Ten Year Town

Nashville is known as a 10-year-town because that's about how long it takes to make your mark in the city - it's not like New York or Los Angeles where overnight success stories are common. Hailey Whitters had been there 12 years when she wrote the song, and while she'd had some success, including a co-write on the Little Big Town hit "Happy People," she often missed her family back in Iowa and wondered if she could keep sticking it out. The song resonated with anyone who has had their doubts while pursuing their dreams.

Whitters wrote this song with Brandy Clark, a Music City veteran whose career also took a while to get going.

Whitters had earned impressive credits as a songwriter when she wrote this song, but she wanted to make it as an artist, and it felt like the clock was ticking. "I was feeling very frustrated with my artist's career and wondering if I should just hang that up and just be a songwriter," she said in a Songfacts interview. "I realized I still had things I wanted to say as an artist that weren't being picked up by other artists as a writer, so I felt like there was a voice that still was there that wasn't being heard, and I realized I still wanted to pursue that. I still wanted to make records and I still wanted to perform my own songs. I still really wanted to do the artist thing."