Kevin Griffin Releases New Book, ‘The Greatest Song’: “I Wanted This to Be Different” 

Whether he’s telling a story through words or song, Kevin Griffin lets the narrative take the lead, a method he showcases in his new book, The Greatest Song: Spark Creativity, Ignite Your Career, and Transform Your Life. 

Long before he was the frontman of Better Than Ezra and a hit songwriter across genres and co-founder of Pilgrimage Festival, Griffin attended Louisiana State University as an English major in 1990.

About a decade later, he had written a fiction novel that was in the editing process when it got shelved. But fate intervened when he ran into an old friend at a bar in New Orleans after a Mardi Gras parade. Over a bowl of jambalaya at 2 a.m., at F&M Patio Bar, his friend asked if he’d be willing to speak at a business conference in Dallas, Texas. Griffin excitedly accepted the offer but realized he now had to come up with an interesting story to tell. That’s when he turned inward and pulled from his own life. 

“I realized that there are certain things that I’ve done that I had to do throughout my career just to stay successful and they’re actually things you do in any business,” Griffin explains to American Songwriter about the contents of the speech that focused on the “ups and downs” of his life journey.

His speech was so well received that companies like Disney, Live Nation, and Nike started asking him to speak at their events. Griffin shared his inspiring speech in between shows with Better Than Ezra, solo gigs, and working on Pilgrimage Festival. That speech has now turned into a creative nonfiction book, The Greatest Story, in an effort to help people grow and thrive in their own careers. 

“I’d always wanted to write a book,” Griffin says. “This narrative kept coming back into my head, ‘I want to tell a story.’ I like learning something through a narrative. I gravitate as a fan to songs that tell a narrative, and [with] my songwriting, that’s what I endeavor to do as well.”

The book became a “business parable,” as told through the fictional character of Jake Stark whom Griffin calls a “journeyman songwriter.” “We meet him right when he’s let go of his longtime publisher,” Griffin explains of the plot. “He’s had massive hits and success as an artist, and things aren’t quite going well in his life. He learns these five steps to this method to turn his life around that are practiced by these people who are just crushing it in Nashville and pop and country. That’s where our story starts.” 

Griffin draws inspiration from his own story for Stark’s trajectory, from his success as the lead singer of the alt-rock band Better Than Ezra, whose 1993 sophomore album, Deluxe, hit the top 40 on the all-genre Billboard 200, to when the band got dropped from their record label five years later.

Throughout the book, Stark must complete the five steps of The Method, which are intended to not only help in his professional life but his personal life as well. The Method stems from the valuable lessons Griffin has learned along his path, such as being open to collaboration and maintaining a positive attitude in order to survive in the music business.

“I was kind of forced to reinvent myself,” he says of when Better Than Ezra was dropped and he turned his focus to co-writing songs for other artists. “My dad always told me, ‘Nothing changes if nothing changes.’ So I realized I’m going to keep doing this, but I’m going to do something different. And that’s when I started collaborating.” 

Intentional about not wanting to write a memoir, Griffin instead made the book a “how-to” for songwriters and others looking to advance in their field.

“I wanted this to be something different,” he continues. “I want this to be a how-to manual not only for songwriters but for anybody who wants to continue getting better and evolving and taking that skill set they have and [say], ‘This is what’s worked for me,’ not only me but everybody because there are truths you find as you go through life. These are five things to stay creative, stay evolving, changing your attitude.” 

While the book offers insight into how to start a writing session, his experiences with collaboration, and the importance of leaving one’s comfort zone, Griffin cites “daring to be stupid” as the most important of the five points he makes in the book.

“‘You’ll never come up with anything truly groundbreaking unless you’re prepared to fail,’” Griffin notes, quoting British author Sir Ken Robinson in what he calls “the smartest idea in the book. The best songwriters I know, especially lyricists, are so the ones that continue throwing ideas out. They have no filter. You have to create a songwriting session where everybody knows it’s a safe zone where big ideas, ‘Let’s just go for something crazy,’ and failure isn’t stigmatized. That’s when you really get awesome stuff.”

But the Better Than Ezra frontman gets personal when it comes to creative collaboration, a method he describes as, “surrounding yourself in a songwriting session with people that have a skill set that’s different than your own.”

During the writing process for the book, Griffin noticed he was focusing more on Stark’s professional life rather than his personal one. Wanting to put “the heart” into the narrative, Griffin started pulling inspiration from his own life such as learning how to check his ego in order to be a strong collaborator, a point that’s emphasized through the character of Shane Sawyer who he compares to a Sam Elliott type character.

Throughout Sawyer’s chapter, he’s exposed to The Method and then applies what he learned to his life at home with his wife and son which has positive improvements in his life.

“That’s so true in collaboration, but also in life,” Griffin conveys about Sawyer’s phrase “my ego is not my amigo. That’s really the biggest thing the way you can conduct yourself in songwriting or in business is also a great way to conduct yourself in life. They’re not mutually exclusive. You can be a great partner in a relationship and a great partner in a collaboration. That’s one of the main messages and most personal.” 

As someone who reads all types of literature, Griffin says the most important aspect of reading a book is a captivating narrative, a goal he strived for in writing The Greatest Story.

“Make it a compelling story and make it a story with heart and humor, and silliness, and then you put the message in these five practices,” he says of his process. “The one thing that connects them all, the glue, is that it’s got to be a great story.”

The Greatest Song is available now. Order HERE.

Photo by Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival