Welcome back to Country Music 4 Ever! Today I want to start by telling you a story about a songwriter named Jonathan Singleton. Several years ago Jonathan was at a bar In Nashville, when a man he never heard before took the stage. As soon as this man started singing the crowd went crazy and acted like a superstar was up on stage. Jonathan knew from that point this guy was someone he wanted to work with. A few months later, Jonathan signed this guy to a publishing deal with Big Machine Music. The guy I am talking about in this story is Luke Combs.

 

Luke Combs was lucky, because most people who want to make it as a professional singer in Nashville have to work a lot harder than that. It takes most people ten years to break through to any kind of success in Nashville, which is where Nashville got it’s name “The Ten Year Town.” I’m sure you’re thinking it seems like a long time, but there are about 100,000 people in Nashville who play music professionally, although they may not all be full time musicians. Obviously based on the story of Luke Combs it is possible to have early success in Nashville but it is not common.

 

For a lot of people who want to become a professional singer in Nashville, they start out as a songwriter for other artists. Newcomer Ernest saw early success with songwriting. He wrote hits for Chris Lane, Morgan Wallen, and Sam Hunt, but it was not until the release of his song “Flower Shops” that he started seeing success as a singer, which was ten years since he began pursuing music professionally.

 

I have been to Nashville twice, and I love walking down the streets and hearing live music playing in all the bars I walk past. Pretty much all the people you hear in the bars are just waiting for their turn to become a superstar like Luke Combs did. Maybe it will be ten months from now or maybe ten years from now, but they all deserve a chance at country music stardom.

 

Let me know who your favorite newcomers are in country music. Thanks for reading I’ll be back soon!