JT Hodges Releases New EP, City Lights to Fire Sides

Artist: JT Hodges
Album: City Lights to Fire Sides
Label: Buffalo Sound Records
Release date: October 26, 2018

JT Hodges, whose 2011 debut album spawned the hit singles "Hunt You Down" and "Goodbyes Made You Mine", has taken a break from a stint doing musicals to release a new EP entitled City Lights to Fire Sides. It follows his 2015 EP release, Locks on Doors.

Producing the album is Brandon James who says, "A project that started on a whim between two friends stuck in a studio after our writing session was canceled due to an ice storm has finally come to fruition. Thank you JT for trusting me in producing this record and sharing your vision with me I can’t wait to see this music out into the world."

Track listing:
1. Different
2. Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes
3. The One's on Me
4. Mr. Wilkerson
5. Bigger Bottle

Nashville Country Artists Chris Roberts and JT Hodges To Star In New Dan Fogelberg Musical

Chris Roberts (One Flew South's 2008 album Last of the Good Guys &
the 2015 solo album The Way West)

Country music and (off) Broadway are colliding as Nashville's own ACM-nominated artist JT Hodges and singer/songwriter Chris Roberts (One Flew South) both have been added as part of the cast and creative team for the world premiere of Part of the Plan, a new, original musical written by Kate Atkinson & Karen Harris and scored with the music and lyrics of celebrated singer-songwriter Dan Fogelberg.

Directed by Tony nominee Lynne Taylor-Corbett (Swing!), the show interweaves 20 iconic Fogelberg songs arranged by Grammy Award Winners Victor Vanacore (Ray Charles) and Laurence Juber (Paul McCartney), including "Leader of the Band," "Longer," & "Same Old Lang Syne."

Part of the Plan is set to make its debut at the James K. Polk Theater (505 Deaderick St.) in Nashville, Tennessee on Friday, September 8, 2017, with an official opening date set for Sunday, September 10, 2017. The developmental production will run through Sunday, September 24, 2017.

Part of the Plan is "a powerful story that spans three decades and follows the lives of an adopted boy and the teenaged girl who is forced to give him up. While exploring themes of love, loss, renewal, and how everything in life happens for a reason, Part of the Plan brings Fogelberg's music to a new generation as well as to the many die-hard fans who long to hear his music in all forms."

"The cast and creative team of Part of the Plan brings together the cream of the crop in their respective fields for this new artistic endeavor featuring Dan Fogelberg's most poignant, memorable, and beloved music," says Kathleen O'Brien, TPAC president and chief executive officer. "Kate Atkinson and Karen Harris have worked since 2010 to bring this production to the stage, and we're delighted to partner with them to co-produce this original production and to host the world premiere in Nashville, a town where Dan lived, performed, and wrote some of his most notable works."


JT Hodges (2012's JT Hodges & 2015's Locks on Doors)

Hodges originally broke into the country music scene with his Billboard Hot Country charting debut, “Hunt You Down.” Jake has scored several Top 10 singles since with the songs “Goodbyes Made you Mine,” “Ray Bans,” a Top 5 record, “Sleepy Little Town,” and his new song, “Dance Right Here,” In 2013, Hodges starred in “Finding Christmas” on the Hallmark Channel. The movie became the #1 rated movie of the week and cemented a rave review for Hodges from The New York Times. Most recently, Hodges can be seen starring alongside Colin Odonaghue (“Once Upon a Time”) in the independent film “The Dust Storm.”

For Chris Roberts, it's a full circle return to the stage that originally charted his musical course. Few artists can lay claim to have been born in the Deep South delta blues, grown up in the Wild West of Montana, stood in front of Broadway’s bright lights in New York (in the production of The Civil War), sung blissful harmony across the country radio airwaves (as part of Decca-signed trio One Flew South), shared the stage with Willie Nelson and Neil Young at Farm Aid, published an incredible catalog of songs written alongside some of Nashville’s brightest stars and writers, produce albums for multiple other artists, written songs for feature films (Fox & The Hound II, Assassin's Creed), laid claim to being his church’s music director in a congregation that reads like a who’s who of the music business (St. Augustine’s) and lastly, been as active in using that music gift for charitable and patriotic endeavors.

JT Hodges Preps After Midnight EP For Release This Week

Artist: JT Hodges
Album: After Midnight EP
Label: Buffalo Sound
Release date: Sept. 30, 2016

JT Hodges announced via his Facebook page that he has a brand new three song EP that will be available both in a physical format and across digital retailers on 9/30. The three songs included on the project are "After Midnight," "Let's Be Ghosts," and "Drink You Down."

“I have respected country music all of my life and no matter where country music goes stylistically it will always be a lyric based format,” Hodges said.  “It’s the kind of music where people want to hear a story and feel something real and honest. I think this new music has challenged me and set a new vibe within the sound of what everyone will hear when they listen.  I personally feel it is my best music yet.”

 Hodges originally signed with Show Dog-Universal Music in 2011 and released his debut single “Hunt You Down” from his album JT Hodges.  The follow up single “Goodbyes Made You Mine” also charted.  Another single off the album “Sleepy Little Town” spent two weeks at #1 on Sirius/XM’s The Highway.  That same year Hodges was nominated as a semi-finalist in the New Artist of the Year category for the 47^th Annual Academy of Country Music (ACM) Awards.

“I am looking forward to getting my new music and the story behind it out,” Hodges said. “I’m very proud of what’s being created. It’s true to me, and I think any artist would say he or she has no regrets and can hold their head high if that’s the case.”

 

New Music Video From JT Hodges- "Ray Bans"

New Projects Announced From John Anderson, Sammy Kershaw, Keith Anderson, Billy Currington and JT Hodges

Artist: John Anderson
Title: Goldmine
Label: Bayou Boys Music
Release Date: May 26, 2015

“With Goldmine, I thought, first off, I’m going to take my songs into the studio and make a record like I think it ought to be made, without all those other influences,” Anderson says, “I’m more pleased with the sound of this record than I have been in a long time.” The first single, “I Work a Lot Better” will be shipped to radio on May 11.  When asked about the single, Anderson stated, “It was actually Josh Turner’s idea. He is a fine young man, a great talent and a real asset to modern day country music. Josh and I have written several songs together and it’s always a pleasure to write with him”.

Artist: Sammy Kershaw
Title: I Won't Back Down
Label: Cleopatra Records
Release Date: June 9, 2015

“At all of our shows, or wherever go, people keep asking for new music. I’m glad to have a new record coming their way. They’ve waited a while. Hell, I’ve waited a while,” he said with a grin. “The other aspect of the new album that makes it exciting is getting a chance to work with Tim Yasui and all the staff at Cleopatra Records. Together, we’re ready to get it out to the people.”

The album s a mixture of all things Kershaw, ranging from the romantic yearnings of “Lay Back Down” and “Let’s Lay Here Forever” to the heartfelt regret of the haunting “I Had To Give That Up Too.” He also ventures into a light-hearted feel on up-tempo cuts like “Fixer Upper” and “Grillin’ and Chillin.” As is the case with any Kershaw album, you can always count on a cover – and I Won't Back Down adds two to the mix – “Take A Letter Maria,” originally a No. 2 hit for R.B. Greaves on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1969, and the title cut, familiar to Pop listeners as a hit for Tom Petty from 1989.

Artist: Keith Anderson
Title: I'll Bring the Music EP
Label: Indie
Release Date: May 12, 2015

Award winning songwriter/performer Keith Anderson is back with brand new music, a brand new perspective and a brand new tour.  The man behind "Pickin’ Wildflowers" will release his I'll Bring the Music EP to iTunes May 12. “After taking a break when my mother passed away, it gave me a chance to focus on my growing family and appreciate the blessings in my life.  I used that fire to create this music.  I can’t wait for people to hear it,” explains Anderson.

Artist: Billy Currington
Title: Summer Forever
Label: Mercury Nashville
Release Date: June 2, 2015

Mercury Nashville recording artist Billy Currington will return with his sixth studio album, Summer Forever, on June 2. With producer Dann Huff at the helm, the project features song from writers including Ashley Gorley, Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne, Cole Swindell, Florida Georgia Line and Jimmy Robbins.

“Making this album was such a blast for me. I put a lot of love into this project and couldn’t be more excited for fans to hear the new music,” shares Currington. “Summer Forever for me represents a positive, happy, good time lifestyle and that’s what I hope the fans feel when they hear this record.”

Artist: JT Hodges
Title: Locks on Doors EP
Label: Indie
Release Date: This week

“The EP, ‘Locks on Doors,’ is a compilation of songs I’ve always kept close to me. You could kind of say I’ve locked them behind a door, but it was time for these songs to be set free,” said Hodges of the new project. “These songs were me. The production, the music, the arrangements, all represent who I am stylistically as an artist. For the first time I was free to make music instinctively rather than calculated and for the first time every song went beyond what I imagined it could be. I’m proud of that.”  In honor of Earth Day, Hodges releases his eco-friendly EP packaged with a sleeve made of recycled paper and vegetable based inks

JT Hodges To Release Locks On Doors EP On 4/22

Following his release from Show Dog Records, JT Hodges has followed his muse with his own independent Buffalo Sound music label and has released a new single called "Ray Bans" and will release a new EP called Locks on Doors on April 22. Hodges will also return to the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday, April 25 at 7 p.m.

Hodges had success on the charts with hits "Hunt You Down" and "Sleepy Little Town" and performed for fans across the nation while performing with the likes of Eric Church, Eli Young Band, Toby Keith and Miranda Lambert. In December 2013 he received rave reviews from The New York Times on his starring performance in the Hallmark Film “Finding Christmas”, helping to secured the film as the #1 rated movie of the week. His heartwarming rendition of “Joy to the World” from the film was released digitally the same month.

New Music Video From JT Hodges- "Already High"

JT Hodges Autographed Album Giveaway

Between now and the end of August, follow That Nashville Sound either through email or Facebook (links are the right) and be entered to win one of two autographed debut albums from Show Dog Records/Universal artist JT Hodges. This album is a very strong debut, consisting of a unique sound slightly reminiscent of Elvis and Steve Holy's early work.

Country fans are wanting to hunt Hodges down lately- especially after getting a listen to this undeniable summer hit single. In a rollicking song that recalls a hot night in Memphis, Hodges sings: “She said, ‘Look me up when you get back to town.’” His answer: “’Look you up?’ I said. ‘Hell, I’m gonna hunt you down!’” Semi-stalking never sounded so steamy. Besides “Hunt You Down,” there’s plenty more to be pursued in JT Hodges. The singer/songwriter worked with a trio of top producers—Mark Wright, Don Cook, and Mark Collie—who collaborated for the first time to bring their find to the public. Those aren’t the only Nashville “names” putting their imprint on this freshman effort: Hodges’ co-writers include top veterans like Rivers Rutherford and Chris Stapleton. Vince Gill even adds his harmony vocal and a guitar solo to one ballad.

JT Hodges Self-Titled Debut Album To Hit 8/21

JT Hodges' upcoming debut album isn’t due in stores untiil 8/21, but the track listing and cover art were released when the artists tweeted photos of each of them on Instagram this past week. In mid-2011, Hodges signed to Show Dog-Universal Music and released his debut single, "Hunt You Down", which he co-wrote with Rivers Rutherford and Mark Collie. His current radio single "Goodbyes Made You Mine" is just entering the Top 40 now. Hodges' new album will include eleven songs, nine of which he co-wrote.

Here’s the track-listing:

Rather Be Wrong Than Lonely
Sleepy Little Town
Hunt You Down
Give It One More Night
When I Stop Crying
Goodbyes Made You Mine
Leaving Me Later
Right About Now
Rhythm Of The Radio
Green Eyes Red Sunglasses