ERIC PASLAY’S debut release became available in the UK last week. A new name to the British musical shores, Paslay has been honing his craft in the US as a songwriter. He was co-writer of Jake Owen’s Barefoot Blue Jean Night, Eli Young’s Even If It Breaks Your Heart, and Love and Theft’s Angel Eyes – all of them No 1 hits on the country chart – and he has also written album cuts for Lady Antebellum and the Rascall Flatts 2014 single Rewind.

In 2013, Paslay appeared on Amy Grant’s album, How Mercy Looks From Here, sharing lead vocals with Grant and Sheryl Crow on a song he wrote called Deep As It Is Wide. In publicity for the album, Grant stated that she is most excited about Paslay as an up-andcoming artist.

This album could prove her right. I first came across him when I introduced him on the American Connection Country Show when I noticed that he had reached number two in the Country Airplay Charts with a song taken from his album entitled Friday Night – that same song has also topped the US Country Charts.

His album is a slice of contemporary country at its best, with Paslay displaying his vocal and songwriting talent with light and shade throughout.

Brilliant musicianship amplifies a wellproduced offering that is sure to gain him more fans across this side of the pond.

He has moved from the back of the room to centre stage with the credibility to be listened to as an artist in his own right, and not just a writer of great songs.

Eric Paslay: Humphead Records B001873402