Between the upcoming release of his third studio album, a string of hits under his belt and big tour plans lined up for the fall, Cole Swindell hasn't had as much time to write as he did at the outset of his career. The country star still has co-writing credits on about half of his new album, All of It -- but, he is a songwriter first, and writing is what initially brought him to Nashville.

When he looks at artists such as Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley of Florida Georgia Line, Swindell says he's inspired by their songwriting careers. While the members of FGL enjoy impressive careers as performers, they have also remained active songwriters, with co-writing credits on hits by Jason Aldean, Morgan Wallen and numerous others. "I love seeing buddies like Tyler Hubbard writing songs for everybody. When did I get away from that, you know? That's what made me me, is writing songs," Swindell says.

However, he adds, now that All of It is finished, he's excited to get back into the writing room ... for other artists.

"I'm about to be writing for everybody," Swindell gushes. "After turning this album in, with probably the least amount of songs I've written, I will say that I am so fired up to start writing as soon as ... I get through album release.

"I think that you have to manage your time and figure out times to write," he adds.

Swindell points out that Nashville is rife with incredible songwriters, and not taking advantage of the talent in his own backyard would have meant doing his album a disservice. "These people are good, they are really good," he goes on to say. With certain songs on the album, such as the deeply personal "Dad's Old Number," he believes that he was too close to the subject matter to do justice to the song as well as the professional songwriters did.

"With "Dad's Old Number," it was better to let them do it, because that's what they do," he explains. "Before, I didn't have to worry about whether I would say [a certain line], it was just about writing the best song I can. That's still my process going in: Write the best song we can, and if I don't record it, fine. But you're still thinking, 'What if I want this song? What would I say?' And sometimes that's not what everybody else would want to hear. So it's cool to see that side of it, to stay out of the way sometimes and let them do their thing."

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