Though the name and face may be new to country music fans, Brad at 29 years of age, has been in Nashville for almost a decade, systematically chasing his dream. "As young as I can remember I've always been around country music. My dad's been one of my my biggest inspirations and just growing up around music its always been a dream of mine. At that point of time in my life I never really realized that I was ever going to be here but I always dreamed about it. Just like any body I grew up with dreams to maybe wanna build houses, wanna do this or wanna do that." he recalls. Graduating college with a degree in broadcasting led him to Nashville. "I came into town and concentrated on writing songs and that lead me to my first publishing deal, which lead me to my manager Joe Carter, who manages Tracy Byrd and myself. Of course that led into my record deal."

With such notable, recognizable influences as Merle Haggard and Hank Williams Sr., Brad's main support and influence over the years remains his father. "I used to always go play around and travel with my dad all though southern Ohio and West Virginia, Kentucky and I can honestly say that when I heard Merle Haggard for the first time I thought he was my dad, because I grew up listing to him playing his songs."

Coming into the business as the tides are slowly changing from the pop/country drivel of the 90's to the more meat and potatoes style of current country, Brad faces some pros and cons...With markets having been oversaturated with 'pretty faces' for the past few years with little or no substance behind the facade able to give them any long term credibility, Brad realizes that in order to give his career the longevity he's looking for, he'll have to make music that will appeal to a wider demographic.

At 29 years of age he may have a slight advantage, with the young enough 'to get away with it looks', with the old enough 'to know better mentality' to go with it. "I would venture to that in today's market that you know there's a very wide demographic. Being an artist and being a guy who writes songs, I try to communicate to them all. I want everybody, regardless if your 18, or regardless if your 65, to be able to relate to my music. It's a very tough task to be able to write in that context to be able to appeal to that broad of an audience. With that comes a lot of criticism and with that a lot of praise, but that's where I stand as an artist. I'm trying to appeal to all ."

"I think his point was that the industry it self is not geared towards longevity anymore its geared towards towards that quick money making. In the business there is a lot of maneuvering and there is a lot of things that have to be taken care of. In one sense it kind of makes things go on a five year run. As far as a career goes, in my opinion, what I'm hopefully trying to is at least interject and contribute what it is I do musically and hopefully through that I'll have that longevity to be rewarded twenty years down the road. Hopefully, maybe I'll be doing this interview with you again."

His debut album on Epic records is his first official release although he's recorded demos and personal projects for himself leading up to this point in his career. "This my first album thats been out. It's debuting me as an artist and where I'm at musically." he shares, but his thoughts go immediately to his long list of supporters. "My producers, my co-writers, my friends, there were a lot of people who where instrumental that took me to the point of where I am at in my career. So I have so many people to thank, but I would say my dad I would say is the instrumental person in bringing me to this forth."

Good fortune has also led Brad to the Opry stage. "It's more than words can say. I mean, how do you describe the Opry? It's been a dream of my Dad's,  and a dream of mine. Since I can remember on Saturday nights, right before I go to bed, as a young kid watching the Opry and to finally get the opportunity to stand on that stage, it's kind of indescribable. It's hard to but into words, it's the excitement and the enthusiasm from everybody across the stage from my band to me to my family."

Wings of a Honky Tonk Angel is an artistically cautious album. It seems to straddle the fence a bit, seeming as if it's waiting to see if recent happenings are merely blips on radar screen or actually more indicative of a long term shift in trends. With a mix of ballads that tend to be a bit predictable, there also comes a number of up-tempo numbers that seem to be more his forte, showcasing a more honky tonk heart underneath.

Brad seems pleased with the album's reception, and initial reactions from country music fans as well as industry indicators have given it some momentum. The lead single, Before I Knew Better,  was one of the few songs not penned by Brad on the project. "I mean it's an exciting time for me as an artist as a writer, as a business man. The first single was my first top 15 record. Debuting as a very new artist, it was more that I could ever ask for. We are fixing to come out with our second single from the album called Rub Me The Right Way."

With an already impressive 250 songs in his catalog, being a singer and a songwriter is something that Brad feels goes hand in hand for him. "It's kind of complimentary of each other. I've always wanted to be a singer and an artist, but at the same time I knew that, you know, one was going to help the other sothey both kind of led me to Nashville. This first album is a very good description of where Ive been, what I've done, you know, things that I relate to. I have had very good friends go though some things in there life where I got involved and it inspired me to write songs about it. My whole point in writing a song is to relate . If I can relate to people, if I can let them know that 'Hey, you're not going through this alone', 'Hey somebody else has been through it,'  that's the definition of a songwriter. The definition of an artist go hand in hand from there. The songwriter defines the artist and the artist defines the songwriter."

As a new face, he comes into the industry at a time when the tide's are changing from the pop-country of recent years to a market at least on the surface willing to take a chance on giving long time country music fans the kind of music they've been craving for awhile. Keeping his fingers crossed, he hopes this means his music has a chance to be heard also. "What I am trying to contribute to country music today, I am trying to pull off all my roots everything I grew up on as a country music fan, you know, contribute that back."