Arts & Entertainment
Singers/Songwriters J.T. Lewis and Kent Blazy Talk With Talking H
Friday Night 7-8 p.m. www.activatemedia.org
Our first guest is singer/songwriter JT Lewis has made quite a journey from the heart of Cajun Country in Baton Rouge, LA to his new home in Nashville, TN. In 2017- touring with and opening for Logan Mize he played over 80 shows gaining immense exposure and acquiring loyal fans. In 2018, he brought his high-energy act across the country for over 100 shows, including a CMA MusicFest stage Debut. His rock solid work ethic has led him to share the stage with artists like Charles Esten who played Deacon on CMT’s “Nashville”, Chris Bandi, and others. His influences of pure country lyrics, pop melodies, and hard rock riffs, is like a Cajun gumbo recipe for an energy filled show where the fans can’t help but dance and sing along to all their favorite songs and his Music Row Charting single, “Good Times,”penned by Lewis along with co-writer Scott Lynch (Lee Brice, Faith Hill, Trace Adkins) keep the audience on the dance floor.
Links To J.T. Lewis's social media:
Official Website:
Find out what's happening in Massapequawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Find out what's happening in Massapequawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
https://www.instagram.com/jtlewismusic/?hl=en
YouTube:
https://youtube.com/jtlewismusic
Our second guest is singer/songwriter Kent Blazy :
Kent Blazy is an American country music songwriter from Lexington, KY who now calls Nashville, TN home. His credits include several singles for Garth Brooks, as well as singles by Gary Morris, Diamond Rio, Patty Loveless and Chris Young. Blazy has a total of seven number one hits to his credit. Kent Blazy was raised in Lexington, Kentucky. At an early age, he played rhythm guitar and sang in various local bands, citing The Byrds, Rodney Crowell and Joe Ely as influences. He later played for Canadian singer Ian Tyson. Later on, Blazy met former Exile member Mark Gray, who suggested that Blazy move to Nashville, Tennessee. Eventually, he signed to a publishing contract, but the publishing company closed; despite the loss of contract, Gary Morris sent Blazy's "Headed for a Heartache" into top 5 on the country charts. By the late 1980s, Blazy met with a then-unknown Garth Brooks, who gave him the idea for a song entitled "If Tomorrow Never Comes." He and Brooks co-wrote the song, which went on to become Brooks' first number one hit. Brooks continued to record Blazy's material throughout the 1990s, including the singles "Ain't Goin' Down ('Til the Sun Comes Up)," "It's Midnight Cinderella," "She's Gonna Make It," "Somewhere Other Than the Night" and the George Jones duet "Beer Run (B Double E Double Are You In?)." He also co-wrote "That's What I Get for Lovin' You" by Diamond Rio and "Can't Get Enough" by Patty Loveless in the late 1990s. Blazy, along with songwriters Pat Alger, Tony Arata and Kim Williams, recorded an album entitled A Songwriters' Tribute to Garth Brooks, which included their renditions of songs that they had written for Brooks. This album was released in 2001 via VFR Records. Other songs that Blazy has co-written include "You Can Let Go" by Crystal Shawanda and "Gettin' You Home (The Black Dress Song)" by Chris Young from 2008 and 2009 respectively, as well as American Idol season 8 finalist Danny Gokey's debut single "My Best Days Are Ahead of Me."
Highlights of Kent Blazy's Career:
•New CD - Kent Blazy “Songwriter” Released January 2019
•Blazy was a spirited musician born in Woodstock, NY, and raised in Lexington, KY
•As a boy, he would put his transistor radio up to his ear before bed and listen to Roger Miller to Sinatra to the Beatles to the Four Tops on WVLK AM.
•At age 16, Blazy got a guitar for Christmas and started putting the poetry he wrote to music.
•He bought packs of Marlboros for an older boy down the street in exchange for a few lessons on guitar licks, and he saved all his weekly lunch money to buy picks and strings.
•At age 24 years old and making a go of it as a professional artist.
•Hit songs recorded by Garth Brooks, Gary Morris, Diamond Rio, Patty Loveless and Chris Young. The Forester Sisters, T. Graham Brown, Donna Fargo and Moe Bandy and more have recorded his tunes.
•A total of seven number one hits with Garth Brooks to his credit including, “If Tomorrow Never Comes." He and Brooks co-wrote the song, which was Brooks' first number one hit.
•Philanthropic interests include Alive Hospice, in honor of his wife who passed away from cancer. Read The Tennessean article online here.
Kent's Recent Albums:
2018 Kent Blazy - Songwriter
It's a mix of Rock & Roll,Country,Americana,and Bluegrass and Singer-Songwriter,everything i love and grew up with..
2017 Kent Blazy ‘66
FUN was the key word in making this record.I took my band into the studio with me to get that LIVE sound i loved so much growing up. 4 musicians in one room looking at each other,playing off each other ,making music. I am forunate to have great musicians. Danny Flowers,writer of "Tulsa Time" and many other hit songs is a fantastic guitar player and we play off each other really well. ,Steve Bryant is an amazing session bass player having played on many hit records. He is also a long time friend which makes it a joy to create with him. Will Johnston,the drummer, is young in age but not in experience having already played with folks like Van Morrison. It was an amazing group effort and we cut 8 songs in one day! The songs came to me in the year since i recorded the "New Songs From Old Guitars" record. Alot of these songs were inspired by the ever changing, everyday wild world and how i would like to be and how i would like to see the world.The final song,"Cut From The Same Cloth" was written with and features the amazing artist Cory Batten on vocals and production. "2 Choices" was written with Leslie Satcher, one of the great writers of our time, and "Difficult Kind" was written with Warner Bros artist Will Hoge. It's an eclectic mixture of sounds that have inspired me since i picked up a guitar in 1966 (i was 2,ha). Hence the title of the record '66 .Thanks for checking this out, and i hope you enjoy listening to the music as much as i enjoyed making it. PEACE..kent
2016 New Songs From An Old Guitar
Dedicated to heroes, friends and angels
This album is an exciting departure for me in both the way the songs were written and how they were recorded. It was inspired by a 1955 Martin D-28 named Olive Gail that I found in a small music store in St. Louis on my birthday in 2014. "Olive Gail" was written in gold on the headstock of the guitar. She was very road worn and had been hanging high up on a wall above a door for two years. No one had played her during that time, and I swear she called to me as i walked out the door. I walked back into that room, saw her hanging in the dark and asked to see her. She needed a home, much love and repair, and I was the one to give Olive all of that. Olive's first song was OLD GUITAR. It was so amazing to sit down with her and have that song be born. That was the spark for all the other songs that would come out of both of us. The next song i wrote about her was OLIVIA GAIL, a tribute to the original owner, co-written with and performed on this cd by Cory Batten. More songs started coming---songs about folks that inspired me and songwriting friends whom I've met along the way. So many songwriters come to Nashville with a dream and little else. Every story of the ones who make it has an element of magic. Dylan was a big influence on me like he has been for so many others. I wanted my song FOOTSTEPS OF DYLAN to convey the way he went from folksinger to pop star at the Newport Folk festival of 1965, a turning point in music. i had fun creating the song's morph from acoustic to electric, and the players did a great job of making my idea come to life. The entire "electric side" was produced live in the studio with my band in a single session one afternoon, much as musicians worked in the sixties. I thank Olive Gail and all the wonderful beings who helped bring this project to life.
2015 - Me & Garth
Cover Story - celebrating “Much Too Young (To Be This Damn Old)” reaching #8 at private house party (since label did not provide a party.) Next single was “If Tomorrow Never Comes,” the photo was them saying it will be a #1 song!
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