Grits n’ Whiskey

You may not know his name, but you definitely know his work. Since his stint on the first season of Nashville Star, Travis Howard has been racking up quite a resume. The Georgia native has music in his blood from his mom who was 60’s gospel singer. Once his uncles taught him how to play the guitar, there was no stopping him.

While performing at coffee shops around LA, a producer from Nashville Star approached him about being on the show. Apprehensive at first, a friend at Sony told him “Seriously. What are you doing now? Bartending? And that’s better than being on a TV show? Just do the f***ing show.” Next thing you know, he is a contest on season 1 of Nashville Star.

While he did not win Nashville Star, he and Miranda Lambert - a fellow contestant - stayed close friends. Unless you live under a rock, you’ve heard a song he wrote called ‘Famous In A Small Town’ which was on Miranda’s album ‘Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’ that took home album of the year at the 2008 Academy of Country Music Awards.

In addition to his writing skills, Howard has dabbled in acting with a role in Elizabethtown as well as in Lamberts’ video for ‘Kerosene’. “I was the naked guy in the bed licking all over the girl as Miranda is lighting us up.”

Currently, he is working with Miranda on her third album and producing another musician from LA. If you happen to be in Nashvile on a Wednesday night, be sure to catch his current show ‘Give-A-Damn Wednesdays’ at 12 & Porter with Kyle Wyley and Nathan Lee. All proceeds from these shows go to charity.

Pretty awesome resume so far. We expect him to be around for quite some time. Be sure to check out his myspace page to hear some music!

Go Big Or Go Home. That could easily be the motto for Ryan Laird’s life these days. You’ve read about this up and coming star taking out his entire life savings to put up a billboard in Nashville, asking Taylor Swift to produce his album.

Ryan spoke with Grits N Whiskey about his unique idea and filled in the blanks on this crazy, yet hopefully worthwhile adventure.

Ryan tells GnW that he chose Taylor because “she is a great writer [and] writes songs about real life…she doesn’t candy coat things…she just tells it like it is”.

The single, Laird says he hasn’t quite had his ‘I’ve made it moment yet’ and still has ‘a LOT of goals left to achieve’. He says ‘there have been some really cool moments so far… seeing myself in Country Weekly”.

What made you decide to post the billboard?
The idea came to me as I was laying in bed one morning.  I wanted Taylor to produce my record, so I knew I needed a unique way to get her attention because she’s so busy these days promoting her record and preparing to tour.  At first I wasn’t sure, but I’m really glad I convinced myself to do it!

What exactly went in to getting your billboard up?
Well, first there was the idea.  I took that idea to my manager and a few close friends to see what they thought of it.  We had to figure out what was involved in putting a billboard up, and how much it was going to cost (seriously…LIFE SAVINGS!!).  Next step was finding a photographer who “got it”.  Ben DiRienzo is a great guy to work with…he put it all together for me, and I’m really happy with the results.

Ryan still hasn’t heard from Taylor yet, but he is very hopeful as are the many followers he has acquired along the way. When asked where he sees himself in five years he says he’d “love to be touring around the world performing and meeting new people”.

Laird puts it best: “Who knows what the future holds”.

Check out Ryan’s myspace page and listen to some of his songs;  We really like ‘Luv Me’ and ‘That’s Just Me’. Anyone with this amount of determination deserves our support.

Good Luck Ryan!

We caught with ‘Can You Duet’ alums, Kate and Kacey Coppola to find out what they’ve been up since completing the show, how they ended up on the show in the first place, and more.

Kate and Kacey came in fourth place on CMT’s ‘Cant You Duet‘ and while they didn’t take away first prize, they are quickly gaining speed as country’s up and coming stars.

They will be on tour with Little Big Town this February and are definitely on the right track. They are signed with Big Machine Records, the same guys who have Taylor Swift and Trisha Yearwood on their list of stars.

We expect to see great thing from these girls.

Check out our interview with Kate and Kacey below:

How did you end up on ‘Can You Duet’? Kacey and I kept seeing the fliers for auditions all around Nashville, and we tried to ignore them! We never thought we wanted to do a TV show! But eventually, we had to face the facts that is was a show on CMT for Duos who sing Country Music…everything we are!!! We had to at least try!

Are you still in touch with any of the other contestants? YES!!! We see Joey and Rory a lot, and Caitlin and Will, Jared Johnson, David Oakleaf, Lewis Brice, and the host Rossi!!

What was your favorite part of ‘Can You Duet’? Our favorite part of CYD was getting to meet all the other AMAZING musicians…they have become such good friends, and we respect their talent so much! We had a blast hanging out with them!

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