Country Music Success Stories | Season 2 Episode Eight - Bobby Tomberlin - GRAMMY, CMA, and ACM nominated songwriter: Blake Shelton, Diamond Rio, Faith Hill, Dolly Parton. Be a good hang. Don’t bring dark energy into the room and be kind to people. Love the music so much, it loves you back. - Bobby Tomberlin We’re kicking off 2022 with a trip to Curb WORD on Nashville’s famous Music Row. This iconic songwriter’s think-tank is owned by music industry giant Mike Curb and we’r

Country Music Success Stories | Season 2 Episode seven - Their First Time on the Radio: Sara Evans, John Schneider, Crystal Gayle, Jamie O'Neal & more For this episode, Jacy and I got to thinking about our favorite answers to the questions we always ask during our interviews with country music icons. We decided to put together a“best of” episode that featured singers and songwriters answering the question: tell me about the first time you ever heard yourself on the radio? It

Country Music Success Stories | Season 2 Episode six - Frank Myers : Grammy award-winning songwriter, producer, Crystal Gayle, Lonestar, Vince Gill “You and I” just stuck out to me as a title, so I just wrote it down on a piece of paper with some other titles because I was really just learning how to write songs. - Frank Myers From a career that began as a singer with a guitar on stages large and small at only 11, opening for Porter Wagner and Dolly Parton, to touring with E

Country Music Success Stories | Season 2 Episode five - Jamie O'Neal: Grammy Nominee, ACM & Billboard award-winning artist When I had the chicken pox, I went on stage. When I had a cracked rib, I went on stage. And that is the old Vaudeville saying“the show must go on.” - Jamie O'Neal Music Row is pretty magical. The streets that make up this iconic area of Nashville are lined with old craftsman style houses that are now record labels, publishing houses, recording studios, mu

Country Music Success Stories | Season 2 Episode four - Lily Isaacs of The Isaacs We love it so much. We love our fans, we love what we do, and it is exhausting, but I think it’s a calling on our lives where, we have to do this. This is part of our blood. It’s our calling. - Lily Isaacs In this interview, we settle into the living room of Lily Isaacs, co-founder & matriarch of The Isaacs, a multi-award-winning family group whose music is described as Southern Gospel, bluegr

Country Music Success Stories | Season 2 Episode three - Sonny LeMaire of Exile The appeal of music for me was playing the music. When you start playing, and that music is blowing by you, around you. It is the most amazing, glorious feeling. - Sonny LeMaire In this episode, we sit down with Sonny LeMaire, bass player, singer/songwriter for the iconic group Exile. Taped in Sonny’s cozy living room outside of Nashville, we learn all about what it takes to succeed in rock, pop

Country Music Success Stories | Season 2 Episode two - Chris Lindsey I think I am known as a nice guy. It’s more important to be a great person than it is to be a hit songwriter. - Chris Lindsey In this episode, we’re heading back to Aimeeland, a famous recording studio just outside of Nashville for an interview with Grammy nominated hit songwriter, Chris Lindsey. In this magical studio nestled beside the home he shares with wife Aimee Mayo and their three children, Chris ha

Country Music Success Stories | Episode Eighteen - Meet the Hosts Sometimes we have to pinch ourselves because the creation of Country Music Success Stories combines both of our talents and checks all of our boxes! -Candy O’Terry & Jacy Dawn Valeras We’ve been getting lots of messages from listeners (and please keep ‘em coming @countrymusicsuccessstories). They tell us that they love hearing about the country music icons we interview, but they wish they knew more about the

Country Music Success Stories | Episode Seventeen - Interview with Bill Anderson Find something you like doin’ so much, you’d do it for nothin’ and then learn to do it so well that they’ll pay you and then you’ve got it made. That’s how I feel about performing. - Bill Anderson If you want to get someone’s attention, just whisper! Whispering Bill Anderson has been getting people’s attention for decades through his distinctive voice, his songwriting genius, and his incredibl

Country Music Success Stories | Episode Sixteen - Interview with John Schneider I’ve always expected great things and I’ve asked people to do the same. It’s a mindset. If you expect bad things to happen, they will. I don’t think anybody would disagree with that. Therefore, if you expect great things to happen they will. - John Schneider Music Row is just a road in Nashville, but it is paved with the hopes and dreams of just about every man or woman who ever walked it…hopin

Country Music Success Stories | Episode Fifteen - Interview with Sara Evans I grew up on a farm with the clothes line in the backyard and I knew that millions of Americans would relate to that. As much as I love New York and L.A, I am really a spokesperson for middle America and the girl next door. - Sara Evans Every trip to Nashville is filled with non-stop adventure. We spend weeks planning our interviews and when we got word that Sara Evans had agreed to share her story w

Country Music Success Stories | Episode Fourteen - Interview with Collin Raye Your identity is not about how well you’re doing on the charts, that’s your job, you have to treat that as your career and keep it separate. Your identity has to be bigger than,“I’m a star” because that star can fade fast. - Collin Raye Words of wisdom from multi-platinum selling artist, Collin Raye. With 12 studio albums, 39 singles, 24 top 10 songs and 16 number 1 hits, he is a solid recording ar

Country Music Success Stories | Episode Thirteen - Interview with Aimee Mayo When I saw my name on that first record, it just lit something up inside of me. - Aimee Mayo Meet Aimee Mayo, award-winning songwriter and survivor. In this interview, we drive down a country lane just outside of Nashville and find our way to AimeeLand, the studio where Aimee and her husband Chris write and record. Located a stone’s throw from their home originally owned by Mel Tillis, this is the

Country Music Success Stories | Episode Twelve - Interview with Tony Brown Pay attention to trends, but never be a follower. Be a leader, not a follower. Push the envelop, but don’t let it break. I like to stay in front of the curve, but I never like to be too cool for the room. - Tony Brown Just when we think we’ve experienced the best interview EVER, another country music icon comes along and blows us away. Meet Grammy, ACM & CMA award-winning producer Tony Brown. A pill

Country Music Success Stories | Episode Eleven - Interview with John Berry & Robin Berry Fame is not a decision you make. It’s a lot more work, and it’s a lot of fairy dust. -John Berry Let’s turn back time to 1979 when singer/songwriter/guitarist John Berry had big dreams and the patience to see them through. A brilliant singer with a gift for storytelling and the ability to connect with an audience, John got a band together and recorded his own songs in a 4-track studio he

Country Music Success Stories | Episode Ten - Interview with Steve Dorff I’m like this anonymous Oz behind the curtain guy nobody ever knows. The face of the songs are the artists who record them. - Steve Dorff If you are a songwriter or a composer, this episode is for you! Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2018, Steve Dorff was born to do what he does. Recorded in his music room at his home just outside of Nashville, Steve says he“heard an orchestra in his hea

Country Music Success Stories | Episode Nine - Interview with TG Sheppard I was only 15 when I climbed out my window and ran away to Memphis with 60 cents in my pocket. I look around at my life now and I realize that it all started with just 60 cents. -TG Sheppard Incredible as it seems, TG Sheppard was a runaway teen with a lifelong dream of making it in country music. In this interview, TG and his wife Kelly Lang welcome us into their home for a chat around the kitchen t

Country Music Success Stories | Episode Eight - Interview with Larry Strickland You’ve gotta find what is different or unique about yourself and then put that out in front, even if it scares you to death. - Larry Strickland Relationships are everything and in Nashville they are made of gold. When Jacy introduced me to Naomi Judd and we interviewed her at their compound in Leipers Fork, Tennessee, her husband Larry Strickland was sitting on a couch in the recording studio, ju

Country Music Success Stories | Episode Seven - Interview with Karen Staley I didn’t come to Nashville having played bars for 10 years. I was a total green horn. So I learned a lot. It’s a blast, it’s like perpetual adolescence. - Karen Staley Welcome to the success story of a woman whose songs have been played on radio more than 12 million times (and counting) with downloads at about 20 million! Karen Staley is in a league of her own as a Nashville quadruple threat who sing

Country Music Success Stories | Episode Six - Interview with Kent Blazy I first wrote poetry and got it published in the high school year book and it gave me a little bit of positive feedback that somebody must like what I do. The minute I got a guitar, I just started trying to put the two together and started writing songs instead of poetry. - Kent Blazy As Jacy and I made our way up the hill to Kent Blazy’s house, I couldn’t help but wonder how his climb, his success story