“From the Vontae Mack studios in sunny south Florida, via Nashville Tennessee, it’s Nashville Hype!™.” And thus starts a new journey in the iconic blog that began in 2006 and became one of the most widely read, respected, and influential music blogs in Nashville, with an unparalleled record in helping artists be discovered and signed to deals.
Just as Nashville has changed, Nashville Hype! has changed over the years too.
Today Nashville Hype! is both a podcast and newsletter.
Hosted by Paul King, the podcast is available all over the world on the iHeartRadio network (or where ever you get your streaming content – Apple, Spotify, etc).
The podcast features the hottest Nashville songwriters, artists, entertainers, sports people and business leaders in Nashville.
Nashville Hype! Newsletter is delivered every Monday to your inbox. We’ll send you some news from the week before, some news for the week ahead to pay attention to, and as always, some great events you’ll want to attend. Oh, and occasionally let you know about someone you might need to pay a little more attention to.
From blog to podcast to newsletter – News, Reviews, Interviews, Celebrity Guest and Commentary – Nashville Hype!™ Podcast & Newsletter.
About Paul
By the time 2006 had rolled around, I (Paul King) was 36 years old and I had written songs with Grammy winners, Dove Award winners, a Songwriter Hall of Fame member, and several #1 hit songwriters in town. It didn’t hurt that I was born and raised in Nashville – in, or certainly around, the music industry.
My parents, known on radio/TV and around all the southern states as the southern Gospel singing group The Glorybound Singers – moved to Hendersonville, TN when I was 6 years old. Hendersonville in those days was where the music industry lived – even if they worked in Nashville.
My first girlfriend was George Jones and Tammy Wynette’s daughter Georgette. Tammy lived around the corner and I would fish all around the lake around her home.
My childhood best friend’s grandfather lived only a few doors away and drove the bus for Johnny Cash – which meant I grew up, literally, with Johnny.
The Oak Ridge Boys were always present, as well as the Goff’s and Hemphill’s.
I was friends with Mr. Jenkins (aka Conway Twitty) kids.
And one best friend in particular, met in 10th grade, would cement a life of being in the industry, as his father, Eddy Raven (8 number 1’s, 18 top tens – I think) essentially became like a step father to me. My friend wasn’t nearly as interested in following in his dad’s footsteps as I was – and Eddy taught me a lot as a kid – songwriting, production, live shows, etc. A real mentor if I ever had one, even if he didn’t know he was teaching and I was learning.
In Nashville I did public relations, marketing, booking, and produced events. I’ve dated named artist, hung out backstage with everyone (it seems), played shows with huge stars, been played on the radio and seen on TV … you name it and so much more.
After a long career in Nashville, I started NashvilleHype! – with a pretty good set of musical “ears” as they say in the business – rare even for today – in order to find artist and give them the “boost” I never really felt like I had myself.
Lady Antebellum (thanks to friend and photographer Glenn Sweitzer) came first. Then Rissi Palmer, Jaida Dreyer, The Hewitt Sisters, Laura Fedor, Hot Chelle Rae, and many others. All were ultimately signed to some kind of deal. Some, very successful. Meanwhile, Nashville Hype! was in the background. Working to secure labels, managers, publishers, press – and ultimately, more fans for those artists. There’s a lot more to tell, but I will save it for another time – and the podcast.
Now it’s 2024, and The Nashville Hype! Podcast & Newsletter is the next iteration of the old blog. Subscribe to the YouTube channel for extra content and click the like button. I appreciate it. And thanks for reading all this. Hope you found it interesting.
