Country Music Icons Who Got Their Start Playing The QYK Conference Room
A couple weeks ago before the Bay 2 Beach Music Festival, I looked back at all the big name country stars who at one point were just opening acts at Coachman Park over the years. Brett Eldredge, Jon Pardi and a host of others were among those who took the stage early in the day playing to just a few dozen because they didn’t have a lot of big hits on the radio yet.
That conversation I had with former QYK morning man Steve Austin led to the idea of doing a podcast about QYK artists who played our conference room in their early days.
Working in radio, a countless number of up and coming acts come by to play their music in hopes you’ll like and play it. 90% of them… you’ll never see them again. Some you spot the talent and they blow up. Then there will be an act that blows you away and nothing happens to them. Over the years, the major country music stars that first played our conference room will blow you away.
I had Steve prepare a list of country music’s icons that have performed for us in our conference room over the years. NOW we have a beautiful performance studio, complete with a stage, lighting and great acoustics. But until a year or so ago, artists who came by played under the awful flourescent office lights in a boring conference room probalby not much different than one where you work.
This list as you’ll hear blew me away… especially the first one. A country LEGEND came by and spent time just chatting with Steve’s mom on the phone about gardening. And then there’s one performer that Steve tells me about that gets me irate because I’m an enormous fan of him. Steve was supposed to go home for the day but had to stick around to introduce 3 songs by some new guy named Eric Church.
I don’t wanna spoil this list… you’ve just gotta hear it. Hopefully you’ll enjoy hearing Steve’s QYK conference room performance stories as much as I did.
https://www.instagram.com/p/eFmJk3J52W/?tagged=wqyk
