Tag: Spotify

Jackson Dreyer Drops New Single “Step Back”

Interviews

Jackson Dreyer was inspired to start playing music listening to Santana. He thought that he was going to be a musician that never had to find his voice.  However, he found out from his father that to be a frontman, you have to sing. Soon after he discovered songwriting and then it was a one-way ticket to Nashville to study music. 

When Dreyer first stepped foot in Nashville he knew it was going to be beneficial for his career.

 “I become a better musician every time I leave my house,” Dreyer said. “It’s music first, not status, everyone is here for the music.” 

Focusing on that music route, Dreyer released his new single today “Step Back” following an upcoming album. It comes from a place of starting to reconnect with someone you’ve dated in the past. 

“She was in my heart still but I knew things had to be over,” Dreyer said. “It documents the moment of us reconnecting briefly and that’s all it took, but I knew we couldn’t be together again.” 

Dreyer hopes that listeners groove and have fun with it. It takes from more of his R&B influences that come together for an upbeat and unique track. The lyrics also have a meaningful story behind the melody.

 “It may feel like you’re going backward but you’re really going forward when you realize you have to move on,” Dreyer said. “You can’t force anything when it comes to love because the right person is out there for you.”

Having not released a song in a year, Dreyer is ready for listeners to dive back into his music. This is the first song that is the next iteration for Dreyer and his sound that will be featured on his upcoming album. 

“Step Back” is now available to buy or stream on all digital platforms.

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ODELL SURPASSES 20,000 STREAMS WITH “I DONT MISS THE OCEAN”

Interviews

NASHVILLE, TENN. (August 21, 2020) — Independent artist ODELL released his third single “I Don’t Miss The Ocean”. The anticipated single follows ODELL’s second single “17 Hours” which accumulated over 40,000 spins. ODELL was put on the social media map when he was a contestant on Season 10 of NBC’s Emmy-Award “The Voice” in 2016. It’s not far long before ODELL takes over the Nashville songwriting scene. 

“I Don’t Miss The Ocean” is penned by ODELL himself with his twist on words and wide vocal range. 

The idea behind “I Don’t Miss The Ocean” comes from the beginning of the infatuation stage after a breakup. “It’s about when you thought everything was going to work out the way you wanted it to,” ODELL says.”However, now that I’ve met someone else, everything I used to care about doesn’t seem to matter much anymore.”

ODELL surpassed 20,000 streams on Spotify in the first week of releasing “I Don’t Miss The Ocean”.

“I Don’t Miss The Ocean” is available to buy or stream on all digital platforms. 

Dalton Mauldin Drops First Single Off EP “gray”

Album Review, Interviews

After Dalton Mauldin’s recent successes with his recent drop “Blinded” surpassing 500,000 streams and “I Look Good On You” reaching over 100,000 spins on Spotify, Mauldin’s anticipated single off his first EP gray has arrived. 

Mauldin’s project gray has been a long time coming – living in his head before coming to life. Instead of writing his songs over a short period of time, the EP’s first song “mine” was written last fall. He wrote it with his friend Pierre Alexander after discussing past relationships and how unusual it all felt.

“It was weird to have all of the materialistic things even after the breakup ended,” Mauldin said. “But in the end to think that the person was never really mine.” 

Choosing the first song off the EP was a difficult decision, and ultimately came down to “mine” and a different track. 

“I sent it to a friend of mine, Parker Livingston, and he put a new twist to the song that I thought was incredible,” Mauldin said. “ I knew right away it would be the first single and I think it’s the perfect song to explain the whole idea of the EP.”

Mauldin’s favorite part about recording gray was finding comfortability in being vulnerable. 

“I showed a lot of my friends these songs and explained the stories behind them, which is something I’ve never done before,” Mauldin said. “To be able to let my guard down and talk about these feelings with people has helped me grow as an artist.”

Mauldin wants listeners to have a better understanding of him after hearing it. 

“I feel like this is my first project where people will see me for who I am as they follow along with the stories behind the songs,” Mauldin said. “ I hope these songs can help people get through whatever they’re struggling with, with the windows down in the car, screaming it at the top of their lungs.”

Mauldin’s upcoming EP gray will drop sooner than we think.

“mine” is available to buy or stream on all digital platforms.

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Up & Coming Artist: Lauren Davidson

Interviews

Some of Lauren Davidson’s earliest memories include her father playing guitar and singing around the house. He was a singer/songwriter and used to play clubs around New York City. It wasn’t before long that she realized that she loved singing before she could even speak. Now, she finds herself playing in some of those same clubs her dad did.

Splitting time between New York City and Nashville, Davidson has been able to network and experience different sides of the music industry.

“What drew me to wanting to spend time in Nashville was that I had the opportunity in New York and New Jersey to open for all these amazing artists that were coming on tour,” Davidson said. “It helped me make connections with people whether that be the artist or musicians in the artists’ band.”

Davidson has opened for various artists including Carly Pearce, Michael Ray, and Russell Dickerson. Visiting Nashville and reconnecting with these people that she has toured with has helped her immersed herself into the city’s scene. 

She’s excited about her most recent songs coming soon and her latest drop “Find Me”. It’s a song she wrote with Tommy Cole about finding yourself again after a relationship. 

“I love the story behind this song because it’s a strong female empowerment track,” Davidson said. “I also loved co-producing it because it’s a little different than any other song I’ve released before, it’s a little more pop production.”

Layering different instruments, ideas, and vocals onto this track helped her explore what she’s capable of and do something she has never tried before. 

Davidson released the title track of her next EP “Love Ain’t Fair” which has already curated over 10,000 streams. She’s planning to release more of her EP in five parts in the coming year. 

“Find Me” is available to buy or stream on all digital platforms. Make sure to follow Davidson’s social media for more updates. 

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Canaan Cox drops new EP “Stilettos”

Album Review, Interviews

Canaan Cox found his music career in his genes. His dad writes music and his mom played in a band. He grew up in a large family of seven, always having an audience and that strong craving of attention. It wasn’t until he made the move to Nashville that he knew that he could make a name for himself. 

“Nashville is definitely the place to create buzz in town, network, and get the ‘car out of the garage’ as my day would say,” Cox said. “Talent is necessary but I don’t think people understand how much of a business it is.” 

The entrepreneur mindset was something that Cox had to find out through hard work and viewing himself as a brand/business. 

“Once I got here I was off to the races,” Cox said. “Everyone’s story is different on how they got to where they are, I’m just still writing mine.”

– Canaan Cox

Cox’s latest drop “He Loves Me” comes from his dad being his best friend. “From wrecking the Ford Bronco to jumping in the Jeep after football practice when I was playing termite football saying I wanted to quit, everything is true,” Cox said. “He’s a huge reason I continue to push hard at this career.” 

Cox explained that his dad is the reason he is who he is today and there will never be enough time to explain how much he means to him. 

Not only did Cox release “He Loves Me” in late June, but last week his new EP “Stilettos” dropped. “I wrote down everything I wanted to accomplish digitally this year,” Cox said. “I’ve finished the list, including this EP.” 

Cox has been working on the EP “Stilettos” since November 2019 and couldn’t be more excited to share it with everyone. 

“I focused more on what I specifically loved about music and put that magic into my own product,” Cox said. “This EP is the definition of Canaan Cox.” His craving for creativeness and different stages of his writing career is shown throughout the tracklist. 

With the craziness of COVID-19, Cox also started his own production company, Wait For It Entertainment, focusing on helping other artists tell their stories. “With most of my music videos I direct, produce, edit and even choreograph,” Cox said. “I come from a musical theatre background but I’ve always loved being behind the camera.” 

Cox is in production now for the music video of his EP’s title track “Stilettos”, which is coming out sooner than we think. 

“Stilettos” is available to buy or stream on all digital platforms. Make sure to follow Cox’s social media for more updates.

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Up & Coming Artist: Jamie Gabrielle

Album Review, Interviews

Growing up in New Jersey, Jamie Gabrielle started singing with her grandma at a young age. They would always watch movies and sing along together, sparking her career very young. She began writing songs in high school as she started to understand music theory more.  She taught herself piano and guitar, preparing her to become the inspiring songwriter she is today. 

Moving to Nashville opened up her world to many new experiences. “It enabled me to start playing writer’s rounds and meeting a lot more people,” Gabrielle said. “It’s really inspiring to work with people who are better than you, and you learn a lot. It really brought me out of my shell.” 

Not only did Nashville help Gabrielle break out of her comfort zone, but her appearance on The Bachelor Presents: Listen to Your Heart taught her to not be such a perfectionist. “I experienced a lot of stage fright, and going on there really pushed me considering they were some of the biggest performances I’ve ever had,” Gabrielle said. “I could learn a song faster than I thought, especially working with another person.” She became a better teammate and learned to advocate for herself if something wasn’t working out for her. “That environment required a lot of me in a short amount of time, but I had the tools from Nashville and school to help me through it,” Gabrielle said. 

Gabrielle’s single, “Go To Your Head,” dropped in May and already has over 100,000 streams. The track is produced by Cameron James, who was mentored by talented songwriter and producer Busbee. “The inspiration came from a relationship where I always had to tell myself, ‘Don’t let it go to your head,’” Gabrielle said. “But when you really care about someone you want them to know how you feel.” 

“I’ll be your shot of bourbon given courage, make you warmer than whiskey when you’re with me. I meant what I said let it all go to your head”

“Go To Your Head” – Jamie Gabrielle

People saw Gabrielle fall in love on Listen To Your Heart, and she wanted to show her journey to becoming more confident in expressing her feelings through this song. 

“Go To Your Head” is available to buy or stream on all digital platforms. Make sure to follow Gabrielle’s social media for more updates. 

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ODELL Releases Track “17 Hours”

Album Review, Interviews

NASHVILLE, TENN. (May 29, 2020) — Independent artist ODELL has released today his second single “17 Hours”. The anticipated single follows ODELL’S first single “Eventually,” which accumulated 60 THOUSAND plays on Spotify. ODELL was put on the social media map when he was a contestant on Season 10 of NBC’s Emmy-Award “The Voice” in 2016.
 
Packed with ODELL’s impeccable vocal tones and ambient sounds, “17 Hours” is penned by ODELL himself and produced by John Luke Lewis.  
 
The idea behind “17 Hours” started in 2019 while he was thinking about a past relationship. He was struggling with handling the breakup, not because he couldn’t handle it, but because he didn’t handle it at all. “The idea is best described as the breaking point after the breakup,” ODELL says. “You drive into the night trying to get away from it all, but you still end up in the same place you were when you started, avoiding the breakdown.” The song comes from hopeless romantic escapism that takes you to a midnight drive trying to clear your thoughts.

Click HERE to listen to “17 Hours”

Up & Coming Artist: Matt Gorman

Interviews

Growing up in Philadelphia, Matt Gorman was raised a city boy with no country lifestyle. He picked up his first guitar in 2nd grade, but he didn’t find his true passion for it until about six years later. Gorman found his love for songwriting during his junior year of high school. A portion of his English class consisted of poetry, and while writing a poem, Gorman got the idea to turn it into a song. Little did he know, recording that song on the GarageBand app on his phone and sending it to his closest friends would have a monumental impact on the future of his musical career.

Country music wasn’t a part of Gorman’s life until he was about 12 years old. As a kid, Gorman had a natural inclination towards country culture that most other kids growing up in Philly didn’t have. When the television was on, Gorman was rarely plopped down in front of a cartoon like other kids his age. “I used to watch John Wayne with my grand-pop and uncle and my favorites were Western movies like McLintock, El Dorado, and The Cowboys,” Gorman explained. “ I always loved wearing a cowboy hat and a rubber pair of fireman boots that I used to pretend were the boots John Wayne wore on the TV. I didn’t know any different because I was young, but I think my parents would say that they knew I was going to be a little different compared to the other city kids when I grew up.” 

Along with being a musician, playing college baseball has been a goal of Gorman’s for as long as he can remember. After two years of playing junior college baseball, he was interested in playing for Lipscomb University after a friend’s advice. “I had an old summer ball coach reach out because he knew one of the Lipscomb coaches,” Gorman said. “He said it didn’t seem realistic because of timing and money, however, I was hopeful and I truly gave it to God that he would place me in the perfect place.” Once he visited Lipscomb, he knew it was the place for him.

“I get to play Division I baseball at Lipscomb University with incredible teammates and great coaches, and in my spare time, I get to record my music and work alongside people who I truly love in Nashville, Tennessee.” 

– Matt Gorman

Gorman’s first single, “Back To You,” was written this past summer and took just a few days. “It’s one of those songs that just came to me because it is based on a real-life experience that I had with a girl that I thought was going to be the one,” Gorman said. “The songs that I write all come from some kind of experience that I’ve had because I can’t write about pick up trucks in a field down south and doing a lot of the stuff that most country artists have experienced because I grew up in a big city.” 

The lyrics in “Back To You” tell the story of being blindsided by a breakup and continuously telling oneself that you’ll be back with that person until you realize it’s best if you aren’t. He wrote the song by himself and brought it to Lipscomb student/producer Joey Liechty. His favorite part of the process is that the song, production, promotion, and videography are all done by Lipscomb students. 

“Back To You” is available now to buy or stream on all digital platforms. Make sure to check out Gorman’s social media for more updates. 

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Tyler Rich Making A Difference in The Music Industry

Concert Review

The first time I saw Tyler Rich he was opening up for Dustin Lynch on Long Island, New York in 2015. Now, three years later, he’s making it big signing to Big Machine Music and The Valory Music Co for both publishing and record deals.

I was lucky enough to attend a private show for Tyler thanks to the BIG 98 for hosting this event. What made this show special was that behind Tyler’s success is a story that most people wouldn’t even think of hearing from him. The California native thought nothing of moving down to Nashville until Dustin Lynch saw his 15 seconds cover of his song “Mind Reader” and told him he has what it takes. That’s all Tyler needed to hear. He packed up everything with his roommate and dog. They drove 40 hours straight from California to Nashville just to make it in time for Cinco de Mayo.

“That first year in town I was just writing with any and everybody I could possibly meet,” he says. “I wrote a ton of terrible songs and some good ones. Dustin hit me up one day and said listen, I think these are some of your best songs and you should put it into a set and come out and open for me on the Hell Of A Night Tour. It was his first headlining tour that lasted about four months. It wasn’t about having a chance to steal his fans for a second but every weekend he’d take these A-list writers on the road to work. I would meet all these writers and then they became fans. Then all of a sudden, my second year in town I’m writing with the best writers in town.”

That’s when it all started to come together for Tyler. He says he met this guy that nobody has probably heard of, Scott Borchetta, CEO of Big Machine Records. No big deal or anything.

“He met me and became a friend right away. We hit it off. He signed me pretty quick. Just like when I moved here we started the last year writing about 100 songs getting ready for this and we released The Difference about two months ago now. It’s doing really well on the charts, it’s been amazing.”

Tyler’s new single “The Difference” written by Rhett Akins, Devin Dawson, Ben Burgess and Jacob Durrett has been climbing the charts now currently sitting No. 50 on Billboard Country Airplay. Tyler just made his debut on the Today Show, which you can say is just the beginning for him. This is Tyler’s year, just like I mentioned in my Artists To Watch Article. Make sure you keep an eye out for his record & future tour dates. You don’t want miss Tyler’s big break.

The Secrets Of SoundCloud: My 2017 Playlist

Year In Review

Whether it’s a weekday or Friday night, if these songs aren’t played in the first 10 minutes of my friends and I sitting in my dorm room, something’s wrong. My friends and I might be the only ones who do this, but it’s fine because after this post you’ll be doing it too.

You’re heading over to SoundCloud. Yes, you heard right, SoundCloud. Some people love it, others might think it’s all about dropping mixtapes. However, you have to do what you have to do to hear songs that aren’t released yet.

These songs and artists you’re going to be hearing are going to be stuck in your head forever because they’ve been stuck in mine for way too long. I’m not complaining though because that’s when you know it’s clearly something special, well in my head it is. Here are my go-to SoundCloud songs on repeat:

“I Wish You Would” – Abby Cone

https://soundcloud.com/abbeyconemusic/wish-you-would

First of all, Abbey is a complete goddess. Secondly, All of her songs on SoundCloud will be in your head, especially this one. I’m constantly singing it in my head throughout the day. Seeing and hearing her live is an experience I’m all for 25/8. If you see her playing a round in Nashville; go. You won’t be disappointed.

“Just Asking To Dance” – Nicholas Wayne

https://soundcloud.com/nickolaswayne/just-asking-to-dance-jdurrett-jduke-hellis-nwayne

If there’s anyone who’s going to have a year next year, It’s Nick Wayne. His voice is just.. you have to listen. From seeing him play writers rounds to SoundCloud, he gets you in your feels really quick. Not in a bad way of course. He’ll have you thinking about that ex you don’t even have kind of feels. It’s only a matter of time before Nick makes his mark when his album drops in 2018.

“Holdin’ Up” – Trannie Stevens 

I first heard this song with Trannie singing it at Song Suffragettes and fell in love with it. I immediately went to SoundCloud right after hoping to find a demo, and luckily it was there. I never looked back after that.

“We Got All Night” – Jordan Reynolds 

Jordan has been a favorite going to writers rounds. I can’t get enough of his voice. This song has been a feel-good hopeless romantic jam that’s been on repeat for my semester. I’ll probably be saying this a lot for other artists too, but all of his songs are too damn good not to listen. He has cuts on Dan & Shay’s new project coming out next year. Oh, you bet they’re gems.

“Now” – Josh Kerr

https://soundcloud.com/josh-kerr-4/now-kerr-douglas

This is the most nostalgic sad song but for some reason, you want to play it over-and-over. You know that song that makes you want to look out a car window and feel like you’re in a movie? This is that song. Yes, this is what I think about. This song is honestly crack. I think my friends and I are half of these loops. I’m not even sorry if you get addicted.

“At The Bottom” – Sydney Cubit

https://soundcloud.com/sydney-cubit/bottle-working-title-s-cubit

I had to add this in because it’s been on repeat for the last week. It’s the most lyrical genius song I’ve ever heard. She’s preaching what every girl is thinking. Take a listen to this one. Actually just do yourself a favor and listen to her entire SoundCloud, thanks.

These were only a select few that have been on constant repeat, there’s so much more I could babble on about. I probably sound like I’m geeking out over this, however, I don’t care. These artists have been a major savior for me when I get bored with listening to Spotify or Apple Music, so give them the loops they deserve because I said so.