Welcome to another episode of Stories Behind the Songs with Chris Blair! This week we are sitting down with Blake Pendergrass. From North Carolina, Blake has been in Nashville since 2013 with a very productive 10 years of experience built up. Blake talks about his first connections here in Nashville leading to him getting his first cut in town for Morgan Wallen...

His breakthrough came with “865”, track 5 on Morgan Wallen's “Dangerous” album, which he co-wrote on Zoom during COVID with John Byron. You’re gonna hear Blake talk about that song catching Morgan's attention which would lead him to a publishing deal and 8 more cuts for Morgan. Blake’s writing style resonates with artists like Morgan Wallen, Dustin Lynch, Jake Owen, Chase Rice, and Chris Lane. You’ll hear the stories behind several of his Morgan Wallen cuts, “Key West and Colorado”, a cut he has with Chase Rice, and an unreleased song called “One of the Ways”.

Coming up on three years since his first publishing deal, Blake discusses the challenges of songwriting in a competitive industry and the dynamics between Nashville's community-oriented culture compared to LA's strategic approach. We had a great time sitting down with Blake Pendergrass this week and learned a ton about where the industry is going and changing. Give Blake a follow in the liner notes below to stay up to date!

We also want to give a special shout-out to our sponsors Sennhesier, Imperfect Aesthetician, and Alciar In Ears – if you’re looking for a good set of in-ear monitor make sure to take advantage of our code “SBTSONGS” at checkout for 10% off!

Alright, let’s GO – this is Blake Pendergrass.

Show Notes:

Blake's Instagram - @BlakeMcCoyPendergrass

And follow us, Stories Behind the Songs, here:

Listen/Subscribe/Follow - HERE  

SBTSongs TikTok - @SBTSongs  

SBTSongs Instagram - @SBTSongs  

SBTSongs YouTube - @SBTSongs  

Chris Blair's Instagram - @ChrisBlairMusic  

Chris Blair's Website - ChrisBlair.com  

The Listening Room's Website - ListeningRoomCafe.com  

TLR's Instagram - @ListeningRoomCafe  

TLR’s TikTok - @ListeningRoomCafe