Paul Stephens

As the saying goes; "It all begins with the song"... Since his 1994 self titled debut, Paul’s approach to writing and performing has been rooted in delivering heartfelt and memorable material. Subsequent releases "Cross The Mississippi" (1997), "Simple Yesterdays" (2002) and "Not Quite Nashville" (2006) continued in the songwriter’s songwriter direction. Paul Stephens fifth release; “Windshield Memoirs” (due May 2008), ups the writers creative anti with eleven sharply penned new compositions covering a wide range of lyrical, emotional and musical ground.The release crosses over somewhere between Americana and Country along the way celebrating southern hospitality in “Cowgirls & Cowbells”, “Small Packages” and “Nashville Rain”; paying reverence to the likes of Joni Mitchell, Carl Perkins and Furrey Lewis in “When In Memphis”, referencing Pet Sounds in “Blind Spot” or lamenting creative obsolescence via “Back In Vaudeville”; each track on this release is a unique portrait contributing to the underlying roadmap that makes up “Windshield Memoirs”.Paul conceived much of the material that makes up “Windshield Memoirs” during his many miles of travel of the last few years. “Traveling gives you so many opportunities for ideas”, suggests Stephens. “You tend to be alone a lot out there which allows for deeper observations which can be great fodder for a song”.The CD was recorded and mixed in Nashville with producer PT Houston and some great players including Dan Dugmore (Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Tim McGraw), Glen Duncan (Mark Knopfler, Emmylou Harris, Kenny Chesney), Gary Smith (Dolly Parton, Ricky Skaggs, Faith Hill), Don Kerce (Brett Michaels, Disappear Fear), Paul Schoelten (Brooks & Dunn, Craig Morgan), P.T. Houston (Texas Tornados, Randy Meisner, Phil Everly) and Brian Davidson. “I will forever be in debt to Houston for his amazing work on this project”. “We had a great time making the record and got to work with some awesome players which as musicians, we really appreciated”.A seasoned performer who has shared bills with the varied likes of Jim Lauderdale, Gary Bennett (BR549), Webb Wilder, Brian Henneman (the Bottlerockets), Bugs Henderson, Leon Russell, Rick Derringer and Unknown Hinson; Paul plans to expand his performance schedule while continuing to write and record new material. "I love to write songs”. This is what I have been doing since I was nine years old". "The main goal I have is to be genuine in my writing and performances." In this rests the secret to Paul’s craft - he writes and sings about what he knows best...