12 minutes | Monday, 25 September 2023
'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.
Texas-born Eric Paslay started playing the guitar and writing songs at the age of 15. He relocated to Nashville a couple of years after graduating from high school to attend Middle Tennessee State University, where he studied everything related to the music business. He got an internship with a leading independent music publisher during his senior year, which led to a song publishing deal, which in turn led to a recording contract with EMI Records Nashville in 2011. That same year a song Paslay had written, "Barefoot Blue Jean Night", became a number one hit for country star Jake Owen.
Paslay's own debut single, "Never Really Wanted", was also released that year with his self-titled debut album arriving in 2014. The album reached number four on the Billboard country charts, supported by the hit singles "Friday Night", "Song About a Girl" and "She Don't Love You".
In 2017 while in London performing as part of Country Music Week Eric spoke with Chris Stevens.