Country Music Success Stories

    In this Nashville-Based podcast, radio legend & master interviewer Candy O’Terry goes straight to the pros to hear their stories.

    Subscribe to this podcast

    Episodes

    • H. Jack Williams: Singer / Songwriter – Kevin Coster, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Greg Allman, Peter Gabriel.

      Thursday, 2 June 2022

      40 seconds

      When I set my mind out to do something, I do it.  – H. Jack Williams  For this episode, we’re at Anthem Entertainment in Nashville with singer/songwriter H. Jack Williams.  Anthem is one of the world’s leading independent music and entertainment conten...

      Play Download Episode

    • Glen Campbell Tribute: Part Two – An Exclusive Interview with Glen’s wife, Kim Campbell

      Thursday, 19 May 2022

      26 seconds

      Dear God, please send me a southern, good looking Christian millionaire who I can be in love with and he can be in love with me…and there I was, having dinner with Glen Campbell.  — Kim Campbell  Welcome to part two of our interview series on the life ...

      Play Download Episode

    • Glen Campbell Tribute: Part One – TK Kimbrell, Mike Borchetta & Julian Raymond

      Wednesday, 27 April 2022

      31 seconds

      There was never a more wonderful human being on the planet than Glen Campbell. – Mike Borchetta  Generations of artists count Glen Campbell as one of the greatest artists who ever lived. He was gifted with the kind of voice that connected to the lyric ...

      Play Download Episode

    • Candy & Jacy: Manifesting & Wish Boards

      Wednesday, 13 April 2022

      51 seconds

      Manifesting your dreams and visualizing your success works.  We’re proof of that.  -Candy & Jacy  This episode is a little bit different from the others.  While together in Palm Springs, California for a west coast swing of interviews,

      Play Download Episode

    • Lindy Robbins – Multi-platinum selling & award-winning songwriter

      Wednesday, 23 March 2022

      28 seconds

      Did I change somebody’s life, or change somebody’s day or help somebody to survive cancer because of this song that was a joy to write? That’s everything. – Lindy Robbins  Our trip to Los Angeles was a blast.  We had lunch in Beverly Hills,

      Play Download Episode

    • Anthony Resta – Platinum Selling Producer, Composer & Musician

      Thursday, 10 March 2022

      34 seconds

      Being a producer is a lot like directing a film.  You want to have a look at the bigger picture.  You need to be able to zoom out and help the artist get a picture of where they’ve always wanted to go. -Anthony Resta  We’re back from our west coast swi...

      Play Download Episode

    • Jim Vest – Award-winning Steel Guitarist, Producer & Author

      Thursday, 24 February 2022

      32 seconds

      Somebody from an 11 dollar house in Alabama has cut some of the biggest records in the world and if that can happen for me, it can happen for you.  – Jim Vest    We can hardly wait for you to hear this interview with Jim Vest:  musician, producer,

      Play Download Episode

    • Pam Lewis – Nashville Publicist & Preservationist

      Wednesday, 2 February 2022

      42 seconds

      There are a lot of parallels between the French wine industry and the country music industry. The vintners will cut back the vines to make them suffer in order to produce the best grapes.  There is a part of this town that wants you to suffer a little ...

      Play Download Episode

    • Jim Messina of Loggins and Messina: up close & personal with an icon

      Thursday, 20 January 2022

      40 seconds

      I appreciate the moment. I learned many years ago that happiness is the appreciation of what is happening. – Jim Messina    We were beside ourselves as we headed to the home of Jim Messina.  There we were  in Jacy’s silver Toyota Corolla,

      Play Download Episode

    • Bobby Tomberlin – Grammy, CMA, and ACM nominated songwriter: Blake Shelton, Diamond Rio, Faith Hill, Dolly Parton

      Wednesday, 5 January 2022

      41 seconds

      Be a good hang. Don’t bring dark energy into the room and be kind to people. Love the music so much, it loves you back.  – Bobby Tomberlin  We’re kicking off 2022 with a trip to Curb WORD on Nashville’s famous Music Row.

      Play Download Episode

    • Their First Time on the Radio: Sara Evans, John Schneider, Crystal Gayle, Jamie O’Neal & more

      Wednesday, 8 December 2021

      23 seconds

      For this episode, Jacy and I got to thinking about our favorite answers to the questions we always ask during our interviews with country music icons. We decided to put together a “best of” episode that featured singers and songwriters answering the qu...

      Play Download Episode

    • Frank Myers : Grammy Award-Winning songwriter, Lonestar, Crystal Gayle, Vince Gill

      Wednesday, 24 November 2021

      32 seconds

      “You and I” just stuck out to me as a title, so I just wrote it down on a piece of paper with some other titles because I was really just learning how to write songs. – Frank Myers  From a career that began as a singer with a guitar on stages large and...

      Play Download Episode

    • Jamie O’Neal : Grammy Nominee, ACM & Billboard award-winning artist

      Wednesday, 10 November 2021

      31 seconds

      When I had the chicken pox, I went on stage. When I had a cracked rib, I went on stage. And that is the old Vaudeville saying “the show must go on.”   – Jamie O’Neal  Music Row is pretty magical. The streets that make up this iconic area of Nashville a...

      Play Download Episode

    • Lily Isaacs of The Isaacs

      Wednesday, 27 October 2021

      44 seconds

      We love it so much.  We love our fans, we love what we do, and it is exhausting, but I think it’s a calling on our lives where, we have to do this. This is part of our blood. It’s our calling. – Lily Isaacs   In this interview,

      Play Download Episode

    • Sonny LeMaire of Exile

      Thursday, 14 October 2021

      44 seconds

      The appeal of music for me was playing the music. When you start playing, and that music is blowing by you, around you. It is the most amazing, glorious feeling.  – Sonny LeMaire    In this episode, we sit down with Sonny LeMaire, bass player,

      Play Download Episode

    • Chris Lindsey

      Tuesday, 28 September 2021

      I think I am known as a nice guy.  It’s more important to be a great person than it is to be a hit songwriter.  -Chris Lindsey  In this episode, we’re heading back to Aimeeland, a famous recording studio just outside of Nashville for an interview with ...

      Play Download Episode

    • Candy & Jacy

      Wednesday, 15 September 2021

      39 seconds

      Sometimes we have to pinch ourselves because the creation of Country Music Success Stories combines both of our talents and checks all of our boxes! -Candy O’Terry & Jacy Dawn Valeras We’ve been getting lots of messages from listeners (and please keep ...

      Play Download Episode

    • Whispering Bill Anderson

      Thursday, 22 July 2021

      51 seconds

      Find something you like doin’ so much, you’d do it for nothin’ and then learn to do it so well that they’ll pay you and then you’ve got it made. That’s how I feel about performing. – Bill Anderson If you want to get someone’s attention, just whisper!

      Play Download Episode

    • John Schneider

      Wednesday, 7 July 2021

      42 seconds

      I’ve always expected great things and I’ve asked people to do the same. It’s a mindset. If you expect bad things to happen, they will. I don’t think anybody would disagree with that. Therefore, if you expect great things to happen they will.

      Play Download Episode

    • Sara Evans

      Wednesday, 23 June 2021

      41 seconds

      I grew up on a farm with the clothes line in the backyard and I knew that millions of Americans would relate to that. As much as I love New York and L.A, I am really a spokesperson for middle America and the girl next door.

      Play Download Episode

    • Collin Raye

      Wednesday, 2 June 2021

      27 seconds

      Your identity is not about how well you’re doing on the charts, that’s your job, you have to treat that as your career and keep it separate. Your identity has to be bigger than, “I’m a star” because that star can fade fast.

      Play Download Episode

    • Aimee Mayo

      Wednesday, 19 May 2021

      27 seconds

      When I saw my name on that first record, it just lit something up inside of me. -Aimee Mayo Meet Aimee Mayo, award-winning songwriter and survivor. In this interview, we drive down a country lane just outside of Nashville and find our way to AimeeLand,...

      Play Download Episode

    • Tony Brown 

      Wednesday, 5 May 2021

      36 seconds

      Pay attention to trends, but never be a follower.  Be a leader, not a follower. Push the envelop, but don’t let it break. I like to stay in front of the curve, but I never like to be too cool for the room. -Tony Brown  Just when Jacy and I think we’ve ...

      Play Download Episode

    • John Berry & Robin Berry

      Wednesday, 21 April 2021

      34 seconds

      Fame is not a decision you make. It’s a lot more work, and it’s a lot of fairy dust. -John Berry Let’s turn back time to 1979 when singer/songwriter/guitarist John Berry had big dreams and the patience to see them through.

      Play Download Episode

    • Steve Dorff

      Wednesday, 31 March 2021

      30 seconds

      I’m like this anonymous Oz behind the curtain guy nobody ever knows. The face of the songs are the artists who record them. -Steve Dorff If you are a songwriter or a composer, this episode is for you! Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2018,...

      Play Download Episode

    • TG Sheppard

      Wednesday, 17 March 2021

      40 seconds

      I was only 15 when I climbed out my window and ran away to Memphis with 60 cents in mypocket. I look around at my life now and I realize that it all started with just 60 cents. -TG Sheppard Incredible as it seems,

      Play Download Episode

    • Larry Strickland

      Tuesday, 2 March 2021

      29 seconds

      Relationships are everything and in Nashville they are made of gold. When Jacy introduced me to Naomi Judd and we interviewed her at their compound in Leipers Fork, Tennessee, her husband Larry Strickland was sitting on a couch in the recording studio,...

      Play Download Episode

    • Karen Staley

      Wednesday, 17 February 2021

      27 seconds

      I didn’t come to Nashville having played bars for 10 years. I was a total green horn. So I learned a lot. It’s a blast, it’s like perpetual adolescence. -Karen Staley Welcome to the success story of a woman whose songs have been played on radio more th...

      Play Download Episode

    • Kent Blazy

      Tuesday, 2 February 2021

      35 seconds

      I first wrote poetry and got it published in the high school year book and it gave me a little bit of positive feedback that somebody must like what I do. The minute I got a guitar, I just started trying to put the two together and started writing song...

      Play Download Episode

    • Lori McKenna

      Wednesday, 20 January 2021

      29 seconds

      There’s always growth, there’s always somewhere to go to in music, a place you have not reached. Every time I’ve stuck my neck out musically, I’ve been rewarded. -Lori McKenna In this episode, we sit down with two-time Grammy winning singer/songwriter ...

      Play Download Episode

    Recently Played