ole Signs Prolific Nashville-based Hit-Maker Rick Giles

Songwriter Rick Giles, one of Nashville's most prolific hit-makers, has signed to ole, one of the world's fastest growing independent music publishers, in a deal that includes his catalogue, administration and songwriting futures. Among the songs acquired under the agreement are "Easy As You Go," which appears on George Strait's most recent album Twang, and legacy songs like "Can't Tell Me Nothin'" from Tim McGraw's 2004 chart-topping, quintuple platinum album Live Like You Were Dying, which also earned two Grammy nominations. The song ["Can't Tell Me Nothin"] would later inspire Taylor Swift to pen the track "Tim McGraw" with co-writer Liz Rose for her debut album.

Giles has a long list of cuts with some of today's most prominent country stars including Rascal Flatts ("Praying for Daylight"), Terri Clark ("I Want To Do It All") and Reba McEntire ("Is There Life Out There?"). He has also written for a number of Nashville's heritage acts including Tanya Tucker, Eddie Rabbitt, Charley Pride and The Oak Ridge Boys.

"Rick is one of those classic writers who always come up with unique lyrics and melodies that peak the interests of both new and established artists," says ole's Nashville-based Chief Creative Officer, Gilles Godard. "It's no wonder his hits have garnered more than 10 Millionaire Awards from BMI. We are proud to have him on board."

Giles and Godard have known each other since 1985 when they worked together in Canada. It was there that Giles was introduced to singer Michelle Wright and subsequently became the catalyst for her success in America as he and long-time co-writer Steve Bogard handled production and contributed many of the songs for her early albums. Giles' connection to ole comes after seven or eight years representing himself; a tough row to hoe in Nashville.

"When I sat down with Jody Williams at BMI a year ago to try to decide what I wanted to do and who I wanted to target, there were only two companies that we came up with that we felt were a good fit for me and one of them was ole," recalls Giles. "While most of the companies in Nashville are holding steady or going backwards, ole is moving forward and that's what I wanted to be a part of. I like the energy. Gilles [Godard] is an incredibly positive person. He brings that to everybody around him. This is the perfect fit for me and, in my first few days interacting with the staff over there, I think I was absolutely right in going for this. It's the first time since I was with Chuck Howard [Kinetic Diamond] that I've been with anybody who might also be able to create miracles. Gilles and Chuck are a lot the same; they see no barriers. They are naïve to the realities of the music business and that's a great quality for a publisher to have."

Giles grew up in rural Pennsylvania in the Allegheny range of the Appalachian Mountains that extends just a few miles from the family home into West Virginia. "It's the same people, the same coal mines and the same music," notes Giles, who moved to Washington, D.C. after high school to attend the University of Maryland. He initially took a job as electronics buyer for The Hecht Company in that city before deciding to take the plunge into music full time, a move that his parents had always discouraged.

"Finally, I was in my mid-'20s and decided the hell with it, I'm just going to do it," says Giles. "I went to L.A. and then to New York in the summer of '75." By 1976, he had written the pop hit 'Wham Bam (Shang-A-Lang)' recorded by the short-lived, San Francisco-based group, Silver. The song peaked at #16 in August of 1976.

Even given his early success, Giles still had some misgivings about his chosen vocation. "I realized that I really was no good; I didn't have the tools," he explains. "I was doing it by the seat of my pants and it was an absolute fluke that I had any success, so I went back to Washington, D.C. and played in bars for six years. I got married in May of 1981 and my wife said, 'You've been doing all of this talking about going to New York or L.A. or Nashville and about how you're going to do something so where are we going? You've got to pick one and we've got to go!' I chose Nashville and we arrived here in February of '83. I had a hit on the charts by that summer."

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