"You, Me, and Whiskey" with Priscilla Block available now: https://YouMeAndWhiskey.lnk.to/songSC

Honesty is a powerful magnet that always draws an eager audience and it has proven to be a potent tool in Eric Paslay’s creative arsenal. Sometimes playful, often poignant and always thoroughly entertaining, the 6’ 4” singer/songwriter with the fiery red hair and easy smile has quickly earned a reputation as an artist that knows how to capture the attention of an audience and hold them in the palm of his hands.

 

   All it takes is seeing Paslay perform once to become hooked, a fact that has become obvious as he’s toured the country, opening for Little Big Town, The Eli Young Band, Jake Owen and others. Prior to the release of his EMI Nashville debut album, fans have been able to purchase a five-song sampler at Paslay’s shows. “The very first night we got to sell them I gave the merch guy two boxes and he sold out,” Paslay says in a tone that exudes a mixture of humility and awe. After Paslay did the math, he realized that one in 12 attendees went home with his CD. “I’m just excited that I made some fans and they got to take me with them. I’m excited that my music is out there.”

 

   When country music fans see Paslay perform, they want to take his music home and make his songs the soundtrack of their lives. Whether he’s performing on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry or taking his place this summer on the Country Throwdown Tour sharing his new hit, “If the Fish Don’t Bite,” Paslay always knows how to reel a crowd in.

 

   His music has substance and depth, but his debut album is every bit as entertaining and accessible as it is meaningful, and therein lies Paslay’s charm. “It’s hopeful music,” he says describing his style.  “There’s only one sad song on the whole record and that’s ‘Amarillo Rain,’ but there’s still a beauty behind it that makes people feel alive somehow.”

 

   Paslay has the ability to paint vivid portraits in his songs and he does just that with his new single, “If The Fish Don’t Bite,” a sly, sexy romp about a guy who has plans for his girl beyond casting a line in the water.  “A lot of guys are annoyed by chicks coming to fish when it can be a lot of fun,” he says with a smile.  “If the fish aren’t biting, why not cuddle up a little closer?”

 

   Whether he’s serving up a light-hearted up tempo tune like “If The Fish Don’t Bite” or delivering an emotionally riveting song like “Deep As It Is Wide,” Paslay proves to be a compelling storyteller and versatile performer. It’s a gift he comes by honestly.  “My granddad was a musician,” says Paslay, a native Texan, who was born in Abilene and raised in Waco and Temple. “Granddad and his brothers had a band called Arnold Schiller and the Moonlight Serenaders.  My grandfather was Arnold, and they played at dance halls. I was two and a half when he died. It’s interesting how it rubbed off even though I didn’t really know him very well.  He had red hair and it’s kind of funny because I like all the things he liked.”

 

 Paslay says his family never pushed him to play music, but supported his interest when he began playing guitar at 15.    “I love melodies,” he says.  “My dad always had oldies on, and listening to that music growing up influenced me. There’s so many cool melodies and it was great ear candy. It still resonates with every teenager, every grown up, every grandmother because it’s human. That type of music really stays with you.”

 

   By the time he began performing around Texas, Paslay had studied some of the great singer/songwriters and learned how to make a song memorable. “I was influenced by Rich Mullins,” Paslay says. “He was one of those guys I really listened to because he was real. He was a Christian artist, but it was cool to hear someone mix their beliefs with real life. He was honest and it was almost scary honest. I’d listen to his songs and think, ‘Did you really mean to say that?’  It was cool. Then there was Rodney Crowell. I love Rodney Crowell. Johnny Cash has influenced me from his storytelling.  He was such a cool storyteller and you really believed him.”

 

   He also studied what made an artist command a crowd’s attention while they were on stage. “I watched Austin City Limits and the Grand Ole Opry,” he says. “I was into everything from country artists to rock artists to Southern rock artists to jazz players. In high school I definitely went and saw quite a few Dave Matthews Band shows and that was always an experience.”

 

   Though most aspiring artists playing clubs routinely perform cover tunes, Paslay learned to lead with his strengths and played his original songs. Even though he was building a reputation for his live show, like most artists, he briefly flirted with a more stable career and during his early days in college, he planned on becoming a pediatric endocrinologist. “I had diabetes and I thought I could help kids with diabetes because I could relate to them and talk to them,” he says.

 

   However, music was too strong a passion to be ignored and following a friend’s advice, he moved to Nashville. Paslay attended Middle Tennessee State University. He also volunteered for anything just to get his foot in a door on Nashville’s famed Music Row. He did everything from help out at a charity golf tournament to change light bulbs in the NARAS office, a feat made easier because of his height. “I’d just go help anywhere I could because I thought if you have a job to do and you do it well, then if  they let you be creative and make a record, at least they know you’re going to do it well,” Paslay says. “They’ll know you are going to put all your mind, strength and skill into doing whatever job they give you.”

 

   Paslay landed a deal at Cal IV Publishing. His songwriting credits include Jake Owen’s hit “Barefoot Blue Jean Night” as well as the title track for Donny and Marie Osmond’s country set “The Good Life” and cuts by Lady Antebellum and the Eli Young Band. Though appreciative of the songs that others have recorded, Paslay will be the first to admit he didn’t move to Nashville to be a songwriter, but to be an artist.

 

   He has a passion for using his voice to connect with an audience, and there’s a warm, earnest quality that commands attention, particularly on potent anthems such as “Deep As It is Wide.” “It’s about the hope that there is something bigger and better than us,” he says. “There’s light at the end of the tunnel and there’s something out there. When I finished this song I wanted to make sure there wasn’t a disconnect between each verse, so I went down the street to play it for a friend. The way I was sitting, I couldn’t see her while I was playing. When I was finished singing, I turned around and she was crying, so I figured I was done.”

 

   “Less Than Whole” is a thoughtful treatise on grace and forgiveness Paslay co-wrote with Big Kenny that Kenny included on his 2010 solo album. “Sweet By and By” is an infectious number Paslay penned with his friend Sarah Buxton. “That was the first song we ever wrote together,” he says. “I saw her the other night and she didn’t even know it was on the record. She started crying and saying, ‘I’m so happy it made the record!’”

 

   Though Paslay enjoyed recording the album and has an affinity for the studio, his true love is the stage. “I turn it on when I get on stage.  I love to entertain,” says Paslay, who has opened for Dierks Bentley, Clint Black, Eric Church, Blake Shelton and Little Big Town, among others. “The songs on this record are the ones that really connect when I played them live. When I write, I’d rather there be a little bit of hope in every song, even in the sad songs. There’s still hope in there. With all the negativity everywhere these days, I’d like the positive to come out. A song can give you a little boost in confidence or make you fall in love deeper or dream higher.   I’m not writing and singing this stuff to be cool. I was never the cool kid. I was the kid standing in the back of the room watching.”

    

 Off stage, Paslay has a gentle, everyman quality that endears him to all who meet him. He loves performing, but is just as comfortable remodeling a bathroom or getting in the kitchen with his mom, Donna, and making  kolaches, a pastry that is a favorite among Texans. Most of all, Eric Paslay loves forging that special connection with people that can only be made with a song. “I just love making music.  I love how much you can say to someone in a song,” he says. “I want to be a part of the soundtrack of people’s lives.”

Named for the road in front of their original practice space in Columbia, South Carolina, Atlas Road Crew now calls Charleston, South Carolina home; it's an appropriate base of operations for a group that has perfected a classic rock 'n' roll sound shot through with southern soul accents. On a foundation of Allman Brothers Band riffs and Black Crowes attitude mixed with Memphis blues, soul and the Rolling Stones, Atlas Road Crew has been building a fan base through constant touring—over 200 shows a year.

Atlas Road Crew, often abbreviated to “ARC”, started while students at the University of South Carolina; they like to say that they were friends first, then a band. Singer and guitarist Taylor Nicholson admits he was a vocal rookie when they began.

“The first time I sang in public was at a spring break open mike night in the Florida Keys,” Nicholson recalls. “We had driven down there on a whim and I ended up at this beach bar singing Citizen Cope songs, it was just a crazy night.”

Nicholson has developed into a swaggering powerhouse of a vocalist with plenty of natural soul; the band has grown up as well, into a road-tested example of the resurgence of classic southern rock and soul.
Atlas Road Crew can jam and they like to stretch things out in their live shows when the groove is right, but they are focused on perfecting the four-minute radio-ready pop and rock hit whether that means a slow burning, soulful ballad or a get-up-and-dance groove.
“We've improved our songwriting over the different recording sessions the band has done and developed the ability to boil the songs down into their essence,” Says bassist Max Becker. “We're more interested in writing a great song first, then we'll take it on the road and mess with it live.”

The band likes to refer to themselves not as southern rock but “Southeastern Rock,” an appropriate designation since their popularity in college towns across the country began in the Carolinas and Georgia and spread to the deep south and up the East Coast before going nationwide; they have a sound that transcends region by traversing diverse styles. The result is something that's familiar yet new, the kind of twangy, swampy southern rock 'n' soul that one might expect to come out of a Muscle Shoals session in the 1970's but it's as immediate and fresh as anything on the contemporary scene.

Weaving The Fate turns rock 'n' roll upside down.  Hailing from Columbia, SC, the band distills elements of rock and pop into a hypnotic hybrid. WTF prides itself on making music with solid grooves and soulful, dynamic lyrics provided by lead vocalist/guitarist/song writer BC Villanova, fluid and funky bass lines by Bobby Dredd, and turntable wizadry and keyboards by DJ Able One.
 
Their infectious sound has earned them thousands of fans nationwide. WTF, currently independent, was previously signed to Universal Republic (now Republic) and recorded their 2012 debut "WTF the EP" in LA with super producer Howard Benson (Papa Roach, Daughtry, Hoobastank, Seether). They have shared the stage with everyone from Korn, Shinedown, Evanescence, Slash, AWOLNATION, Staind, Chevelle, Filter, Crossfade, Dirty Heads, Nappy Roots, REHAB, and the list goes on.
 
They’ve been called contemporaries of bands such as AWOLNATION, Imagine Dragons, and Panic At The Disco where heavy rebellion meets pop sensibilities. B.C.’s confessional lyrical prose mixed with the band's technical chops makes for an explosive live experience.
 
 
Noteworthy performances and accolades:

- Toured the Southeast and Midwest on a 30+ city Jagermeister-sponsored tour as direct support for Crossfade, and performed two sold-out shows with Evanescence in Kansas City.
 
- Played at Carolina Rebellion 2012 with Slash, Staind, KORN, 5 Finger Death Punch.
 
- Were named best Local Band of 2013 by the Free Times Weekly in Columbia, SC.
 
- Their singles "Str8 to the Bottom" and "Rack City" charted nationwide and were featured on such prominent stations as Sirius XM Octane and KROCK LA, among many others.
 
- Performed at Famously Hot New Year 2014 with ZZ Ward and Kool n The Gang.
 
- Sponsored by ColdCock Whiskey.
 
 

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