Jessie James Decker Shines in Acoustic ‘Girl on the Coast’ Performance [Exclusive Premiere]
Jessie James Decker recently released her five-song EP Gold. While the project includes songs penned by Maren Morris and Alyssa Bonagura, one of the record's highlights is "Girl on the Coast," which Decker wrote by herself. Taste of Country has the exclusive premiere of a very special acoustic performance of the song.
Shot live in Nashville at Blackbird Studio on the Honda stage, Decker is seated on a stool barefoot beside her band as light percussion and acoustic guitars transport the listener to summertime on a sandy beach.
"Take me down to the beach / By the coconut tree / Your hand in my hand / Lemon in my iced tea / Rollin' in the sand / Salty kisses on my tan," she sings on the song's chorus.
The song was inspired by a less-than-relaxing moment when Decker found herself driving back to Nashville from her parents' home in Georgia with her two children screaming.
"I have two little ones," she says in a behind-the-scenes clip. "I have a two-year-old little girl named Vivianne and a one-year-old son named Eric. They're screaming in the back as little kids do. They're screaming and hootin' and hollerin' and just stressing me out. There's nothing worse than kids screaming in the car in the backseat and there's nothing you can do about it. Eric is driving and I'm like, 'Oh my God! I just want to be on the beach. I want to be on the beach somewhere. Get me out of here!'"
That moment of chaos instantly inspired Decker, who recalls singing the melody of "take me down to the beach by the coconut trees" on her phone while in the car.
"I wrote the entire song in 30 minutes by myself on my phone as you hear my kids screaming in the background. Eric goin', 'Be quiet, your mom is trying to sing,'" she recalls. "I sent it to my producer, Dan, immediately and he said, 'Oh my gosh, we have to record this. It's awesome!' A couple days later I go over to Dan's studio, we record the song and my publisher loved it. It's probably one of my favorite songs on this record."
Listen to Decker's acoustic performance of "Girl on the Coast" above, and watch her tell the story behind the song below.
Gold debuted in the Top 5 on Billboard's Current Country Albums chart, selling more than 12,000 albums and 17,000 songs, marking the strongest opening week sales of her career to date.
Jessie James Decker Shares Three Workout Secrets