Premiere: Emerson Hart's 'The Best That I Can Give'

• Hart wrote the song after nearly botching a relationship with the woman who became his wife
• %22Beauty in Disrepair%2C%22 due this spring%2C is the second solo album from the Tonic singer
• David Hodges produced the album and co-wrote several songs%2C including %22The Best That I Can Give%22

Emerson Hart has been happily married since November 2012. But he almost blew it.

The Best That I Can Give, premiering at USA TODAY, comes from that experience. The touching goodbye song is the first single from the Tonic lead singer's new solo album, Beauty in Disrepair, due this spring.

"My wife and I dated for about four years" starting shortly after a divorce, says Hart, 44. "That's a rocky road, because you have to address all the luggage that comes with the past relationships.

"That was the song I wrote when I almost blew it — but I didn't."

Hart, who lives just outside Nashville, wrote the song with David Hodges and Jess Cates. Hodges, the former Evanescence guitarist who also has worked several pop and country acts including Kelly Clarkson, Avril Lavigne, Jason Mraz and Carrie Underwood, also produced Beauty in Disrepair.

"I just really clicked with him," Hart says. "He's really musical."

Beauty in Disrepair is Hart's second solo album, following 2007's Cigarettes and Gasoline. Between the albums, Tonic released a best-of compilation that included hits like If You Could Only See and Open Up Your Eyes, as well as its self-titled 2010 album.

"When I'm writing a song, I'll know whether or not it's going to be right for Tonic," Hart says. "It's not whether or not it's too personal, because the songs I write for Tonic are just as personal as the ones I write for the solo records, but it just feels different.

"Tonic sounds like Tonic, and that's the way it should be. Keep 'em separate, keep 'em different."