Missi Gallimore: Finding the Perfect Songs for a Record

At her start, Missi Gallimore had little knowledge of how the music industry worked. Today, she is the reason behind some of our favorite songs. She discovered, “Blue Ain’t Your Color”, “Live Like You Were Dying” and many more hits. Listen as this music business genius shares her journey of how she made it in music.

Even though she loved music, Missi had zero knowledge at all of the music industry- her start happened by chance. She began working for Billy Sherril by someone sending him her resume and he invited her over to listen to his song of Charlie Rich. She told him she didn’t like it… he hired her right away!

Missi now works in A&R with clients, Tim McGraw and Keith Urban. She also owns several publishing companies, and is a co-founder of Get It Done Entertainment.

How did she find great songs? Hard work, listening to a ton of songs a week, and cultivating relationships with publishers.

She also describes the challenges of her job. Getting artists a record deal seem to be more difficult than ever- but we still need a record label!

Missi also discusses the change she would like to see and where she thinks country music is headed. What’s the most important part of the music business? A great song! She emphasizes the importance and responsibility of publishers and songwriters. She also gives a charge to writers and publishers in Nashville: Stop following the trends!

“They're the ones who make the wheels turn here so they’re going to have to change something.”

She also discusses:

What she personally looks for in a song,To never give up and how to stay true (even Tim McGraw was told he’d never make it!),Why radio is still important… for now,How to take things slow and be strategic