Write You A Song Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Kent Blazy: The 26th Time Is The Charm May 28, 2022

Show notes

The podcast is back after a three month hiatus and what a great guest to return with. Kent Blazy was a young songwriter in Nashville but didn't have enough hits to quite make ends meet. So he opened a recording studio and recruited a stable of demo singers who would go on to become some of the biggest stars of 1990s country music and beyond: Joe Diffie, Faith Hill, Martina McBride, Billy Dean...and some guy named Garth Brooks, including If Tomorrow Never Comes which was a song idea Garth had that had already been turned down 25 times before he brought it to Kent. It was the first song they wrote together, but it would not be the last.

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Walker Hayes: Swinging For the Fences Mar 04, 2022

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If you listen to this podcast at all, then you’ve heard Walker Hayes' name dropped by a few other writers who’ve collaborated with him- Nicolle Galyon, Josh Jenkins, to name two. There’s a lot of respect in Nashville for him, especially since he’s been there since the early 2000s. But all this time he’s been mostly under the radar. Heck, at one point, he was working at a Costco.

Things started to change when in 2017 when he had a modest hit with You Broke Up With Me and then last year, he crushed it. Fancy Like wasn’t just a hit, it became nothing less than a sensation, with a viral dance, TV commercials. It also sparked some grumbling: country purists didn’t like that Fancy Like was country-rap. And if I’m honest, I started off as one of them. The first few times I listened I thought, aw, what’s this. But then, it sort of sucked me in. Look, spoken word hits are nothing new in country music: Charlie Daniels Uneasy Rider and Devil Went Down to Georgia. CW McCall, Convoy. Big John, Jimmy Dean. Toby Keith, I Wanna Talk About Me, Hank Jr, Born to Boogie. Dirt Road Anthem, Jason Aldean. And that’s how I started to look at Fancy Like. Sure, it isn’t an exact comparison-the rhythm is more urban that backwoods, but the lyrics? They’re as country as -to paraphrase a line from an old Hank Jr song -a 2-job working family, which is basically what Walker and his wife Lanie still were, until the song took off. And..? It’s just fun. Is that such a crime? Most of all, if you listen closely, you'll realize it's a very honest song, which, I’ve since come to find out- and you’re about to- is the only bullseye Walker aims for.

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Josh Jenkins: Surrender To The Musical Gods Jan 27, 2022

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If you’re at all familiar with the ocean, you’ll know that while most swells on a given day will be roughly the same size, every once in a while that pattern gets upset when, out of nowhere, a wave twice the size of the others, or even greater, suddenly appears. They’re called rogue waves and while they don’t happen very often, and they can’t be predicted, they cannot be ignored. Our guest this month? He helped write the musical equivalent of a rogue wave last year.

Josh Jenkins is relatively new to mainstream country, but he isn’t new to music. Since they first formed around 2003 in Ft Worth Texas, Josh and his band, Green River Ordinance, has carved out a critically acclaimed spot for themselves in pop-rock and Americana- even touring with big rock acts like Collective Soul, Train and the Goo Goo Dolls. In 2016, they became among the first artists to release an album fully funded by loyal fans, via Kickstarter.

But while he and his bandmates still very much get together to perform, Josh has taken his passion for songcraft and settled into the Nashville songwriting community, where just this last year, he finally scored his first two hit singles. One went #1 the last week of January 2022 and the other was a musical rogue wave.

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Jimmie Allen: Do The Stuff You Don't Want To Do Dec 27, 2021

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This month’s guest has wasted little time making the most of his growing career. It hasn’t been that long since he was literally living out of his car on the streets of Nashville. His debut single shot to #1 in November 2018. His 2nd single also went to number 1 and as I put together this podcast, his 3rd single has cracked the top 10. He’s also won awards (2021 CMA New Male Artist). Done TV shows (Dancing With The Stars). Written a children’s book (My Voice Is a Trumpet). Had a couple kids (Naomi and Aayden). Sang with Elton John (The Lockdown Sessions). Started a production company (JAB Entertainment). All while reminding anyone who brings it up that country music isn’t, never has been nor ever should be a space reserved for white artists only.

The lengths it took to set up this interview is a good way to introduce you to Jimmie Allen. It took almost six months before we were able to connect. Once, I managed to pin him down while he was en route to a concert right the day after one of his appearances on Dancing With The Stars. And it was going great until he hit a bad cell service area, and our next chance didn’t come along for another month. That he never gave up on doing this interview- which is such a minor thing in his life – says a lot about who he is.

And that drive, that thing that keeps him daring to dream some really big, challenging dreams while still making sure to connect with some schlep DJ with a podcast...? I think it can all be traced back to challenges he first had to face as a young kid, and the people who helped him overcome them. You put that kind experience together with real talent as a singer and a songwriter, and you’ve got something special.

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Don't say no: Steve Dorff Nov 28, 2021

Show notes

This month's guest didn't set out to write some of country music's most romantic ballads. But then...Clint Eastwood called.

There is no doubt Steve Dorff is talented beyond measure. But how he found country music - or rather, how country music found him- is a tale all to itself.

Sit back and enjoy the incredible story of an incredible artist: composer, arranger, director, lyricist...he can-and has- done it all.

And that's not even counting the theme song to "Growing Pains."

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Patience, Thick Skin, Big Heart: Ashley Gorley Oct 30, 2021

Show notes

If you were to take just the number 1 country songs Ashley Gorley has written and, supposing their average length is, say, 3:30... played them back to back to back... you’re gonna be listening for just over 3 hours.

With his current tally of #1 songs at a ridiculous 51, Gorley seems to have a gear nobody else has. The awards he’s won and honors he’s received alone take up 16 lines on his Wikipedia page.

Even more remarkable, Ashley didn’t really grow up singing or even playing instruments much. He’s never been in a band. He never sought stardom as an artist. He WAS into music though- MTV, DJ-ing, and studying how songs, melodies and beats are put together. And maybe even more remarkable than all of that..? He’s still humble- still quick to deflect credit to co-writers and artists. And he still loves what he does.

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Making Mom Proud: Matraca Berg Oct 02, 2021

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This month’s guest, Matraca Berg, grew up in a musical family. Her mother Icee Berg (yep, real name!) was a songwriter and session singer who at first wasn't crazy that her daughter wanted a career in country music but later became her best teacher. Her stepfather, Dave Kirby, was a songwriter whose credits include the Gene Watson classic I’ve Got Memories to Burn and Charlie Pride’s Is Anybody Goin to San Antone. The family lived in Nashville and often hosted parties featuring writers and singers. So, it stands to reason that being around that kind of environment would kinda rub off on a person. But in Matraca’s case, it was more than just a smudge; she was gifted the talent- and the drive- to have over 50 of her songs recorded, including several that helped female artists to dominate country music in the 1990s like they have never before... or since. She is a CMA and ACM-winning 2008 Nashville Songwriting Hall of Fame inductee who’s quick to give credit to her co-writers, she’s married to Jeff Hanna of the legendary Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and she’s a pretty great solo artist too.

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Tommy Lee James: "Up Tempo, Positive Never Really Worked For Me" Aug 28, 2021

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Over 30 years in ANY business is impressive but in the world of songwriting, it's especially notable....even more so when that writer is still very much at the top of their game.
Tommy Lee James was the "bigshot songwriter" our last guest, Ross Copperman, talked about. Ross grew up in the same town as Tommy Lee, and drew inspiration from his success as Ross embarked on his own music career.
But where Ross's country songwriting career has been largely over the last 8 years or so, Tommy Lee's got started back in the late 1980s. And since then, he's written hits for the likes of Brooks and Dunn, Reba, Tim McGraw, and (*checks notes*) One Direction? Yep. He's not only consistent, he's versatile- not at all just staying in a country music lane. And he's got one of 5 new cuts on the latest Taylor Swift album- a song that was lost for 16 years.
In this episode, Tommy Lee James gives a master class in not just achieving, but sustaining success... as well as the importance of proper song labeling when writing with future superstars.

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Ross Copperman: You Have To Win Every Time Jul 31, 2021

Show notes

30 number one singles as a writer and a producer...six of which he wrote in 2015 alone. He’s been nominated for and won multiple BMI, CMA and ACM songwriter awards He works with the biggest names in Nashville, including songwriters like Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne, and artists like Dierks Bentley, Brett Eldredge, Jake Owen and Darius Rucker. He just released an EP of solo material that includes a co-write with Ed Sheeran.

And, he used to party with The Who.

Ross Copperman is this month's guest on Write You a Song

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Niko Moon: Kicking The Ball Down The Field Jul 01, 2021

Show notes

Singer/songwriter Niko Moon has one foot in the country, and one in the city. He can write as traditional a country hit as anyone (Zac Brown Band's "Homegrown", for example), and he'll show off his Atlanta hip-hop influences on his solo hits, like "Good Time". And while traditionalists may cluck at his more progressive tendencies, Niko himself makes a good case as to why it may not be so much about tradition anymore as it is authenticity, and being true to one's self. A smart, insightful conversation with a smart, insightful artist (who also happens to have a million-watt smile)

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