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 ’n’ 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 MTSU grad Eric Paslay. The tune also beats with the ideas that some dreams keep on gettin’ better and you gotta keep believin’ if you wanna know for sure.

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

Eric Paslay. Photo by Eric Adkins

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 publicized and other interesting reasons for why the nice guy is poor. Fittingly, 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.”

The album cover mugshot photo was Paslay’s idea.

“I just thought, ‘What if I go to jail for being a nice guy?’ Let’s do that. I think the people that really know me will think it’s funny. I’m hoping that no one actually tackles me or something in a convenience store,” Paslay says.

During his time as a music business major at MTSU you could find Eric behind a much different variety of bar than those steel ones featured prominently on the cover of his long-awaited new album: the coffee kind. That’s right—he was raking in cash at a different type of bucks. And that hill of beans gave way to a cup brimming with dreams. Maybe more than even he could have foreseen. Paslay says former MTSU professor Hal Newman is the reason he got into the music business program.

Paslay performs at 3rd & Lindsley. Photo by Melissa Coker

“Hal has helped me many, many times. I love him. I write better songs because of his encouragement and because of people that he brought to the NSAI Nights,” Paslay says. “Every Monday, Tuesday, we would have a songwriter, a singer, a publisher, a manager, a label head, an A&R person show up and tell us how Nashville, New York, L.A. really work[ed] at the time. We got to hear the actual textbook as it was happening now, and not how it was written five years before that. I loved getting to go to the [now-defunct] Red Rose or Wall Street or Liquid Smoke for the open mic after NSAI Night and getting to share a new song and really see the reaction from people and to hear other people’s songs as well. And also getting to go into the studio there and being the guinea pig with engineering students that were doing the recording major. You just showed up when you got studio time and had fun recording it. It was a lot of learning how to collaborate and figuring out which avenue you’d like to pursue as a musician. Everyone was always really kind to me and I’m very very grateful I had the opportunity to go to Middle Tennessee State University.”

In 2016 after a performance at the Grand Ole Opry, Paslay was presented with an MTSU Young Alumni Achievement Award plaque for outstanding achievements. The award is selected annually by the Association’s Board of Directors from nominations submitted by alumni, MTSU faculty, staff and friends.

“I can’t believe it. I’m thrilled by that and honored to be on the wall there,” he exudes. “I think my face is in copper or something . . . it was definitely one of those full-circle moments. Holy moly! When I was at MTSU I used to walk by and think maybe one day I’ll do something worth getting on the wall there. Very humbling, and I’m very grateful that I guess I’ve done something cool enough to hopefully inspire other students that anything’s possible and just keep working hard and have fun doing it and learn all how you can and use every tool that people give to you.”

These days Paslay is happily married. He and his wife, Natalie, have a young daughter named Piper (with whom he’s been able to spend a lot more time lately than initially planned). He’s traveled throughout the UK (even released the album Live in Glasgow as a result of that venture), been nominated for Grammys, played the Opry stage, had number-one songs including one of his own as a solo artist (“Friday Night”) and chart-toppers with other artists (Rascal Flatts, Jake Owen, Love & Theft and the Eli Young Band), and he’s set to open a long list of UK dates with The Shires on a 2021 tour.

As a Type 1 diabetic, Paslay has made great strides in raising money and awareness as an ambassador for the Juvenile Diabetic Research Foundation In addition to hosting an informative, interactive multi-part podcast on the subject titled “Level With Me,” he recently participated in the organization’s Promise Gala event.

But, prior to his college days, “I didn’t actually realize there was a job called a songwriter,” Paslay tells the Pulse. “Up until moving to Nashville [and discovering the business side of music at MTSU] I thought that every singer was a songwriter. I thought you had to write your own stuff to sing it,” shares the artist who co-wrote all but one of the 12 tracks on Nice Guy. “But apparently there is,” he says with a laugh. “I’m very happy that I’ve had success as a singer but also glad that other people have recorded songs I’ve written. I’ve always been drawn to the singer-songwriters; from Tom Petty to Dave Matthews to Dolly Parton to Willie, they’re all singer-songwriters. Heck, The Beatles are singer-songwriters. How many songs of theirs have other people recorded? It’s endless.”

Paslay’s songwriting successes courtesy of other artists include “Barefoot Blue Jean Night” by Jake Owen, “Even if It Breaks Your Heart” by the Eli Young Band and “Rewind” by Rascal Flatts. Paslay says one of his favorites as recorded by another artist, however, almost didn’t happen.

“I’m very grateful. I was making my first album and Amy Grant approached me because she knew about this one song. This is the one song I was holding on to for me!” Grant sweetly talked him into changing his tune (not literally). “It worked out. I love Amy Grant singing ‘Deep as It Is Wide’ . . . she actually asked me to sing it with her and she invited Sheryl Crow to sing it with us . . . at a time in my life when I was making my first album and knowing the odds of having success as a writer or as a singer were terrible, and to have someone like Amy Grant or Sheryl Crow come along and say ‘hey, you’re really good and also you have a great voice. You should sing it with us too.’ Just going back in my memories right now I would say that was a really special moment and I’m thankful Amy asked me to do that and that she recorded it.

“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 adds, chuckling. “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.”

Photo by Rachel Deeb

Appropriately-timed “Off the Edge of the Summer” is one Nice track which Paslay took to social media to share a special official video. He’s done music videos for many songs off of the album—“good music videos, too” as he says—some shot in a studio, some scenes shot in Nashville and others shot overseas during tour time. Written with Emily Landis, Mark Trussell and Emily Shackelton, the wistful nostalgic nod to missing a special someone also features backing vocals from European artist and now-Nashville resident Lucie Silvas.

“Heartbeat Higher,” a duet with Sarah Buxton, is the current single off of Nice 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 “Heartbeat Higher” and the album’s “Boat in a Bottle” with Paslay, Zach Crowell and Tofer Brown.

“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 tells the Pulse. “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 [Nice Guy co-producer] Reid Shippen and I, one of our goals for this album was that 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,” “Wild and Young” 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 “On This Side 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.”

In some song lyrics, the nice guy may be poor on paper, but Pasley serves as evidence that they can be rich in real life.

For more on Eric Paslay, visit ericpaslay.com.