Eric Paslay. Photo: Rachel Deeb
It has been six years since singer-songwriter Eric Paslay released his self-titled full-length debut album, which yielded his Gold-certified breakthrough single, “Friday Night” as well as “Song About A Girl” and “She Don’t Love You.”
Paslay, who had turned a college music publishing internship into a full-fledged songwriter position and later signed with EMI, rapidly built a reputation as an ace artist-writer, penning Jake Owens’ “Barefoot Blue Jean Night,” Eli Young Band’s “Even If It Breaks Your Heart,” Love and Theft’s “Angel Eyes,” and Rascal Flatts’ “Rewind,” in addition to his own radio singles. In 2016, he earned a Grammy nomination for his work on Lady A member Charles Kelley’s solo track “The Driver,” which Paslay co-wrote and sang on (alongside Kelley and Dierks Bentley).
But then, after another single, “High Class” failed to crack the Top 30 on the country radio charts, Paslay’s career seemed to stall. Plans for a followup album were put on hold; he parted ways with EMI in 2018.
Still, Paslay kept writing, kept singing, kept forging ahead. Last year, he inked a publishing deal with Big Machine Music.
Then came a one-two punch: on March 3, tornadoes damaged sections of the home that Paslay shares with his wife Natalie and their daughter Piper. Shortly after, Paslay set out on a European tour, which had to be cut short; he returned home to Nashville as shutdowns began due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Like many, Paslay has learned to pivot; while touring is on hold, he went ahead with plans to release some long-awaited new music, issuing his full-length album Nice Guy on Aug. 14 via his own Paso Fino Records.
The dozen tracks on Nice Guy expand on his Heartbeat Higher EP from earlier this year, including that project’s four tracks alongside eight new songs. Paslay produced the album with Grammy Award-winning producer F. Reid Shippen and Tofer Brown, and recorded it at Nashville’s Sound Emporium.
“I’ve worked with Reid Shippen as an engineer on a lot of records. My first albums, I produced myself, I love that creative side of it. But I’m also smart enough to realize there’s incredibly better ears in town and Reid Shippen has the best ears in almost the world to be able to capture the music and also mix the way that he does. It feels like a real album. For probably 80% of the album, we didn’t even cut to a click track, so it might speed up, or they might slow it down a bit,” Paslay says.
The project features the very first love song he’s included on an album: “Heartbeat Higher,” featuring vocals from one of the song’s co-writers, Sarah Buxton.
“I was like, ‘How have we never put out a love song? Out of all the singles, how has there not been a love song?’” he marvels. “It feels so good to be free to put out music and it feels so good that I’m totally free to invite who I wish. Sarah Buxton is one of the best. She literally just sang the vocals on the floor live. We didn’t go back in the studio and retouch vocals. It was live and real and it was a lot of fun, I love her to death.”
“Heartbeat Higher,” like approximately half the album, had been languishing on a shelf at Paslay’s former label home.
“These songs have just been waiting and waiting to be heard. Some of these have been recorded four and five different ways. I didn’t have control of that clock and now I do.”
Now a free agent, he says his new album Nice Guy serves as a “greatest hits” of sorts, brimming with some of his favorite songs he’s written in the years since his debut—plus an acoustic rendition of Mike Posner’s 2015 smash EDM hit “I Took A Pill In Ibiza.” The song marks the first outside song Paslay has ever included on a project.
“I think it’s a beautifully heartbreaking song that Mike Posner wrote and I wanted to tip the hat to a broken heart that got covered up with a bunch of EDM music,” he says.
“Fingertips” pays tribute to his daughter.
“Before I had Piper, just the dream of being a musician, you’d like to write a song for your child if you ever have one some day and I’m glad that ‘Fingertips’ is the first one that I’ll be putting out that really was written for Piper.”
The syncopated “Nice Guy” is a tongue-in-cheek look at nice guys who finish last, while “Woman Like Her,” penned with Charles Kelley and Laura Veltz, pays tribute to lasting love.
“This song might be two or three years old,” Paslay says. “We were hanging out at Charles’ house and the idea came up. It’s just a sweet song and I know it really pulls in a lot of what Natalie is to me, even though not every line is exactly autobiographical. I need her more than she needs me. She’s just a great woman. We got married five years ago and honestly, I had never really dated anyone until her. I just had my head down working so hard on establishing a career that I either just thought I don’t have time to really get someone, or I don’t have enough money to actually have a family and it’s kind of amazing just how God brought her into my world.”
Like most artists Paslay has been off the road due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but while the touring shutdowns have been a professional setback for most artists, Paslay has been looking for the silver lining, and savoring time with his wife and their 1 ½-year-old daughter.
“It’s been a sweet time with my little girl and my wife. It’s pretty sweet to have this much time with her, just watching her just grow up and getting to be dad full time.”
He also has an eye on putting out future music, relying heavily on Zoom for co-writing sessions, something that has opened up new opportunities.
“I just wrote a song with a K-pop guy in Korea. It’s opened up amazing new ways to write with people anywhere, at any time of the day. We always start with a bad joke, like ‘This isn’t a corona song is it?’ By the time people hear this, it could be two years from now.”
In the meantime, he hopes the homespun project serves as a hopeful reminder for other dreamers set on pursuing their own musical passions.
“It’s amazing just for music and for people that actually have a dream to not need a million dollars to achieve it. They literally can just record it in their bedroom and it could win numerous Grammys. So that’s a really cool thing for all those kids and all the grown-ups, and everyone that’s a dreamer trying to make music and hopefully be heard.”
Writing/Production Duo The 720 Inks Publishing Deal with Warner Chappell Music Nashville
/by Jessica NicholsonBack (L-R): Will Overton (WCM), Joey Whalen (WCM), Ryan Beuschel (WCM), BJ Hill (WCM), Ben Vaughn (WCM), Cam Caldwell (Attorney), Katie Jelen (WCM), Phil May (WCM). Front (L-R): Patricia Ragan-Mainello (WCM), Jessi Vaughn (WCM), Jarrod Ingram (The 720), Blake Hubbard (The 720), Karen Harrison-Hite (WCM), Hannah Hall (WCM), Christina Wiltshire (WCM)
Warner Chappell Music has signed a global publishing deal with Blake Hubbard and Jarrod Ingram, better known as The 720. The duo’s name pays homage to Ingram’s address in Nashville’s Charlotte Park neighborhood, where he and Hubbard spent time working on NF’s sophomore album, Therapy Session.
Hailing from Illinois, the up-and-coming writing/production duo has secured cuts with the likes of Jimmie Allen, NF, Matt Stell, Cassadee Pope, Lukr, Kate York, Erin McCarley, Lisa Ajax, and Andreas Moss. Notably, Hubbard and Ingram co-wrote “Looking Back” by Claire Guerreso, which landed a synch placement on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy.
With their diverse musical abilities, The 720 has been writing with top country talent while also collaborating with great pop writers and artists that frequent Nashville.
Eric Paslay Returns With First Full-Length Album In Six Years, ‘Nice Guy’
/by Jessica NicholsonEric Paslay. Photo: Rachel Deeb
It has been six years since singer-songwriter Eric Paslay released his self-titled full-length debut album, which yielded his Gold-certified breakthrough single, “Friday Night” as well as “Song About A Girl” and “She Don’t Love You.”
Paslay, who had turned a college music publishing internship into a full-fledged songwriter position and later signed with EMI, rapidly built a reputation as an ace artist-writer, penning Jake Owens’ “Barefoot Blue Jean Night,” Eli Young Band’s “Even If It Breaks Your Heart,” Love and Theft’s “Angel Eyes,” and Rascal Flatts’ “Rewind,” in addition to his own radio singles. In 2016, he earned a Grammy nomination for his work on Lady A member Charles Kelley’s solo track “The Driver,” which Paslay co-wrote and sang on (alongside Kelley and Dierks Bentley).
But then, after another single, “High Class” failed to crack the Top 30 on the country radio charts, Paslay’s career seemed to stall. Plans for a followup album were put on hold; he parted ways with EMI in 2018.
Still, Paslay kept writing, kept singing, kept forging ahead. Last year, he inked a publishing deal with Big Machine Music.
Then came a one-two punch: on March 3, tornadoes damaged sections of the home that Paslay shares with his wife Natalie and their daughter Piper. Shortly after, Paslay set out on a European tour, which had to be cut short; he returned home to Nashville as shutdowns began due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Like many, Paslay has learned to pivot; while touring is on hold, he went ahead with plans to release some long-awaited new music, issuing his full-length album Nice Guy on Aug. 14 via his own Paso Fino Records.
The dozen tracks on Nice Guy expand on his Heartbeat Higher EP from earlier this year, including that project’s four tracks alongside eight new songs. Paslay produced the album with Grammy Award-winning producer F. Reid Shippen and Tofer Brown, and recorded it at Nashville’s Sound Emporium.
“I’ve worked with Reid Shippen as an engineer on a lot of records. My first albums, I produced myself, I love that creative side of it. But I’m also smart enough to realize there’s incredibly better ears in town and Reid Shippen has the best ears in almost the world to be able to capture the music and also mix the way that he does. It feels like a real album. For probably 80% of the album, we didn’t even cut to a click track, so it might speed up, or they might slow it down a bit,” Paslay says.
The project features the very first love song he’s included on an album: “Heartbeat Higher,” featuring vocals from one of the song’s co-writers, Sarah Buxton.
“I was like, ‘How have we never put out a love song? Out of all the singles, how has there not been a love song?’” he marvels. “It feels so good to be free to put out music and it feels so good that I’m totally free to invite who I wish. Sarah Buxton is one of the best. She literally just sang the vocals on the floor live. We didn’t go back in the studio and retouch vocals. It was live and real and it was a lot of fun, I love her to death.”
“Heartbeat Higher,” like approximately half the album, had been languishing on a shelf at Paslay’s former label home.
“These songs have just been waiting and waiting to be heard. Some of these have been recorded four and five different ways. I didn’t have control of that clock and now I do.”
Now a free agent, he says his new album Nice Guy serves as a “greatest hits” of sorts, brimming with some of his favorite songs he’s written in the years since his debut—plus an acoustic rendition of Mike Posner’s 2015 smash EDM hit “I Took A Pill In Ibiza.” The song marks the first outside song Paslay has ever included on a project.
“I think it’s a beautifully heartbreaking song that Mike Posner wrote and I wanted to tip the hat to a broken heart that got covered up with a bunch of EDM music,” he says.
“Fingertips” pays tribute to his daughter.
“Before I had Piper, just the dream of being a musician, you’d like to write a song for your child if you ever have one some day and I’m glad that ‘Fingertips’ is the first one that I’ll be putting out that really was written for Piper.”
The syncopated “Nice Guy” is a tongue-in-cheek look at nice guys who finish last, while “Woman Like Her,” penned with Charles Kelley and Laura Veltz, pays tribute to lasting love.
“This song might be two or three years old,” Paslay says. “We were hanging out at Charles’ house and the idea came up. It’s just a sweet song and I know it really pulls in a lot of what Natalie is to me, even though not every line is exactly autobiographical. I need her more than she needs me. She’s just a great woman. We got married five years ago and honestly, I had never really dated anyone until her. I just had my head down working so hard on establishing a career that I either just thought I don’t have time to really get someone, or I don’t have enough money to actually have a family and it’s kind of amazing just how God brought her into my world.”
Like most artists Paslay has been off the road due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but while the touring shutdowns have been a professional setback for most artists, Paslay has been looking for the silver lining, and savoring time with his wife and their 1 ½-year-old daughter.
“It’s been a sweet time with my little girl and my wife. It’s pretty sweet to have this much time with her, just watching her just grow up and getting to be dad full time.”
He also has an eye on putting out future music, relying heavily on Zoom for co-writing sessions, something that has opened up new opportunities.
“I just wrote a song with a K-pop guy in Korea. It’s opened up amazing new ways to write with people anywhere, at any time of the day. We always start with a bad joke, like ‘This isn’t a corona song is it?’ By the time people hear this, it could be two years from now.”
In the meantime, he hopes the homespun project serves as a hopeful reminder for other dreamers set on pursuing their own musical passions.
“It’s amazing just for music and for people that actually have a dream to not need a million dollars to achieve it. They literally can just record it in their bedroom and it could win numerous Grammys. So that’s a really cool thing for all those kids and all the grown-ups, and everyone that’s a dreamer trying to make music and hopefully be heard.”
BBR Music Group’s Stoney Creek Records Signs Track45
/by Jessica NicholsonTrack45
BBR Music Group’s Stoney Creek Records has signed Track45 to its roster. The Mississippi-born group includes siblings Jenna, Ben and KK Johnson. Track45 are managed by Missi Gallimore of T.R.U.T.H. Management and Borman Entertainment.
“Family is important to us, and we think the best families are all about helping each other become the very best versions of themselves. We’ve found that family with BBR,” said Track45 in a joint statement. “They dream and believe as big as we do, and we couldn’t ask for a better creative home!”
“Family acts have a rich history in the country music genre. There is something special about the creative process and art born out of those shared experiences and bonds. These COVID times have reminded us more than ever, the power and importance of family as we all get back to what really matters in life. Family has once again become the nucleus of life for so many,” said Jon Loba, EVP BBR Music Group “I cannot think of a better time to introduce the incredibly talented Track45. Their production and writing is at both turns so dynamic and original, yet so familiar and relatable. They explore themes and topics we all experience, yet do so in such a unique way…in perhaps a way only three siblings who grew up creating together could. We couldn’t be more excited to have them join the BBR/BMG worldwide family and like their music, announcing their signing in a progressive new way with a hologram from our friends at Jadu.”
After moving to Nashville, each of the Johnson siblings signed publishing deals and earned cuts from artists including Justin Timberlake, Charlie PuthLee Brice, HARDY, Lauren Alaina, and more. Byron Gallimore produced their upcoming EP.
‘American Idol’ Virtual Auditions For Tennessee Set For Aug. 24
/by Lorie HollabaughAmerican Idol is hosting open call virtual Zoom auditions for the competition in Tennessee on Aug. 24.
The show is hosting “Idol Across America,” its first-ever live virtual nationwide search for the next superstar, which will include remote auditions taking place across all 50 states plus Washington, D.C., for the first time since the show’s inception, making auditions easier than ever.
For more information on auditions, visit abc.com.
Veteran Music Writer Rob Simbeck Authors New Southern Wildlife Book
/by Lorie HollabaughRob Simbeck
Noted Nashville writer Rob Simbeck is releasing a new book, The Southern Wildlife Watcher: Notes of a Naturalist, on Aug. 28.
Published by the University of South Carolina Press, the book features a colorful look at 36 common and not-so-common animals found in the southeastern United States, from hummingbirds and bald eagles, to bullfrogs and bobcats, each presented through engaging storytelling supported by quotes from noted naturalists and biologists.
Simbeck moved to Nashville as a songwriter in the early 1980s, and became a journalist, author, and longtime Nashville Bureau Chief for “American Country Countdown” and “Bob Kingsley’s Country Top 40,” serving as a writer/interviewer for both syndicated radio shows. He also made a name for himself as an award-winning outdoor writer, with credits in Field & Stream, Birder’s World, Ducks Unlimited, and conservation/wildlife magazines in 20 states. He penned the internationally award-winning column, “For Wildlife Watchers,” for South Carolina Wildlife magazine for 25 years.
“I was privileged enough to work with most of the artists who made the airplay and sales charts since the early ’80s,” Simbeck said. “But I was also in the woods and fields with binoculars, a spotting scope, and a camera, writing about the creatures we share this part of the world with. As country fans know, those two worlds overlap, and it feels wonderful to have the support of so many friends from the music world.”
Kix Brooks, Lee Ann Womack and Craig Morgan are among the country artists who offered their endorsements for their friend’s latest book release.
Big Machine Records Signs Jackson Dean
/by Jessica NicholsonPictured (L-R): TKO Artist Management’s TK Kimbrell, Jackson Dean, Big Machine Label Group’s Scott Borchetta. Photo: Seth Hellman
Big Machine Records has added Jackson Dean to the label roster. The Odenton, Maryland native has opened shows for Kane Brown, Jake Owen, Brothers Osborne and more. Dean is repped by TKO Artist Management and is in the process of relocating to Nashville.
“From the moment Jackson started playing for Allison Jones and I in our conference room, we were transported into his musical world,” says BMLG President/CEO Scott Borchetta. “It may sound cliche to say that Jackson is very special…it isn’t…this is an important new artist and this is serious business.”
“You best believe the freight train is comin’,” Dean says. “I can’t wait to share my music with the world with the support of such a hardworking and innovative team.”
Pictured (L-R): Back Row – Big Machine Label Group’s Carly Strickland, WME’s Austin Mullins and Jay Williams, Big Machine Label Group’s Allison Jones and Darielle Schroeder; Front Row – Little Louder Music’s Arturo Buenahora, TKO Artist Management’s TK Kimbrell, Jackson Dean, Big Machine Label Group’s Scott Borchetta and Clay Hunnicutt. Photo: Seth Hellman
Natalie Grant Debuts Title Track From Upcoming Album ‘No Stranger’
/by Lorie HollabaughNatalie Grant has released the title track from her new album, No Stranger. The new project, her 10th studio record, is set for release Sept. 25. Penned by Grant, her husband Bernie Herms, and songwriter Paul Duncan, “No Stranger” explores the intimacy of a God who identifies with the human experience.
“In the last few years, through deep valleys and victories, my awareness of God’s presence in my life has awakened like never before. It’s not like He became more available, I just became more aware, and that has changed everything,” Grant said of the personal significance behind “No Stranger.” “The King of the world, the Author of time and space, makes Himself personally known to me. This everlasting God, the Alpha and the Omega, He is no stranger. He is friend.”
No Stranger features strings recorded live at London’s famed Air Studios and includes previously released tracks including the stirring “Face To Face,” Grant’s powerful version of Casting Crowns’ classic hit “Praise You In This Storm,” her recent collaboration with Steven Malcolm “Even Louder,” and her new worship anthem, “My Weapon.”
Grant recently debuted her “Dare To Be” podcast with her longtime friend, author and speaker Charlotte Gambill, bringing their popular “Dare To Be” women’s events to life in a fresh format. The podcast is in partnership with AccessMore, an all-new online network for faith-based podcasts that launched in May from K-LOVE/Air1 parent company Educational Media Foundation (EMF). The “Dare To Be” podcast’s premier episode became AccessMore’s most listened to episode of the platform’s launch.
Jon Pardi Surprises Fans With Some Classic Favorites On New ‘Rancho Fiesta Sessions’
/by Lorie HollabaughJon Pardi took a detour into some cover fun on a surprise album he released last week, the Rancho Fiesta Sessions. The eight-song project features Pardi’s renditions of some of the tunes he is both inspired by and loves performing from artists ranging from Merle Haggard and George Strait to Prince.
Produced by Pardi, the new album was recorded live during a one-night live jam session with his touring band from his home base in Nashville, “Rancho Fiesta.” Among the favorites he included on the collection are country classics “Marina Del Rey,” “The Bottle Let Me Down,” and “Honky Tonk Man.”
“All these covers are of artists that I admire, and I look up to. There are all kinds of great names and styles of songs on here- from legends. I think the magic and the fun of it is all is in these eight covers of songs that I really like, or grew up singing,” said Pardi. “It’s all my band on this whole album. We mainly did it to have fun and record, and it sounds like we’re in your backyard, playing for you.” He also added, “I hope the fans really have fun when they listen to it, and they enjoy it and turn it up. This one was for the fans, to let them hear something different… songs you may have heard before but, haven’t heard them like this. It turned into something special because it’s a year where we are off the road, and we recorded it live in real time, out at my house.”
RANCHO FIESTA SESSIONS Track List:
Nashville Public Library Celebrates 19th Amendment Anniversary
/by Jessica NicholsonMusicRow Magazine staffers celebrate “Ring the Bell” campaign.
Metro Nashville City Council passed a resolution to encourage the “Ringing of the Bells” on Aug. 18, 2020, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which allowed women the right to vote. On Aug. 18, 1920, Tennessee passed the ratification resolution, becoming the 36th state to vote in favor of the ratification. With Tennessee’s ratification, the 19th Amendment became law, ensuring that the right to vote could not be denied based on gender.
To celebrate, cities across the country rang bells in celebration, but Nashville did not.
Nashville aims to correct that through the Nashville Public Library’s “Ring the Bell” campaign, which asks individuals to take a video of themselves ringing a bell for various causes. On Aug. 18 at 11:30 a.m. CT, individuals across Nashville will celebrate by ringing bells. The Nashville Public Library will also celebrate with an event that will be broadcast on the library’s YouTube channel.
Participates in ringing the bell are encouraged to tag Nashville Public Library (Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram) and use #IRingTheBell.
Luke Combs To Release Deluxe Album In October
/by Jessica NicholsonSince his debut in 2017, Luke Combs has been a mainstay on the country albums rankings and on country radio, consistently cranking out a string of hit songs. On Oct. 23, he’ll release the deluxe album, What You See Ain’t Always What You Get, via River House Artists/Columbia Nashville.
The album expands on the 18 songs included on Combs’ Platinum-certified, full-length sophomore project What You See Is What You Get, adding five new tracks.
What You See Is What You Get debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, and Billboard‘s Top Country Albums chart and earned the largest streaming week ever for a country album, with 74 million 0n-demand streams. The project earned Combs the most first-week album streams ever for a country artist on Apple Music and became the first country project to hit No. 1 on Apple Music’s all-genre albums chart, while also setting a global record for first-week streams for a country album at Spotify and broke Amazon Music’s record for the most first-week streams for any country album debut.
The album is poised to be another smash for Combs, who made history as the first artist ever to have their first two studio albums spend 25 weeks or more at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Top Country Albums chart, breaking Taylor Swift’s previous record of 24 weeks. Combs’ 2017 debut, This One’s For You spent 50 consecutive weeks at No. 1, tying Shania Twain’s 1997 project Come On Over for the longest reign atop the chart. His debut has since been certified 3x multi-Platinum by the RIAA.
Combs’ first eight singles all reached No. 1, a record for Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart. His current single, “Lovin’ On Y0u,” is in the Top 10 at radio. He’s also nominated in three categories at the upcoming Academy of Country Music Awards: Entertainer of the Year, Male Artist of the Year, and Album of the Year (for What You See Is What You Get).