Country music singer-songwriter Shawn Richard. (Image submitted)
It has been an exciting few weeks for one New Brunswick country music singer-songwriter.
St. Stephen native Shawn Richard recently signed a development deal with SSM Nashville Records.
Richard, who now lives in Saint John, said a company rep connected with him in December after hearing his latest single.
“After a few weeks of interviews back and forth, they finally offered a development deal to me, which I accepted,” said Richard.
SSM Nashville will record and remaster five of Richard’s songs. One of those songs will be promoted exclusively across the U.S. and the U.K., but will still be available on all digital platforms.
If the single is successful, it could lead to a radio station tour and a record deal with SSM Nashville or another record label.
“It kind of is opening a path for me to get a bigger record deal,” said Richard.
Shawn Richard signs a development deal with SSM Nashville Records. (Image submitted)
Richard is no stranger to the local music scene. Stemming from a large musical family known as “The Richards,” he started playing and singing at multiple benefit concerts, churches and competitions at the age of 10.
But Richard said his victory at Saint John Idol in 2017 pushed him to pursue his music career more seriously.
“It definitely did open a lot of doors for me,” he said. “It gave me a lot of options to play for places around the area and kind of got my name out there a little bit more.”
Richard said his ultimate goal is singing and writing full-time without having to work anywhere else.
“Bigger dreams come with that and anything else that comes on top of that would just be the icing on the cake,” he said. “I’d love to perform obviously to the world and to thousands of people and just get up on stage every night and do what I love.”
Because of the pandemic, Richard will be doing most of the work related to his development deal in New Brunswick for the time being.
That also meant signing his deal here at home rather than travelling south of the border.
“I went home to St. Stephen and did it with my family there. We had our own little signing bonus, which was very different but that’s just the new normal for now and that’s the way we made it work. It was still special in its own way.”
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