Last week it was party time once again for Lee Brice. This time, however, he was not celebrating a song he wrote for another artist, but rather his own hit song, 'A Woman Like You.' Brice and the song's three writers -- Phil Barton, Jon Stone and Johnny Bulford -- gathered at CMA headquarters in Nashville where they were honored with the song that topped the country singles chart back in April.

Everything about the tune is magical, including the coincidental fluke that had the three hitmakers in the same room on the particular day that the song was crafted.

"I was supposed to be out of the country that day that we wrote the song," the Australian-born Phil Barton tells Taste of Country. "My visa had expired, and I was getting sent home. Somehow a miracle happened and I got my work permit a week early, so I was able to get in on this write."

The day his song was honored was extra special for Brice, as it was his first time topping the charts as an artist. Brice has sat proudly in the No. 1 slot two other times for his tune 'Crazy Girl,' recorded by the Eli Young Band and co-written with Liz Rose, and Garth Brooks' 'More Than a Memory,' which he wrote along with Kyle Jacobs and Billy Montana. But this was all for him.

"It's like a different sweet," Brice says of being the artist singing a No. 1 hit. "Writing a song and having a No. 1 is like a real pride thing for me. I've worked so hard at trying to be a good writer, so for that to happen and have somebody else record my song is very humbling and I'm very honored. I am so proud of that. It's like you work toward it and then it happens. They're my babies. But then sitting here, it's more like an accomplishment. It's like finally! We've worked a long time, and now [I'm] sitting here as an artist. So it's great in that way. All the work we've put in is paying off. It feels good."

On hand to help celebrate the success of the songwriters, artist and song itself were Chris Young, Jerrod Niemann, LoCash Cowboys' Preston Brust and Lance Miller, among others.

 

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