The Country Star Who Turned Down a Carrie Underwood Classic, Calling It “Stupid”

As the old adage goes, hindsight is always 20/20, and in 2005, few musicians felt that lesson as hard as the country star who turned down “Jesus, Take the Wheel.” The sentimental Christian ballad was American Idol winner Carrie Underwood’s massive breakthrough track and solidified her status as a bona fide country superstar.

Still, the songwriters who wrote the track didn’t have Underwood in mind. In fact, the only reason Underwood got the hit track at all was because, in a fortunate turn of events, another country star thought it was “stupid.”

This Country Star Who Turned Down “Jesus, Take the Wheel”

When Nashville songwriters Brett James, Hillary Lindsey, and Gordie Sampson first crafted “Jesus, Take the Wheel,” they weren’t sure about it. James explained to The Tennessean that the trio “either thought it was too out there, or we didn’t think that much of it.” He said that when the time came to choose a list of five songs to record as demos, “Jesus” nearly got the ax.

“I remember [“Jesus”] was fifth,” James said. “It was the last [song] that was going to make the session. I think we weren’t sure if people were really going to [connect with] a phrase that you haven’t heard. Are people really gonna get this?”

The songwriters decided to go through with recording “Jesus, Take the Wheel” with Lindsey on lead vocals. But when the time came to shop the song around, some artists shared the group’s initial trepidations. According to Wide Open Country, “Suds in the Bucket” singer Sara Evans turned down the song and reportedly called it “stupid.”

It Took Some Time To Warm Up To The Track

In Sara Evans’ defense, she wasn’t the only one who thought the song was a bit laughable. As Brett James explained to The Tennessean, he initially cracked a joke when fellow songwriter Gordie Sampson offered the title to the group. “I was like, ‘OK, so we got Jesus on the road, driving a Toyota? What’s he got?’ We laughed about it and just moved on.” Eventually, the trio revisited the idea when nothing better came up. As James put it, “Jesus totally took the wheel on that one.”

Future Lady A star Hillary Scott also strongly considered recording her version of the song while she was pursuing a solo career. “It was one of my favorites,” Scott told Taste of Country. However, Scott’s development deal with a Nashville record label fell through, and she never released any of the songs from that period, including “Jesus, Take the Wheel.” Still, all’s well that ends, and Scott ended up forming Lady A three years later.

And for Carrie Underwood? Well, the rest is musical history. The Idol alum’s version of “Jesus, Take the Wheel” shot straight to the top of the Billboard Hot Country chart, where it would stay for six weeks. Underwood won two Grammy Awards for Best Female Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Song in 2007.

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