NASHVILLE, Tennessee –In the past few years, a name that kept showing up in my feed was Chase Wright. (Not to be confused with another country singer/songwriter, Chase Rice.) Recently, as I was driving to work, I heard SiriusXM The Highway’s Storme Warren talking to Chase Wright. He invited him to become SXM The Highway’s next “Highway Find,” a platform that has launched many artists’ careers from Florida-Georgia Line to Carly Pearce.
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee- As part of a five-city tour to promote their new branded non-profit Music Will (formerly known as Little Kids Rock) founder Dave Wish spoke to me about their latest adaptation.
The former first-grade teacher started Little Kids Rock because his students didn’t like their current music program. He asked them what they wanted to play and at the time, they said, “Ricky Martin” and “Selena.” He began to teach the kids to play the music they wanted to hear and eventually it led to teaching other teachers to do the same.
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A 90s-inspired dark-rock band, CHLSY, presents original music on their latest record, ‘Quantum Entanglement.’
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee- The Beasley Brothers are a country duo formerly from North Alabama but now based out of Nashville. They are comprised of Lawson and Jackson Beasley. Being only 18 months apart, the pair grew up doing everything together.
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Bailey James’ new single “Don’t Need Ya,” was written and produced by the incredible Nolan Neal Seals of The Voice and America’s Got Talent, who recently passed away.
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Donny Van Slee is a Florida boy from the rural town of Weeki Wachee Springs, home of the famous live mermaids. Growing up, Van Slee was shy and his dad bought him a guitar to help him. Later, influenced by the bands he loved – Led Zeppelin and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – he took lessons, but his main focus in school was soccer.
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee- Grace Leer is a country music singer from Danville, California. She is an American Idol alumnus who started singing at the young age of six. She recalls entering a talent show and singing Selena’s “Dreaming of You.” That was when she fell in love with being on stage.
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee -When I discovered Charly Reynolds on Instagram nearly two years ago via live stream, she had an infectious energy that made me want to learn more about her.
Now on the cusp of her newest release, “Rodeo,” I was able to learn more about this charismatic country artist.
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The Site Selection Committee of the Republican National Committee voted to recommend Milwaukee as the host city of the group’s 2024 convention.
In a statement announcing the decision, GOP leaders pointed to the “forthright and professional behavior” of the city’s leaders throughout the process.
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee- Randy Houser has earned four Number One singles, including three consecutive hits: “How Country Feels,” “Runnin’ Outta Moonlight,” and “Goodnight Kiss.” “We Went” marked his fourth number one song. He has also had two Top 5 hits: “Boots On” and “Like A Cowboy.”
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee- When I first heard Katrina Burgoyne’s song, “I Wanna Get Away With You,” there was something infectious about the spirited song that made me want to learn more about the artist.
Australian-born Katrina Burgoyne is from a musical family. Both of her grandfathers were performing musicians.
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee – June 21 marked the summer solstice, hence the first official day of summer. For the many who braved the extreme heat and high humidity at Ascend Amphitheater in Nashville, Summer began precisely at 7:00 p.m. central time. That is the moment John Popper and Blues Traveler took the stage and ignited an amazing night of music, with John Popper and company bringing the groove to the party.
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee- After interviewing nearly 200 artists, you think I would learn not to be surprised when I delve into someone’s “How they got to Nashville” story, but hearing country-western singer/songwriter Michael Shaw’s story even stunned me.
Michael Shaw was born in Indiana but remembers growing up in Kentucky and Michigan, and later, Ohio.
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Once my friend told me about a tribute that Scott Stevens had written about his grandfather and uncle, I knew I had found the perfect song to share on Memorial Day.
Scott Stevens is a country music singer/songwriter from East Tennessee who recently released the single “Missin’ You” to country radio off his debut country record Every Hat Is A Cowboy Hat. He is also a Civil Rights attorney and lawyer.
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I keep writing my Music Spotlight column because of the stories. And while we all appreciate the music that these singer/songwriters bring to us, it is the stories of these tireless individuals that keep me coming back to my computer to share what I have learned with my readers.
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee – A lot of people, myself included, are trying to wrap their heads around Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and exactly how they work. When I got asked to interview a country artist, Sammy Arriaga, who was successfully using NFTs in promoting his music, I was interested.
Sammy Arriaga is a Miami-born Cuban American. While his father occasionally sang and played guitar, he discovered his love for music on his own. He has been writing lyrics and downloading instrumentals from the internet since his early teens. He taught himself how to play guitar by watching YouTube videos.
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Adam Warner hails from the farm country of southern Illinois, quite near to where my mother and her family lived. This area is so consumed by farming, specifically corn and soybeans, that you really do feel as if you are in the middle of nowhere.
Just like my mother and aunts, both of Warner’s grandmothers played piano and sang at church. His mother was involved in theater and singing as well. He was certainly not the only one in the family who did music but would be the only one who chose it as a career path.
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee- Ainsley Costello comes from a musical background. When her dad, James Costello, was young, he moved to Los Angeles to “do the whole music thing” in much the same way that Costello has moved to Nashville. At one point he was in a touring band and toured the world. And even though he now has a day job, he was always in revolving bands, playing shows and playing music in the house.
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From Maple Valley, Washington, 29-year-old singer/songwriter Dakota Poorman is a breath of fresh air in the stale pop-country atmosphere.
As a child he recalls, “I really loved music. I was bathed in a very eclectic taste in music. I listened to Bob Seger, John Fogerty, Pink Floyd, The Doors, the Eagles, and even Patsy Cline and Muddy Waters. I was exposed to a ton of great music back when music was music and had meaning.”
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Out today, Gavin Lee’s latest single, “All You Gotta Do is Dance” is a throwback to signature 90s country tunes that brought folks to their feet on the dance floor to step into the most popular line dances.
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee – The first time I recall seeing Michael Rix was when he played banjo in the Bank of America marketing campaign commercial for Ken Burns’ PBS documentary Country Music. Even though the banjo originated in Africa, seeing a black, banjo-playing country musician in the 21st century is/was not very common.
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With Tyler Braden’s newest hits, “Try Losing One,” and “Seventeen”, he has proven that his star is on the rise. You will be hearing a lot more from this singer/songwriter in the future.
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee- Even though I am not much of a whiskey drinker, I am always drawn to a good whiskey song. Something about the solace of sipping the stuff leads to a deeper examination of one’s true self.
Karissa Ella’s newest single “Whiskey Whispers Your Name” is all that and more. They led me to further delve into this rising singer/songwriter and find out what drives her.
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Music City Walk of Fame inductees Dierks Bentley, Keb’ Mo’, Bobby Bare, and Connie Smith represent the diversity of Music City in the first ceremony since the pandemic.
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Ian Flanigan hails from Hudson Valley’s Catskill Mountains in upstate New York, not far from the site of the famed Woodstock festival.
But where you might remember him is from Season 19 of NBC’s The Voice.
I wanted to find out how he got from there to The Voice and now living just outside of Nashville.
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Meghan Linsey’s latest single, “If You Need Me, Don’t” takes her fans back to her soulful New Orleans roots with her evocative, powerhouse vocals.
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Jenny Tolman releases her sophomore album Married in a Honky Tonk, where she not only expands on her tales about the fictional town of Jennyville, she offers a new depth and range that signals her growing maturity as an artist.
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Country Radio Seminar is one of the most significant events in Nashville, as it brings country radio and music industry professionals together to educate each other, enhance skills, facilitate business, and promote the growth of the industry.
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Hippies and Cowboys bring a fresh vintage flair in their new single, taking you back to the days of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Led Zeppelin, CCR, and Aerosmith. Recorded at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, the band’s debut single, “20 to Life” is not to be missed.
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One thing that most native Nashvillians will tell you is to avoid the party buses. They are often full of young, drunk tourists and are to be avoided at all costs.
However, when a publicist/friend told me about the Music City Rollin’ Jamboree, she advised, “It’s different.”
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American Idol alum and CMT’s Next Women of Country member Laci Kaye Booth combines soulful, smooth vocals with honest, heartfelt lyrics that make the country crooner stand out in the crowded pool of aspiring artists.
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NASHVILLE, Tennesee- Before you ask, yes, Bobby Cyrus is related to Billy Ray Cyrus. Bobby Cyrus is Billy Ray Cyrus’ younger cousin. They both hail from the same region around Louisa, Kentucky where bluegrass music was a prominent part of their heritage. Their grandfather was a Pentecostal preacher and church music was an integral part of their upbringing.
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Prolific urban-country singer/songwriter Julia Cole delivers something for everyone with her innate ability to relate to her audience via her original music.
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One of the first questions I ask an artist is if they come from a musical family. Since Anthony Nix was a foster kid who got adopted at age seven, his answer to that question was “I don’t know.”
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Fred Mollin is an award-winning American and Canadian record producer, musician, film and TV composer, music director, music supervisor, and songwriter whose discography spans 35 years. He has produced records for Jimmy Webb, Johnny Mathis, Billy Ray Cyrus, Lamont Dozier, and America, and has composed music for Beverly Hills, 90210, Friday the 13th (movies and television), Forever Knight, Hard Copy, and many more. Mollin rose to prominence early in his career by co-producing (with Matthew McCauley) Dan Hill’s international hit record, “Sometimes When We Touch”, in 1977.
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FRANKLIN — Quisha King, a former regional engagement coordinator for Black Voices for Trump, said she was once liberal, but the writings of conservative black economists Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams helped steer her on a different path. King said she her community had no prior access to Sowell or Williams.
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Belmont student and former NBC’s The Voice contestant Gracee Shriver hails from Owasso, Oklahoma.
Shriver started singing lessons at age nine to give herself something to do. About a year after starting lessons, she got her first guitar and began writing songs.
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee – When I saw Abby Anderson open for Radio Romance and Midland in 2017, I immediately knew that I wanted to interview her even though I had recently started writing my column.
Fast forward 4 years when I got an email stating that Anderson was releasing a powerful new anthem, and finally I got the privilege to interview the effervescent songstress.
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Jacob Bryant readies the forthcoming album Bar Stool Preachers with his latest release “Devil & An Old Six String.”
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Nashville, Tennessee – Multi-Grammy®, CMA, and ACM Award-winning performer Steve Wariner has released a new Christmas album, Feels Like Christmas Time, today, October 15. The album features newly imagined arrangements of Christmas classics including “Silent Night,” “The First Noel” and “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” as well as six original holiday tunes, all written by Wariner.
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Nashville, Tennessee – The Woods comprised of Raquel Cole, Dan O’Rourke, Leland Rooney are all incredible musicians, songwriters, and singers in their own right – and when they come together the sound is truly magical – think Little Big Town meets Midland. After hearing them play together at the Analog Room in the Hutton Hotel, I wanted to find out how this eclectic and diverse trio discovered each other.
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When you think Mia Morris can’t get any better, you need to listen to her new music: “Melodramatic” and “We Were Never Friends.” These are just a few of the songs that every grunge rocker will love.
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Singer-songwriter Bridget Caldwell does not come from a musical family. They loved music, but did not play or create music. Her mother had “exquisite” taste in music and would play anything from Bonnie Raitt and Hank Williams to Miles Davis and Ella Fitzgerald.
Caldwell said she has always been a loud, boisterous kid and in third grade when she was cast as Snow White in the school play, her love for musical theater began. One day she started singing, her teacher ran down the hall to get her mother who was a special needs teacher, and said, “You have to come to hear this.”
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Jasmin Bade first discovered country music when she was six years old. It was Christmas time and she heard the Australian-country artist Kasey Chambers. Her aunt and uncle were playing her record and “fell in love with it” and wouldn’t stop singing her songs all the way home.
Besides Chambers, her mother would play Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley and the (Dixie) Chicks. Bade soon started guitar lessons and would take any chance she could to play. She would play on the streets (called busking in Australia) for pocket money. By ages 7 and 8, young Bade was singing in shopping centers.
Read MoreNashville officials told local residents last Friday that surrounding counties had suddenly surpassed the city in its COVID-19 count, but they could only claim that because prisoners two counties away contracted the virus.
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