It’s a crazy kinda story, how Cory Batten and Mason Douglas grew up miles apart from one another in Tucson, but didn’t officially meet until years later, once they had graduated from the University of Arizona and moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and dated the same woman.
Doesn’t that sound like a country song?
There’s more.
Apparently the parents of the two Nashville songwriters had crossed paths when their sons were boys, but thanks to fate or timing never introduced the boys. Their fathers served at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base together and their moms were in the same aerobics class, but the boys remained strangers.
They would never have met on their own; Batten went to Palo Verde High School (class of 1991) and Douglas, who was then going by his given name Doug Hough, attended Sahuaro High (class of ‘94). Both then attended the UA — Batten studied psychology and music, Douglas double-majored in marketing and management information services — before moving to Nashville to pursue songwriting.
And it was in Nashville in those early days, around 2000, that a mutual friend, a girl that both ended up dating, made the introductions.
“The circle was so close but it never connected until we got to Nashville,” said Douglas, 42, who will join Batten, 44, and a couple of their Nashville friends for a special concert Sunday, Sept. 30, at Maverick Live Country Club, 6622 E. Tanque Verde Road.
Batten put together Sunday’s event when he realized he and his wife, singer-songwriter Karyn Rochelle (“This Is Me You’re Talking To” for Trisha Yearwood, “Don’t You Know You’re Beautiful” for Kellie Pickler), were coming home for his father’s 70th birthday. He invited Douglas, who comes home a couple times a year, and longtime Garth Brooks collaborator, Kent Blazy (“If Tomorrow Never Comes,” “Ain’t Goin’ Down (‘Til the Sun Comes Up),” “Somewhere Other Than the Night”), with whom Batten cowrote the Chris Young hit “Gettin’ You Home (The Black Dress Song).”
“If you would have told the younger Mason Douglas ... you’re going to be at the Maverick and play with the guy who wrote ‘Tomorrow Never Comes’ and with the girl who sings backup with Garth Brooks, I would have told you you were insane,” said Douglas, who penned the Lost Trailers Top 40 hit “American Beauty.” “Homecoming is awesome, but to have that caliber of performers with us is mind blowing ... . They were our mentor and who we looked up to when we were trying to find our way in the business.”
Sunday’s event will be fashioned after the popular “Bluebird format” where songwriters share the stage and tell stories about the songs they wrote and then sing them with fellow songwriters chiming in on harmonies or an instrument. “Bluebird” is in reference to Bluebird Cafe, a popular spot for songwriters road-testing their songs.
Batten, who scored his first No. 1 hit in 2013 with “She Wouldn’t Be Gone” (Blake Shelton), said he and Douglas will likely hit the UA bookstore for Wildcats gear at some point this weekend.
“I’m excited. It’s been awhile” since the last trip home, Batten said.
