Rob Baird first picked up a guitar when he was 8 years old and hasn’t put it down since. A Memphis native, he spent most of his life working on farms and ranches across the heartland and was introduced to country music of all kinds. He remembers friends introducing him to Chris Knight and taking a liking to the style of music, “I started thinking about how great it would be to move to Texas and start playing music.” A major in Ranch Management at Texas Christian University was all it took to convince him to follow his dream. Rob moved to Fort Worth and played his first live show at The Aardvark and when his earnings that night made him more than a month of ranching, he began to consider the idea of a career in music.
After assembling a full band, Rob continued playing at Fort Worth mainstays. When he felt like they were ready, Rob and the band went into a small studio to record their first album. He also continued writing original material, a hobby he’d had since high school. Only now it was with a new musical perspective that helped him strive towards becoming a career songwriter. Touring for the album afforded him the opportunity to meet and co-write with talented songwriters from all over Texas. When he eventually met Nashville songwriter, Scooter Carusoe, he gained the final insight into the music business that he needed to push him to search for his own creative process. Rob knew the next album had to be unique and true to who he wanted to be musically. Through relationships he’d forged over the years, Rob met Scott Davis who would eventually join the project as producer. He was able to step outside the box and follow in the footsteps of his main influences, Tom Petty and Neil Young. Using fellow Texas artist, Hayes Carll’s, band, they recorded Rob’s next album in an antebellum house in Lockhart, Texas. Rob’s plan was “to draw from our influences that found to be timeless.”
The final mixes were sent to Nashville based publishing company and independent record label, Carnival Music. Owners Frank Liddell and Travis Hill asked him to come to Nashville for a meeting. Liddell recalls the meeting, “we spoke with him for five minutes and knew he was special. Then I listened to the music…this is gonna be a long fun ride.” Less than two months after sending the record to Carnival, Rob was signed to both the publishing and record labels.
In anticipation of his single release in January 2010, Rob is touring extensively in and around Texas and continues his writing trips to Nashville. His debut album with Carnival Recording is slated for a Summer 2010 release.
“Could Have Been My Baby”
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