Jeffrey Steele Is Nuts With "Bolt"

Songwriter Jeffrey Steele

Nov. 14, 2008 — Former "Nashville Star" judge Jeffrey Steele is amped up over next week’s schedule. He’s releasing three albums -- that’s right, three! -- on Tuesday, and on Friday, the Disney movie "Bolt" will open with a key Miley Cyrus song she co-wrote with Jeffrey.

Songwriters salivate over landing music in films, and Jeffrey’s good fortune came despite some initial resistance on the part of Mickey and crew.

"They wanted to bring in one of their usual ringers that they use for the movies," he notes. "Miley insisted that she get a shot at writing. They said, ‘Who are you gonna write it with?’ And she said, ‘Well, there’s this guy in Nashville that I wanna write with, Jeffrey Steele, and I wanna write it with him.’ They were like, ‘Well, that’s not usual business for us, so we need to research this guy,’ so they came out to meet me and the whole bit."

Obviously, Jeffrey — who’s written such country hits as "Big Deal," "What Hurts The Most" and "International Harvester" — passed the test. He and Miley ended up penning a song called "I Thought I Lost You."

"They showed me the movie," Jeffrey recalls. "Halfway through the movie, Miley’s character says, ‘I thought I lost you.’ And I stopped the movie and said, ‘That’s the title right there. I’ll write it right now.’ So I got started on it the next day, got together with Miley and we finished it up. It was really fun to do."

John Travolta sang background vocals on Miley’s performance. Jeffrey, meanwhile, is headed to Hollywood next week. He’ll give his first Los Angeles performance in a dozen years on Tuesday at the Viper Room on the Sunset Strip.