With a little bit of rock, a hell of a lot of soul, and a throwback R&B groove, Kassi Ashton has crash-landed on country radio. “Dates in Pickup Trucks,” her irresistible debut radio single, dropped in February, on the eve of her own 28th birthday. “It feels powerful,” she says of the moment’s alignment. Speaking about the song’s playfulness, she adds, “I want it to show that there are many sides to me.” The release marks the critical next step for the buzzy young singer. Named to Ones to Watch lists by publications like Huffington Post and The Tennessean as well as juggernaut radio personality Bobby Bones, Ashton spent 2019 as one of the openers on Maren Morris’s GIRL World Tour. In 2018, she was featured on Keith Urban’s CMA Album of the Year-nominated LP, Graffiti U.

The simmering new song, it turns out, has a surprising origin story: an uncharacteristically giddy phone call between Ashton and her grandmother. One of nine children and known for her take-no-prisoners attitude, the singer was shocked when, one day, her elder fell into a fit of giggles on the other end of the line. “She’s like, ‘Me and your grandpa went on a date last night,’” Ashton recalls. “‘I made dinner, we packed it up in the truck, and we drove around all the roads we hadn’t seen in a long time."

Ashton got to thinking about the nights she stepped out under the stars in her own pickup, back in her one-stoplight hometown of California, Missouri. (“You can gravel road for hours, where I come from” she quips.) Ashton brought the idea into a co-writing session with Luke Laird, who, while having served as the pen behind massive hits by Thomas Rhett, Eric Church, and Carrie Underwood, is also, as Ashton explains affectionately, the “other half of my creative brain,” and David Garcia. Initially, her collaborators both balked at what they considered a kitschy title. “They’re like, ‘This is not the girl I know!’” Ashton says, laughing.

But together they leaned into a ripped-from-the-90s vibe, channeling a hypnotic, rubber band beat. They adorned it with a dobro, steel guitar, and Ashton’s Winehousian vocal. And within the day, the three had twisted a simple memory shared between generations into something they couldn’t turn off. “We were joking about how if Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg got high in a Chevy pickup truck and rode around, this is what they would listen to,” says Ashton.

That the song resists the cliché its own title may suggest—what with it hitting all the major format airwave buzzwords of late—is in part why Ashton loves it. “If I were to see a song called ‘Dates in Pickup Trucks’, I would go, ugh,” she jokes. “But this is how I grew up, and we used the idea in a way that felt fresh.” She took something well worn and refracted it through her own musical identity—something that formed in her Missouri kitchen singing Etta, Aretha, and Reba into a broom handle with her mom and sister—to create the sound of the future.

“I’ve lived real life,” Ashton explains. “I’ve had shit happen to me.” Raised between two homes. Bullying in school. Cancer. “I’m telling the truth.” It’s become the thread that ties each of her releases, which dance between modern and classic influences certainly goes boom!

After playing shows all over the Southeast, Josh Phillips moved from North Carolina to Nashville, Tennessee, in 2015 to advance his songwriting career. Josh’s clever wordplay and catchy melodies quickly caught the attention of Warner Chappell Music, where he signed his first publishing deal. He has written songs for artists such as Luke Combs, Jason Aldean, Brantley Gilbert, Chris Young, Cody Johnson, Michael Ray, and many more. Most recently, Josh’s solo-written “Dirt Cheap” served as the second single from Cody Johnson’s highly acclaimed album, Leather. Today, Josh resides 25 minutes from Music Row, in the beautiful hills of Cheatham County, TN with his family, where he gets to live out the stories in the songs he writes.

Brett Warren is part of the American songwriting duo, The Warren Brothers. They have written hits for Tim McGraw (“If You’re Reading This”, “Felt Good on My Lips”, “Highway Don’t Care”), Toby Keith (“Red Solo Cup”), Keith Urban (“Little Bit of Everything”), Faith Hill (“The Lucky One”), Martina McBride (“Anyway”, “Wrong Baby Wrong”), Dierks Bentley (“Feel That Fire”), Jerrod Niemann (“Drink To That All Night”) and more. They’ve had their songs recorded by Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, Little Big Town, Lady Antebellum, Thomas Rhett, Cole Swindell, Gary Allan, Tyler Farr, Billy Currington and many other A -list country artists. In addition, the brothers have also written songs for rock bands including Lynyrd Skynyrd, Nickelback, Hinder, Joss Stone and Boys Like Girls. Their most recent #1 hits are “Lights Come On” by Jason Aldean, “Every Time I Hear That Song,” Blake Shelton and “Sober Saturday Night” by Chris Young.

With an inimitable voice The New York Times describes as “wholly different, thicker and more throbbing, a caldron bubbling over,” Randy Houser has racked up over half a dozen hits and 1 billion streams. His How Country Feels album topped the charts with the title track, “Runnin’ Outta Moonlight” and “Goodnight Kiss” (also his first No. 1 as a songwriter) and earned critical acclaim for his powerful delivery of the Top 5 smash and nominated CMA Song of the Year, “Like A Cowboy.”

Houser has since added a fourth No. 1 to his catalogue with “We Went” from his 2016 album, Fired Up. Houser’s sixth studio album Note To Self is available now via Magnolia Music Group and features 10 tracks all co-written by the Mississippi native, with his lead single and title track “Note To Self” marking his “powerful return” following 2019’s critically-acclaimed album Magnolia. In their response to Houser’s latest project, MusicRow boasted the Mississippi-native “remains one of country music’s very finest vocalists.” With multiple sold-out shows in 2023, including an at-capacity stop at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, Houser wrapped 12 months of touring with Cody Johnson.

In late 2023, he landed on-screen roles in Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed film “Killers of the Flower Moon” starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, as well as Dennis Quaid’s “The Hill”, an inspirational drama that hailed as the number one most streamed Netflix movie in February 2024. This April, Billboard-lauded “golden-voiced Mississippi native” Houser released his new single “Country Back”, a full throttle proclamation of all things country. For more information, go to RandyHouser.com.

Jared Keim is a songwriter and producer whose ability in the room and commitment to excellence is unparalleled. In 2022 alone, he had three country radio singles climbing the chart simultaneously: Dustin Lynch’s ‘Party Mode’, James Barker Band’s ‘Wastin’ Whiskey,’ & Restless Road’s ‘Growing Old With You.' Keim's credits stem from artists like Kassi Ashton, Adam Doleac, Alana Springsteen, Restless Road, Rascal Flatts, Tayler Holder & Roman Alexander. Jared’s vocal production is bar none and a signature to his process and notoriety. He is surely paving his way to be mentioned among the top tier of writers in the Nashville community. Keim penned Warren Zeiders’s debut album title track, “Pretty Little Poison,” which notched Keim’s first number one at country radio. Jared’s latest work can be heard through Ashton’s current radio single, “Called Crazy.”

A five time Grammy Nominee, Jeffrey Steele has been recognized by BMI for over 65 million airplays for hits he penned for a multitude of artists including Keith Urban, Eric Church, Zac Brown Band, Jimmy Buffett, Montgomery Gentry, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Cher, .38 Special, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Trace Adkins, LeAnn Rimes, Rascal Flatts and Van Zant, Joe Cocker, Little Feat ft. Bob Seger, Joe Bonamassa, Cascada and more. Among his many accolades over the past few years, Jeffrey Steele has been named to the Nashville Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, honored by the Country Music Hall of Fame as a Poet and Prophet, twice awarded BMI Songwriter of the Year and thrice the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) Songwriter of the Year. CMA has twice awarded him the coveted “Triple Play Award” for three No. 1 songs in a year. His country and A/C mega-hits include a string of chart toppers including: “Raise ‘Em Up”, “Knee Deep”, “Here,” “My Wish,” “The Cowboy In Me,” “These Days”, “My Town”, “Something to be Proud of”, “Everyday” and the groundbreaking “What Hurts The Most,” nominated for Best Country Song at the Grammy Awards. Additionally, he has won over 35 BMI Country and Pop awards, was nominated for a Golden Globe and Critic’s Choice Award for Best Original Song “I Thought I Lost You” for the Disney/Pixar animated feature BOLT, performed by Miley Cyrus and John Travolta, been named one of Billboard Magazine’s top 5 writer’s 8 years in a row, as well as Music Row Magazine’s Songwriter of the Year Award. Steele’s latest album features performances with Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris, Jamey Johnson, John Rich and others.

Jessi Alexander is a chart topping singer/songwriter known for her honest and vulnerable lyrics born from her humble Tennessee roots. Southern rock and classic country provided a strong foundation for her love of music, and she harnessed those influences to find her own songwriting voice. Alexander has penned multiple country hits including Blake Shelton’s “Mine Would Be You” and “Drink On It,” Scotty McCreery’s “In Between,” Lee Brice’s “I Drive Your Truck,” “Never Say Never” by Cole Swindell & Lainey Wilson, and “You, Me, and Whiskey” by Justin Moore & Priscilla Block. Alexander also co wrote “The Climb” performed by Miley Cyrus which earned her a MTV Movie Award for Best Song from a Movie.

Alexander’s latest bell ringers include Morgan Wallen’s “Don’t Think Jesus,” Megan Moroney’s “No Caller ID,” Luke Comb’s “Ain’t No Love In Oklahoma,” and Dustin Lynch featuring Jelly Roll’s “Chevrolet.”

Preston Cooper is a 21 year old singing sensation from the music metropolis of Fredricktown, Ohio. He started playing guitar and singing in high school and became a walking postman upon graduation.  He walked 14 miles a day to deliver mail in the small town and quickly became known as the singing mailman.  

In 2022 he quit the USPS to pursue music full time. In 2023 he was playing a show in Toledo opening for Nashville songwriters The Warren Brothers. After hearing him sing for an hour the stunned Warrens asked to meet him and invited him to Music City to write, record and play the Bluebird with them the next month. His amazing voice turned heads in the studio and at the world’s premiere songwriter cafe. 

After several writing trips Preston had people’s attention, writing with Nashville staples such as The Warren Brothers, Ernest, Brett James, and Lee Thomas Miller. In February of 2024 he made the plunge and moved to Nashville.  Within a few months he’d garnered the attention of record labels, publishers, and booking agents.  And a few months after that the offers came pouring in.  In August of 2024 he signed with Big Machine Label Group, Warner Chappell publishing and The Neal Agency for booking.  

The music is soulful and timeless, the voice is undeniable and the songs are from the heart. The sky is the limit and this train has just begun to roll.