1967) is an American contemporary Christian music and country music artist who topped the Christian charts throughout the 1990s. In 1991 she began using her mother's maiden name, Ashton, when she reco ...

Michael W. Smith Michael Whitaker Smith (born October 7, 1957) is an American musician who has charted in both contemporary Christian music, contemporary Christian and mainstream charts. His biggest success in mainstream music was in 1991 when "Place in This Worl ...

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 li ...

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

Peter Frampton Peter Kenneth Frampton (born 22 April 1950) is an English-American guitarist, singer, and songwriter who rose to prominence as a member of the rock bands the Herd and Humble Pie. Later in his career, Frampton found significant success as a s ...

Casting Crowns Casting Crowns is a contemporary Christian and Christian rock band which began in Daytona Beach, Florida. The band was formed in 1999 by lead vocalist Mark Hall. They moved to Stockbridge, Georgia, and more members joined. Some members of the ...

and

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...

, whose version of Kirkpatrick's " Change the World" 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 ...

. At the 24th GMA Dove Awards, 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'' 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, '' The Road to Here'' 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". 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 Session musician, studio musician and pro ...

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

Phil Madeira Philip Kamm Madeira (born April 9, 1952) is an American songwriter, producer, musician, and singer. He was raised in Barrington, Rhode Island, and graduated from Taylor University in 1975. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee. His songs have been ...

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!''. In 2015, they were nominated for a

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a 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. In 2018, it was announced that Wayne and his brother Karey were working together on the score for the musical adaptation of Mrs. Doubtfire, based on the film of the same name. The show previewed on Broadway in 2020 and closed in 2022. In September 2023, Kirkpatrick and songwriter and musician Don Chaffer were announced to be working on a musical based on the Bluebird Café in Nashville.

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 Year of birth missing (living people)