NSAI Coffee Break

Tolan Shaw is an award-winning recording artist, a prolific songwriter, and an avid traveler. Based in Nashville but originally from southern California, Shaw is an acoustic troubadour with songs that are catchy and soulful, bluesy and melodic, poppy and sincere. In 2019, Shaw achieved his first major label songwriting credit with “Could I Love You Any More,” a duet by Filipino star Reneé Dominiqu...

Big Machine Music/ 50 Egg Music 's Jonathan Singleton joins us this Friday for a Coffee Break to share career stories, how he discovered Luke Combs, and more about his new publishing venture! ☕️ Jonathan's extensive catalog includes Tim McGraw’s “Diamond Rings and Ol’ Bar Stools,” Rascal Flatt's, “Yours If You Want It”, (a NSAI 2018 10 Songs I Wish I’d Written), Tyler Farr’s “A Guy Walks Into A B...

Griffin House has recorded over 12 studio albums and performed for over 15 years touring with John Mellencamp, The Cranberries, Josh Ritter, Mat Kearney and Brett Dennen, among several others. In this episode he shares the inspiration behind his latest album, “Rising Star," featuring songs like "Natural Man," "Change featuring Joy Williams", "Cup of Fulfillment" and more. In addition to the album,...

Originally from Denver, NC, Ivory Layne grew up performing, songwriting, and producing. Her music caught the attention of Grammy award-winning producer, Ed Cash and she then moved to Nashville shortly after to continue crafting new music. Ivory is signed to Justin Timberlake’s label Villa 40 and we talk a bit about how that came about. A few of the writers she has collaborated with include Chris D...

Songwriter and publisher Dallas Davidson has written 25 No.1 hits, more than 30 Top 10 songs and contributed more than 300 cuts to many of today’s top country music stars including Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton and others. We talk about how The Peach Pickers were formed, Dallas’ perspective on writing for the country music fan, his experience managing Play It Again Music, and what it was like writing...

This is a two-part 'sync' themed episode featuring Phillip LaRue and Meghan Kabir. Part 1 we’re featuring Nashville-based writer/artist and producer Phillip LaRue about his latest record Analog Digital Heart released earlier this year. Phillip LaRue has produced and collaborated with artists like Tyler Farr, Jon Pardi, Phil Wickham, and Dave Barnes and others. You’ve heard his music in ads for Ver...

Billy Ray Cyrus is a prolific songwriter, artist, and actor. He started his career recording his first album, “Some Gave All” at The Music Mill, aka NSAI’s headquarters. He visited NSAI in the last month to film promo pieces for his 16th studio album out today titled "The Snake Doctor Circus." He shared his journey collaborating with long-time friend and co-writer Don Von Tress on the long-anticip...

Black River recording artist Abby Anderson is a rising female in country music – she is listed in The Bobby Bones Show’s “Class of 2019,” MusicRow’s “Next Big Thing for 2019,” and Sounds Like Nashville’s “19 New Country Artists to Watch in 2019." She heads out on the road with Rob Thomas starting May 28th for his Chip Tooth Smile Tour after already playing some of the biggest festivals in the coun...

In this episode we chat with session musician and producer, Derek Wells! From the lens of a producer, he shares his own perspective on why a well-crafted song is so important to the creative process. We also talk about his work with Maren Morris, Dolly Parton, Steven Tyler, Josh Turner and more!

This episode features ACM, Billboard, and Grammy nominated songwriter/producer Corey Crowder. We visited Tree Vibez Musicto talk with him about his songwriting craft and advice he’s received from his mentors like Rivers Rutherford and Liz Rose. He’s worked with longtime friend and artist Chris Young of whom he celebrated his first #1 in 2015 for, “I’m Comin’ Over." Corey shares his experience prod...

Singer-Songwriter Leah Nobel spent three years on what she calls a 'hybrid creative endeavor' one that combines journalism, empathy, advocacy, and music. Her latest album, “Running In Borrowed Shoes” features 10 tracks thread together from over 100 interviews with passer-byers at the YMCA. Each song features a recurring theme of what it means to be human – joy, praise, concern, vulnerability, fear...

Our latest Coffee Break episode features Jeremy and A. Jay Popoff from the American rock band Lit ("My Own Worst Enemy," "Zip-Lock" and "Miserable")! In this episode we talk about their latest record "These Are The Days," a fourteen-song project produced by Lit and Corey Crowder. This is their first full-length album since "A View From The Bottom." Jeremy and A. Jay talk about collaborating with M...

Songwriter/Artist Andrew Ripp is joining us for NSAI Coffee Break to chat about his latest collaboration project with Chris Rice, "Songs We Wrote On Tuesdays"! The new album is the outcome of the inevitable creativity when two artist (friends) put music to discussions of life, struggle, faith, and love - written over an 8 year period. Andrew has opened for Sara Bareilles, Andy Grammer, Needtobreat...

David Hodges is currently celebrating a Grammy nomination for “Dear Hate,” written with Tom Douglas and Maren Morris! In this episode you’ll hear about the inspiration behind balled recorded by Maren and featuring Vince Gill. David has written of some the biggest singles in pop music including “Because of You” for Kelly Clarkson, “Brand New” for Ben Rector, “A 1,000 Years” for Christina Perri feat...

To kick off the new year, we are featuring an interview with Grammy nominated songwriter, producer, publisher, author and entrepreneur Kara DioGuardi! You know Kara from songs like “Sober” for P!nk, "UnDo It" for Carrie Underwood, "Heartbeat Song" for Kelly Clarkson, "Rich Girl" for Gwen Stefani and more. She was a judge on seasons 8 and 9 of "American Idol" and has mentored artists like Charlie P...

Singer/Songwriter Adam Hood knows the dual life of living in small town America while traveling as a singer/songwriter. “Somewhere In Between” is an ode to the people, the pace and what it means to leave a small town for a different life than what you know. The Alabama native’s album was recorded at Nashville's Sound Emporium Studios and was produced by Oran Thornton who also produced Miranda Lamb...

Laura Veltz was an artist first and found songwriting to be the real enjoyment of her place in the industry. She penned three chart-topping hits: Maren Morris’ “I Could Use A Love Song,” which was also a 2018 NSAI 10 Songs I wish I’d Written, Chris Young’s “Lonely Eyes” and Eli Young Band’s “Drunk Last Night.” She also a writer on the song, “Rich” for Maren Morris which is #2 on the charts and Rya...

Trent Dabbs has written several songs you know like “Girls Chase Boys” for Ingrid Michaelson, “High Horse,” for Kacey Musgraves’ CMA award winning album, Golden Hour, “Growing Pains” for COIN, “Deep Water,” by American Authors, he even wrote a couple songs for Natalie Hemby’s 2017 album release, "Puxico." He just released his 11th solo album "Positano" which features a collection of songs he’s wri...

Our latest NSAI Coffee Break guest has placed almost every "Artists to Watch" list, made her late-night television debut earlier this year with a performance of “Reasons” on NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers. This past fall she released a followup to her 2017 EP release “Side A” with six-track EP, “Side B.” Songwriter/Artist, Jillian Jacqueline is one of those artists that can perform in almost an...

Our next guest celebrating her first #1 for Break Up In the End for Cole Swindell, written with Jon Nite and Chase McGill. She received a 2017 AIMP Publisher’s Pick Award for penning “Rich” alongside Maren Morris and Laura Veltz and is also celebrating the song reaching the top 10 on the charts. I recently visited Big Machine to chat with songwriter Jessie Jo Dillon about writing retreats, stories...

Today's new episode features songwriter/artist Ryan Hurd! Ryan recently celebrated a #1 with Luke Bryan for “Sunrise, Sunburn, Sunset,” in addition to his first No. 1 single as a songwriter with the GRAMMY & CMA-nominated duet “Lonely Tonight,” recorded by Blake Shelton and Ashley Monroe. He’s written songs for Dierks Bentley, Jake Owen, Brothers Osborne, Tim McGraw, Florida Georgia Line, Rascal F...

In this episode we talk songwriting and the production process with cinematic producer, composer and songwriter, Tommee Profitt. Originally from Michigan, Tommee started his music career early on as an artist and came into his own as a producer, gaining several sync placements in shows like the Good Doctor, The Handmaid’s Tale, Quantico, NCIS, as well as several movie trailers, video games and NFL...

Songwriter/artist Adam Hambrick has written several songs for recording artists like Miranda Lambert and Eli Young Band. He celebrated two number 1’s in 2017, “How Not To” (Dan & Shay) and “Somebody Else Will” (Justin Moore). He has shared the stage with a diverse group of artists including LANCO, Josh Abbott Band, Steve Moakler, Chris Lane, Carly Pearce and others. Today we’ll be talking about hi...

If you’ve ever seen ­­­­shows like Parenthood, This Is Us, and Grey’s Anatomy, you have likely heard music written and performed by our guest today. Songwriter/Recording Artist, Amy Stroup has had several sync placements in TV, film and advertising. Outside her work in sync she is one half of the duo Sugar and the Hi Lows, in which she partners with prolific songwriter Trent Dabbs. Amy’s latest so...

Today’s guests are known for their harmony and blend of country and rock influences. Trey Smith and Jennifer Fielder of country duo Smithfield, share their long road to discovering their place in the industry and how that’s influenced the message in their music. They released their single, "Hey Whiskey" this past summer and it has already reached over 1 million digital streams and made it in the t...