Gaskin Fires Up The Press

Columbia newcomer Bradley Gaskin entertained a roomful of press and media mavens this afternoon (4/21) at Sony Music’s Chet Atkins Place venue. Promo VP Jimmy Rector was wearing a smile as wide as the Cheshire Cat, obviously proud to show off his imprint’s latest talent.

But it was the Celebrity Apprentice, John Rich, who held the mic to introduce Gaskin, since Rich discovered the singer on MySpace and is producing his music. “A year ago he was hanging sheetrock in Duck Springs, Alabama,” Rich told the crowd. “And today he’s in Nashville with a song on the radio. He’s a true blue collar, working man, success story.”

Gaskin strummed acoustic guitar sitting on a stool, accompanied by a lone fiddle player. He told the crowd how one evening in 2005 when he returned from working with his dad, and covered in sheetrock dust, he grabbed his guitar and decided to write a country song with some honest emotion. That song turned out to be “Mr. Bartender” which has recently gone to radio and is currently at No. 42 and climbing on MusicRow’s CountryBreakout chart.

It was Gaskin’s wife who was insistent that he should put a recording of the song on MySpace. “I didn’t even have a computer,” smiled Gaskin. “But she did. In fact one of my friends said it was too country and didn’t fit what was currently going on. But apparently they were wrong.”

After finding the singer’s MySpace page, Rich’s development company invited Gaskin to come perform at the Get Rich Talent Search. Gaskin won the competition. In February Rich brought his new discovery to Sony where was signed PDF (pretty damn fast).

As part of a four song set at today’s event, Gaskin respectfully performed Keith Whitley’s classic “Don’t Close Your Eyes.”  “I fell in love with a sad song and a teardrop at a young age,” said Gaskin who confided that as a youngster he would grab a broom or even a fly swatter and pretend he was singing to a crowd. Now, that dream is coming true.