Fame and celebrity status was never a dream for country songwriter Ashley Gorley. He never wanted to be under the limelight. All he wanted was to just see his name in parenthesis.
Gorley started his songwriting journey at a young age. However, it took him seven years before gaining his first top 40 songs. Even the first song that he wrote that got an artist cut, Joanna Janét’s “Since I’ve Seen You Last,” for some reason, did not even make the top 40 of the charts. But for Gorley, it was his first time seeing and hearing his song on local media platforms, and seeing his name inside a parenthesis gives him the best feeling.
Since then, Ashley Gorley’s name has been in hundreds of parentheses including 50 number 1 hits. This includes Locash’s “One Big Country Song” as his most recent one. This makes Gorley the only songwriter in Country and to the rest of the music industry as the only songwriter to reach 50 number 1 hits since the history of the Mediabase and Billboard Airplay Charts.
Gorley also earned some accolades for himself such as Billboard Country Songwriter of the Year four times, NSAI Songwriter of the Year three times, ACM Songwriter of the Year nominee eight times, and ASCAP Songwriter of the Year seven times.
His First Ever Country Song
Ashley Gorley grew into pop music, MTV, hip-hop, and 90’s R&B roots. It was not until he moved to Nashville that he became a country junky. Gorley wrote his first country song when he was at Belmont University. To him, the song was terrible. “Promise Land” was used by one of the singers in Belmont for a song showcase and eventually won!
“Okay, this is weird,” Gorley added.
The Secrets of Writing
Songwriting was a process and was not just an overnight skill that Ashley Gorley learned. His work ethics were from those countless hours observing and learning from seasoned songwriters like Craig Wiseman. He believed that the ones who spent more time studying and learning the secrets behind are the ones who will have hit after hit.
His Legendary Songwriting Process
With all the accolades and recognitions that Ashley Gorley has attained over time, what could have been the secret behind his success? For Gorley, it was his ability to do it all. When Gorley thinks of the song’s lyrics, the melody just follows. Gorley has the capability to not just focus on doing the title or creating the track, Gorley loves doing all of those and he does it excellently.
