Nashville, TN. (Top40 Charts/ GAC) - Imagine writing No.1 hits for some of country music's biggest artists, having the stories of your life performed by the voices of Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw,
Rascal Flatts and many more country artists. Fans all over the world are singing your songs and artists look forward to being on the receiving end of your next masterpiece. That dream is an actual reality of four songwriters featured in Great American Country's new music-based reality series, The Hitmen of
Music Row, which premieres Sept. 26 at 8 p.m. ET.
The Hitmen of Music Row consist of Bob DiPiero, Tony Mullins, Jeffrey Steele and Craig Wiseman, four of Nashville's most accomplished songwriters who among them boast a combined 38 No. 1 hits. The show follows them as they take their four-man act on the road across the United States to Nashville, Atlanta, New York and Las Vegas and presents a behind-the-scenes look at the songwriting process.
"Everyone wants to know what it's like to be in the music industry, and what we do on this show is pretty much it." says Steele. "We are out there (in the world) like everybody else, seeing life and figuring out how to put it into words."
When they aren't writing or performing, The Hitmen of Music Row rollick in the fun that helps them pen the hit songs. GAC cameras capture episodes that include hilarious footage of the men shopping for "bling" in New York City, "ghost busting" in Atlanta, talking shop with an Elvis impersonator on the Vegas strip and abandoning a golf game for an impromptu NASCAR-inspired golf cart race on the grounds of a prestigious Georgia golf course.
Although some country music fans may not know The Hitmen of Music Row by name, they undoubtedly know them through song. Kenny Chesney acknowledges that his life wouldn't have been the same without Wiseman's influence.
"Craig has written so many songs for me that weren't only good records, but life-changing records," Chesney says.
Throughout the series, other artists such as Kix Brooks, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill and Phil Vassar echo the same sentiments about The Hitmen of Music Row.
"Viewers may not be familiar with the songwriters in the program but on Music Row, they are famous," says Sarah Trahern, senior vice president of programming for GAC. "This is unlike any songwriters show on television. Viewers will really get a look at the lives of songwriters and how hit songs can evolve from the highs and the lows of living life."
Viewers will witness the unexplainable chemistry among DiPiero, Mullins, Steele and Wiseman as they pen songs instantaneously, such as "Mo'Money" and "Hey Ya'll," the show's opening theme song.
"I know there'll be that one cynic who will say, 'They didn't just write that,' but we did because that's what we do," DiPiero says of the group's uncanny ability to collaborate while "in the moment." "Some people are going to watch the show and think that stuff didn't really happen but it did. It's REAL reality television. We are as real as you can stand."
GAC will premiere two Hitmen of Music Row-hosted episodes of The Collection video blocks with DiPiero and Mullins (Sept. 12) and Steele and Wiseman (Sept. 19) featuring artist videos of the writers' No. 1 songs.
