Songwriter’s Night

Originally from Hanston, Kansas (population: 200), Chris immersed himself in music at the age of seven when he taught himself to sing and play the fiddle, which quickly led to regular performances in a family band at Wild West shows. After a move to Nashville to attend Belmont University, Housman added piano, guitar, upright bass, and even spoons to his list of talents while playing at over 150 colleges across the country.

In 2019, his unique talent for whistling earned him a spot as one of the Top 5 musical whistlers in the world, and he has found a way to merge all of his influences, experiences, and talents into a sound uniquely his own. Chris will soon be following up his last release, mega-viral and iTunes #1 song, “Blueneck”, with his debut EP – which will include the viral songs, “Nobody” and “The Bible Belt” that have already generated over 4.5M views on TikTok.

Housman’s boundary breaking music has most recently been featured in People Magazine, The Boot, and Good Morning America.

Nell Maynard is a songwriter in Nashville, Tennessee. She grew up riding horses in Colorado, earned her Bachelor of Arts in biochemistry, and briefly attended medical school before pursuing her true calling – songwriting. Upon moving to Nashville in 2017, she cut her teeth writing all genres, getting cuts with indie artists and discovering my strengths with lyric and concept in a writing room.

In 2020, Nell was selected as a member of the ASCAP GPS program, She had two songs in the top ten of the 2020 NSAI Songwriting Competition, and was a semi-finalist in the International Songwriting Competition. In 2021, pop country up-and-comer Lauren Weintraub released their song Like ‘A Boy’ after 6 million+ views on TikTok. Also in 2021, Nell wrote ‘Blueneck’ by Chris Housman, which went viral on TikTok, premiered at #1 on iTunes Country and #4 on iTunes All Genre, and received coverage from Good Morning America, Rolling Stone, NYTimes, and Billboard. In 2022, she co-wrote the winning and third place songs of the NSAI Songwriting Competition. Nell lives in East Nashville with her dog and cat.

Dakota Striplin has always been infatuated with music – from the 11- year-old kid playing air guitar to the movie School of Rock, to the 28-year-old singer-songwriter playing on stages big and small. With his Dad from the deep south and his Mum from the pacific, Dakota’s musical influences have been far-reaching throughout his life – landing him in his own union of Country, Pop and Soul.

Dakota currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee. His debut release “See You In Austin”, clocked 7 million views on YouTube and almost 2 million streams on Spotify.

Most recently, Dakota has signed a Publishing deal with Ronnie Dunn’s publishing company, Perfect Pitch Publishing.

Chris Sligh is an award-winning writer and producer, originally from Springfield, Tennessee. As a writer, he has had over 170 cuts including 9 top 30 Billboard hits and the Rascal Flatts #1 “Here Comes Goodbye”. He has been married for 20 years and has 2 kids, 12 and 10.

Tony Arata,  Greg Barnhill, Dave Brainard, Blessing Offor, BOWEN * YOUNG,  Beth Nielsen Chapman, Jonathan Jackson, Dennis Matkosky, Sean McConnell, Rivers Rutherford, Leslie Satcher, Jenny Tolman, and Dennis Matkosky.