Lee Brice has a lot to celebrate at the moment. He is nominated for Best New Artist at the 46th Annual CMA Awards, his single “Hard to Love” is on the cusp of hitting No. 1, and he’s got big plans for 2013.

The South Carolina-born artist has been regarded as a consummate Nashville songwriter for some time, landing award-winning monster hits for Eli Young Band (“Crazy Girl”), Garth Brooks (“More Than a Memory”), and even himself (“Love Like Crazy”). So it’s interesting to note that he had no hand in writing his No. 1 hit “A Woman Like You” or “Hard to Love,” both of which appear on his Curb Records sophomore album Hard 2 Love. That’s okay, Brice says, because what matters most is that he identifies with the material.

“If I’m going to record a song I didn’t write, I have to connect with it as if I wrote it,” he explains. “So when I’m singing it, I’m selling it and living it as much as I would if I wrote it.”

“Hard to Love” has its origin in a writers retreat Brice took with friends. Brice and two of his buddies were writing outside, and three others (Billy Montana, John Ozier, Ben Glover) were inside doing the same. When Brice came in for a snack, he heard the group working through the song.

“It felt like I was in the room writing it,” he recalls. “I knew even then [before it was finished], it was something I wanted to record.”

It has been a gradual evolution for Brice, from hit tunesmith to hit artist. While he wants people to remember his songwriting contributions, his goal since arriving in Nashville has been the less-traveled road of artist singer/songwriter.

“I started writing songs when I was 10 because I wanted to sing and I needed something to sing,” Brice says. “I have been really fortunate to have [my] songs recorded, but I’ve been looking forward to this and this is what I’ve been working for. There’s been a transition but it’s been moving forward to get to this point. It’s where I’ve always wanted to be.”

2012 has been all about moving forward for Brice. “A Woman Like You” hit No. 1, then went on to Gold and Platinum sales designations; Brice toured nonstop, playing shows with Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert and more; and he just recently returned from the Blake Shelton cruise.

With the busy touring schedule Brice keeps, it only makes sense that he occasionally drops some of his hits for others into the mix at his shows. “More Than a Memory” pops up on occasion, but a newer hit really gets the crowds going.

“I do ‘Crazy Girl’ almost every night,” he says. “[That] was one I wanted to release myself. I wasn’t able to do that and the next best thing is, Eli Young Band makes it a big ol’ smash and changes my life. I appreciate that and now I still get to sing it. It gets a big reaction every night.”

Brice recently had a unique opportunity to put his writing talents to the test. A longtime fan and former player for Clemson University’s football team, Brice was selected by the school to create a game day fight song for the Tigers as they take the field. The result was “Orange Empire,” an AC/DC-esque crunchy rock anthem that will play in the stadium at home games. Brice will get to experience it for himself during Rivalry Weekend, when he hosts a pre-game concert Nov. 23 at Littlejohn Coliseum. The following day, the Clemson Tigers will take on the University of South Carolina Gamecocks.

Before that happens, Brice will experience a whirlwind CMA Awards week. He’s scheduled to perform at the SESAC Awards Oct. 28, and he will be accompanied by his fiancee Sara to the CMA Awards Nov. 1 to see if he wins the Best New Artist honor. Somewhere in between, he will find time to go trick-or-treating with his son Takoda on Halloween. It is a tricky process to balance family and work, but Brice says he is figuring it out.

“It’s difficult but I kind of thrive on challenges,” he says. “It’s an everyday process, learning how to do it. I have to say no sometimes. It’s not as important as doing stuff like trick-or-treating.”

Once the CMA Awards are over, Brice will focus his attention on 2013. He has plans to begin recording his third album (which he says could be titled “I Don’t Dance”) in January, and will embark on a tour with an unspecified male artist. After that, he’s setting a course for the moon.

“Sometimes maybe I reach too far, but my goal is after I get off this tour at the end of next October, by 2014, I want be able to go do arenas,” he says. “If I get to that, I don’t know. But that’s how I live my life, just shooting high.”

Above all, Brice is grateful for everything that has happened in the last year. The hit songs are happening, fans are coming to shows, and he’s got a loving family waiting for him at home.

“I am at one of the best times of my life,” he says. “I’m happy in my personal life, family, and career. It’s one of the high points.”

Episode 103: “Someday You’ll Call My Name” (a Hank Williams song)
Directed by Michael Engler

Family drama fueled last night’s (10/24) episode of Nashville. Juliette’s junkie mom showed up in town, and Rayna continued to battle with her father Lamar. Meanwhile, musician Deacon balanced the tightrope between the two women before finally making a decision about who to tour with. Ratings stayed steady compared to last week with about 6.6 million viewers, according to Zap2it.com.

But before we get to the recap, let’s talk about the new music. Scarlett and Gunnar debuted the songs “Fade Into You” (writers: Matt Jenkins, Trevor Rosen, Shane McAnally) and “I Will Fall” (Kate York, Tyler James). Scarlett—played by Australian Clare Bowen and sporting the show’s least convincing Southern accent—choked during her demo session with co-writer/potential love interest Gunnar. Watty White was producing the session at Ben’s Studio, previously known as RCA Studio A. Scarlett finally rallied with the help of alt-country boyfriend Avery and was a studio success. But supporting Scarlett isn’t his only intention, with songwriter ambitions of his own he’s making sure Watty knows his name. On a side note, last week Rayna referred to him as “Uncle Watty” but we still don’t know that relationship, perhaps her late mother’s brother?

Juliette, who is on a mission to be taken more seriously as an artist, enticed Deacon to join her at Starstruck Studios to record their co-write “Undermine.” She reserves her softer side for him—manager Glenn isn’t so lucky—and she confides to Deacon that part of the song is about her mom.

Then the mama drama begins. Juliette’s mom Jolene-The-Junkie showed up at the record label, then tracked down her daughter on Demonbreun, and then found her the way to the gates of Juliette’s neighborhood, Hill Place. Try as she might, Juliette couldn’t get mom to go back to ‘Bama, so she reluctantly took her in following an arrest at the bus station to avoid public humiliation. As the episode closed, we saw Juliette shoplifting a bottle of nail polish (likely named Ironic Red) while teenagers caught the act on cell phone video. Looks like this will come back to bite her next week.

While both have parental issues, the contrast between Juliette’s and Rayna’s upbringings becomes more clear each week. Rayna and husband Teddy are still “cash poor” so Daddy Lamar sent over a $500,000 check, but the “loan” is saddled with stipulations designed to halt her music career.

It’s hard to believe $500K would make a dent in the debt that Rayna seems to be facing. Check out the real-life listing for the $19.5 million estate which is used for Rayna’s residence. (It’s the Page Rd. home of Sylvia Roberts. After shooting on location, the Nashville crew re-created the kitchen and master suite on a soundstage.) Rayna turned down the money and had her requisite weekly fight with her dad. Then her sister Tandy revealed that Lamar hates Rayna’s singing career because their mother was having an affair with a musician before she died.

Because Teddy is largely to blame for their financial ruin, he sucked up his pride and headed to the Music City Credit Union (aka the Roundabout Building) for a line of credit. While there, he found out the Feds are auditing the bank. This could be a major problem for Teds, whose shady dealings might be discovered just as his mayoral campaign gears up.

And Rayna’s own daughters unknowingly stirred up drama by singing Juliette’s hit “Telescope” at the school talent show. Mom cheered through the tears for her girls, played by real-life sisters Lennon & Maisy Stella, ages 13 and 8.

Torn between Juliette’s rocking arena tour and Rayna’s smaller bus-sharing tour, Deacon decided to stay loyal to Rayna. Their scenes are often the most honest, such as the one at Percy Warner Park, when she told him, “You and music—there’s no difference. I feel like I’m holding these hearts in my hands, and I’m trying real hard not break ‘em, but my heart’s in pieces.”

In future episodes, look for appearances by Wyclef Jean and Kimberly Williams Paisley.

Jeff Stevens

By James Rea

Don’t miss Jeff Stevens on The Producer’s Chair, Thurs., Oct. 25, 6 p.m., at Douglas Corner. Details at: www.theproducerschair.com.

Jeff Stevens is one of Country music’s top producers, having helmed Luke Bryan’s three studio albums and Spring Break EPs. His most recent album, Tailgates & Tanlines, gave Bryan’s career a major push. It is up for 2012 CMA Album of the Year, and Bryan is nominated for Male Vocalist. He also leads the 2012 American Country Awards nominations with seven nods.

But don’t think Jeff appeared out of nowhere in 2007 when he produced Bryan’s debut album. There’s barely enough wall space in Jeff’s office/studio, to mount all of his songwriting awards. With seven No. 1s and countless top 10s to his credit, his discography includes George Strait No. 1s “Carrying Your  Love With Me,” “Carried Away” and “True;” Alabama’s “Reckless;” Tim McGraw’s “Back When;” John Anderson’s “I Fell In The Water;” and Tracy Byrd’s “Big Love” and “I Wanna Feel That Way Again.” Jeff earned a Dove Award nomination for Guy Penrod’s “Pray About Everything.” His discography also includes cuts by Brad Paisley, Blake Shelton, Kenny Chesney, Lonestar, Mark Wills, Brad Cotter, Rhett Akins, Chris Ledoux, and of course, numerous Luke Bryan hits. One of his newest songs, “Better Than Today,” has been recorded by his musical hero Don Williams.

By the age of 12, Jeff was opening for some of the biggest stars in Country music. “Santa Claus brought me and my brother, Warren, guitars,” he recalls. “My dad was a dreamer of the highest order and he dreamed that we could be country music stars. We learned ‘Folsom Prison Blues,’ entered an adult talent show and won. I was nine. My dad started booking our shows, and my mother sewed sparkly suits for us. By the time I was 12 or 13, I had done shows with all the big stars of the day: Conway and Loretta, George Jones and Tammy Wynette, Bill Anderson, Charley Pride and Willie Nelson.”

Jeff also met his future drummer and hit co-writer Terry Dotson in high school and they started writing songs together. Jeff was 20 when they wrote their first two hits, “Sweet Country Music” and “Atlanta Burned Again Last Night,” recorded by Atlanta.

“We had a five-piece band, Jeff Stevens and The Bullets, and we started booking bars and beer joints. Terry and I wrote the songs but my brother Warren was very instrumental in a managerial role. One day, we learned that Alabama was splitting with their manager and we thought he might be looking for a band. So we sent him material hoping he would sign us. He didn’t, but couple of months later, a disc jockey friend of mine called and said a group called Atlanta just sent in one of your songs, ‘Atlanta Burned Again Last Night’ with big cake on fire. So we drove over to the station and had a listen. Thank God, Terry and I had signed up with BMI. From then on, every Tuesday morning I’d get in my Pinto and drive to the news stand and look at a copy of Billboard. In no time it was No. 33, then 29. When it got to 14, Terry and I went to Nashville and had a meeting with Cedarwood publishing. They listened to one of our other songs called ‘Sweet Country Music.’ He told us it wasn’t what country is playing, but it went on to No. 3. It’s now a 2 Million BMI Award-winner.

“After those two songs were hits we recorded an album at Scruggs studio with our own money and that album made its way to Earl Thomas Conley’s producer, Nelson Larkin. Nelson got us the deal on Atlantic Records. That took a couple of years and in that time we moved to Nashville.”

Jeff was eventually re-signed to Atlantic as a solo artist but after a string of low-charting singles found himself struggling financially. “I lost my wedding ring in a pawn shop and I lost all of my guitars. After I had written two hit songs, I didn’t have a guitar, nothing to make music with. I was on the same label as Ray Charles and I was up on Dickerson Rd. financing cars. That was my life in the mid 80s. I was doing everything I could just to survive. That’s how much I wanted to stay here.”

Fortunately during that period Jeff kept writing and at the tail-end of his recording deal with Atlantic, he secured a publishing deal with Warner/Chappell, and discovered a new outlet as a writer. Since then, Jeff has become one of the most successful writing forces in country music. Today, he is signed to BMG/Chrysalis Nashville.

The Producer’s Chair: Is it difficult to be objective about selecting songs for the project, when you’re producing and writing with your artist?
Jeff Stevens: For me, producing and songwriting require two different hats. As a producer, my main goal for the artist is to have a long term career and fill arenas, not just a hit, so I must set aside my own personal short term goals to get one of my songs cut. A good producer will mine the artist and Music Row for the best song no matter who wrote it. As a songwriter, if I can support the artist with their sound and style, then certainly I will do that–but it’s not a Jeff Stevens record–it’s the artist’s record and I try never to lose sight of that.

How do you deal with negativity?
There is no room in my life for negativity. No one sticks around very long with that. Ninety percent of what we write is rejected and I need every ounce of positive energy to achieve another hit. Rejection is a major part of this business. I’m in this business to communicate with the listener. When I’m writing a song I don’t think about what my publisher would like. I don’t think about what radio will play or that it will be rejected along the way. I go right to the person that matters and that’s the listener. If you engage the listener, the listener will pull a few dollars out of their pocket and put it in you pocket.

How difficult is it to get a publishing deal today?
It’s really tough, much harder than when I started. My first pub deal was with Warner/Chappell in 1992, when I signed with them there were about 100 writers there. Today there are maybe 30. The numbers are staggeringly different. Now-a-days, it’s my belief, if you’ve got a publishing deal, you must be pretty good.

What do publishers look for in new writers?
In order for it to be a positive experience for both parties, where the songwriter and the publisher have success together, you have to have chemistry, not unlike a marriage. There has to be trust and common goals. The trust is the hardest thing, because as a songwriter, it’s your creation and in order for you to go, “You’re right, I need to change this,” that’s big stuff. You should only be changing stuff when you believe that they are right. And they should be able to prove they’re right by getting it cut. It’s a dynamic that’s hard to achieve, but I’ve found it with Dale Bobo and Michael Knox.

Can you give me an example?
Steve Bogard and I wrote “Carrying Your Love With Me” and we were excited about it and we called Michael in to hear it. He listened to it and his head hit the roof, he just exploded, he loved it. So he went back in his office and I’m sure he got on the phone and called Tony Brown and told him “I got a big hit for you.” An hour later, I was still in my little office and Michael came back in and said, “Can you play it for me again?” He listened to it and said “God that is so good. Explain the second verse. What does that mean?” Well, my heart sank because he had to ask me what it means. I explained it and he was satisfied. Michael never asked me to re-write it, but I respected his feel for songs, so Bogard and I got together a few days later and re-wrote the second verse.

What makes Luke’s vocal performance so compelling?
You’ve seen a little six-year-old kid go “Mommy I went down to the creek and I saw UHHHHHH a big frog and jumped on the UHHHHH…” It’s that thing Luke does when he is truly lost in his delivery. Those things to me are like gold. There are listeners out there who don’t give a flip about the mechanics. All they know is, this artist is speaking to them. They would never notice that he’s even doing that, but it’s there and somewhere inside of them, they’re getting that. I don’t look at them as flaws. That’s what makes Luke different.

How did you wind up producing Luke?
Luke and I met on a songwriting session and wrote a really cool thing called “Baby’s On The Way.” He had previously done a showcase for the folks at Capitol and he took the song over there and the next thing I know they’ve got me on the phone asking me to produce some sides on him! The label is very organic that way and I believe that’s one of the reasons we work so well together.

Jeff is currently developing a couple of other young artists, a Belmont University singer/songwriter named Matt Enik, and a vocalist named Colton Pack.