Walker McGuire on Singing, Writing, and How Luke Combs Helped Their Career

Walker McGuire is a hot new duo made up of Jordan Walker and Johnny McGuire. The two started as writing buddies, never realizing they were slowly forming their own act.

“We were writing,” Walker shared with PopCulture.com at a recent media event. “Had no idea what we were doing essentially. We had never co-written. The more we wrote, the more we sang together, people were like, ‘This sounds cool. I like this song. I like the way y’all sound together.’

“I think it was about my fourth day in town in Nashville about six years ago,” adds McGuire. “When you first move to Nashville, you literally – if you’re doing what we were doing, which was songwriting at the time – you just go to a open mic night and you wait two hours and you try to play one or two songs, but you go and meet people. The other songwriters you like, you get their number and you start writing and he was the first number I got.”

In fact, the guys found success as songwriters, together and separate, with Walker penning the Luke Combs hit, “When It Rains It Pours” with Combs.

“Luke was actually fresh out of a relationship when we wrote that song probably three years ago,” Walker recalls. “We met at a bar in Nashville with our buddy, Ray Fulcher, who we wrote it with. I knew Ray, and Ray knew Luke and so he was the link between us. We start talking. We’re having a couple beers and Luke goes, ‘Well, I like your music, the Walker McGuire music that I’ve heard.’ At the time it was on SoundCloud and ReverbNation and he was like, ‘I’d love to write with you one day if we could.’ We left the bar right then, went to my house, pulled out a couple guitars and a six pack and started writing.

“The idea fell out, but the whole time we writing the first verse, he was texting his ex-girlfriend,” continues Walker. “I just kept going, ‘Dude, should we just not write and just go back to the bar? I know how this goes.’ He was like, ‘No. We’re gonna write a song.’ Then it hit me. I was like, ‘We should write a song about her.’”

Although Combs was initially hesitant, he ultimately realized that a song about her might be the best response.

He was like, ‘Wow, dude. We should write a song just to make her mad,’” adds Walker with a laugh.

Walker McGuire just released their self-titled debut EP, and their single, “Lost,” but while the twosome still hone their craft as artists, songwriting will always remain their first love.

“Songwriting is our number one passion,” Walker says. “That’s what brought us together. We wanted to write songs together. It gives us something to talk about every day, every time we stop in a radio station. We can talk about ourselves all day long, but it’s always cool to bring in another aspect and the songwriting aspect is huge for us. Yeah. I was lucky enough to write ‘When It Rains It Pours’ with Luke Combs.”

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Photo Credit: Instagram/WalkerMcGuire