This week, I caught up with independent recording artist  Stephen Day. He is one of Nashville's most talked about rising stars and has over 32 million streams to his name. Before Covid, he was getting ready to headline his first sold out tour across the country. His brand new project  "Original Songs And Sound" is out now. Click here to listen to our full conversation and see some highlights below.

TNB - Is it true that when you were working on this record, your manager made you pay her 10 dollars for every day you didn't write a song?  Stephen - We actually did that on the past two projects. 10 bucks is like a meal. It would be like if I took her out to lunch. But it's more the principle of "ok, I want to do this" and she puts this platform in place. It's funny, but it works. I use to think that songwriting inspiration should just come to you. But this has made me realize that the inspiration comes once you have decided to sit down and start somewhere. Although I will admit I have paid her a couple hundred dollars over the life of our partnership. haha TNB - One of my favorite song on this project is "Start Again". It has a great Paul Simon "Graceland" vibe. How did that one come together? Stephen - Typically when I start writing, its just me with a piano or a guitar. I felt like this song was just coming out of me. I was sorta stunned by it. It felt almost spiritual. I think most songwriters would agree that every now and then there are days where it just flows out of you. Most of the time it's really hard work, but sometimes it's almost like the song is writing itself. TNB - Tell me about this tour you were getting ready to headline before Covid hit. Stephen - This was going to be crazy. We were getting ready to be out on the road for about a month and we were on the verge of having it sell out. We were planning on doing the North and Southeast, Midwest, and then a run on the West coast. We also had a festival booked in Manila that we were getting ready for. It was cancelled the day before we were scheduled to fly out. I am confident though that we will get back and I know it's going to feel amazing.