Sarah Lee Luke Laird

All it took was one appointment to the Bluebird Café for Pennsylvania built-in Luke Laird to apperceive he was destined for Nashville.

The then-teenager was a huge country music fan but didn't accept to music like your archetypal fan; he relished analytic lyrics and belief the autograph and ambassador credits on albums. He was in amid his green and inferior years of top academy if he went on what became a life-changing ancestors vacation to Music City.

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"That's if I aboriginal saw a writer's night at the Bluebird and thought, 'I have to reside here'," Laird recalls to Rolling Stone Country. "One of the writers that night was Tony Arata, who wrote 'The Dance' for Garth Brooks, one of the best songs of all time. I saw him sitting there arena it, and he's such a big performer…. I got his autograph. [laughs] I knew I capital to do what he does."

While the beginning aptitude put apprenticeship first, he did appear academy just 30 abbreviate account southeast of Nashville, at Middle Tennessee State University. His aboriginal job out of academy was as Brooks & Dunn's abettor bout manager, but that was alone four canicule per week, abrogation the added three for honing his craft. His aboriginal publishing accord came just a year out of college, but the aboriginal aftertaste of success appropriate a lot added patience.

"I had my publishing accord three years afore my aboriginal cut (Lee Ann Womack's "Painless"). And I didn't get my aboriginal individual until about 5 years (after signing the deal), which was "So Small" by Carrie Underwood. At that time, you're counting everything…. How abounding songs do I accept to address to get on the radio?

"I bethink at one point I had 15 unreleased cuts - either they didn't accomplish the anthology or it was a new artisan who absent a almanac deal," Laird continues. "So you just accumulate cutting away. It was a little frustrating, but at the aforementioned time I'm still accepting to deathwatch up and go address songs. I still feel this way. I feel so beholden to in fact do this for a living. It can be frustrating, but it still beats annihilation abroad I'd be doing."

His chain has paid off… in a big way. Laird now has autograph credits on 15 Number One singles, forth with a BMI accolade for the 2012 Songwriter of the Year and a Grammy for co-producing Kacey Musgraves' album, Same Trailer Altered Park, on which he aswell has six co-writes. With songs recorded by the brand of Musgraves, Underwood, Tim McGraw, Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton, Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert and even R&B superstars John Legend and Ne-Yo, adolescent songwriters and artists akin are animadversion down his aperture for autograph sessions.

"I adulation audition other humans sing my songs," Laird insists. "It's such gratification."

Read below, as the acclaimed songwriter tells the belief abaft 5 of his better hits:

Eric Church, "Give Me Back My Hometown" (Church, Laird)
"Eric has a berth in North Carolina, and he has altered writers from Nashville appear out for a few canicule at a time to address with him there. So I was traveling out there in my old truck, and I got to Cookeville (Tennessee) and my manual started breaking down. I alleged my wife, Beth, and said, 'It's time for a new truck! Will you alarm the dealerships in Knoxville? I wish a atramentous F150.' So I collection appropriate into a dealership, bought a barter and collection it to North Carolina. As anon as I got there, I told Eric, 'We have to address a single. I just bought a new truck!'"

Little Big Town, "Pontoon" (Barry Dean, Natalie Hemby, Laird)
"Natalie and I had accounting a song for Miranda Lambert alleged 'Fine Tune' - one of my admired songs I've anytime written. Natalie was cogent her administrator about it, and the administrator blurred and said, 'What is this song alleged 'Pontoon'?' And Natalie was like, 'No, it's alleged 'Fine Tune.'" So we said, 'We should address a song alleged 'Pontoon.'' Even the chat sounds funny, so we just had fun with it. I played a little canal for her, and said, 'If this was a song alleged 'Pontoon,' would it say?' And she just started singing, 'Back this allegation up into the water.' And again she delivered that 'motorboatin'' band like she meant it! We started dying laughing; it was one of my a lot of fun co-writing sessions ever. Dierks Bentley and Kix Brooks both had it on hold, I think. I would've been blessed if anybody had recorded it! But again Little Big Town absolutely affiliated with it and fabricated it into magic."

Carrie Underwood, "Last Name" (Laird, Hillary Lindsey, Underwood)
"I anticipate (Carrie) was talking to a guy at some awards appearance after-party, and she told us all about him in the writers' allowance and said, 'I don't even apperceive his endure name.' And I looked at Hillary (Lindsey) and said, 'Yep, that's what we've gotta write!' We wrote it absolutely fast. It was so funny to address this adventure as a country song. Carrie is one of those stream-of-consciousness humans who just starts awkward off lyrics… And a diva like her, it anon sounds awesome! We fleshed out all the lyrics and didn't accept the music done, so it was about like a rap song."

Brad Paisley, "Beat This Summer" (Chris DuBois, Laird, Paisley)
"Chris alleged me up one day to ask if I capital to address with them. He had me accompany some beats out, because Brad was aggravating a little altered action in that he was aggravating to address to tracks. So I took a sample of a animate guitar, and it concluded up accepting the agreeable angle to 'Beat This Summer.' But we were autograph until about 1:00 AM and I kept cogent myself, 'Suck it up! You're accepting to address with Brad Paisley!' I pulled that exhausted up and Brad absolutely admired it. He already had the abstraction for 'beat this summer,' so we accomplished the lyrics, wrote it that night, and he recorded it the next day."

Eric Church, "Drink in My Hand" (Church, Michael Heeney, Laird)
"Michael and I went out on the alley with Eric, and we were in South Dakota in November. It was about abrogating nine degrees. Michael and I went in to watch Eric's show; I consistently like to watch the humans and see the appearance from the fan's perspective. So I see all these humans with their Solo cups, and everybody's appealing drunk. We got on the bus afterwards the show, and we were all agriculture off the activity of the crowd. I started arena this canal and it came out: 'all you've gotta do is put a alcohol in my hand.'"

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Eric Helton, Matthew Murphy October 27, 2008

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Matt Kent/Redferns via Getty Images Billy Joel

Madison Square Garden just appear that they will authority a columnist appointment with Billy Joel on December 3rd to accomplish an "exclusive and celebrated announcement." Neither he nor the amphitheatre accept accustomed adumbration of what they are traveling to announce, but the moment will be advertisement reside on Fuse, the MSG Network and BillyJoel.com.

It's ambiguous they're advertisement that Joel is the new centermost for the Knicks, so it acutely has something to do with his concerts. He's appear four MSG shows in 2014 so far: on January 27th, February 3rd, March 21st and April 18th. Ticket sales were actual strong, admitting it's a little odd he's alone accomplishing one a month.

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Might he be planning an aberrant one-show-a-month address at Madison Square Garden for all of 2014? He could calmly advertise out all the shows, and it would beggarly he doesn't accept to cull all over the country. He awash out 12 nights at MSG in 2006 after any adversity and could calmly echo the feat. He could apparently do 5 nights a ages all year continued and advertise those out. He has a huge fanbase about New York. 

Twelve Madison Square Garden shows, even one a month, doesn't assume like a "historic" announcement, though. Ability they accept something added up their sleeves? This accomplished April, he did acquaint Rolling Stone that he's advertent complete anthology shows. "I got annoyed of accomplishing the greatest hits set," he said. "If I was traveling to play afresh in places like New York, I would apparently affection absolute albums. It would accord me a adventitious to do songs we haven't played. . . We'd do one anthology and again play some obscurities. I adore arena those added than I adore arena the hits."

Billy Joel does accept 12 pop albums, authoritative the one-show-a-month plan feasible. It would aswell accord him affluence of time to apprentice all the songs. Fans would biking from all over the apple and the shows would be in fact historic. It would beggarly he'd accept to play The Bridge and Cold Spring Harbor, two albums he's slagged off in the past, too.

There is a able adventitious we're account too abundant into this. He ability alone be advertisement that he affairs to exhausted his 12-show almanac by accomplishing 13, or he ability be advertisement he's traveling to do three or four of his a lot of accepted albums a few times each. Maybe it's even traveling to be a adieu run, admitting that seems unlikely. We'll accept to delay until next Tuesday to apperceive for sure, but here's acquisitive he's activity super-ambitious and affairs to play his accomplished catalog. 

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By Logan Hill | (Fredrick Broden) October 1, 2014

In the accomplished year alone, networks accept anesthetized on alternation by Deadwood auteur David Milch, Being John Malkovich screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, and ball gods Tina Fey, Lorne Michaels and Paul Feig. Why do so abounding shows never accomplish it to your TV? What accept we been missing?

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"It's a abhorrent system, and I don't apperceive anyone but agents who brand it," says Oz and Homicide showrunner Tom Fontana. "Every year, I watch the pilots of the shows that bootless – and they're generally my admired ones. I'm consistently just affectionate of heartbroken."

A lot of the affliction stems from the networks' anachronistic branch system: a barbarous anniversary artistic gauntlet devised in the 1950s to allure ads for the fall's new cars. The Darwinian allowance of a appearance authoritative it are minuscule. "Let's say anniversary year there are 5,000 pitches," says Fontana. "Maybe a thousand get to the Software stage. Out of those, maybe a arrangement will absorb money on 10 or so pilots."

Of those 10 or beneath pilots at anniversary network, abounding will never be apparent alfresco appointment apartment or analysis screenings. "I had a pilot for CBS that we fabricated with a abundant casting that took on Wall Street and alleged them archcriminals, which they are," says John Cusack. "They spent $8 amateur authoritative it and again didn't put it out."

Because of the tournament-style timeline, every year producers accept to action over the aforementioned actors and artistic teams, generally cutting pilots with a third-choice amateur because the absolute amateur is already committed to a appearance that apparently will not survive the process, either. "As abundant as we ambition there were, say, an astronomic amount of amusing 30-year-old people, and there's a lot, there's alone a few who are unbelievable," says Judd Apatow. "There's 30 pilots, so 27 of them are not accepting the appropriate person."

Of course, there are a amateur affidavit a alternation can die, from bad autograph to meddling admiral and egoistic showrunners. But, alive that HBO anesthetized on Mad Men afore it concluded up at AMC, it's harder not to brainstorm an alternating absoluteness area Apatow had been able to get all his shows on television. Apatow gave Rolling Stone an absolute attending at his amusing 2001 ball North Hollywood. "ABC couldn't accept cared less," says Apatow. "Not one being said, 'Let's acquisition a way to accomplish it work.' They canceled it like it was nothing."

With so abounding able account never authoritative it to your screen, actuality are a few of the greatest misses of contempo years.

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Who: Garage-rock leash White Denim, an Austin accouterments whose frontman, James Petralli, about followed his ancestors into a career in able baseball, but angry to bedrock if he got bankrupt for too abundant partying.

Sounds Like: On their loud and raw EP Let's Talk About It, which was accounting and recorded in a 1940s Spartan trailer, the bandage combines the Stooges' raw power, Hendrix's consciousness-expanding flourishes and the White Stripes' stripped-down dejection rock.

Vital Stats:

• Petralli and bagman Joshua Block already performed in a noise-rock accumulation alleged Parque Touch, who became abominable a part of Austin crowds as the bandage that blanket beers out of the easily of admirers in the foreground row.

• Petralli's arcane lyrics are aggressive by the balladry of Gertrude Stein. Songs like "Sitting" abnormally tap into accent experiments. "Some of Stein's autograph lends itself to music," says Petralli, who bound the band "I would rather be you sitting with you sitting with me."

• Petralli's grandfathering was a catcher for the Washington Senators, a aggregation that after became the Texas Rangers and drafted catcher Gino Petralli, James' father. Major alliance teams are aswell aloof Petralli's brother. Block's grandfather, interestingly enough, was aswell a amateur on the Senators. Bassist Steve Terebecki lacks a baseball pedigree.

Hear It Now: The band's admission EP Let's Talk About It is accessible on iTunes. Click the video aloft to analysis out the band's video for its appellation track.

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