Gene Watson Peer's Quote From Kent Blazy: July 2011

Gene Watson's peers within the country music industry believe in the sheer talent of this unassuming man from east Texas, so much so that Gene is regarded by many of them as 'the singer's singer' - and rightly so!

All of Gene Watson's Peers who were contacted during 2011 were most gracious with their time and words. It is here, within this special part of the Gene Watson Fan Site, that you have an opportunity to read a quote from Kent Blazy, which he submitted to this site on Monday 25 July 2011.

Sean Brady would like to take this opportunity to say 'thank you' to Kent Blazy, who made a special contribution to this unique part of this online 'celebration of a Lone Star Hero'.

Kent Blazy
This quote was submitted on Monday 25 July 2011.

'Gene Watson is truly one of those amazingly gifted artists who has graced our lives, hearts and ears with his soulful voice and great choice of songs.

His distinctive sound shines through on the radio like a ray of true country music.

God Bless Gene Watson'.

Thank you, Kent Blazy, for your support of Gene Watson.

About Kent Blazy...

Kent Blazy, growing up in Lexington, Kentucky became musically inspired when he heard Roger McGuinn playing his Rickenbacker guitar on 'Mr. Tambourine Man'.  This created a new choice and Kent traded in his baseball glove for a guitar.  He began his musical journey playing with a series of bands all over the eastern half of the United States of America.

By the mid-1970s, Kent Blazy was band leader, playing guitar and touring with Canadian legend, Ian Tyson.  Sound advice and the timely first place win in a national song-writing contest persuaded him to move to Nashville in 1980.  Kent's commitment was now to focus his efforts on the craft of song-writing, which turned out to be a very fine decision.

Gary Morris recorded Kent Blazy's 'Headed For A Heartache' and included the track on 'Gary Morris' (Warner Bros. Records, 1982).

In 1982, sooner than expected, Gary Morris took 'Headed For A Heartache' to No.5 on the Billboard country music singles chart.  In the years that followed, other artists, such as The Forrester Sisters, T. Graham Brown, Donna Fargo and Moe Bandy recorded Kent’s tunes.

In an effort to develop more knowledge of the recording side of music and for the benefits of a 'day job', Kent Blazy opened a home recording studio.  The studio offered an option for Kent’s demos, as well as a demo service to other writers.

This studio introduced Kent Blazy to some of the new demo singers and songwriters of Nashville; names like Randy Travis, Billy Dean, Trisha Yearwood, Joe Diffie and Martina McBride, who went onto become well-known country artists.

In 1987, Kent Blazy was introduced to a new demo singer by Bob Doyle, then with ASCAP, soon to be the manager for this emerging talent, Garth Brooks.

Garth Brooks became Kent Blazy’s most requested demo singer and Bob Doyle also advised, 'Garth writes a little bit too'.  The first song Garth and Kent penned together was 'If Tomorrow Never Comes', which became the first Billboard No.1 song for both of them.

The friendship and writing partnership continued as Garth Brooks included eight more of their songs on his albums.  Four more captured the Billboard No.1 slot: 'Somewhere Other Than The Night', 'Ain’t Goin’ Down (‘Til The Sun Comes Up)', 'It’s Midnight Cinderella' and 'She’s Gonna Make It'.

Garth Brooks’ album, 'The Lost Sessions', includes another Kent Blazy and Garth Brooks song, 'For A Minute There', which was written for their fathers.

Kent Blazy and fellow songwriter Pat Alger co-produced the album 'In The Beginning: A Songwriter’s Tribute To Garth Brooks'.  This project was a collective of six other songwriters who composed songs on Garth’s first two albums.  The focus was to present the songs in the original acoustic and authentic sound form as Garth first heard them.

The album was originally planned as a gift to Garth during his one-hundred million party in 2000.  An independent recording label saw the potential and released the album in 2001, resulting in 50,000+ copies sold to date.

An added benefit of this album included a tour in Ireland for Kent Blazy and three other Garth Brooks writers.  While he was in Ireland, Kent Blazy discovered that 'If Tomorrow Never Comes' was released in Europe, Japan, Australia and the UK by an Irish artist, Ronan Keating, whose recording became a successful No.1 song in many countries.

Kent Blazy’s song-writing continues with established writing partnerships, as well as developing partnerships with new writers and artists.

Many of Kent Blazy's crafted works have been recorded by artists such as Diamond Rio, Kenny Chesney, Terri Clark, Clay Walker, Patty Loveless, Julie Roberts, Andy Griggs, Blaine Larsen and Chris Young.

Gary Morris recorded Kent Blazy's 'Headed For A Heartache' and included the track on 'Gary Morris' (Warner Bros. Records, 1982).

Garth Brooks recorded Kent Blazy's 'If Tomorrow Never Comes' (co-written with Garth Brooks) and included the track on 'Garth Brooks' (Capitol Records, 1989); the track was No.1 on the Billboard country music singles chart for one week in December 1989.

Garth Brooks recorded Kent Blazy's 'Cold Shoulder' (co-written with Kim Williams and Garth Brooks) and included the track on 'Ropin' The Wind' (Liberty Records, 1992).

Diamond Rio recorded Kent Blazy's 'Calling All Hearts (Come Back Home)' (co-written with Monty Powell and Royal Wade Kimes) and included the track on 'Close To The Edge' (Arista Records, 1992).

Garth Brooks recorded Kent Blazy's 'Somewhere Other Than The Night' (co-written with Garth Brooks) and included the track on 'The Chase' (Liberty Records, 1992); the track was No.1 on the Billboard Hot Country Tracks and Singles Chart for one week in January 1993.

Garth Brooks recorded Kent Blazy's 'Ain't Goin' Down ('Til The Sun Comes Up)' (co-written with Kim Williams and Garth Brooks) and included the track on 'In Pieces' (Liberty Records, 1993); the track was No.1 on the Billboard Hot Country Chart for one week in September 1993.

Clay Walker recorded Kent Blazy's 'Heartache Highway' (co-written with Kim Williams and Clay Walker) and included the track on 'If I Could Make A Living' (Giant Records, 1994).

Clay Walker recorded Kent Blazy's 'Money Ain't Everything' (co-written with Kim Williams and Clay Walker) and included the track on 'If I Could Make A Living' (Giant Records, 1994).

Clay Walker recorded Kent Blazy's 'Down By The Riverside' (co-written with Kim Williams and Clay Walker) and included the track on 'If I Could Make A Living' (Giant Records, 1994).

Chris LeDoux (Saturday 2 October 1948 - Wednesday 9 March 2005) recorded Kent Blazy's 'Slow Down' (co-written with Kim Williams and Garth Brooks) and included the track on 'Haywire' (Liberty Records, 1994).

Clay Walker recorded Kent Blazy's 'I Won't Have The Heart' (co-written with Clay Walker and Kim Williams) and included the track on 'Hypnotize The Moon' (Giant Records, 1995).

Clay Walker recorded Kent Blazy's 'Let Me Take The Heartache (Off Your Hands)' (co-written with Clay Walker and Kim Williams) and included the track on 'Hypnotize The Moon' (Giant Records, 1995).

Garth Brooks recorded Kent Blazy's 'Cowboys And Angels' (co-written with Kim Williams and Garth Brooks) and included the track on 'Fresh Horses' (Liberty Records, 1995).

Garth Brooks recorded Kent Blazy's 'It's Midnight Cinderella' (co-written with Kim Williams and Garth Brooks) and included the track on 'Fresh Horses' (Liberty Records, 1995); the track reached No.5 on the Billboard Hot Country Chart in mid-1996.

Chely Wright recorded Kent Blazy's 'Heart Shaped World' (co-written with Bob DiPiero and Kim Williams) and included the track on 'Right In The Middle' (Polydor Records, 1994).

Diamond Rio recorded Kent Blazy's 'That's What I Get For Loving You' (co-written with Neil Thrasher) and included the track on 'IV' (Arista Records, 1996).

Ty Herndon recorded Kent Blazy's 'Her Heart Is Only Human' (co-written with Steve Dorff and Kim Williams) and included the track on 'Living In A Moment' (Epic Records, 1996).

Garth Brooks recorded Kent Blazy's 'How You Ever Gonna Know' (co-written with Garth Brooks) and included the track on 'Sevens' (Liberty Records, 1997).

Garth Brooks recorded Kent Blazy's 'She's Gonna Make It' (co-written with Kim Williams and Garth Brooks) and included the track on 'Sevens' (Liberty Records, 1997); the track reached No.2 on the Billboard Hot Country Chart in early 1998.

Ty Herndon recorded Kent Blazy's 'Tears In God's Eyes' (co-written with Kim Williams and Skip Ewing) and included the track on 'Big Hopes' (Epic Records, 1998).

Rhett Akins recorded Kent Blazy's 'The Rest Of Forever' (co-written with Skip Ewing) and included the track on 'What Living's All About' (Decca Records, 1998).

Patty Loveless recorded Kent Blazy's 'Can't Get Enough' (co-written with Blair Day and Will Rambreaux) and included the track on 'Classics' (Epic Records, 1999); the track reached No.21 on the Billboard country music singles chart in April 1999.

Paul Brandt recorded Kent Blazy's 'There's A World Out There' (co-written with Skip Ewing) and included the track on 'That's The Truth' (Reprise Records, 1999).

Kenny Chesney recorded Kent Blazy's 'I Might Get Over You' (co-written with Skip Ewing) and included the track on 'Everywhere We Go' (BNA Records, 1999).

Garth Brooks recorded Kent Blazy's 'Why Ain't I Running' (co-written with Tony Arata and Garth Brooks) and included the track on 'Scarecrow' (Liberty Records, 2001).

Garth Brooks recorded Kent Blazy's 'Beer Run' (co-written with Kim Williams, Amanda Williams, Keith Anderson and George Ducas) and included the track on 'Scarecrow' (Liberty Records, 2001); the track was a duet with George Jones (Saturday 12 September 1931 - Friday 26 April 2013).

Garth Brooks recorded Kent Blazy's 'The Storm' (co-written with Kim Williams and Garth Brooks) and included the track on 'Scarecrow' (Liberty Records, 2001).

Clay Walker recorded Kent Blazy's 'She's Easy To Hold' (co-written with Clay Walker and Kim Williams) and included the track on 'Say No More' (Giant Records, 2001).

Chad Brock recorded Kent Blazy's 'Population Minus One' (co-written with Neil Thrasher and Wendell Mobley) and included the track on 'III' (Warner Bros. Records, 2001).

Kenny Rogers recorded Kent Blazy's 'Tears In God's Eyes' (co-written with Skip Ewing and Kim Williams) and included the track on 'Back To The Well' (Dreamcatcher Records, 2003).

Julie Roberts recorded Kent Blazy's 'If You Had Called Yesterday' (co-written with Cory Batten and Wendell Mobley) and included the track on 'Julie Roberts' (Mercury Records, 2004).

Garth Brooks recorded Kent Blazy's 'For A Minute There' (co-written with Garth Brooks) and included the track on 'The Lost Sessions' (Pearl Records, 2005).

Terri Clark recorded Kent Blazy's 'Cowboy Days' (co-written with Leslie Satcher) and included the track on 'Life Goes On' (Mercury Records, 2005).

Terri Clark recorded Kent Blazy's 'Honky Tonk Song' (co-written with Leslie Satcher) and included the track on 'Life Goes On' (Mercury Records, 2005).

Andy Griggs recorded Kent Blazy's 'If You Had Called Yesterday' (co-written with Cory Batten and Wendell Mobley) and included the track on 'The Good Life' (Montage Music Group, 2008).

Chris Young recorded Kent Blazy's 'That Makes Me' (co-written with Cory Batten and Chris Young) and included the track on 'The Man I Want To Be' (RCA Records, 2009).

Chris Young recorded Kent Blazy's 'Gettin' You Home (The Black Dress Song)' (co-written with Cory Batten and Chris Young) and included the track on 'The Man I Want To Be' (RCA Records, 2009); the track reached No.1 on the Billboard Hot Country Tracks and Singles Chart in October 2009.

Julie Roberts was a special guest of Kent Blazy and The For Peace Band at Douglas Corner in Nashville on Friday 28 January 2011; enjoy a performance of the Mel McDaniel (Sunday 6 September 1942 - Thursday 31 March 2011) hit 'Baby's Got Her Blue Jeans On'!

Mel McDaniel's seventh album for Capitol Records was 'Let It Roll' (Capitol Records, 1984), which included 'Baby's Got Her Blue Jeans On'; the track was No.1 on the Billboard country music singles chart for one week in February/March 1985.

Mel McDaniel: Sunday 6 September 1942 - Thursday 31 March 2011

Visit Kent Blazy's Official Site
Visit Kent Blazy's Official MySpace Site
Visit Kent Blazy's Official YouTube Channel