By Andrew Ellis, Editor

Songwriters Brooke Lynn and Stefanie Joyce didn’t have any set ideas going into their co-writing session. So they started talking about music, and songwriters they’d been obsessing over. 

That’s when Lynn recalled a show at the famed Listening Room in Nashville where songwriter and Minnesota-native Emily Shackleton performed a new song. It was so new no one had even cut it yet.

“It’s a song she wrote a few months after having her son, for her son on his wedding day,” Lynn says. “Emily had everyone in the room in tears, including my mother.”

Inspiration Strikes

She says the song was very well-written and it made her think of how special songs about family members are. She asked Joyce about what perspectives were missing. Before Joyce could say anything Lynn had her answer.

“I thought of my dad, how inspiring he is,” she says. “How much alone has inspired me to follow my dreams, chase the unknown, work hard, and do what I love.”

His dad died when he was just 12. So he had no one to look up to as a father figure, and he had to raise himself. He had to push himself to chase his dreams. Even with no role models, Lynn says, he became the best father and husband.

“He’s not perfect, but he did the best he could and I never saw him waiver for a moment,” she says. “I’ve never questioned his love for my mom, or for me and my siblings.”

Common Ground

Joyce was on board right away. She realized she had a similar childhood. Both had fathers who whose work took them away from home a lot, but their dedication to their families never faltered.

“They still made every game, every recital, every concert, every party they could,” Lynn says, adding that they don’t remember their fathers missing a single thing.

They set out to give their fathers that much deserved tribute that became “Lovin’ My Momma.” They finished the song days before Father’s Day, and Lynn knew she had to wait to release it. The only person she shard it with was her sister who she could always count on for an honest opinion on her music. 

“I knew this one would obviously be just as special to her as it would be to me,” she says. “And she loved it.”

The Gift of a Song

Lynn sent her parents the song the morning of Father’s Day. Her mom and little brother Trevor told her abut her dad’s reaction.

“My dad isn’t very emotional,” she says. “But my mom said that he had to walk away and kind of hide his face a few times during the song.”

She had also posted the video of her performing the song on social media so her fans could share it their dads, too. The reaction was so strong she knew it had to be her first single.

“Everyone can relate to this song in some way as everyone is a child themselves,” she says. “And there’s a good chance they’re also a father, a mother, or a guardian of some sort to a child. And that is why it’s such a special song.”

What she didn’t expect was people to reach out. One fan told her the song hit home because his mom had recently passed away, and his dad was there for her up to her final breath. Another fan’s mom was getting sicker each day. The song helped them convey their appreciation for their dad’s dedication to caring for her.

“That just hit me so hard,” she says. “And I just thank God for giving Stephanie and I the words to create such a powerful song when we honestly had no idea who it would touch.”