He’s shared album credits with Garth Brooks and Tom Petty and his songs have been heard everywhere from the Tony Kornheiser Show to the Bluebird Café. Nashville native Randy Finchum is an award-winning songwriter and radio personality who has had over sixty songs recorded by various artists, among them country music great multi-platinum artist Sammy Kershaw. In the Christian Country genre, Randy has been blessed with four #1 songs as a writer and an artist, among them “Jesus Was a Rebel”, which was named 95.5 WTVY’s SON Country Countdown “Song Of The Year” for 2014. In May of 2016 Irish country music star Mary Duff released her CD “Changing Lanes” (ISG/Sony Music Australia) which included two of Randy’s songs, including her single and video for “What Heart Can Do”, which currently has over 350,000 views. In 2018 Irish band Hurricane Highway's cut of Randy's song "I Learned From You" was considered for a Grammy nomination.
On the radio side, Randy hosts the weekly “New Music Showcase” segment on the syndicated radio show “The HLE Christian Country Countdown with Steve Roberson” and previously hosted the "Music City Magic" segment on 106.5 WOCY as well as the “Nashville Night” radio show on the Nashville Songwriters Radio Network. Randy also has written theme songs for the nationally syndicated radio talk show “The Long Version with Fletcher Long” and the HLE Radio morning show, and has recently performed on the “Nashville Today” show and “The Music Row Show” on Nashville’s legendary radio station 650 WSM.
Randy has given his testimony of how God saved him in churches from Michigan to Alabama. His mission in music and in testimony is to let others know no matter where they are or what they’ve done, God is waiting for them to call on Him. “He is a great God, and I never knew just how great He was until He pulled me out of the darkness and into His light,” says Randy. “God’s got a miracle waiting on you!
7:30 Debbie Zavitson & friends
8:00 Donnie Winters
8:30 Angela Easley, Tammy Sue Taylor, Chris Beard
9:00 Dan Petti, Dina Bach, Nathan Sennett
An orphan who turned into a preacher
A preacher who turned into a songwriter
A songwriter that turned into a drunk
A drunk that is learning to be a human being
Travis Meadows spent years trying to escape himself. He’s anything but selfish, so he’d find a way to get away––a bottle, a bag, a sermon––and he’d share it with everyone. That was then. Now, Meadows isn’t trying to get anybody lost or high. Instead, he’s trying to get every single one of us to settle in deeply to ourselves––and love what’s there.
“I feel like what I’m doing is giving people permission to be okay with who they are, where they’re at now,” Meadows says. “A lot of us say stuff like, ‘If I’d been married to this guy or this girl, or if I had enough money, or if I had a better job. If I wasn’t an alcoholic, or if I drank more. If this, if that, then, I think I could be a better person.’” He pauses. “I think the key to life is being okay with who you are.”
Meadows isn’t just waxing poetic about the perks of self-acceptance. The 52-year-old has clawed his way to the peace he’s found, and his willingness to map that journey through his songs has saved more lives than his own. On his anxiously awaited new album First Cigarette, Meadows proves once again that when he sings the truth he’s living, he can set us all free. “I’ve always put secrets in my records, but I had this ring of fire that nobody could get in––a defense mechanism from my childhood. Nobody gets too close,” he says. “I think this record is a way of me letting people in a little more, inside the ring of fire.”
Disciples have been dancing by Meadows’ fire for years. Eric Church, Dierks Bentley, Jake Owen, Mary Gauthier, Brandy Clark, Blackberry Smoke, Hank Williams, Jr., Wynonna Judd, Randy Houser, and others began writing with, recording, and praising Meadows as soon as they heard his work. Songs such as “Riser,” the title track for Bentley’s 2015 album; Church’s “Knives of New Orleans” and “Dark Side”; and Owen’s “What We Ain’t Got” are all Meadows-penned chart-climbers.
Much of the attention began in 2010, when Meadows self-released Killin’ Uncle Buzzy, a raw masterpiece that left listeners stunned. “I was in rehab, and one of my counselors suggested that I keep a journal, so I basically made a record out of that journal,” Meadows says. It became an unlikely phenomenon, handed from friend to friend and artist to artist with whispers of, Listen. It’s the best thing you’ll hear all year. In 2013, Meadows followed Killin’ Uncle Buzzy with the acclaimed Old Ghosts and Unfinished Business. “On Killin’ Uncle Buzzy, you’re listening to a guy trying to figure out how to get sober,” Meadows says. “Then two years later, I was sober, but I wasn’t that guy anymore. That’s what ‘Old Ghosts’ was––me just trying to move forward. I feel like this record is more accessible. People can listen and go, ‘Well, hell. I’ve done that, too.’”
"In the House" at the GrinderHouse is broadcast live on WFMC Jams every Friday from 6-8pm central.
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A note from Allie Sealey regarding her journey to her first EP album:
"When my grandpa asked me to call Hospice, we made sure this was the best decision for him and I knew he was truly ready. When the Hospice nurse came into our house, she asked my grandpa who his favorite singer was. He looked right up at me and said, “Well, you’re looking at her.” I thought the next weeks were the hardest part of my life leading up to his final day with me. That night I asked him if he wanted me to play for him and he reached to the remote and turned off the television. I played him what was to be the last three songs I would play for him in our home and they were, “Fly Me to the Moon” by Frank Sinatra, “Because You Loved Me” by Celine Dion, and “Stars” by Grace Potter. The last thing that went through my mind was, “Who am I going to play for now?”
We continue to walk with purpose as we write, record, and perform original music. It is with each other we get to continue to make this music journey so bright.
To learn more visit: www.alliesealey.com and subscribe to her newsletter.
