Tin Pan South: Matt Dragstrem, Maddie & Tae, Ft. Worth Ferguson and Jordan Minton

Tin Pan South 2023 returned to Nashville on Tuesday (March 28). The festival puts the spotlight on the heartbeat of country music, the songwriters.

The event is spread out around Nashville at various venues, connecting fans of the genre with the voices behind some of their favorite songs.

One of the first rounds of this year’s festival took place at Analog at Hutton Hotel Tuesday evening featuring Matt Dragstrem, Maddie & Tae, Ft. Worth Ferguson and Jordan Minton. Curated by Dragstrem, the round saw the songwriters talk through some of their biggest cuts.

Matt Dragstrem

Dragstream is no stranger to penning hits. Among his credits are “I’ll Name the Dogs” (Blake Shelton), “One Margarita” (Luke Bryan), “You Look Like I Need A Drink” (Justin Moore) and “Sippin’ On Fire” (Florida Georgia Line). Elsewhere he has created magic outside of country music with the likes of David Guetta, Charlie Puth and G-Eazy.

At last night’s round, Dragstrem played through a number of those hits. He started off his time on the stage with Moore’s “You Look Like I Need A Drink” before moving into “One Margarita.”

“I got a call from Luke and he said, ‘I don’t know if I hate it or I love it,’” Dragstrem said. “The song came out and sort of just did it thing. It reminds me to have as much fun as possible in the room when I’m writing.”

Elsewhere he performed “Sippin’ On Fire” and his Thomas Rhett inspirational tune “Be a Light.”

Maddie & Tae

Maddie & Tae first made waves in country music with the chiding “Girl In a Country Song.” As they remarked during this year’s Tin Pan South, the song first caught the eye of label heads at the festival back in 2015.

They, of course, performed the break-out hit but also intermingled some more recent offerings including “Die From A Broken Heart,” “Bathroom Floor” and “Wish You the Best.”

Maddie introduced the latter song and explained how “celebrity breakups and divorces are the weirdest things ever because two people go on social media and say, ‘We’re breaking up but I wish them nothing but the best.’ We know that’s bullshit.

“I was very inspired by the phoniness of that and ended up writing this song,” she continued.

Their signature harmonies were well on display throughout each performance.

Ft. Worth Ferguson

The comic relief of the round came from “bro country’s biggest fan,” Ft. Worth Ferguson. The self-professed “next country music legend,” toed the line between on-the-nose parodies and genuinely hit-worthy country songs.

Playing on the hallmarks of modern country music, Ferguson performed original songs with titles like “Lasso That Asso,” “Going Down’ Swiggin” and “Just the Tippin” – so you can imagine just what that entailed. The latter song hit all the typical country talking points: good music on the radio, girls, bars and trucks. The chorus ends with a punchline about his wife’s love of Aaron Tippin: I’m sticking just to Tippin’ tonight. He won the audience over within a second of performing his first song.

Jordan Minton

Last but, certainly not least, came Jordan Minton. Like Dragstrem, Minton has made a name for himself over the past few years, securing hit after hit. Among his list of cuts are “Same Heart” and “Steal My Thunder” by Keith Urban, “What Keeps You Up At Night” by Dan and Shay and the recently released “Tennessee Numbers” by Morgan Wallen.

“Tennessee Numbers” appeared on Wallen’s latest record, One Thing At A Time. Fans of Wallen in the audience made their approval of the track known as Minton geared up to play it.

I’d tell her it’s my fault and I still love her / But she quit taking calls from Tennessee numbers, he sang.

Photo Courtesy of Big Machine Music