Lee Brice will be among the musicians gathering at the Ritz-Carlton Maui, Kapalua, from Jan. 15-18 for the 10th annual Maui Songwriters Festival. Courtesy photo

Country singer Lee Brice was destined for stardom ever since he co-wrote Garth Brooks’ hit “More Than a Memory,” which became the first single in the history of Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart to debut at No. 1.

That success continued with his own single, “Love Like Crazy,” from his debut album, which set a record as the longest-charting song in the Billboard Country chart’s history. It won both single and song of the year at the Academy of Country Music Awards.

Brice, who has also composed songs for country stars Tim McGraw, Blake Shelton, Kenny Chesney and Jason Aldean, will headline the 10th annual Maui Songwriters Festival at the Ritz-Carlton Maui, Kapalua, which opens Jan. 15.

“I’m a songwriter at heart,” says Brice, who has sold over 12 million records. “I love not just songwriting, but just a guy, a guitar. I’m on a tour again in January. It’s called ‘Me and My Guitar Tour,’ and it’s just myself for two hours. It’s the thing that I grew up doing. I was writing songs as a kid, playing them for my parents or playing them for my friends, and it was just me and a guitar.

“So that style of thing and telling the stories behind the songs is my favorite way. I love getting out in the stadium and running around, running all up and down the sidewalls and everything else, and kind of knocking the doors down. But the songwriter’s sort of guy on a guitar telling the stories is my favorite way to communicate a song.”

This prolific artist recently released a unique Christmas song, “Single Bells,” an ode to the party of one.

“Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year,” he says. “But there’s something about when you listen to the radio and all you can hear is Christmas music, like ‘Jingle Bells’ a million different ways. It kind of gets on my nerves a little bit. But I love old school Christmas music, and I love when I hear something unique. ‘Single Bells’ feels like John Legend or Bruno Mars could cut it tomorrow. It’s got this lonely, sexy thing about it, but it’s a Christmas song. I just love unique, original stuff that’s really great, not cheesy.”

Last season he released another memorable Christmas number, “Santa Claus Was My Uber Drive,” which was based on a real incident when an Uber driver showed up at an airport dressed as Santa.

“You can’t make that up,” he explains. “That was a true story. It actually happened and that Santa still texts me. ‘Hey, man, I’m a star in Virginia Beach now.’ It’s so funny.”

Growing up in South Carolina, Brice’s path as a songwriter and musician began at an early age. “When I was a 10-year-old boy, I was hearing songs and I was just so inspired by them, and I wrote a song about my kindergarten girlfriend,” he recalls. “Then I wrote a song about my daddy’s hunting dog and made grown men cry. I loved music and singing and playing guitar and writing. But writing was kind of like when I wanted to sing, I said, ‘Well, I better learn how to write because I’m sure all these people I hear on the radio write their own songs, and they produce the music, they play the guitar.’ That’s what my little 10-year-old brain was thinking. So that’s what I did, and that’s what I’m still doing now.”

In terms of country idol influences, he cites artists like Edwin McCain, who had a big hit with “I’ll Be.” “It’s still, to this day, one of the biggest songs of karaoke or weddings, and it’s amazing. He has this epic voice, and he was a humongous influence on me, too, because he was from South Carolina, and he had national success, and he was playing an acoustic guitar. It’s like that’s what I want to do.”

And of course there was Garth Brooks. “Garth was really big for me,” he says. “The songs that he wrote and how he communicated them. He was my hero, and then for him to call me up and ask me about this song and then ask me if he could record it. I was like, ‘Of course you can.’ But he was so gracious, and then he made a humongous thing out of it. It was the only song to debut at No. 1 ever. And to this day, it still feels almost a little surreal. Like, did that really happen? It’s kind of insane to think about. It’s like somebody did make that up or something.”

His early hits continued with his album “Hard 2 Love,” which sold gold and featured three No. 1 singles, including “I Drive Your Truck,” which won song of the year at the ACM Awards. Then in 2014, the Grammy-nominated musician scored the year’s first platinum-selling country hit with the title track from his third album, “I Don’t Dance,” which was a gift for his wife on their wedding day. Again he won single of the year at the ACM Awards.

Brice sometimes composes cool, humorous songs, like “Upper Middle Class White Trash.”

“I like it all man,” he says. “I love that stuff. I love rock stuff. I love blues stuff. I love country stuff. I love sad stuff. If you really want to know the truth, the first thing I would, if it was my nature, I’d go sit down and write something nostalgic, and something that takes you back or something that makes you feel deeply.”

“That’s probably what I would write every day if it naturally came out. I have to kind of make myself go write the fun, big rock stuff or write even the humorous stuff. But I do love it all. I’ve been inspired by all kinds of music my whole life.”

In 2020, his fifth studio album, the platinum-selling “Hey World,” featured the single “One of Them Girls,” which spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart. It also included some powerful, affirmative songs like “Sons and Daughters,” which called for kindness and respect, and spotlighted “what’s going on in the world with kids and what they’re being exposed to on social media.”

“A lot of the negativity and all this stuff that I feel is so unhealthy for children, especially,” he says. “It’s like they’re getting brainwashed and they can get bullied around. It just really bothers me, so I put a rule in my house with my kids that we won’t have social media until you’re 18. I feel like it’s just as unhealthy for you if you were 16 and drinking a beer.”

Completing work on a new album, he says, “We’re looking at the last two or three songs that we’re trying to wrangle in and make sure they’re finished because we’ve got to try to get this album tucked in and to bed. So we’ve got a single coming out on January 31st called ‘Cry.’ But it’s nothing like you think. It’s like a ’50s doo-wop. It’s really cool. It’s fun, it’s awesome, and it’s tough and it’s sensitive all at the same time. The album should be out by late summer.”

The Maui Songwriters Festival is presented at the Ritz-Carlton Maui, Kapalua, Jan. 15-18. It opens with two free events. A Maui Aloha Live Showcase features Maui’s Akoni Palomino, Tempa & Naor, and Gail Swanson from 6-10 p.m. Jan. 15. A Nashville Aloha Live Showcase from 8-9:30 p.m. Jan. 16 features Nashville singer-songwriters Jordan Walker, Frank Ray and Trea Landon. Also on Jan. 16, the Festival “Find” Showcase, spotlighting emerging artist Kurt Stevens, an unsigned singer-songwriter, is from 7-8 p.m.

“How I Wrote That Song” from 8-10 p.m. Jan. 17 features Grammy-winning songwriter Chris DeStefano alongside Randall King, Brice Long and Deric Ruttan. Tickets are $100. The “How I Wrote That Song VIP” Experience with a wine tasting takes place from 5-10 p.m. Jan. 17. “Songs, Stories & Conversations” from 6-7:30 p.m. with Grammy winner Joel Smallbone of the popular group for King + Country and his wife, artist-actress MŌRIAH costs $225.

The movie “Unsung Hero” starring Smallbone, screens at 11.30 a.m. Jan. 18 for $35 for adults and $20 for children.

The festival finale with Lee Brice from 6-10 p.m. Jan. 18 includes an auction with funds raised for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Maui and The Maui Fund for those impacted by the August 2023 Maui fires. Tickets are $150 for general admission and $250 for VIP. For more, visit mauisongwritersfestival.com.