Kelleigh Bannen Talks to Songwriter Nicolle Galyon on ‘This Nashville Life’ Podcast

Every other week, Kelleigh Bannen will provide behind-the-scenes analysis, stories and insight into Music City’s No. 1 export, with help from some of Nashville’s top songwriters, artists, executives and producers. Taste of Country will debut each new episode of her This Nashville Life podcast, and Bannen herself will introduce it as a guest writer. Thoughts and opinions expressed by Bannen are hers alone and do not reflect the opinions of Taste of Country, unless she’s talking about #TomatoGate, in which case, yeah … she’s spot on.

Her songs are clever. And they’re specific. And most importantly, they make you feel something. Grammy-nominated songwriter Nicolle Galyon is a sort of contradiction. A very tall, very blonde, very smart contradiction. She’s self-possessed and collected on the level you might expect from a press secretary. But she’s creative in the most deep-rooted, intuitive way.

I sat down with Nicolle, who’s written songs like Keith Urban’s "We Were Us," Miranda Lambert’s "Automatic" and RaeLynn’s "Love Triangle" for what turned out to be a two-part podcast episode. The first part, "More Words Than Chords,” covers Nicolle’s background and journey to being a hit songwriter. We also talk about the writing process, and look at Nicolle’s specific strengths. Part 2 — which will be released on Dec. 15 — is a look at some of Nicolle’s songs themselves and the stories of how they came to be.

Unsurprisingly, based on Nicolle’s orderly personality, the two parts sort of divided themselves naturally, and it was all so good, so inspiring and so interesting that I didn’t want to lose one bit.

One of the most surprising parts of this episode for me was when I asked Nicolle what her “unfair advantage” is, and she answered by talking about her hometown, Sterling, Kan.

“I looked at small town rural America through this lens that was different. It was charming, and it was sophisticated, and it was smart.”

For a little extra fun, here’s Nicolle’s cover of Nicki Minaj’s "Superbass," which she released around the time she was on Season 2 of NBC’s The Voice.

Listen to This Nashville Life Ep. 8: "More Words Than Chords"

About Kelleigh Bannen: Kelleigh Bannen’s This Nashville Life Podcast offers an authentic, vibrant look at the journey of someone trying to “make it” in country music. Bannen is admittedly still learning what that means. After a short career as an independent artist, the “Famous” singer signed a major label record deal and recorded two-and-a-half albums that were never released. She’s honest, but not bitter about the obstacles female artists face in country music, but her blog and podcast go much deeper.