3/31/22 Hall of Fame Songwriter Kent Blazy Releases New Album ‘For The Byrds’
Nashville Songwriter Hall of Fame member Kent Blazy is releasing a new album, For The Byrds.
Blazy and songwriter/musician Steve Allen co-wrote all the songs on the project except the title track. The title was chosen because after hearing the Byrds song “Mr. Tambourine Man,” Blazy first decided he wanted to play guitar. The sound of Roger McGuinn‘s Rickenbacker 12-string captivated Blazy, and a picture of a Rickenbacker 12-string graces the cover of the album. Most of the project’s songs were written during the COVID-19 lockdown. Allen and Blazy both lost their wives to brain tumors, and many of the new songs are about the new loves they both found.
“This record was so much fun to create. We had one day to cut 11 songs and Lee Francis and Kevin Murphy from Jon Pardi‘s band were up for the challenge. Both did an amazing job, as did the engineer, Matt Allen, to capture everything under the pressure of that time frame,” shares Blazy.
“Kent and I have been writing together for the last couple of years and we always end up with a finished song with no agenda of style. This record has 10 songs we co-wrote during the pandemic. I think this is why the range of style goes from the ’60s garage sound of ‘Livin’ The American Dream’ to the past era ballad of ‘Twilight Time.’ We felt free to let whatever songs wanted to come out and exist just happen, yet it all flows as one long-playing album. Everybody put their heart and soul into the project and we all are proud of this album,” adds Allen.
The new music is available to order at kentblazy.com and to stream and download on all digital music platforms.
Blazy was recently inducted by his friend and co-writer Garth Brooks into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame with the class of 2020. The Kentucky native has a total of seven No. 1 hits to his credit, including “If Tomorrow Never Comes” (Brooks), “Ain’t Goin’ Down (’Til The Sun Comes Up)” (Brooks) and “Gettin’ You Home (The Black Dress Song)” (Chris Young).
4/21/21 Kent Blazy Talks About His Friend Garth Brooks and Today’s Nashville
Kent Blazy may be best known as the co-writer of numerous Garth Brooks songs, including some of Brooks’ biggest hits such as, “If Tomorrow Never Comes,” “Ain’t Goin’ Down (’Til The Sun Comes Up),” “Somewhere Other Than The Night,” and more, but he’s also responsible for hits by artists like Diamond Rio and Chris Young, as well as dozens of other cuts by various artists.
Before taking the advice of Exile’s Mark Gray and moving to Nashville in 1980, Blazy had spent two years on the road playing guitar with Canadian country legend Ian Tyson (“Four Strong Winds”). Recently inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Blazy is waiting for the formal ceremony to take place later this year. He has released albums of his own, including last year’s Authentic, and is working on material for a release later in 2021. The Kentucky native called American Songwriter to talk about his Hall of Fame induction, and to offer some advice to aspiring writers.