Jayne Nelsen

WSM: the legendary “Air Castle of the South”, Home of the Grand Ole Opry, America’s longest-running live radio show, and the birthplace of countless country music careers. Just as Ralph Emery fostered the dreams of many up-and-coming artists, another late night disc jockey did the same for West Coast native Jayne Nelsen.



Serendipity brought Nelsen’s husband to Nashville on a business trip, and curiosity caused him to approach a WSM disc jockey to see if he’d play Jayne’s demo of “Are You Watching Me Now?” an autobiographical tribute to her late father. “He knocked on the window and the guy came up and said ‘We can’t do it right now, but if you come back at midnight, maybe they can play it then.’ So he came back, knocked on the window, and played the song for him. The DJ happened to have little girls at home, and he called me on the phone in California and said ‘I love this song and I want to play it.’ People started calling. Even a taxi driver called him crying at one in the morning.”



Read More.



On That Day