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Larry Cordle was born and raised on a small family farm in eastern Kentucky where music was a way of life. After receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting, Larry ended up working for a CPA firm during the day and playing in clubs at night. All the while, He desperately wanted to devote to music completely, but his commitments would remain divided until he wrote a song that changed everything.

Cordell, Kentucky was not only home for Larry, but also for his friend, Ricky Skaggs. Upon hearing Larry’s song, “Highway 40 Blues,” Ricky promised that he would one day record it. In the summer of 1983, it was the No. 1 song in the nation, helping to launch Larry’s songwriting career and Skaggs’ country music career. In 1985, at Ricky’s urging, Larry gave up the stability his office job and moved to Nashville. At last count, his songs have appeared on projects that have sold a combined total of more than 50 million records, by artists such as Alison Krauss, Garth Brooks, George Strait, Trisha Yearwood, Reba McEntire, Alan Jackson, and others.

Though songwriting took Larry to Nashville, his desire to perform has never subsided. His band, Lonesome Standard Time, has been awarded Song of the Year by the IBMA on two times, garnered Gammy nominations for Best Bluegrass Album and landed No. 1 slots on the Bluegrass and Americana charts.

In addition to songwriting, Cordle is often featured as a vocalist with some of Nashville’s top names - Garth Brooks, Rebecca Lynn Howard, and Blake Shelton. His lead singing is featured on Livin, Lovin, Losin: A Tribute to the Louvin Brothers, which won a Grammy for Best Country Album in 2003 and was named Recorded Event of the Year by IBMA in 2004.

Multiple Grammy award winner, Carl Jackson, was born in the small town of Louisville, Mississippi.

At age 14 he was asked to be a Virginia Boy by the bluegrass greats and soon found himself on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry. When Glen Campbell came into his hometown to play Carl went out to see the show. Afterward Glen’s banjo player persuaded Carl to come by the next day for a jam session. After picking for a while, Larry told Carl he had been looking for someone to take his place with Glen and that Carl was the man. Larry took him to meet and play for Campbell and Glen hired him on the spot.

During his years with Glen, Carl started to concentrate on his vocal and songwriting abilities. He recorded two albums for Capitol Records, three for Sugar Hill , and then in 1984 his signing with Columbia Records produced two Top 40 country songs.

As a vocalist, you can hear him on recordings with the likes of Vince Gill, Garth Brooks, Dolly Parton, Martina McBride, Hank Williams Jr., Linda Ronstadt and Merle Haggard just to name a few; or you may hear a Jackson song recorded by such artists as Glen Campbell, Pam Tillis, Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Diamond Rio, Patty Loveless, Vince Gill and many, many more.

Jackson ’s “Little Mountain Church House” was voted the 1990 IBMA song of the year and a recent version was a 2005 GMA Dove Award nominee. In 1992, for his album with John Starling entitled Spring Training , Carl was awarded his first Grammy. A few months later he received a GMA Dove Award for Southern Gospel Song of the Year. The ballad “No Future In The Past” by Vince Gill was named the No. 1 song of the year for 1993 by Radio & Records magazine. In 1998 Garth Brooks included “Fit For A King” in his Sevens project. All in all, Carl has had hundreds of his songs recorded, with sales in excess of 40 million. A recent poll by Bluegrass Unlimited magazine found Carl to have written eight of the Top 200 bluegrass songs of all time.


Originally from Chillicothe, Ohio, Jerry Salley has been writing and singing in Nashville since 1982. To date, he has had 300 songs recorded in his career, including; “I’m Gonna Take That Mountain” by Reba McEntire, “Breaking New Ground” by Wild Rose, “I Fell in the Water” by John Anderson, “How Do You Sleep at Night” by Wade Hayes, and ten Top 20 gospel songs.

As an artist, Jerry has performed on numerous stage shows, including the honor of performing as a soloist many times on the world famous Grand Ole .Opry. His television appearances include “Late Night With David Letterman,” “Regis and Kathy Lee,” NBC’s “Today Show” and several different TNN (The Nashville Network) shows.

In addition to his “SESAC Country Music Songwriter of the Year” award and Dove Award recognition from the Gospel Music Association, Jerry has received numerous awards from different associations for his songwriting accomplishments including NSAI, SESAC and Gospel Voice magazine.

Along with friends Carl Jackson and Larry Cordle, the trio (Cordle, Jackson & Salley) have recorded the song “You’re Runnin’ Wild” on the new Louvin Brothers tribute album on Universal-South Records, which features numerous country music stars singing songs made famous by the legendary duo.