A new voice is making its way into country music, making himself known with the tracks “Song About a Girl” and top-ten hit “Friday Night,” from his self-titled album released earlier this year. The album has received many great reviews from well-known country music news sources as well as fans.
However, Eric Paslay is far from new to the radio charts. Co-writes include number one songs such as Jake Owen’s “Barefoot Blue Jean Night,” Eli Young Band’s “Even If It Breaks Your Heart,” and Love and Theft’s “Angel Eyes,” as well as tracks for Lady Antebellum and the recent Rascal Flatts single “Rewind.”
“Friday Night” was actually among the album cuts Paslay wrote for Lady Antebellum, off their 2011 release Own the Night. The instrumentation on Paslay’s version is largely the same, although has a bigger, more radio-friendly feel, and focuses less on harmony than Lady A does.
Paslay was surrounded by music growing up; his grandfather had a band, and his father would play music as well. At the age of 15 Paslay decided to start playing the guitar. This lead to him playing shows and becoming more aware of what he should be doing- music.
After realizing that the advice his friend gave him was worth following, he moved to Nashville and focused on his songwriting. He attended Middle Tennessee State University and worked odd jobs to make his way to Music Row. Aside from penning hits, he was also asked to record his song “Deep as it is Wide” with Sheryl Crow and Amy Grant on Grant’s last album. This man has come a long way from opening for Clint Black, Eric Church, Little Big Town, as well as many others. I think we are all ready to see where his career goes from here!