MSA Songwriters’ Festival Saturday Showcase
Saturday Night Showcase
9:15 pm - Until
Jim McCormick
Jim McCormick is a Grammy and CMA nominated, multi-platinum sellingsongwriter who has scored three #1 songs atop Billboard’s Country Airplay chart:Gabby Barrett’s “The Good Ones,” which spent two weeks at #1; Jason Aldean's “Take A Little Ride,” which spent 3weeks at the top; and Brantley Gilbert's "You Don’t Know Her Like I Do."
“The Good One’s” received the Country Music Association’s 2021 Song of the Year nomination and won Favorite Country Song at the AmericanMusic Awards that year.
Other recent releases co-written by McCormick include Matt Stell’s “One of Us,” Dalton Dover’s “Here About a Girl,” Luke Bryan’s “All My Dreaming There,” Jason Aldean’s “Lights Go Out,” Harry Connick Jr’s “I Do Like We Do,” Kelly Clarkson’s “Minute,” Jon Pardi’s “Lucky Tonight,” Charlie Pride’s “Standing In My Way,” Payton Smith’s “Need You to Not,” and Trace Adkins’ “Welcome To” and “Jesus and Jones.” His songs also have been recorded by Tim McGraw, Jamey Johnson, Keith Urban, Randy Travis, Trisha Yearwood, Ronnie Milsap, Tyler Farr, Cody Johnson, Matt Stell, Dalton Dover, James Barker, Shenandoah, SmashMouth, Samantha Fish, and many others.
He has served as a board governor and vice-president for the Recording Academy and on the board of the Nashville Songwriters Association International. He is also an alumnus of Nashville’s Leadership Music.
For over a decade now McCormick has been on the faculty of Loyola University New Orleans where he teaches “The Craft and Business of Songwriting.” He’s guest lectured on songwriting at Berkelee College of Music, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Belmont and Tulane, as well as Grammy Pro and NSAI events.
He is a recipient of the Academy of American Poets’ “Poetry Prize” as well at the New Orleans Cutting Edge Music Conference’s “Lifetime Achievement Award.”
He earned a Bachelor’s degree in English from Georgetown University and a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from the University of New Orleans. A native New Orleanian, he divides his time between his two homes in Nashville and New Orleans.
William Michael Morgan
William Michael Morgan has only just arrived in his mid twenties, but with a love of country music deeper than The Big River itself, the Mississippi native is the very definition of an old soul. His pristine Southern vocal, timeless sound and honest lyric represents a new generation of hit makers in Music City; a modern day descendant of artists like Randy Travis, Alan Jackson and George Strait
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After signing his major label deal at the tender age of 19, Morgan began by hitting the top of the radio charts, landing at No. 1 on Media base with the Gold certified “I Met a Girl...” He then released an acclaimed EP and earned a Billboard Top 5 with his 2016 album debut, "Vinyl". He has performed more than 50 times on the Grand Ole Opry and was featured by the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum as a highlighted artist in the 2017 American Currents exhibit.
But now that he’s a few years older and few hundred shows wiser, this oldsoul is looking toward a new horizon.
“I thought our first album was a very good representation of what we doand what we like, so we set the bar really high,” says Morgan of his next batch of country tunes. “My whole message with this project is that I want to show growth not only musically, but also personally.… I feel like now I understand myself, and I understand the music I want to make.
”Produced once again by Scott Hendricks and Jimmy Ritchey, five new tracks show off the man Morgan has become. A hard worker and big time dreamer, a single father and hopeless romantic, and a pure country stalwart who’s not afraid to embrace the here and now. His new music is still drenched in twang and tenderness, but also infused with fresh energy from across the musical spectrum.
“We tried to diversify on this project,” Morgan says with an easy grin.“That can sound scary, like ‘Oh no, Willy’s changed,’ but it’s not that at all.… I’m from Mississippi, so I’ve got a lot of that rhythm and blues in mysoul. I’m influenced by a lot of music. I could be listening to Frank Sinatra and switch over to Barry White, or go from Pink Floyd to the Isley Brothers and AC/DC to Merle Haggard.… We were trying to find a happy medium between what’s current and what we love.” That happy medium shows up in full force on “Tonight Girl,” a grooving anthem about living in the moment that drips with the same casual country soul Morgan grew up around. Think of it as the steamy second chapter of the “I Met a Girl” saga.
“Where I’m from in Vicksburg, a lot of the casinos down there get packedout every night with blues music and soul,” he says. “It’s everywhere, and they play right from the heart, so I wanted to put some of that sound on there.
”With plans to release a video alongside every new track, Morgan will paint pictures in fans’ minds to enrich each story. But according to him, the foot stomping country rocker “Workin’” doesn’t need any help. He first heard the track while traveling through Mexico, and it immediately struck a chord. “It was just a rough work tape, but I saw those pictures,” he says. “I saw the guy out there working and the girl with her feet up, drinking some red wine and waiting on me to call quitting time.”
“Gone Enough” features a wide open Texas Country feel –– plus a full,orchestral string section. Three fiddles, two violas and a cello bring the heart wrenching breakup anthem to life. “I could get in the darkest room, drink thestrongest drink, drive the longest road, but I’m not gonna get gone enough toget gone from you,” he says of the track.
“Brokenhearted” features a throwback, ‘90's country sound and highlight show the genre and country sound Morgan loves so much is changing. “It is changing, the world is changing,” he explains. “Everybody is having a good time at their bonfires and, trust me, I love a bonfire and the whole idea of cold beers flowing, girls on the tailgate. But people also work, people have reallives and go through bad times. The whole message of the song is, ‘Ain’t nobody broken hearted in country music anymore?’
”Meanwhile, “Talking to a Girl” puts a hopeful spin on that same emotional honesty. Co--written by Morgan and taken straight from real life experience,the uplifting ballad stands in classy contrast to a wave of hookup anthems ––and as a reminder that every romantic cloud has a silver lining.
“I feel like we all have those moments in life where it just doesn’t gothe way you thought,” Morgan says. “Sometimes it’s your fault and sometimes it’s nobody’s fault –– and sometimes you’re just not ready. That was the case with me… I don’t think you can truly love somebody until you love yourself, andI learned that.
”Clearly, Morgan has grown a lot since he first slid into the Music City mainstream. But no matter how much growing he does, some things will neverchange –– like his passion for sharing country lyrics with pure, raw emotionwith the fans who feel the same way.
“I think we all still feel like kids sometimes,” he says. “Every time Ihit that stage I go back to my old Mississippi honky--tonk nights. Those four-hour sets, loading in and loading out in a smoky bar, sneaking a beer or two when mom and dad weren’t looking –– just having a good time. Even today, it’s still for the pure joy of it.”
Tommy Barnes
Tommy is a native of Tupelo, Mississippi, he was raised in North Alabama, and currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee. After a 4-year stint in the US Air force, he moved to Nashville to work on a music career. After a few years of paying his dues and working on his craft, he got his first cut on Hank Williams Jr. a song titled “Man to Man”. Just a few weeks later, Hank Jr. performed it on the 1989 CMA Awards. His second cut, “Too Many Honky-Tonks on My Way Home” was recorded by “Tom Wopat”, who was famous for playing “Luke Duke” on the hit TV series “the Dukes of Hazard”
In 1994, Country Artist “Tim Mcgraw” released a song “co-written by Barnes and “Gene Simmons”, “Indian Outlaw” that was one of the biggest Hits of the 90’s of all genres. At the same time he had a song “My Love” he co-wrote with Brady Seals, and Porter Howell from the group “Little Texas” that rose to Number One on the Charts and also became the Number One Music Video on CMT.
Tommy has been inducted into the Mississippi Music Hall of Fame, and also is a Pioneer Award Winner for his assistance in being one of the original founders of the Mississippi Songwriters Festival in Ocean Springs Mississippi. He also was Inducted into the “NACMAI” Hall Of Fame. He has had cuts on various artists such as, Tim McGraw, Little Texas, Brady Seals, Hank Williams Jr., Ricky Lynn Greg, Clinton Gregory, Celinda Pink, T.G. Sheppard, Englebert Humperdink, Arron Barker, Dave Parmley, Tammy Bolton, Jimmy Parker, Tom Wopat, Cook & Glenn, The Geezinslaw Brothers, Don Cox, OJ Hannsen, Bjorn Yantz, Charley Floyd, Calvin Wayne, Charlie Rivers, Tony Stampley, Cole Jones, Lee Newton, Allen Brown, Jeff Cook, Gary P Nunn, Westen Flyer, Jens Marni, and others. He currently lives in Nashville and continues to write songs.