‘If God Wrote a Country Song’

You know Mr. Pickle, the plushy giant-pickle mascot who waves downtown passersby into the sandwich shop of the same name. Well, that guy—actually, the guy inside, 26-year-old Josh Klipp—has written a tune called “If God Wrote a Country Song,” and a version recorded by country musician Rich McCready that leaked on the Internet charted at No. 1 on the October Christian Country Top 20 chart of Power Source Magazine. McCready, who had a couple of modest country hits (e.g. “Hangin’ On") in the mid-'90s, co-wrote the tune and will feature it on his upcoming album, to be released mid-November. Klipp is busy preparing for the release via his other job as president of Klipp Promotions and Entertainment—but he promises that, even if mainstream success arrives, he’ll keep his day job inside the giant pickle.

How did you get started in the music business?

I started putting on concerts and events, kind of finding what my inroads were—doing a little bit of everything. I made all these connections, but I didn’t know what I was doing. I kind of fell into my main goal of [working with] Rich McCready. Then I started getting my own independent artists, aside from Rich. I do everything from artist consulting to artist management, producing, and over the last year and a half, I’ve been really strong with the publishing. If I believe in you, I’m going to put everything I got behind you.

When did you start playing music?

I never played an instrument, but I’ve been a singer and songwriter since I was probably like 6. It’s always been a big, big thing in my life.

How did you get the idea for this song?

At the beginning of 2007, I walked out of the shower, and this song just came to me: God wrote a country song. I originally started with, “If God wrote a country song, there’d be nothin’ but fishin’ all year long.” Every single person said, “That’s your first No. 1.” I went and wrote it with Rich McCready. He sat down with me in the Comfort Inn in Nashville. It became the most inspirational, powerful thing for me to write.

How did the song get leaked?

It went on MySpace Dec. 18, that night at 3 in the morning. I just wanted the whole world to hear it. We had the best studio session you would probably ever hear in your life. So, time goes by, and I’m getting all these e-mails and congratulations phone calls and I don’t know what anybody’s talking about. So, I go online to [see] what everyone was talking about. I found out that there’s a certain program that illegally you can go in and steal anybody’s music whether it says you can download or not. I was mad, but at the same time it was a blessing.

So, word spread online from there?

I found tons of play lists. We’re playing in the Netherlands. We’re all in there with the big guys.

Do you foresee success beyond the Christian-Country niche?

Oh, we’re going into Billboard [chart]s—when we debut in WalMart and we debut in Target.