Stories Behind the Songs

Victoria Banks joins us for this week’s new episode of Stories Behind the Songs! Victoria is what some people in the music industry would call a “unicorn” - she writes her best stuff completely 100% (meaning all by herself), and she has several accolades to her name including the Canadian Artist and Songwriter of the Year .  Some of Victoria’s cuts include “ Saints and Angels ” by Sara Evans , “ W...

We’ve got a TLR favorite on this week’s episode of Stories Behind the Songs - Adam Craig ! Adam has so many impressive cuts like “ Church Pew or Bar Stool ” by Jason Aldean , “ Close Your Eyes ” by Parmalee , and George Strait’s 2024 single from his upcoming album, “ MIA Down In MIA ”.  We dive into those songs as well as the story behind his unreleased Cody Johnson cut written with Jordan Walker...

Cody Hibbard joins us for this week’s new episode of Stories Behind the Songs! Cody is an artist and songwriter to watch here in Music City. Just a month ago, he released his second full length album, Long Ride in a Short Bed , featuring songs like “ Rollin ’” and “ Set In My Ruts ”.  We dive into the title track, “ Long Ride in a Short Bed ” as well as “ Had It Been A Boy ”, and Cody plays a vers...

Craig Campbell joins us this week on Stories Behind the Songs!  Like most of our guests, Craig grew up in a musical family, but he started his career as a correctional officer. He knew music was his passion so he spent a lot of his time playing in bars and bands on Broadway. It’s a good thing he did because he was discovered while playing “The Stage” on Broadway and landed his very first record de...

This week, Danny Myrick and I sit down in the beautiful Coeur D'Alene, Idaho. We're here for our very first TLR on the Road show and I just had to get some time with Danny to dive into the stories behind some iconic songs he has written.. Danny has some classic cuts like  ⁠“International Harvester” by Craig Morgan⁠  and  ⁠“She’s Country” by Jason Aldean⁠ , and we dive into both stories o...

Rebecca Lynn Howard is today’s guest on Stories Behind the Songs! Rebecca is an artist and songwriter who has cuts with artists like Martina McBride , Trisha Yearwood , and John Michael Montgomery . Her 2002 single, Forgive , is a crowd-favorite here at The Listening Room, so we dive into the story behind that song – including how Faith Hill almost cut it until Rebecca played it for her own A&...

Faren Rachels joins us for this week’s new episode of Stories Behind the Songs! Faren has been a longtime friend and co-writer of Lainey Wilson and has several cuts with her including “ Weak-End ” and “ This One’s Gonna Cost Me ” off of her 2022 breakout album, Bell Bottom Country .  In this week's episode, Faren also talks about some of the songs that she’s released herself like her powerful...

We’ve got Sammy Arriaga on this week’s brand new episode of Stories Behind the Songs! I’ve known Sammy for over 10 years, and it was such a good time to catch up with him today.  Sammy and I talk about his 2021 album release, Boots x Beats , which features songs like “ COUNTRY SIDE ” and “ take my phone. ” Sammy goes into how the Miami music scene he was raised in with heavy R&B and EDM influe...

Today marks exactly 1-1/2 years since we re-launched the Stories Behind the Songs Podcast. So, we thought we'd take you back to our very first episode with the amazing and beautiful Carly Pearce! Carly has been a very good friend for many years and when I originally had this idea to do this podcast, Carly was my very first guest and she had just put her first single out to radio. This was Feb...

Jenna LaMaster is a talented up-and-coming singer-songwriter here in Nashville and if you haven’t heard of her yet, you definitely will soon. We loved having her on as this week's guest on Stories Behind the Songs Podcast! She started out in Nashville working 14 hour days at a ranch outside of town before signing a publishing deal at Shelter Music - which she signed mid-pandemic! She has seve...

Rachel Thibodeau is this week’s guest on Stories Behind the Songs! Rachel has not only written for some of the biggest names in country music but is also working with some of the most exciting up-and-coming talent in Nashville. You may know her from her long-time collaborative relationship with Luke Bryan with whom she wrote Billy Currington’s massive hit, “Good Directions” on his 2005 album, Doin...

For this week’s new Stories Behind the Songs, we’ve got Lexie Hayden here with us! Lexie has some hilarious stories about getting her start here in Nashville - like when she was put on the spot as an intern to sing live on the Bobby Bones radio show . We talk about her 2020 release, You Heard Right and why she’s excited to be putting out her first full length album soon, not during a pandemic. We...

We have 90's country star, Bryan White, with us on this week's episode of Stories Behind the Songs! I’ve known Bryan for years - even before I met him, I was learning to play his songs on guitar to impress the girls in my college dorm. In this episode, we discuss some of his biggest songs including “Someone Else’s Star” and “Rebecca Lynn” as well as the songs he’s written for other big a...

We’ve got my buddy Keesy Timmer on this week’s new episode of Stories Behind the Songs! Keesy has had a really interesting path that has led him to our stage today. Keesy has been writing with Kelsea Ballerini since she was a teenager and co-wrote the hit song, “Yeah Boy” with her and Forest Glen Whitehead. In this episode, Keesy shares how the song started from a funny moment with Kelsea and woun...

Matt McKinney is our guest on this week’s new Stories Behind the Songs! Matt got his start here at The Listening Room - not on our stage but as a server. Since then, he has landed cuts with some of the biggest names in country music right now like “Part Of It” by Jordan Davis, and he has a HANDFUL of songs on Elle King’s 2023 album Come Get Your Wife. He also has an unreleased song called “Weather...

Adam Hambrick joins us this week on the Stories Behind the Songs podcast! Adam has several huge artist cuts along with a successful artist career of his own. Some of my favorite cuts of his that we’ll talk more about in this week’s episode are “How Not To” released by Dan + Shay (which was actually almost cut by Rascal Flatts) and “Somebody Else Will” by Justin Moore (which was ALSO almost cut by...

I’m so excited to have my good buddy Brian White on this week’s episode of the Stories Behind the Songs podcast! Brian White’s career in music has spanned over many decades and many genres - he got his start in Christian and gospel music and toured for about 15 years doing that. He eventually fell in love with the storytelling of country music and has become a true legend here in Music City. Brian...

We’ve got Rocky Block with us for this week’s new episode of Stories Behind the Songs! I have known Rocky for years because I was close friends with his father and it’s been so cool to watch his career take off, from playing bass on a cruise line to having several top 40 hits, all within just a few years. It seems like Rocky has a writing credit on every hit single and #1 album lately. He’s collab...

Jordan Feliz, GMA Dove Awards Winner and Platinum selling Christian artist, joins us for this week’s Stories Behind the Songs! Jordan has definitely come a long way in the industry. He started his career in Nashville working as a valet to make ends meet and living paycheck to paycheck. We actually met for the first time while he was doing the valet here at The Listening Room. Jordan talks about ho...

Singer/Songwriter Brian Fuller joins us on Stories Behind the Songs this week! Brian moved to Nashville young and hungry in 2021 and has been all over town since then. He was one of Chris Blair's Unsigned Artist of the Month back in October 2023 and since then has landed a major cut with “I Could Be That Rain” for Randall King and a pub deal with Sony Music Publishing. Side note, if you haven...

Emily Landis is here with us this week on Stories Behind the Songs! It was so good to have her onstage with us. Emily is killing it right now after being in Nashville for 12 years - she has recent cuts with artists like Tiera Kennedy, Dylan Scott and Gabby Barrett. She got her first #1 hit with Gabby Barrett’s “The Good Ones” written back in 2018 which ended up getting multiple CMA noms for Song a...

We’ve got Brice Long with us on the podcast this week. Brice has enjoyed a successful 25+ year music career. As a songwriter he has had over 100 of his songs cut with artists such as Garth Brooks, George Strait, Chris Stapleton, Hank Williams Jr, Randy Houser, Josh Turner, Reba McEntire, Gary Allan, Cody Johnson, Chris Young, Jon Pardi, Easton Corbin, Lainey Wilson, Casey James, Darryl Worley, Ran...

Davis Loose joins us today and man I have loved getting to know him these past couple years. I met Davis when he was just 16 at the St Augustine’s songwriter’s festival. I host this festival every year out in Florida and the year I met Davis I was genuinely surprised by how talented he was. He is a fantastic songwriter and performer so when I heard he was thinking about making the move to Nashvill...

Well this week took a turn! As I was sitting down ready to interview Davis Loose (who I did end up interviewing and his episode comes out next week!) my staff had tricked me and he took over the interview! It was a surprise and I wasn't sure how it would go, but we had a lot of fun. So on this episode, you get to hear more about me...Chris Blair. You'll hear how I got into music, what mo...

Jordan Dozzi joins us this week on Stories Behind the Songs! Jordan landed his very first number one on the charts   ~ just this week actually ~  with Morgan Wallen! “Man Made A Bar” - written by Jordan Dozzi, Larry Fleet, Rocky Block, and Brett Tyler - was originally meant to be released by Larry Fleet. In this episode, we learn how Morgan heard it, loved it, and  RELEASED  it himself - sending i...