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 songs that people have written to artists or labels in hopes to get them recorded) and how he balanced writing, bartending and family life. You'll hear the story behind that song, Dibs, along with other songs he has written for artists like Keith Urban and more.

Thanks as always for listening and we hope you enjoy this episode! Please share/follow/subscribe wherever it is that you're listening or watching your podcasts. We appreciate you sharing with others so we can continue to grow!

Show Notes:

Jason Duke's Instagram - @JasonDuke

Jason Duke Songs - @SoundCloud

And follow up, Stories Behind the Songs Podcast, here:

SBTSongs TikTok - @SBTSongs

SBTSongs YouTube - @SBTSongs

SBTSongs Instagram - @SBTSongs

Chris Blair's Instagram - @ChrisBlairMusic

Chris Blair's Website - ChrisBlair.com

#SBTSongs #Podcast

Thanks to our sponsors Sennheiser microphones and Britt Skin Beauty Aesthetician - we love y'all!

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 early age by re-writing another popular song; but how that made her begin to follow that path. She had a very eclectic taste in music and that also helped open her mind to a lot of different ways to write. Her dedication to do this in Nashville is so inspiring. You’ll hear about the over 20,000 miles she drove back and forth from Canada to work and save money to come back To nashville and do this. That dedication has definitely paid off and although she was just about to head back home for good, you’ll hear the story of how she got talked into staying and shortly after that she had her first #1 with Brett Young’s “Sleep Without You.” You'll hear the story about that song along with her song “Somebody Else Will” for Justin Moore and “For Her” for Chris Lane. Hear the lessons she learned along the way and some great advice that she shares. It was a pleasure having her on and I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did recording it!

Show/Liner Notes:

Kelly's Instagram: @KellyArcherMusic

And follow us, Stories Behind the Songs Podcast, here:

SBTSongs Instagram: @SBTSongs

SBTSongs TikTok: @SBTSongs

SBTSongs YouTube: @SBTSongs

Chris Blair's Instagram: @ChrisBlairMusic

Chris Blair's Website: ChrisBlair.com

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 Buffett, Lainey Wilson, Blake Shelton, Randy Travis and more. He also talks about how he got a check for $5,000 from Garth Brooks because Garth decided to not record his song...only to later record it anyway. And how after this many years in Nashville he gets inspired by new young artists and writers and has worked heavily with guys like AJ Kross, Davis Loose and Cam Newby.

Show notes/links:

Mark's Instagram - @MarkIrwin62

And follow us - Stories Behind the Songs Podcast - here:

SBTSongs TikTok - @SBTSongs

SBTSongs Instagram - @SBTSongs

SBTSongs YouTube - @SBTSongs

Chris Blair's Instagram - @ChrisBlairMusic

Chris Blair's Website - ChrisBlair.com

And thanks to YOU for listening and supporting. We hope you love these episodes and will continue to share them with your friends, hit that like/subscribe/follow button and keep listening!

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" for Michael Ray. He's also written songs for Blake Shelton, Lee Brice, Granger Smith, Morgan Wallen, Craig Campbell, Tyler Farr, Swon Brothers and more. He credits guys like Bobby Pinson and Brett James for helping him along the way. I have known Justin for many years and he's also a guy that loves to put a smile on people's face. You'll also hear more about that and how I shaved his head during a festival in Florida a few years ago to raise $10,000 for charity. This is Justin Wilson.

Liner/Show Notes:

Justin's Instagram: @JustinWilsonMusic

And follow us, Stories Behind the Songs podcast, here:

SBTSongs Instagram: @SBTSongs

SBTSongs TikTok: @SBTSongs

SBTSongs YouTube: @SBTSongs

Chris Blair's Instagram: @ChrisBlairMusic

Chris Blair's Website: ChrisBlair.com

#SBTSongs #SBTSongsPodcast

And thanks to our sponsors - Sennheiser and Britt Skin Beauty for believing in this podcast and helping out.

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 Harland Howard and has written hits for acts like Jason Aldean, Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice and more. In this episode we are going to dive into the stories behind all of this including the huge hit he wrote with Lee Brice and Billy Montana called "Memory I Don't Mess With." BD is also a huge supporter of the military, so this was a perfect guest for today. We have both worked with a great non-profit for years called Creativets who's mission is to empower wounded veterans to heal through arts and music. Brian will donate his time to sit down with vets, hear their story and turn that into a beautiful song. We loved this episode and hope you do too! Please make sure you hit that like/subscribe/follow button and share this podcast with your friends to help us keep going! We really appreciate it!

Show Liner Notes:

Brian's Instagram: @BrianDavisLive

Brian's Website: BrianDavisLive.com

Brian's music on iTunes

And follow us, Stories Behind the Songs, here:

SBTSongs Instagram: @SBTSongs

SBTSongs TikTok: @SBTSongs

SBTSongs YouTube: @SBTSongs

Chris Blair's Instagram: @ChrisBlairMusic

Chris Blair's Website: ChrisBlair.com

#SBTSongs

And a huge thank you to our United States military branches for everything you do. Thank you for keeping us free and safe!

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 iconic Grand Ole Opry stage. We will talk about the stories behind their latest single, Shoot Tequila and all that is happening with Tigirlily Gold.

Please note, this is the first episode where we have had an issue with a mic cable input and found out afterwards. There are a few spots where the audio cuts out for a second and we apologize for the technical difficulty. We did still want to post because it was such a great episode and Kendra and Krista's story is just something we feel like everyone should hear!

Show Notes:

Tigirlily Gold Instagram: @Tigirlily

Tigirlily Gold TikTok: @Tigirlilygold

Tigirlily Gold Website: https://www.tigirlily.com/

And follow us, Stories Behind the Songs, here:

SBTSongs Instagram: @SBTSongs

SBTSongs TikTok: @SBTSongs

Chris Blair's Instagram: @ChrisBlairMusic

Chris Blair's Website: ChrisBlair.com

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 Billboard smash “Brighter Days” and more. Make sure you go follow Blessing and let us know what you think!

As always, thanks for listening and supporting Stories Behind the Songs!

We hope you will continue to share this with your friends so we can spread the word about @SBTSongs on all platforms and make sure you hit that subscribe, follow or like button! 

Show/Liner Notes: 

Blessing’s Instagram - @BlessingOffor

Blessing’s TikTok - @BlessingOfforMusic

Blessing’s website - BlessingOffor.com

And follow us - Stories Behind the Songs - here: 

Instagram - @SBTSongs 

TikTok - @SBTSongs 

YouTube - @SBTSongs 

Chris Blair's Instagram - @ChrisBlairMusic 

Chris Blair's Website - ChrisBlair.com 

Thanks also to our sponsors - Sennheiser microphones and Britt Skin Beauty Aesthetics! #SBTSongs

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 how he got to Nashville and then ended up getting a publishing deal after getting an email from Brian Kelley from Florida Georgia Line when they were starting Tree Vibez Music and how he got that deal from a lot of help with BMI and Sony. I hope you enjoy this one as much as we did making it. Make sure you go follow James and let us know what you think!

As always, thanks for listening and supporting Stories Behind the Songs!

We hope you will continue to share this with your friends so we can spread the word about @SBTSongs on all platforms and make sure you hit that subscribe, follow or like button!

Show/Liner Notes: 

Jame's Instagram - @JamesMcNairMusic

Jame's on Spotify - here

And follow us - Stories Behind the Songs - here: 

Instagram - @SBTSongs 

TikTok - @SBTSongs 

YouTube - @SBTSongs 

Chris Blair's Instagram - @ChrisBlairMusic 

Chris Blair's Website - ChrisBlair.com 

Thanks also to our sponsors - Sennheiser microphones and Britt Skin Beauty Aesthetics! #SBTSongs

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 - later changed to Austin by Bailey. We talk about how he got his start as a Christian artist and traveled all over, got a label deal and then how his band broke up at the table signing that deal. But then how that moved him to Nashville to focus on songwriting, how he met The Warren Brothers by introducing himself to Brett Warren at the YMCA and how that led to a publishing deal with Warner Chappell Music. Jet is such a great guy and an incredible musician/artist/songwriter. We had a ton of fun with this episode and I hope you enjoy it!

As always, thanks for listening and supporting Stories Behind the Songs! We hope you will continue to share this with your friends so we can spread the word about @SBTSongs on all platforms and make sure you hit that subscribe, follow or like button!

Show/Liner Notes:

Jet's Instagram - @JetHarvey_

And follow us - Stories Behind the Songs - here:

Instagram - @SBTSongs

TikTok - @SBTSongs

YouTube - @SBTSongs

Chris Blair's Instagram - @ChrisBlairMusic

Chris Blair's Website - ChrisBlair.com

Thanks also to our sponsors - Sennheiser microphones and Britt Skin Beauty Aesthetics! #SBTSongs