Charlie welcomes Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member Craig Wiseman, a fellow Mississippian whose story starts in Hattiesburg and led to a career that includes numerous No. 1 hits and a 2015 induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Craig looks back on the radio station, church camps, and bar bands that formed his early musical education, experiences that helped shape his knack for writing honest, crowd-ready songs.

Along the way, Craig and Charlie trade music industry war stories, from VFW Sunday-night gigs and “five-piece jukebox” setlists to the hard-earned lesson that if you want to get called back, you write what people will sing. Craig shares an early formative interaction with an AM radio deejay, then takes us inside the leap to Nashville, the early grind, and his “tempo song” reputation that opened doors to partnerships with Roy Orbison, Tim McGraw, and Kenny Chesney. It’s Part 1 of a conversation full of craft, characters, and the Mississippi sensibility that informs Craig’s work to this day.

Mississippi Places Mentioned: Hattiesburg (including Midtown), Jackson, Waynesboro, Vicksburg, Hattiesburg VFW, WFOR

People and Groups Mentioned: Jim Wood, Waylon Jennings, Ferlin Husky, Frank Sinatra, George Jones, Andy Williams, Marty Stuart, Rex Bob Lowenstein, Kenny Chesney, Charlie Daniels, Barry Beckett, Ronnie Dunn, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Hank Snow, Hank Williams Jr. (song referenced), David Allen Coe (song referenced), Alabama, Roy Orbison, Confederate Railroad, Tim McGraw, Tracy Lawrence, Ken Levitan, Paul Harvey, David Conrad, Chet Atkins, Steve Wariner, Emmylou Harris, Paul Overstreet, Troy Seals, Mike Reid, Kent Robbins, Joe Galante, Jim Collins, Steve McEwan.