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JP Williams put away his guitar, figuring his dream wasn\u2019t going to come true.<\/p>\n
After more than 13 years pursuing a songwriting career in Nashville, the UTC grad decided it was time to get a \u201creal\u201d fulltime job.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought, \u2018I tried my best; I gave it my all,\u2019\u201d he recalls. \u201cI put my guitar in the closet.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then this song happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis song\u201d is \u201cBest Shot,\u201d a heartfelt ballad that has been No. 1 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart for the past two weeks.<\/p>\n
Recorded by singer Jimmie Allen, it marks the first time a black country singer has scored a No. 1 hit with his debut single.\u00a0And, while Williams has had his songs recorded by other artists, this is his first hit, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019ve been in this town this long, you know these kinds of things don\u2019t have to happen,\u201d says Williams, who earned a degree in music from UTC in 2001.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m tremendously grateful. That\u2019s all I can say.\u201d<\/p>\n
Allen, who grew up in Delaware, echoes those sentiments.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou think of all those sleepless night, the days I didn\u2019t eat and missing birthdays and weddings. You think about the relationships that didn\u2019t work out,\u201d he said in the Delaware News Journal<\/em>. \u201cBut the dream I was chasing was definitely worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n Williams, who is legally blind, grew up in Chattanooga and attended Ooltewah High School; he still has family living in the area. After graduating from UTC, he spent five years in Atlanta, teaching music and performing around town. But once a month, he headed north.<\/p>\n \u201cI would get on a Greyhound bus and come to Nashville to see who I could write with,\u201d he says. Deciding to fish or cut bait, he pulled up stakes and moved to Music City fulltime in 2006.<\/p>\n \u201cI had no contacts and only had a few friends. I found a roommate on Craigslist,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Writing, performing and making contacts eventually landed him a writing contract with Major Bob Music in 2011, working with artists and other songwriters, including Allen and London. And the lessons he learned at UTC are still invaluable to his work today.<\/p>\n “I play by ear primarily, but I have an understanding of what I\u2019m doing,” he says. “By taking all those years of music theory, it\u2019s cool to have an understanding.”<\/p>\n For \u201cBest Shot,\u201d the intent was for the lyrics to be \u201csimple at their core,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re not perfect, but you\u2019re going to go out there every day and give it your best. Life has ups and downs, but you\u2019re going to go out there and fight.\u201d<\/p>\n Married for 12 years to his wife, Irene, he says \u201cBest Shot\u201d also celebrates the fact that \u201cwe have the person in our lives that we can come home to.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you have someone by your side through the ups and downs, it\u2019s a beautiful thing.\u201d<\/p>\n While he plans to keep playing live occasionally, his focus now is on songwriting, especially with others.<\/p>\n \u201cI love getting into a room with an artist where I can help them craft what they want to say. The creative process is so much fun. I\u2019m so passionate and excited to write new ones.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve definitely started pulling the guitar back out.\u201d<\/p>\n