Beaumont Boys Bash - Beaumont, TX

Another in the long line of great Texas writer/artists, Mark Nesler writes honest, heartfelt country songs in the spirit of all the country music greats-with a definite focus on today's contemporary sound.

After touring for several years with his own band, in 1995 Mark began playing guitar with RCA Recording artist Tracy Byrd. While touring with Byrd, Mark continued to grow as a songwriter and performer. Mark recorded an album on Nashville's Asylum label in 1997 and gained the respect and praise of a legion of fans and music industry executives. Later, many top recording artists in Nashville recorded songs from that album. One of those artists is Country Star Tracy Lawrence, who released the song "Used To The Pain" as his first single from his greatest hits package in June of 2005.

Other artists that have benefited from his songwriting talent are George Strait and Tim McGraw in particular. McGraw had a six week #1 single with the Nesler penned song "Just to See You Smile" on his multi-platinum selling "Everywhere" album. George Strait has two #1 singles, thanks to the songwriting talent of Mark Nesler: "Living and Living Well", a 3 week #1, and "Go On". Nesler also co-wrote Darryl Worley's #1 hit single, "I Miss My Friend". Other hit singles include: "For You, I Will"- Aaron Tippin, "Just Let Me Be In Love" and "Heaven In My Woman's Eyes"- Tracy Byrd.

Recently, Mark enjoyed another top ten with the Billy Currington single "Why, Why, Why", a top five on Lyric Street's Bucky Covington, "A Different World" and a #1 on Keith Urban titled "You Look Good In My Shirt".

Mark continues to write everyday....and is one of Nashville's most successful and most respected songwriters and artists.

Wynn Varble admits he must have been destined for a career in country music. Wynn was raised in the small town of Ellenwood, Georgia, where music was a central part of his life. He recalls his father's collection of country LP's and the hours he spent listening to the legends: Merle Haggard, Hank Williams, Bob Wills, and Jimmie Rodgers, whom Wynn credits as being his primary musical influences. He says he did just about anything to hear the newest country record - even if it meant trading in his big brother's rock albums and catching trouble for it afterwards!

Wynn picked up a guitar for the first time when he was 15 and taught himself to play. He remembers picking out his first original melodies soon after he mastered basic chord progressions. The creative sparks started flying, and Wynn formed a bluegrass band when he turned 16. After graduating high school, Wynn started on the path to musical success playing the club circuit. His talent playing bluegrass landed him gigs from Austin to Ft. Lauderdale; during this time he was perfecting his style, not only as a country artist but also as a songwriter.

In 1982, Wynn visited some friends in Nashville. He spent several months writing with an up-and-coming singer/songwriter named Dave Gibson. It was this collaboration that proved to be Wynn's ticket out of the club scene and into the Nashville music community.

Varble completely relocated to Nashville in 1992. Gibson introduced him to Cliff Williamson, then-director of Starstruck Writers Group, and Wynn was signed to the publisher in 1994. After Starstruck was sold to Warner/Chappell Music, Wynn joined the Warner/Chappell writing staff.

Wynn had his first #1 song "Have You Forgotten" with Darryl Worley in 2003. The song has been nominated for SONG OF THE YEAR by the CMA Awards.

Wynn's songs have been cut by a range of great artists, including Garth Brooks, Lee Ann Womack, Brad Paisley, Darryl Worley, Montgomery Gentry, Jason Sellers, Gary Allan, Trace Adkins, Clint Daniels, Kevin Denney, Tracy Byrd, The Kinleys, Chris LeDoux, Danni Leigh, Mark Chesnutt and Sammy Kershaw.

Kevin Denney can remember the moment his calling settled down around him. It came after six months in which he had drifted away from music for the first time in his young life. He had grown up in tiny Monticello, Kentucky, surrounded by musicians. His parents, who comprised half a gospel quartet, bought him his first guitar when he was three. He became enamored of the classic artists he heard on the Grand Ole Opry and on the radio, and played for years in a cousin's bluegrass band. Then, at 17, he had backed off to reassess his future.

"I got to thinking maybe I should go to school, or begin putting time into something more beneficial in the long run," he says. "That was until I went to a George Strait concert for my 18th birthday." It was there, in the stage lights of Rupp Arena in Lexington, 140 miles up the road from Monticello, that he saw his future.

"When I heard that band fire up and saw the reaction in that arena," he says, "I changed my mind. That's when music became more than playing around and having fun and I started thinking, 'Man, I really love this. This is what I want to do.'"

The next day, he called a band he knew was looking for a singer, and Kevin, who had heretofore sung only bluegrass on stage, started working toward being a full-fledged country singer.

Fortunately, his newly awakened passion for the spotlight was accompanied by a great deal of natural talent that had been honed over the years as he sang those bluegrass harmonies and learned the art of performing. The road that wound from that Lexington concert through clubs and festivals in the hills and hollows of Kentucky, led finally to Nashville and to a debut album that showcases a remarkable young talent.

Kevin Denney's debut album introduces a young man whose genuine passion for country music permeates every note. "I wanted to make music my heroes would be proud of," he says, "people like George Jones and Merle Haggard and Porter Wagoner."

The result, in an era where many new artists seem to fumble for direction, is an assured collection of songs as rooted in classic sounds as it is cutting edge in its production. While his voice shines in songs like "We Rhyme" and "Takin' Off The Edge," with their disparate takes on romance, and "That's What I Believe" and "Daddy Was Navy Man," both of which display a depth and resonance uncommon in present-day country, he is perhaps most impressive in the songs which also display his writing abilities--"It'll Go Away" and "It Don't Matter," with their treatments of regret, the poignant "That's Just Jessie," and "My Kind Of Song," a tail-kicking musical manifesto.

Throughout, there is an obvious respect for country's legends that has been part of Kevin's life since that first guitar he received. "I'd sit in front of the TV with that guitar on Saturday nights watching the Opry on TV," he says, "acting like I was playing along." The only child of a family whose living came from raising tobacco and cattle, he learned simple pleasures, and music was first among them. As his interest in the gospel and bluegrass music being played in his family grew, his grandmother bought him a banjo when he was 11. He took part in family jam sessions and evidenced an affinity for the three-part harmonies and soulful styling the genre calls for. He was eventually invited to play festivals with his cousin's band.

"I remember seeing some of the biggest names in bluegrass-Larry Sparks, Ralph Stanley, J.D. Crowe, some of the real innovators. I can't tell you what a big influence it was on me and my music at that age. The thing I noticed most was the soul behind what they did. They lived their songs and believed what they were singing. "Of course," he laughs, "there was also the fact that when you're young and you play, then somebody goes on after you that you look up to, you can't help but being somewhat intimidated."

Then came the epiphany in Lexington, and the attempt to get out on the road. With two guitars, a bass and drums ("It was kind of hard to find a fiddle or steel player in Monticello, Kentucky"), he played top 40 country and the classics, always looking to improve himself. He opened for Wade Hayes and Kenny Chesney at the Black Gold Festival in Hazard, Kentucky, and for Little Jimmy Dickens at the World Chicken Festival in London, Kentucky. "That's one of the best memories I've got playing music," he says. Two years into that roadwork, at the age of 20, Kevin decided it was time to try Nashville. He saved money and moved into an apartment building, taking a job doing maintenance in the complex to help make ends meet.

A friend who was tour manager for Lorrie Morgan got him a job selling merchandise on one of her tours for several months, and he worked in a Western clothing store for a few more. All the while, he was haunting the city's writers' nights, meeting people and learning the business. He began writing seriously, and landed a publishing deal with March Music that allowed him to write full-time.

"I made it a point to meet other people in town here, especially those producers and writers I looked up to." Among those he met was Leigh Reynolds, who spent several years as Reba's bandleader and had written hits for Garth Brooks and Aaron Tippin, among others. The two hit it off, and agreed that Reynolds would produce some of Kevin's work.

They began cutting guitar/vocal demos in Reynolds' basement studio, then moved to fully produced cuts in hopes of landing Kevin a record deal. After just a few weeks, they played some songs for Lyric Street Records' Sr. VP of A&R, Doug Howard, who offered encouragement and an open door. For the next two years, they searched for songs and refined their recordings. "We had a lot of time to get our marbles in a row," says Kevin.

Finally, Lyric Street gave the go-ahead for the two to cut four sides. They cut two of Kevin's songs--"That's Just Jessie" and "It'll Go Away,"--and two outside tracks--"Ain't Skeered" and "That's What I Believe"--and sent copies to the label. "Two weeks later," Kevin says, "we were in the studio and I heard Leigh on his cell phone with Doug, shouting, 'You've got to be kidding!' I knew it had to be good."

It was. The label was offering Kevin a record deal and they did it in the manner that means the most to an artist. "The label was very open-minded, very understanding of who I was and what I believed in, and they pretty much let me be myself. That meant a lot to me."

It also gave Kevin the opportunity to pour himself, heart and soul, into the debut album that introduces him to the public. "When I listen to music," he says, "I want it to make me feel something. I want to feel good or sad. I think good music should just move you in some way. If it does that, it's done its job, and that's what I wanted to do with this album." Kevin is currently writing and recording new songs working toward another recording deal.