Kirkpatrick has spent most of his career in the background, playing keyboards or writing songs for other artists. His songs have been recorded by Faith Hill, Garth Brooks, Babyface, Amy Grant, Joe Cocker, Martina McBride, Wynonna Judd, Trisha Yearwood, Susan Ashton, Michael W. Smith, Michael Crawford, Peter Frampton and Eric Clapton, who's version of Kirkpatrick's Change The World won a Grammy for song of the year.
In 2000, Kirkpatrick teamed up with fellow songwriters Gordon Kennedy, Phil Madeira and Billy Sprague to record a CD of their own music that had previously been recorded by other artists - including Change Your World. That CD was called Coming From Somewhere Else.