Album Review/Interview: More "Mr. Nice Guy" - Eric Paslay is Ready to P(l)ay

courtesy Eric Paslay Twitter

​​by Melissa Coker

                      "Way back on the radio dial,
The fire got lit inside a bright-eyed child
Every note just wrapped around his soul,
From steel guitars to Memphis, all the way to rock and roll

                                                             Oh, I can hear 'em playin'                               I can hear the ringin' of a  beat up old guitar
                                                             Oh, I can hear 'em singin',
                         Keep on dreamin', even if it breaks your heart"                                      
Those dreamy lyrics come from the Eli Young Band's hit "Even If It Breaks Your Heart", co-written by Eric Paslay. "Heart" also suggests that "Some dreams keep on gettin' better" and you "gotta keep believin' if you wanna know for sure." 

Paslay is a big believer. But every so often it seems as if nice guys get the short end of the stick. Maybe that's why on his new (as of August 14) independently-released album Nice Guy that Eric Paslay playfully chose to explore the long and short of what it might be like to be a pr...er, why he has a bone to pick. 

"It don't pay to be a nice guy in a bad world," observes Paslay throughout the catchy chorus of the album's title track. Other lines wryly lay out scenarios such as getting arrested to get one's picture out there and other interesting reasons for why the nice guy is poor. Fitting that this big bold tune was written by Paslay with Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member Craig Wiseman of "Big Loud" publishing notoriety. Also of note - these lyrics actually pull off a smooth rhyme of "Bentley" with "evidently." 

"Some of these on the new album I definitely held for myself. And some of them have been simmering for a long time. It's been a minute since I've had an album come out. I'm releasing it on my own label. I'm always open to a conversation if someone wants to record a song and I'll think they'll do it justice and it means more people get to hear it. And I'll still probably record it myself," he chucklingly adds. "But every song is brand-new the first time people hear it. And you've gotta remember when you sing it to sing it that way."

Brand-newness likely presents a challenge since he wrote or co-wrote all but one of the album's 12 tracks (a cover). Appropriately-timed "Off the Edge Of the Summer" is one Nice track for which Paslay took to social media to share a special official video (at the time of this interview he's done a music video for every song off of the album so far - "good music videos too" as he says - some shot in studio, some scenes in Nashville and other overseas during tour time). Written with Emily Landis, Mark Trussell, and Emily Shackelton (whose "Love Like Mine" helped earn her a gold-sales plaque thanks to its prominence on the Nashville TV show soundtrack) the wistful nostalgic nod to missing a special someone also features backing vocals from European artist/now Nashville resident Lucie Silvas. By the way, Paslay's YouTube subscriber count is fast-nearing 100K. 

"Heartbeat Higher", a duet with Sarah Buxton (who had a lovely solo career of her own and is the pen behind some big hits including "Stupid Boy" and "Put You In A Song" by Keith Urban, whose album she also sang on) is the current single off of Guy as well as the title track of an already-available EP. There is also an official video for the song featuring the two in studio. Buxton co-wrote "Higher" and the album's "Boat in a Bottle" with Paslay, Zach Crowell and Tofer Brown, respectively. 

"I've known Sarah for almost 20 years. Her voice is so good, she's a great writer; we've written songs together for years...she's a star. She actually took me on a radio tour with her. I played guitar with her on some radio shows back when she was doing her radio tour. She's great and I love singing with her and it's awesome that these songs are coming out and I get to share at least a couple of songs that we've written together over the years," Paslay relays to us. "And I love that her voice is on there with me too."

"I Took a Pill in Ibiza" is a Mike Posner cover and the only track on the album that Paslay didn't have a hand in writing. "I've never recorded an outside song and [album co-producer] Reid Shippen and I, one of our goals for this album was I needed to record a song I didn't write. I had heard the dance mix of "Pill" with Mike Posner. It's sped up a million times and it's just a dance mix rave. But really it's one of the saddest songs ever written. I just wanted to make sure that people really heard the lyric he wrote. It's a beautifully heartbroken song. We gave it a go in the studio and I think we caught magic. Hopefully Mike Posner thinks we did his song justice and gave another beautiful version of it. I think a lot of people go through life and they never really listen. We can all be a little selfish with our own little glow sticks and our little soap parties and drinking a little much and you never actually listen to what the star on stage is saying."

Paslay lets his niceness get the better of him as kindness shines through on tracks like "Fingertips", the sweet journey of life in "Wild and Young" (written with the always-talented tunesmith Chris Wallin) and "On this Side of Heaven". 

"To write this song, we tried to imagine what life would look like if we had lost someone that we couldn’t live without. It was a really hard song to write," he says of "Heaven.'" "For those of you who are suffering, I hope this will help you to feel a little less alone in your loss. I also think this song serves as a reminder to all of us to hold onto loved ones and to tell them how important they are every day." 

Elsewhere on the album there's plenty more mister nice guy. And even a nice girl. Closer "Woman Like Her" (co-written with Laura Veltz and Lady A's Charles Kelley) is a beautifully-written ballad with shrewdly sweet gems about a woman who "loves the kitchen but hates to cook" and is "arms wide open but no open book." 

Speaking of books, though - Paslay is truly continuing to prove his career is a page-turner. Purchase Nice Guy here. 

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Eric Paslay playing at Nashville's 3rd and Lindsley, photo courtesy Melissa Coker

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