Stories Behind the Songs

The first single that Carly Pearce put out to radio as a solo artist was also her first #1 hit. That song, Every Little Thing, was written by this week's guest - the amazing and talented Emily Shackelton! In this episode, you'll hear how Emily grew up in a very small town in Minnesota surrounded by music. She was encouraged from a young age to pursue what she loves and quickly found out...

In this episode, Chris Blair sat down with Cliff Cody. Originally from Odessa, TX (home of Friday Night Lights), Cliff played football but always loved music. He talks about how he transitioned from football to music full time, moved to Nashville at the age of 20, started writing some great songs and then moved to Key West to continue writing but also build an incredible brand as an artist himself...

In this episode, Chris Blair sat down with long time friend Arlis Albritton. Arlis is originally from Florida and has had a lot of success as as songwriter himself, writing songs for Diamond Rio , Jamey Johnson , Luke Bryan , Parmalee , Josh Thompson , Keith Anderson , Halfway to Hazard , John Michael Montgomery and many more. Outside of songwriting, he has also been on the management side of the...

On this week’s episode of Stories Behind the Songs, I had the pleasure of sitting down with none other than Dylan Altman. With a blues and rock-heavy background, Dylan tells us all about his instant draw to the industry after watching the music video for “Jump” by Van Halen. From that moment on, Dylan knew that music was what he needed to do, so he started a band and has been playing and writing e...

On this week's episode, Chris Blair sits down with one of his good friends, Cameron Bedell. Cameron came to Nashville from Wichita, Kansas to attend Belmont University. He grew up surrounded by music with experience singing in show choirs and barbershop quartets. You'll hear about how he started his career after graduating working at a restaurant serving hit songwriters and country artis...

On this week’s episode of Stories Behind the Songs, we are joined by Kristian Bush . You may know Kristian from the band Sugarland , his production skills on Lindsey Ell ’s records, or maybe you’ve listened to his solo work. This week you’ll learn it all as we dive into the life and career of one of music's most versatile and talented artists. From his early days raised in music on the Suzuki...

In this episode of Stories Behind the Songs, Chris sits down with Ryan Griffin. Born and raised in Florida, Ryan moved to Nashville when he was just 18 to pursue writing his own music. Starting his career as Jason Aldean ’s tour manager, he decided to step into the songwriting world. Ryan will take us through his musical journey, highlighting the story behind co-writing with Kelsea Ballerini , Jos...

In this episode Chris Blair sits down with Trannie Anderson, who has written songs for Lainey Wilson , Reba McEntire , Gabby Barrett , Adam Doleac , Walker County and more. Trannie grew up in Waco, Texas and has been playing piano and writing songs since she was six years old. After graduating from Baylor University she moved to Nashville and connected with Lainey Wilson and started playing shows...

In this episode, Chris Blair sat down with Ryan Larkins. Born and raised in Nashville, TN, you'll hear about how he started writing songs at a young age and ended up on the CMT show " Can You Duet? " where he placed in the top three. You'll hear the story behind his #1 song that he wrote for Bill Anderson & Dolly Parton , "Someday It'll All Make Sense" that l...

In this episode, Chris Blair sits down with Clay Mills . Clay is from the Mississippi Delta and he talks about how he worked the soybean fields with his family and how working those fields is where he really found his love of music. You'll hear the story behind how he moved to New York at the age of 19 to write TV jingles from classical to hip hop, got over 1500 jingles placed in commercials...

Neil Medley is one of the very first guys I met when I moved to Nashville about 20 years ago. Originally from Louisville, KY, he started his career in marketing but about 13 years ago he decided to go full time into songwriting. In this episode you're going to hear about that transition and how that move led him quickly to his first album cut with Luke Bryan . You'll hear about the songs...

This week's episode is with Jason Duke, who's a local guy that grew up just outside of Nashville. He was a wrestler back in the day, but then turned songwriter and ended up writing Kelsea Ballerini's smash hit, Dibs. Hear the story about how he walked out of a college class three years in to change his major, how he started in the music industry as a song plugger (someone who takes...

In this week's episode I sit down with the amazing Kelly Archer! Kelly is originally from Vancouver, British Columbia. Her songs have been recorded by Jason Aldean , Dustin Lynch , Eli Young Band , Montgomery Gentry , Reba McEntire , Trisha Yearwood , Cassadee Pope , and many more. In this podcast you'll hear the story of how she grew up and how she dipped her toe into songwriting at an...

In this episode you'll hear the stories behind the songs written by Mark Irwin. Mark has been in Nashville for over 25 years and was the writer of Alan Jackson 's first #1 hit "Here In The Real World." He also wrote "Redneck Crazy" for Tyler Farr , "Highway Don't Care" for Tim McGraw and Taylor Swift along with other great songs written for Jimmy Buffet...

Justin Wilson, originally from north Georgia, has around 80 songs recorded and over 20 songs that have been radio singles. In this episode you'll hear how he followed his path to Nashville and stories behind some of his hits like "Drunk Me" for Mitchell Tenpenny , "We Went" for Randy Houser , "Momma's House" for Dustin Lynch and "Kiss You In The Morning...

Jordan Walker, from Texas, has been around music his whole life. In this episode we are going to talk about how he got kicked out of his high school choir his senior year and how his favorite number is 2 so he moved to Nashville on 2/22/2012 to pursue music. He met Johnny McGuire and they formed the duo Walker McGuire - we talk about how that started and the story behind their hit "Till Tomor...

In this special July 4 edition, we introduce you to amazing songwriter Brian Davis. Brian grew up in North Carolina and has been around music since a very young age. He would hang out in the honky-tonks with his father and grandfather tuning their guitars or doing anything he could to help them just so he could be around the music. He got his first publishing deal in Nashville from the iconic Harl...

Welcome, Tigerlilly Gold ! Sisters, Kendra and Krista Slaubaugh, formed their due back in their hometown of North Dakota. In this episode I sit down with these incredible ladies and hear how they got started, how they ended up making the move to Nashville and how they went from playing honkytonks like Dierk's Bentley 's Whiskey Row on Broadway to being invited to play the incredible and...

In this episode I sit down with my brother Blessing Offor who was born blind in his left eye and later became fully blind because if an accident with a Super Soaker water gun. He talks about how going through that accident got his obsessed with piano and writing. We talk about his song “Tin Roof” that he wrote with Natalie Hemby and released with Chris Tomlin & friends along with his top 20 Bi...

In this episode I sat down with my buddy James McNair who wrote the #1 song for Luke Combs , Lovin’ On You. We met in St. Augustine where I host The St. Augustine Songwriters Festival every year and have been friends ever since. He is an incredible songwriter and artist. In this episode he talks about the story behind that song, Lovin’ On You, along with other songs he’s written. He talks about ho...

In this episode you will hear the story behind "A Rock And A Hard Place" that Jet Harvey wrote for Bailey Zimmerman. You'll hear how we was on a trip to Boston and got in a fight with his girlfriend - now his wife - and how he ordered red wine, watched tears roll down her face and walked out the door...and how the entire song is basically exactly what happened to him in Boston - lat...

EPISODE 15 - We are still very new to the podcast world but we started this 15 weeks ago and I can't thank you all enough for the support. I hope you continue to listen, share, subscribe and follow wherever you listen to podcasts. Follow us on Instagram @SBTSongs and I promise to continue to sit down with friends in the music industry to bring you great stories behind the songs! In this episo...

In this episode I sit down with "Rowdy" Rob Williford. Rob played guitar and wrote hits with Luke Combs since Luke got his start just up until last December when he retired to focus more on songwriting and his own project. We are going to dive into life on the road with Luke and talk about the stories behind the massive hits Rob wrote for Luke like "One Number Away," "Doin...

In this episode you meet the one and only - Victoria Shaw. From New York to LA to Nashville, Victoria has written songs for Garth Brooks, Lady A, John Michael Montgomery, Ricky Martin, Doug Stone, Jim Brickman and more. She is so incredibly talented and through that talent has won herself an ACM Award for Song of the Year, two daytime Emmy Awards Outstanding Original Song, 4 Emmy nominations and s...

Influenced by Bruno Mars , Old Dominion , Train and Billy Currington , Jacob Rice started his journey into his musical career by moving to Nashville, TN in 2020 during the middle of a worldwide pandemic. He put out his first song "Whatever Floats Your Boat" followed by a song he wrote for his wife called "Forever I Do." In this episode, Jacob talks about those songs along with...