True success in Nashville tends to be self taught, and country music’s Baker Grissom has learned most of his lessons by waiting in line.
When he first arrived in Music City after finishing college in Arkansas, the country singer-songwriter paid his dues by waiting in lines outside places like The Bluebird Café, The Commodore, and Blue Bar for their coveted open mic nights. “I left Arkansas four days after graduation. I lived with someone I found on Craigslist. All I cared about was getting to town,” Grissom recalls of his first shots at fame, queued up and ready to share his talents with the city.
And in those lines, he learned that patience pays off, that dreams happen when you’re driven, and that the people he met there would end up being his friends, co-writers and collaborators. They were all going to chase the neon dream together. So they wrote songs, they networked, and they all had each others’ backs. Meanwhile, back home, Grissom’s mother had his back. She entered her son’s song “Sunday” into Arkansas’ Alchemy Songwriting Competition, and he won. That win led to a connection with hit songwriter Adam Hambrick – Justin Moore’s “Somebody Else Will” and Dan + Shay’s “How Not To” -- who took Grissom under his wing.
After that, Grissom came to the attention of music industry executive Brooke Antonakos, and she helped him navigate his first publishing deal. “He landed several strong holds with artists from Jason Aldean to Jon Pardi,” she says, “but I knew deep down that Baker was the artist meant to cut these songs.”
That was when he started writing constantly – often with Nashville’s most prolific hitmakers like Casey Beathard, Marv Green, Mark Irwin, The Warren Brothers, Tony Martin and more – even though he was still working odd jobs at Costco and Target to make ends meet.
And now, after a handful of years in Nashville’s tight-knit circles, Grissom has honed his craft and is ready to let the world hear what he’s been putting his blood, sweat and tears into. In a sea of songs that often touch on the same themes, Grissom’s stand out. His drinkin’ songs aren’t just about the drinking, for example, they’re about what landed him on that barstool in the first place.
After a couple million streams of his first few releases – “Sunday,” “Workin’ Man,” and “Drink for That” -- Grissom has brought in Grammy Award-winning producer Ben Fowler (Eric Clapton, Rascal Flatts, Maddie & Tae, Kelsea Ballerini, Jameson Rodgers, Kris Kristofferson, Lynyrd Skynyrd) to cut his sophomore project, due out later this year. They’re currently in the studio putting the finishing touches on his upcoming release “Her on Out.”
Whatever songs Grissom has written so far, and whatever songs he writes in his very bright future, they’re sure to be solid country gold. Because that’s the lane he’s driven to be in, and he’s not veering off course any time soon. “The more I live it,” he says, “the more I love it."
