Hit Writers Round with Irene Kelley, Lance Cowan & Mark Irwin $12- 1.18.25
Irene Kelley
When Irene Kelley permanently left her native Pennsylvania to move to Nashville in 1984, she brought along her guitar, a handful of original material, and a love for traditional and bluegrass music. She was signed to MCA Nashville’s country division and was adamant about having Carl Jackson, Sam Bush, Mark O'Connor, and other bluegrass musicians join her on her first recording project. As she puts it, “The record was country, but the heart and soul was bluegrass.” Though the full MCA album was never released, two singles were, and they both charted on Billboard. Irene then took some time to focus on writing music and raising her two young daughters. During this period, she enjoyed success as a songwriter and scored cuts for artists such as Ricky Skaggs & Sharon White, Loretta Lynn, Trisha Yearwood & others.
Fast forward to 1999 when Kelley decided to record an indie record for Relentless Nashville. This garnered her several invitations to appear on the Grand Ole Opry. Upon her first performance on the Opry, country superstar, Alan Jackson happened to be listening to the show from his truck radio and promptly called Irene's publisher to ask if he could record her song, "I'm a Little Bluer Than That" for his upcoming Drive LP. He also asked if Irene could put a vocal harmony on the track. More than three decades later, with cuts by Bill Anderson, Pat Green, Claire Lynch, Little Big Town, Brother Phelps, and many others, Irene has assumed her place in a long line of great American songwriters.
** "Wild Mountain Stream" Irene Kelley/Billy Droze/Terry Herd Number#1 song in bluegrass for 2021!
partial discography:
“A Little Bluer Than That” Alan Jackson, Drive- BMG
“Hold Her”, Loretta Lynn, Still Country- Audium
“O, Mexico”, Trisha Yearwood , “Thinkin About You”- MCA
“Second Chance”, Trisha Yearwood, Inside Out- MCA
“Cold All The Time”, Bill Anderson, What I Feel – indie
“Somewhere Between Texas And Mexico”, Pat Green – Universal/Mercury/Republic
“Don’t Waste My Time”, Little Big Town- SONY
“Not So Different After All”, Brother Phelps – Asylum Records
“You Are A Rock (And I’m A Rolling Stone)”, Carl Jackson – CBS
“Jesus Rock My Baby”, The Whites – Curb Records
“Silver and Gold”, Claire Lynch – Rounder Records
“Love Can’t Ever Get Better Than This”, Ricky Skaggs & Sharon White – CBS (Sony) & Curb
Lance Cowan
In a recent review of his new album, So Far, So Good, American Songwriter Magazine observed Lance Cowan “is a remarkably talented singer/songwriter who’s every bit as capable and credible as the artists he represents. He is a master of melody, and the proof lies in the inviting and infectious attitude and approach that pervade this album overall. The gift he’s chosen to share with those who were previously unaware of his ample talents on the performance side of the divide between artist and audience. So Far, So Good indeed!”
For the past 30 years, Lance has worked behind the scenes with some of the country’s finest songwriters, including Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Butch Hancock, Michael Martin Murphey and many more. Along the way, he has quietly honed his own songwriting skills, learning from those artists and influences Jackson Browne, Mark Heard and John Prine to name a few.
His works have been performed and / or recorded by such respected artists as Joan Baez, Janis Ian, David Mallett, and several independent artists. In the studio he has been produced by legends like Allen Reynolds (Garth Brooks) and Jim Rooney (John Prine, Nanci Griffith) and has worked with musicians Dan Dugmore (Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor), Sam Bush, Pat Flynn (New Grass Revival), Dave Pomeroy (Don Williams), Andrea Zonn (James Taylor), Keith Sewell (The Chicks), Robert Reynolds (The Mavericks), among others.
Mark Irwin
Coming from the Northeast, moving to Nashville in 1987, it took Mark Irwin four years to land his first cut, which happened to be the Christmas song “Meet Me Under The Mistletoe” recorded by Randy Travis for his “Old Time Christmas” album.
Soon after, Mark co-wrote Alan Jackson’s first number one hit “Here In The Real World”, a two time CMA Song of the Year nominee, ACM Song of the Year nominee and winner of the Music City News Award for Song of the Year 1990.
Mark co-wrote the Tyler Farr number one single “Redneck Crazy” and the Tim McGraw number one hit song “Highway Don’t Care”, featuring Taylor Swift on guest vocals and Keith Urban on guitar…as well as Blake Shelton’s recent number one hit sin-gle, “Neon Light”.
Other recent cuts that Mark co-wrote include Tim McGraw’s single “Looking For That Girl” and Chris Janson’s “Power of Positive Drinking”
Also, along with having songs on Alan Jackson’s “DRIVE” album and Garth Brooks’ “THE LOST SESSIONS”, Mark co-wrote the singles, “Bama Breeze” for Jimmy Buffet and That’s How They Do It In Dixie” for Hank Williams Jr.
Over the years Mark has had 5 songs recorded Tim McGraw, 4 songs recorded by Marti-na McBride, 2 recorded by Blake Shelton, 2 by Lee Brice and other cuts by George Jones, Faith Hill, Thomas Rhett, Bomshel, Billy Ray Cyrus, Jessie James, Tracey Law-rence, Sammy Kershaw, Chely Wright, Patty Loveless, Highway 101, The Whites, Chris LeDoux, Bucky Covington, Glen Campbell, Neal McCoy, The Amazing Rhythm Aces and The Dirt Drifters, among others.
Actress Gwyneth Paltrow also recorded one of Mark’s songs for her movie “Country Strong”
Mark had the song “Bet You Still Think About Me” on Blake Shelton’s CD “If I’m Honest” and “Sleeping in the Stars” on the Tim McGraw/Faith Hill duets CD ‘The Rest Of Our Life”
Mark’s latest cuts are on newcomers Ben Gallaher, Tucker Beathard and a new Tim McGraw song to be featured on his upcoming album, “Standing Room Only”, as well as the recent single “20,000 Kisses” by American Idol alumni Hunter Metts. Mark also cowrote the title tune “Strong” from the album by recent ‘The Voice’ contestant Ian Flanigan.
In 2022 Mark celebrated his 5th #1 with the Bluegrass song “Lonely” recorded by Irene Kelley, as well as seeing his song “New Friends” recorded by Lainey Wilson for her ACM Album of the Year ‘Bell Bottom Country’. (The song was also featured in an epi-sode of Yellowstone during the this past (5th) season.)
Mark is also prominently featured in the Bluebird Café documentary “Bluebird”
Show at 8:00 pm, $12 cover charge, call 615-794-5527 for show and dinner reservations.