Songwriters: Jason Matthews & Kerry Kurt Phillips

Kerry Kurt Phillips Bio

Kerry Kurt Phillips is an American Songwriter. After growing up in Henderson, Kentucky and Vincennes, Indiana, (he takes pride n claiming two hometowns as his own), he moved to Nashville in 1988. Two weeks later he was signed as a staff writer for the Larry Gatlin-owned publishing company, Texas Wedge Music. His very first cut came two and a half years later when George Jones recorded the classic, “Where the Tall Grass Grows”. The song was later recorded by Vern Gosdin, Ricky Van Shelton, Tom Wopat and others.

Since then, Kerry Kurt’s catalogue of over 1000 songs has garnered five #1 singles as surveyed by Billboard, and Radio & Records and have been recorded by country music’s biggest stars. He has been awarded 75 gold records and 36 platinum albums accounting for certified sales of over 45 million records and he has been called “One of America’s favorite songwriters.” One of his biggest achievements was winning the TNN/Music City News Song Of The Year Award for Billy Ray Cyrus’, “It’s All The Same To Me.”

ASCAP (The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) has recognized 15 (14 Country and 1 Pop) of Kerry Kurt’s works as being the most performed songs in the nation in each of their respective years. In addition, his peers in the NSAI (Nashville Songwriter’s Association International) have awarded three of his compositions their certificate of achievement, as has the Songwriter’s Guild of America. Kerry Kurt’s songs have also been featured in the opening ceremony of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, GA, on numerous network television shows and motion pictures and have been used in Hallmark Greeting cards and in national ad campaigns by Ford Trucks, General Motors, Pepsi Corporation, Applebee’s the PGA and the NFL.

In the past, Kerry Kurt has had songs nominated for both the CMA (Country Music Association), and the ACM (Academy of Country Music) awards, and the Grammy’s. Troubadour, the Grammy winning album of the year by George Strait, featured the Kerry Kurt composition “When You’re In Love”. Six of Phillips’ songs have received the prestigious Million-Air honor, which recognizes over one million airplays for a given song.

Kerry Kurt’s biggest hits include the George Jones Smash, “I Don’t Need Your Rockin’ Chair”, Joe Diffie’s, “Is It Cold In Here”, “Prop Me Up Beside the Jukebox”, “In My Own Backyard” and “Pickup Man” which spent a record 5 weeks at number 1. Tim McGraw’s “Down On the Farm” and “Maybe We Should Just Sleep On It”, are both products of Kerry Kurt’s pen.

Some of his most memorable hits include “That’s Just Jessie” sung by Kevin Denney, Tammy Cochran’s “Life Happened”, Craig Morgan’s “Almost Home” (winner of the 2003 Music Row Magazine Song Of The Year), Dusty Drake’s first two singles “One Last Time” and “Smaller Pieces”, the Tracy Byrd smash “Drinkin’ Bone” and Tim McGraws’s, “Do You Want Fries With That”.

George Strait’s “She Let Herself Go” was KK’s latest number 1 song and the new Craig Morgan single “This Ain’t Nothin’”, was just recognized by the ICMA as the Inspirational Song of the Year .

Other artists recording Kerry Kurt’s compositions include Kenny Chesney, John Michael Montgomery, Mark Chestnut, Aaron Tipin, Tanya Tucker, Rebecca Lynn Howard, Doug Stone, Eddie Raven, Michael Peterson, Phil Vasser, Joe Stampley, Ken Mellons, Ricochet, Doug Supernaw, Ray Benson (Asleep At The Wheel), John & Audrey Wiggins, Billy Yates, , George Canyon, Blaine Larsen and many more.

Before dedicating all his time to song writing, Phillips served double duty as tour manager and acoustic guitar player for Sony/Epic artist Joe Diffie. He has appeared on the Grand Ole Opry, in numerous music videos, and has been featured in several nationally syndicated television interviews on TNN and other networks. He has also been a featured guest on nationally syndicated radio shows, The Song Remembers When, and Country Songwriters Hit Showcase. KKP occasionally performs as a featured guest at songwriter venues such as Douglas Corner, Puckett’s Grocery, The Swallow At The Hollow and the world-famous Blue Bird Cafe and often gives lectures and sits on panel discussions on the music industry. He is a featured pro writer at the annual Tin Pan South and songwriter’s symposium. KKP is a member of the CMA, the ACM and holds a seat on the finance and pro steering committees of the NSAI.

Phillips has his own production company, Kerry Kurt Productions and has produced projects on John Berry, Sonny Burgess, Jennifer Day, Burns & Poe, Joe Diffie and others. Kerry Kurt’s song catalogues are represented by Affiliated Publishers, Zomba Music, EMI, BMG, Universal Music and DreamWorks.

Jason Matthews Bio

Jason Matthews was born in Harrell’s Store, North Carolina. At fifteen he saw Eric Clapton on television became obsessed with writing songs. His first industry fan, WRFX dj Macon in Charlotte, gave Matthews’ demo to legendary musical comedy team Pinkard and Bowden, who subsequently invited Matthews to be their roadie and in-house writer. After a year on the road, he settled in Nashville to pursue his dream of becoming a hit songwriter.

In 2006, he landed his first Number One with Billy Currington’s version of his song, “Must Be Doin’ Something Right.” This earned him the coveted Music Row Magazine Breakthrough Writer Of The Year award and several ASCAP awards. Jason is currently writing for Warner/Chappell Music, and is an artist with Valhalla Music Group.

Radio Singles:
“Lonely Eyes” – Chris Young (Sony)
“When I Get It” — Craig Campbell (Bigger Picture/Capitol)
“Country Man” — Luke Bryan (Capitol)
“Must Be Doin’ Somethin’ Right” — Billy Currington (Universal)
“Break Down Here – Julie Roberts (Universal)
“Life Happened” — Tammy Cochran (Sony)
“One Last Time” — Dusty Drake (Warner Music)
“That’s Just Jesse” — Kevin Denney (Lyric Street)
“The Ball” — James Otto (Mercury/Universal)

Contact Jason through Valhalla Music Group c/o
Debbie Matthews 615/742-9850 debbie@valhallamusic.net, or
Max Hutchinson 615/742-9850 max@valhallamusic.net