Stephanie Brown is a songwriter who is perhaps best known for discovering Garth Brooks. She started her career in 1975, when she walked into Widget Recording Studio in Sheffield and its owner, Ron Ballew, encouraged her to try songwriting. She met Brooks in Nashville during the 1980s and together they wrote the song "Burning Bridges," which Brooks recorded for his Ropin' the Wind album in 1991. After moving back to the Shoals and teaching at the University of North Alabama for more than a decade, Brown returned to the music business and established a songwriting partnership with Will McFarlane.