Stories Behind the Songs

162 Episodes

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CJ Solar: Writing "Up Down," Sea Gayle & Southern Rock Roots

2026-11-1054:59

In Episode 161 of Stories Behind the Songs, host Chris Blair sits down at The Listening Room in Nashville with hit songwriter and Southern rock/country artist CJ Solar. Growing up in Louisiana, CJ started playing guitar at seven in a family band with his two younger brothers, a group that eventually "fired" their dad. A family trip to the Grand Ole Opry, where he watched Brad Paisley, Blake Shelton and Dierks Bentley, helped turn his sights toward Nashville, and he later enrolled at Belmont U...

Kent Blazy: Garth Brooks, a Frisbee and Somewhere Other Than the Night

2026-11-0342:26

In Episode 160 of Stories Behind the Songs, host Chris Blair sits down at The Listening Room in Nashville with Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member Kent Blazy for a second conversation. Kent has played The Listening Room since day one, and he has seven No. 1 hits to his name, including Garth Brooks' first, "If Tomorrow Never Comes." Kent tells the story behind "Somewhere Other Than the Night," his second No. 1 with Garth. It started on a day when nothing was working, so they quit writin...

Parker Welling: The Long Road to a No. 1 Hit

2026-10-2741:28

In Episode 159 of Stories Behind the Songs, host Chris Blair sits down at The Listening Room in Nashville with Grammy-nominated songwriter Parker Welling. Parker is a writer behind billions of streams and multiple No. 1 hits, and her story is a lesson in patience. A song can feel like magic in the room and still take years to become a “sure thing.” Parker unpacks what actually happens between the first idea and the moment a crowd sings every word back to you. We go deep on the story behind ...

Summer Overstreet- 3,2,1

2026-09-2234:48

In Episode 158 of Stories Behind the Songs, host Chris Blair sits down at The Listening Room in Nashville with hit songwriter Summer Overstreet. The daughter of legendary writer Paul Overstreet, Summer has songs recorded by Lainey Wilson, Tucker Wetmore, Hudson Westbrook, Max McNown, Jake Owen, and more, and she calls The Listening Room her all-time favorite place to play. A hit song can feel inevitable when you hear it on the radio, but the path to that moment is usually messy, slow, and fu...

Billy Montana - More Than A Memory

2026-09-1530:45

In Episode 157 of Stories Behind the Songs, host Chris Blair sits down at The Listening Room in Nashville with Billy Montana for part two of their conversation. This time the focus is "More Than a Memory," which Billy wrote with Kyle Jacobs and Lee Brice, and which Garth Brooks took into the history books. A country song debuts at number one and the writer’s first reaction is, “How is that possible?” That’s where Chris and Billy start as they unpack the story behind “More Than a Memory,” the...

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