16 minutes | Monday, 22 January 2024
'The CountryLine Songwriter Series', is where you'll hear from some of the most successful artists and songwriters working in Nashville today. Country music is all about storytelling and this is where you'll discover the stories from the people themselves of how they managed to find their way into such a competitive industry and rise to the top. What motivates and inspires them and what they've learnt along the way.
Billy Currington was raised in Rincon, Georgia. Following high school, he made a couple attempts at relocating to Nashville in the hopes of getting a career in music off the ground, finally landing a job at a concrete company while still finding time to play at clubs on the side and work on song demos. When singer Mark Wills put a hold on one of his songs, Currington met and began writing with Wills' producer, Carson Chamberlain, which eventually led to a recording contract with Mercury Records. His first single, "Walk a Little Straighter”, was released in 2003, and drew heavily on Currington's experiences with an alcoholic father.
A self-titled debut album was released on Mercury Records in 2003. A second album, “Doin' Somethin' Right”, followed in 2005 on Mercury Nashville. Three years later, Currington delivered the eclectic, R&B-inflected “Little Bit of Everything”, also on Mercury Nashville. In 2010 he returned with his album, “Enjoy Yourself”, featuring the Troy Jones co-written single "Pretty Good at Drinkin' Beer”. That song went to number one, as did "Let Me Down Easy”, "Love Done Gone", and "Like My Dog", also reached the country Top 40.
Currington returned to action in 2013, releasing the single "Hey Girl", in March and delivering the full-length “We Are Tonight”, that September. The album debuted at five on the Billboard Country charts, and spawned the number one hits "Hey Girl", and the title track "We Are Tonight”. In 2015, Currington returned with “Summer Forever”, an album preceded by the single "Don't It" -- a song that reached number four on the U.S. Hot Country Songs chart. It was followed by two number one hits in 2016: "It Don't Hurt Like It Used To", and "Do I Make You Wanna”.
Currington's seventh studio album, “Intuition”, was released in 2021 which is when he chatted with Stuart Banford.