‘Catch of the Day’ – Phil Vassar – “American Soul” [AUDIO]

Today we are focusing on a performer that has built a well deserved reputation as a one of the best songwriters in Nashville. He has written so many hits for other artists that he often jokes about compiling an album of these songs, and calling it "Songs You Probably Didn't Know I Wrote".

Phil Vassar has built quite a career writing songs for other artists. Besides writing hits for Tim McGraw, Alan Jackson, Jo Dee Messina and others, Vassar has released 6 studio albums and 3 compilations, resulting in 13 top-20 hits, 2 of which, "Just Another Day In Paradise" and "In A Real Love", hit #1.

Born and raised in Lynchburg, VA, Vassar began playing piano while attending James Madison University in Harrisonburg, eventually finding work as a singer in several local clubs. After leaving college in 1986, he moved to Nashville to pursue a musical career. After a couple years of playing the local spots, he landed a small publishing contract, but was unable to capitalize, none of his songs becoming hits.

But Vassar kept performing and kept writing and by the late 90's had landed a second publishing deal. This time he made the most of it, writing #1 hits for Jo Dee Messina ("Bye Bye" and "I'm Alright") and Alan Jackson ("Right On The Money"), along with

other hits for Tim McGraw, Neal McCoy, Collin Raye and Blackhawk. In 1999, Vassar was named ASCAP's Songwriter of the Year, while "Bye, Bye" was named Song of the Year. Soon after, Arista Nashville singed Phil to his first recording contract, releasing his debut single "Carlene" later that year. The song would serve as the lead single for his 2000 self-titled debut album, with the single peaking at #5 on the country chart.

While another Vassar composition, Tim McGraw's "My Next Thirty Years" was climbing the charts to close out 2000 at #1, a more important Vassar written song was also climbing the Billboard Country Singles chart. "Just Another Day In Paradise" topped the charts for the week of November 25th, and was replaced by Kenny Chesney for one week before McGraw finished out 2000 with a four week run.

Prior to 2016, Vassar's last studio album was 2009's Traveling Circus. In 2006, his label, Arista Nashville, had been assimilated into its parent label, and Vassar was released from his contract in the shuffle. The singer would sign with Universal South-Showdog in 2007, releasing two albums on the label; Traveling Circus would be Vassar's final album for the label. He would sign with Rodeowave Entertainment in 2011. Three singles would come from the arrangement, but none of them would crack the top-30, and no albums resulted.

On December 2nd, Vassar released his first album of new music in over 7 years, and we have the title track for that album in our spotlight today. Phil Vassar and "American Soul" is today's Catch of the Day, new music you haven't heard, but you're gonna want to hear it again.