NYCS Swag Spotlight Featuring Renee Blair

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Growing up in St. Louis, Missouri, Renee Blair wasn’t always a country fan, she tells New York Country Swag in our most recent interview. Yes, the Dixie Chicks, Shania Twain, and Tanya Tucker, of course, played a big part in her childhood, but ultimately The Spice Girls and even the rise of Nelly really cultivated her love for performing.  After taking voice lessons and dance classes her entire childhood, Blair knew that there was no plan B for her career, she was going to be an artist. “I had to be perfecting my voice and my performance and I was really addicted to music. I’ve never even thought about the fact that my life was meant to do something else. As much as I loved the popstars and that music, I definitely think I picked the right genre, the way that country music tells stories, I think I finally have a story to tell,” she explains.

Her story includes moving to Nashville when she was right out of high school, two tragic accidents within the same year, and a regrowth period that now involves mega producer and songwriter Shane McAnally.  After moving to town, she, like so many people, thought that with her abilities, she would have an overnight success story, but looking back now realizes that her trials and tribulations with life and pursuing the career doesn’t always go as planned.  A car accident and then a boating accident which left her arm paralyzed for 6 months, changed her perspective and left her wondering where her place was in the music industry. “I kind of went through a few years of questioning life and myself and my purpose, moving to Nashville for this dream and now I was just known as the accident girl and music was what really kept me going and as corny as it sounds, it made me want to wake up in the morning and try to get better,” she tells us.

The little girl from St. Louis who rocked a piece of tape on her cheek in homage to Nelly while in Catholic school laughs as she explains how Nelly’s rise to stardom influences her music today. “I think it is a huge testament to where music is right now, it’s becoming very cross-genre. I think it’s awesome,” she says of his recent collaboration with Florida Georgia Line.  “The fans are the best judgment, they just like good music and they don’t care what you call it and I think it is a great way to just bring everyone together.”

Her debut single, released earlier this year, “Gotta Quit Drinkin'”  is as real life as it gets and definitely has that R&B vibe while telling a story.  Blair explains that mistakes she has made over the past couple of years with ex-boyfriends only happen after she’s had that second or third drink. “All day long I never text this dude, but as soon as I have my second drink my thumbs go wild and I’m all ‘Where are you’ and ‘I miss you’,” she laughs. After it became a running joke with her friends, she took the experience that is completely relatable into the writing room one day and “Gotta Quit Drinkin” was written.  “We definitely told the truth and in songwriting it is all you can ask for, every word of that I did and I lived it, there are other songs that I’ve written that might have better radio success but this is a great representation of where I’ve been at, its authentic to my story,” Blair says.

Blair is working on her debut EP which is being produced by Shane McAnally and released by SMACK Songs. McAnally who has worked closely with country megastars such as Sam Hunt, Old Dominion, Kacey Musgraves and has written hits for tons of other artists is helping to shape the music Blair is releasing. One interesting anecdote that she explains is how he caters his talents to each artist individually, helping to keep each sound unique.  “He helps to bring a light to the artist and pull out the best parts of them, he has really helped me tap into myself and asked me questions that I haven’t even thought about,” she says of her working relationship with the producer.  “He is a great person, with all of the success that someone has had, he is still kind to people and works really hard, he is so kind and I think the world of him.”

She already has an album’s worth of songs that she has written and is working to record new music and hopefully release a few tracks later this fall.  She is opening for Billy Currington in October on three of his Texas dates.  “I am so excited to do those dates, I’ve been in the writing mode for 2-3 years so I am so excited to get the music out to the fans and start playing it all,” Blair says of finally getting on the road.

Follow her journey on her social media platforms including Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

 

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NYCS Swag Spotlight Featuring Maybe April

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Maybe April

Kristen Castro, Katy DuBois (Bishop), and Alaina Stacey, otherwise known as Maybe April, are our Swag Spotlight this week.  The ladies took the time to chat with New York Country Swag a few weeks ago about their Opry City Stage debut as well as their latest single “You Were My Young”.  Growing up in all different parts of the country, each member brings a unique backstory as well as influences to the table when creating their unique sound.  Alaina grew up in Chicago, her family was very musical and her brothers were in a band together.  Kristen started her career playing heavy metal music, growing up in California and Katy grew up in Arkansas, interested in theater and dance from a very early age.

As fate would have it, they all ended up at a music industry camp in Nashville in 2012 and chose each other to work together on writing a song to present to the panel by the end of the week. This is not only where the ladies met each other and formed a quick bond but where they decided on their band name. “Alaina and I (Katy) were talking and we were both born in April and we asked Kristen and she was born in December so we said Maybe, and we kind of like that it’s May and April, it was kind of a thing where we asked around the camp what do you think of these names, it was the one people liked, it was only supposed to be our name for that week but it just stuck,” they tell us.

Since then, six years have passed and the ladies have each moved to Nashville and lived in the same house, furthering their bond. “When we decided to move here, we all had been doing our own music thing but we kind of thought, we have this great connection why don’t we try the trio thing out,” they explain.  The three ladies in Maybe April are all songwriters, taking outside co-writes as well and working with writers around town.  Their latest single “You Were My Young” was written with Jason Duke, who has written songs with Kelsea Ballerini including “Dibs” and “The First Time”.  The first song they wrote together back in 2012 was written by three girls who had just gotten through those treacherous high school years filled with heartbreak and typical teenage girl drama, so they tell us “You Were My Young” is the grown-up version of that song.  “Looking back and thinking, at that time it was so awful, I was so sad but I’m okay now,” Kristen tells us.  “We all had gone through that and are able to look back with fresh eyes.”  The track combines their unique blend of country, folk, and Americana while showcasing their beautiful three-part harmony.

Recently they made their Opry City Stage debut in Times Square and play a show at Rockwood Music Hall in downtown Manhattan and said the New York City fans are different from those in Nashville. “We’ve been fortunate enough to play venues where people are actually listening because a lot of times you don’t get that in an audience so at Opry City Stage and Rockwood as well we had great crowds,” the ladies tell us.  “It is just so cool to be able to say I am in New York City, a part of all of the people here who are trying to make it and it’s been really crazy.  It was a dream.”

Maybe April is starting to book tour dates around the country, heading back up to the east coast to play a show on September 13th at Hill Country BBQ.  Grab your tickets to see the ladies here. They are also working on writing new music and releasing a few more singles, hoping to release a full-length album soon.  Be sure to follow along on their socials for all tour and music announcements on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

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NYCS Swag Spotlight Featuring Kelsey Lamb

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Kelsey Lamb

 

Kelsey Lamb, born and raised in Little Rock Arkansas is one of five children in her family, all of them growing up singing in church. In a recent chat with New York Country Swag, Lamb explained how growing up in a musical family shaped her decision to pursue the career of singer-songwriter and ultimately led her to live in Nashville.  During her childhood, her mother would encourage her to perform in talent shows or sing at family get-togethers but it wasn’t until she was sixteen years old at a summer camp in California did she realize her potential.

After living in Los Angeles for a few years and recording what can be considered pop country now, she decided to make the move to Nashville and has been writing and recording ever since. “I love country music, I love the Nashville community and the storytelling that the country music genre has and I relate to it more as an artist,”  Lamb tells us. She explains that her biggest inspiration is Allison Krauss but that growing up her influences included everything from church music to Tim McGraw to Britney Spears.

Those specific influences can be heard in her debut single “Little By Little”.  Co-written by Lamb along with Erik Dinardo and Jesse Labelle, she tells us how she came into the write that day with the title and they worked through writing the song from there. “it took 3 sessions to write it, we finished it while I was on vacation with my family at the beach over Skype,” she laughs.  “I just knew it was going to be a single, it is also my story which is cool, it’s very personal which is a great aspect to have when you are deciding on your first single.”  The upbeat love song is brought to life by Lamb’s charming vocals and her playful side is showcased in the video for the song which already has garnered over ten thousand views on YouTube.

She is just finishing up radio tour, heading to stations around the country to debut “Little By Little”. “Radio tour is crazy but amazing, I had never done that before, it was cool to be face to face with the people that are playing your music, it was fun to see that people liked the single,” she tells us.  She looks forward to the future and playing shows to premiere her new music and hopes to have an EP for her fans coming very soon.
Be sure to follow Kelsey Lamb on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for all of the latest announcements.

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NYCS Swag Spotlight Featuring Sam Grow

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Sam Grow

“As a country music listener, if we think you’re full of shit, we don’t support you. That is why to me, country is the best genre that there is because they have the most amount of loyal listeners, where they are going to buy your record because they support you and what you stand for,” this week’s Swag Spotlight Sam Grow chats with New York Country Swag about creating the music he wants to release to his fans.  His father introduced him to the classic country sound and soul music when he was young, living in Kansas he started to really fall in love with music, attending one of hte biggest bluegrass festivals in the United States.  That is where he first saw Allison Krauss & Union Station and John McCutcheon explaining “…they had that great mix of soul and storytelling of the classics and it really just made me want to chase it and write songs and be honest.”

After attending an Allman Brothers reunion tour with his father when he was thirteen years old, he realized that he wanted to perform on stage one day and just three years later he started working on following that dream.  Since he was sixteen, he has been playing gigs across the country, each year striving to play 250 dates.  He moved to Nashville in 2013 where he signed a publishing deal with Ole Music Publishing and tells us that writing is one of the best parts of his job because he gets to reign in his life and be expressive in all of his music.

He has had the opportunity in his career to be the opening act for artists that he has admired for years including The Cadillac Three, and Randy Houser. Some things he has taken away from those experiences are the song choices, the way that they interact with their audiences and the different ways they change the songs to fit a live show. “I take notes on that, how they make it a better live experience, we work for the people who are nice enough to reach into their pocket and buy a ticket to come to our show so I want to try and give the best experience to anyone that comes out and is willing to spend their hard earned money to watch us,” Grow says.

His current EP, A Little Like Me features five tracks that Grow had either written or co-written.  The title track was written with Taylor Phillips who co-wrote “Hurricane” for Luke Combs and Brock Berryhill who has produced music with Kane Brown, Parmalee, and even Twenty One Pilots.  During that writing session, after talking about how much they loved 90’s country like Vince Gill, Alan Jackson, and Brooks & Dunn, Phillips just said: “I just want to write some stuff that’s a little more like me.” Thirty-five minutes later, they had a fully formed song, that combines southern rock and country that Grow is so fond of.

He isn’t worried if his music will be played on the radio or if it will compete with the latest songs topping the charts, he is proud of the music he is releasing and will continue to remain genuine to that. “A country music listener, that’s what they are built on, look at a guy like Eric Church, I go to an Eric Church concert and I listen to him sing songs and I know that every word that he is singing is true,” he explains.  He wants to create music that listeners can relate to and he understands the fans that love country music are looking for the same. “I’ve never chased that glitter because I grew up listening to Church and Kip Moore. When you come from nothing, and you get something, you appreciate it, you get to wake up and sing songs every day. I don’t need anything else other than that.”

Be sure to follow Sam Grow on social media for all of the latest details about his new music and tour schedule,  Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

 

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NYCS Swag Spotlight Featuring Justin Fabus

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Justin Fabus

For this week’s Swag Spotlight we take you to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where Justin Fabus grew up and still resides.  In our recent phone conversation the singer-songwriter talks highly of his hometown, explaining how he hates the stereotype that just because he didn’t grow up in the south, that means he can’t sing country music.  “Country music is about the songwriting, it’s about blue-collar people, hard-working people, and Pittsburgh with their steel factories, being a Steel Town, it doesn’t get much more blue-collar than Pittsburgh.  It goes hand and hand perfectly,” he tells us.

With a grandfather who indulged in the rat pack, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, and his grandmother always listening to Patsy Cline and Johnny Cash, Fabus was introduced to a wide range of music from an early age.  His mother would always play Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen and as he got older, he loved the sound of the Motown Era and of course 90’s country like Diamond Rio and Restless Heart.  All of these influences are evident in the music that he now calls his own.

In the 8th grade, Fabus took the stage for the very first time for a talent show. “I sang a Boyz II Men song and to have the feel of the crowd, it was something I had never experienced and I was addicted to it and then it just grew from there,” he recalls.  Since his middle school talent show days, Fabus now has had the opportunity to play CMAFest in Nashville three times and open for superstars like Gary Allan, Randy Houser, Craig Campbell and Kip Moore.  He is so grateful to those opening slots and to the artists who opened their arms to him and took him under their wing.

He currently still resides in Pittsburgh but travels to Nashville often, bouncing back and forth between both cities.  His reasoning on not moving to Music City full time is “I would rather have a huge following in my hometown and the surrounding areas first and have a strong fan base before I dive into Nashville. I would rather be invited into Nashville than just show up and say here I am.”

His new album titled Remedy was released earlier this summer and is a clear summation of all of the influences he has listened to in his lifetime.  “I’m not a big fan of the word genre, I think if it’s good music and it makes you move and makes you feel good, then that’s all that matters,” he says of the musical term. “I hate the ‘Oh it’s too country, it’s not country enough’ statement, if it’s good music it’s good music. Music is evolving and changing every day and the whole word ‘genre’ is terrible.  Why pigeon hole yourself, just because you like country music doesn’t mean you can’t like hip hop or rap or R&B, so I have been trying to break down those barriers my whole career.”

Fabus co-wrote or solo wrote all 13 tracks on the album, taking the initiative to make his debut album exactly how he wanted it. “You only get one first album in your career and I wanted it to be one of those albums that you listen to it front to back where it takes you on a journey,” he says of Remedy. Working with some great songwriters such as Joe Henry, who was John Denver’s songwriting partner who wrote the song “Skin” for Rascal Flatts as well, as Dave Pahanish who has written songs for Keith Urban and Toby Keith.  Being a huge fan of Billy Joel, he also had Carl Fisher, Joel’s trumpet player add his talents to the record. “I’ve been so blessed to do what I do and on top of it have these amazing songwriters and artists collaborate with me, it’s unbelievable.”

Currently out on The Remedy Tour, with over thirty dates spanning the country, Fabus takes what he loves about Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen’s live shows to heart, understanding that spending your hard earned money on a concert is a privilege these artists get to experience with their fans, so he always gives all he’s got when on stage.

For tour dates and ticket info head to justinfabus.com/tour and be sure to follow along on his social media channels,  Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

 

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NYCS Swag Spotlight Featuring Matt Stell

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Matt Stell

Matt Stell, our Swag Spotlight for the week was born in Central Arkansas and now lives in Nashville.  His passion is writing and performing, but it wasn’t always the obvious choice for his career path. After moving to Nashville and trying his hand at being a professional songwriter and artist, he had taken a medical missions trip to Haiti and saw how the doctors and nurses were able to change people’s lives drastically. After returning home, Stell decided to turn down a pre-medical program acceptance at Harvard Law to stay in Nashville and change people’s lives with his music.  We discussed how that trip changed his life in so many ways. “Well, you can’t go there without having that place have a profound effect on your life,” Stell says.  “It took only a few hours to get there and it may as well have been on a different planet.”  He came home with a serious gratitude for the way we are able to live and for the ability to make a living doing what he loves.

Stell recalls listening to traditional country music with his Granddad growing up, like Johnny Cash and Ernest Tubbs while his mother was a big fan of Allison Krauss and Bonnie Raitt. “My generation has access to music in a different way than generations before us, so I’ve always had an affinity for all different kinds of music, for rock music, rap music, you name it,” he tells us. He brings those influences into his music today.

The latest project Stell released back in March is a six-song EP titled The Last of the Best and he either co-wrote or wrote by himself each of the tracks on the project. “I enjoy the writing, I get to do it every day. I love playing and writing music and I don’t know which one I love more,” he says. When picking songs for the album, Stell explains he is so glad to have a team around him who understands his goals for his music. “We keep the live show in mind quite a bit, I wanted to make sure that if someone heard the EP, they would want to come to see me perform those songs live.”

The debut single from the EP, “Prayed For You” has already garnered over 2 million streams on Spotify and the video which features reality star Savannah Chrisley has almost 200k views on YouTube. The love song about perseverance and holding out for a real love has resonated with fans and Stell is so proud of it. He has had people reach out and tell him what the song has meant to them, people are dancing to it at their weddings and finding solace in the pay off of waiting for the real thing.

On the schedule, Stell has shows coming up all over the country for the remainder of the year. Make sure to follow his continued journey on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

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Mike Ryan

NYCS Swag Spotlight Featuring Mike Ryan

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Mike Ryan

Mike Ryan, San Antonio, Texas native is our Swag Spotlight this week.  You may have heard his incredible song “New Hometown” on Spotify where it has over 7 million spins but what you didn’t know about the Texas singer is he is a co-writer on one of Brad Paisley’s newest smash hits “Last Time For Everything”. We learned about where Ryan grew up during our recent chat with the singer-songwriter.

Ryan learned to play the piano from a young age as well as singing in the church choir but during his high school years he learned to play guitar and started to really get interested in singing as well.  “When I went to college I started writing, playing open mic nights and I put a band together. Sometime during college I started realizing this is what I wanted to do for a career,” Ryan explains.  His grandfather was a band director for the Texas National Guard and his father was also a performer in different theater productions. He recalls loving watching his father on stage.

His musical influences growing up range anywhere from Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, and Elton John to Garth Brooks, Clint Black, and George Strait.  Although his parents mostly listened to classic rock when he was young, he discovered country music during the 90’s and he feels that all of the music he listened to comes out in his songwriting today. He currently resides both in Nashville and Texas, splitting his time between those two homes and being on the road promoting his new music.  His latest EP, Blink You’ll Miss It, was released late last year and debuted at #6 on the iTunes charts, Ryan being a co-writer on five of the seven songs.

As a writer for Seagayle Music, just like last week’s Swag Spotlight CJ Solar, Ryan sat down with Smith Ahnquist, Brent Anderson, Chris DuBois and started writing “Last Time For Everything”.  They did not complete the song in that one session, but the other writers brought the concept up the next day in a write with Brad Paisley. Ryan had left to join his band for a gig but got a call just a few short days later that Paisley had loved the song and the finished writing it together and right away he recorded it for his next album, Love and War.  It was Ryan’s first outside cut and Paisley ended picking the nostalgic song as one of the singles from the record.

Paisley also brings his remarkable talent to Ryan’s current single “The Rewrite”, “He went ahead and burned down an incredible solo that I will never be able to duplicate live but it’s so cool that we have it on the record and so I am forever in debt to him,” he says.  “It was one of the coolest things, just to have him play on a record of mine, it’s like a thumbs up from him, it’s a solid vote of confidence from a guy I’ve always looked up to and always been a fan of.”  Take a listen to the song and the guitar solo in the above video.
This summer and into the fall season, Ryan is heading out to play gigs throughout Texas and eventually make his way across the country. “We’ve got some new music coming out, I’ve been writing a bunch and we are starting to play those songs out live, that’s the first place I try new music, I love to see the response from fans out on the road,” he explains.  For full tour dates head to www.mikeryanband.com and follow along on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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NYCS Swag Spotlight: CJ Solar

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CJ Solar

 

Baton Rouge, Louisana native CJ Solar is partly responsible for your obsession with Morgan Wallen‘s summer jam “Up Down”, writing that song over three years ago with Michael Hardy and Brad Clawson.  We caught up with the singer-songwriter recently about growing up in a musical family and his career leading up to his very first number one hit.

Solar started playing the guitar when he was eight years old, and his younger brothers followed in his footsteps, learning drums and bass.  They all grew up listening to the music that their parents loved, southern rock.  He recalls Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Allman Brothers, and Lynyrd Skynyrd being the first songs that they learned to play and really falling in love with those classic hits.  Going on a family vacation to Nashville when he was still in middle school, Solar remembers catching a show at the Grand Ole Opry and three of the performers were Brad Paisley, Blake Shelton, and Dierks Bentley (back when Blake and Dierks still had mullets, he laughed). Watching Paisley shred on the guitar was an eye-opening experience for the young musician, and he quickly changed his thoughts about what country music was.  “Before that, I only knew country music to be sad songs about your dog dying, that’s what I pictured country music as, but when I got up there I saw these guys really rocking and Brad was shredding, I really saw the new kind of country music,” he explains.

All throughout high school he started learning about songwriting, and made his way to Nashville for college, attending Belmont University to get a degree in songwriting with a minor in music business.  He had the opportunity to intern at SeaGayle Music during his last semester and after showing them his original music, they signed him to a publishing deal before he even graduated college.  Fast forward almost 5 years, Solar has been one of their writers and pumping out songs for artists like Jerrod Niemann and Mike Ryan as well as releasing two EPs filled with a blend of southern rock and country music.

CJ Solar

Most recently, Solar had the opportunity to open for one of his all-time favorite bands, Lynyrd Skynyrd. He explains it was a dream come true and playing for those venues, packed with at least 20 thousand people each night was like magic, especially since their fans weren’t the typical country music fans he usually encounters. “A lot aren’t country music fans but they are music fans in general,” he says “People of all ages, it was great to see so many young fans come out too, then to see a surge in followers on social media, it takes a lot for them to look me up, follow me and comment how much they enjoyed my set,” he says.

When he writes, he blends the country lyric with a southern rock flair and says he is inspired by his influences and the music he loved growing up for that. His latest EP Get Away With It had its first single, “Airplane” hit number 15 on the Music Row charts, the highest an independent artist has charted within the last year.  He looks forward to releasing the next single from the project “American Girls” and take his own music to the next level.  Most recently, he enjoyed success with his very first number one cut, “Up Down” which was written with Michael Hardy and Brad Clawson and recorded by Morgan Wallen featuring Florida Georgia Line.  The single shot up the charts and currently has over 47 million streams on Spotify.  “Kudos to the whole Big Loud team, they fought for the number one because Blake [Shelton] was also going for number 1 that week. It’s a huge accomplishment and a testament to how hard they worked,” he tells us.

It’s pretty remarkable to think that while he was in middle school he attended a show at the Grand Ole Opry that changed his life forever, watching Blake Shelton on that coveted stage turned him on to country music and now a song he wrote was competing with one of Shelton’s songs for the top spot. “It’s so cool to play “Up Down” at our shows and it helps turn people on to the rest of my music, it’s really a blessing and I can’t believe it happened,” he humbling says.

For tour announcements and to keep up with CJ Solar be sure to follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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Tristan Jackson

NYCS Swag Spotlight: Tristan Jackson

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Tristan Jackson

Tristan Jackson has taken winding rounds to end up where he is now, living in Nashville and pursuing a solo career in music.  Growing up, he and his mother moved around a lot but he tends to call Branson his hometown.  Eventually, Jackson made his way to Los Angeles where he focused on his film and music career simultaneously.  “I was trying to utilize acting to pay for music, landing a small part seemed to be easy, I had a better opportunity getting acting gigs, so I could then put that towards my musical endeavors,” he explains in a recent phone interview.

Growing up in the Midwest, he grew up listening to traditional country music, explaining that his late grandfather was a real cowboy. “My idol is my grandfather, he is a true country guy, a cattle rancher, he played country guitar, he taught me my word is my bond and integrity, he is my hero,” he thoughtfully expresses.  While country remained in his blood, he started a band and was the lead vocalist for The Cavalry in which incorporated his favorite types of music, southern rock, pop, R&B, and country. “I ended up in Nashville and I had the opportunity to write with and work with Nashville writers and artists, I had such a profound respect for Nashville.” he tells us “I started cultivating a new genre that I coined “Nashville Rock” which is a hybrid of pop-rock, country and where the new country style is going but at the same time trying to stay true to my roots to country music in rhythm and blues.”

Now focusing his energy on writing in Nashville he is venturing out on his own as a solo artist.  His first single “Wake Up Call” definitely still has an underlying southern rock vibe but with the addition of Jackson’s fiance, Kirstie Lane, the lyric and delivery allow the country fans to really dive in.  Throughout our conversation Jackson discusses artists from all different genres including Taylor Swift, Post Malone and even Jared Leto from 30 Seconds to Mars, explaining how they have each influenced him and how he doesn’t want to put himself into a box of a genre.  “I love that artists are branching out in different directions now, they aren’t doing it for the money they are doing it because they love certain types of music.  I love adding different elements to my music,” he tells us.  “When I leave this world I want to make sure I leave it the way I want to, as far as my music goes, I want my kids to say ‘That was my dad’.”  Relating genres back to movies, something Jackson is familar with since spending nine years in LA, he talks about why people feel they have to pick a favorite genre of music or why artists must define themselves in that way.  “Actors pick different roles all of the time, people decide to watch a comedy one day and a drama the next, I don’t believe in genres.”

“If you work hard for it, anything is possible, that’s the mindset I try to stay in,” he says of committing to his dreams and pursuing his career.  His debut EP is slated for release later this Fall and he looks forward to sharing his journey through his music.  Listen to his latest single “When the Radio’s Gone” below and follow Tristan Jackson on his social media channels (Instagram, Twitter,  and Facebook,) to keep up with his album release date.

 

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Brandon Stansell

NYCS Swag Spotlight: Brandon Stansell

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Brandon Stansell

For Brandon Stansell, his love of country music collides with his passion for advocacy for the LGBT community, being open with his fans about his journey and using his music to connect.  Growing up right outside of Chattanooga, Tennesee, Stansell recalls his entire family listening to country music.  At the age of six, his mother and sister surprised him with tickets to see Reba McEntire, a night that he says changed everything.  “It was one of the first shows I ever saw, it was one of those moments where I was like ‘Yup, this is what I want to do’.”  Shortly after that, his parents brought him to Nashville and he was one of the children who performed at Opryland.  It’s where he cut his teeth as a performer, learning to sing and dance and spent his childhood around very talented people who all loved country music.  “I was six when I did my first show, it was on the Opry stage so I joke about telling people that my first paid gig was at the Opry house then I’ve spent the rest of my adult life just clawing and scraping to get back to that circle,” he laughs.

Graduating Belmont University in Nashville in 2009, he pursued his music career in Nashville for a few years, but never quite felt like he found his voice.  After a brief stint in New York City, he moved out to the West Coast where he now resides.  It took him leaving Nashville and experiencing the hustle and bustle of New York City to finally start writing his own music and find his songwriter’s voice.

As a songwriter, he has decided that writing about what is going on in his life, or things that are personal to him has really allowed him to come into his own and hone his craft. “I have a strict philosophy that you have to write what you know and up until now, it’s been working for me.”  His most recent single, “Slow Down” features Ty Herndon, an artist that Stansell lived next to in Nashville and became friends with. “I grew up listening to him, he just has one of those quintessential country voices and he definitely made my record better and I am really proud to have him on there, it was one of those unforgettable moments,” he recalls.
Brandon Stansell

Ty Herndon (L) Brandon Stansell (R)Rick Diamond/Getty Images for The 2018 Concert for Love & Acceptance

A big part of Stansell’s personal journey is his coming out story, which he explains to us as something he always is sure to talk about during his live shows.  “It was actually really painful and difficult and it didn’t go as well as I had hoped, but fast forward a decade from there those experiences have really shaped me into the person that I am and that’s a person that I am deeply proud of,” he tells us.  “I just don’t know that I would be the person or be doing what I am doing now if I didn’t have to go through what I went through to get me here.”  Blending artistry and advocacy is what he strives to do with his career, participating in festivals across the country and even playing at the Concert for Love and Acceptance hosted by CMT’s Cody Alan earlier this summer during CMAfest.

I feel like music has been for me, as an independent artist, has been a vehicle where I’ve been able to talk to people especially in the south that I was in years ago, that are having struggles and I have been able to connect with them,” he explains.  “In those exchanges I feel that there is a sentiment that we are not that alone even though we may feel it at times, and it’s an easy thing to feel when you are LGBT in the South and have a conservative or religious family that doesn’t understand you or support you and can’t find a way around their religion to love you in the place where you are.”  Using his platform he is proud to talk about his experiences and to try and help others going through similar things.

His next single, “For You” is available now, take a listen below and be sure to follow Brandon on social media, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

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