Nashville, Tn (November 11, 2025): Set your calendars for Friday, November 14th. That’s when Raised on the Good Stuff, the highly-anticipated, new full-length album from JD Shelburne drops. This is big news! Shelburne has more than pulled his weight in Nashville and all across the country, a relentless workhorse who has performed over 3000 shows during his career, including a Grand Ole Opry debut July 5, 2025. His fiercely loyal fan base grew the old-fashioned way, consistently touring and winning audiences over with his warm vocals, charismatic stage presence and skilled songwriting chops. Always welcoming old and new fans alike, Shelburne would love to share his songs with you too!
In a special track-by-track style interview, I learned everything about Raised on the Good Stuff straight from the horse’s mouth. We had a lot of fun, and I assure you, this is a fantastic project from top to bottom. Join me on this rare Think Country trip down a track list, but first, we must talk about his Opry debut. Let’s go!
The minute my phone call with JD Shelburne started, I knew it was going to be good. I asked how he’s been since we last spoke in June, and he declared, “It’s been a good year!” How could he have said anything else? Even from afar, I could see how amazing it’s been. Most notably, his Opry debut. If you talk to any country artist, it’s the number one venue on their bucket list. JD Shelburne’s boots finally graced that hallowed circle.
“It’s been a good year!”
Maybe you know, maybe you don’t, but nobody was more surprised to get that Opry invitation than Shelburne himself. Really. If honesty was a person, it would be Shelburne, and not one bit of his story came off as contrived. He was completely shocked to finally get his chance. He shared, “I had no idea. I’ve been workin’ towards this a long time, I’ve been tryin’ to find a way for them to notice me. I’ve respected that place since I moved to town and I just love it so much.”
He continued, “I was in my garage. I’ll never forget this date, June 20th, a Friday night, when I got the email. I was workin’ in my garage and the next day we were leavin’ for my first summer show near my hometown, a street concert series in Bloomfield, Kentucky. They do these free shows for the public. I got the email from Gina (Keltner) and literally, like my heart about jumped out of my chest. It was unreal. She gave me three dates to pick from. The first line said, ‘This might take you by surprise, but we want to offer you your Opry debut.’”
In my mind, that had to have been like winning the lottery, staring at the ticket and swearing I must be seeing the numbers all wrong. I asked if he thought maybe it was a fake email. “When I got it, I was walkin’ to the house from the garage and I went into the kitchen where my wife was cookin’ lunch. I showed my wife my phone and I was like, ‘Babe, you gotta read this email, I wanna make sure I read it right.’ She started readin’ it and she was like ‘Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!’ It was a crazy moment. I wish we’d have had a video camera on us, the pure excitement we got instantly was just an unbelievable feeling and I just didn’t expect it. I’ve been workin’ for all these years to play the Opry. All my friends were playing it, people I know that I’ve worked with were getting called, some of the musicians that had played for me for a while and moved on to other things were getting to play. It was like, ‘Am I ever gonna get a shot? All these people around me are playing it, I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.’ I guess I just had to keep being persistent and finally they offered me a shot. It was amazing. It’s my number one favorite gig of all time out of over 3000 shows I’ve played.”
Backstage at the Grand Ole Opry is something of a madhouse, there’s so many people back there before and during a show, you never know who might be there, so did Shelburne get to meet anyone unexpected that night? Kind of. He said, “Well, what was really cool was Gina somehow knew that Steve Wariner and I were friends. I opened for Steve back in 2009 and we kind of became friends, but we kind of lost touch for a little bit, with his schedule and mine, but I’m never the guy to bother people and ask for favors or anything. So Steve had invited me backstage at the Opry a couple times when he was a guest, back when he lived in Brentwood where I lived before we moved to build a house. So they put us on the same show and he actually introduced me. They kinda knew we were already friends. Gina said, ‘Hey, we added one of your friends on the show FYI.’ I found out it was Steve Wariner and I was like ‘Oh my God, are you kiddin’ me?’ It was cool to see him and also Crystal Gayle was on the show as well.”
If you were already a JD Shelburne fan, you likely followed his social media pages in the period of time just before his Opry debut, and if you’re anything like me, you could actually feel his excitement just by his posts. It made me so happy to see he’d reached that golden moment after years of constantly working so hard.
Excitement for sure, but also a sense of relief that he hadn’t been wasting time for so many years, that was definitely a strong theme on his pre-debut emotional state. He explained, “I earned it for sure. It took a long time, doing it the old fashioned way, not payin’ for fans, no labels ever signed me. I’ve done this from the start by myself and it sort of validated me. I knew I was in Nashville for a reason. I’m finally at the pinnacle. Validation, you know? I was always like ‘I just wanna play that stage and get my debut.’ It’s like studying in college and you finally get your degree and you can finally put that on your shelf. It’s the number one thing I talk about now, it’s crazy.”
It hasn’t happened yet, but Shelburne is hopeful that the Opry will call him back. He feels the audience at his debut were not only receptive, but fully-engaged in his performance. He even threw an Opry debut after-party at Dave & Buster’s which was more than well-attended. He was humbled, yet thrilled, that fans cared enough about his music that they would spend their hard-earned money on tickets to the event. There were fans that told him if he gets called back for another performance, they’ll get tickets and be there. Shelburne’s fans are as devout as they come for an independent artist.
Alright, let’s get into the nuts and bolts of Raised on the Good Stuff, as told to me by JD Shelburne directly.
On the 10-track album, with a bonus track, Shelburne co-wrote four of the songs. This means he selected the remaining songs that were written by other people. I was interested to hear how he goes about picking songs that were written by someone else. He was happy to recount how he went about it for this project. “Growing up as a kid, CDs were very popular. Fresh on the radar were CDs from Alan Jackson, Clay Walker, Garth Brooks and Sammy Kershaw. I remember reading liner notes. I don’t know what it was besides a good set of ears, but I could kind of pick out a hit song on a record. If I got a CD for Christmas, I could listen to that CD all day and I could tell you the three songs on that CD that would be hit singles. I swear, four months later, they’d put one of those songs out as a single and it would hit number one. I just had a good ear for a good song.”
Elaborating further, he said, “You know when you buy a CD and you listen to it from top to bottom and not every song is good? There’s always a couple duds in the record that you don’t really like. Every artist has those, but I could always pick out the hits and it just carried on through my music career. One of my friends, Mark Nesler, he’s been a huge mentor to me. He’s written, I think, 10 number ones and he just has an arsenal of songs. I usually go to him first. (Mark Nesler’s song credits include “Just To See You Smile,” by Tim McGraw, “You Look Good In My Shirt,” by Keith Urban and “Living And Living Well” by George Strait.) I’ll ask him, ‘Hey, you got anything that’s not been cut?’ I’ve looked into so many songs, at workouts, and on the drive to and from the gym. It’s just so hard to nail things down. There’s just that hook and that catchy melody that gets embedded in my mind when I look for a song, it makes you wanna go back to that song.”
As for the upcoming album, he used that same approach to choosing songs. “These songs I put on the record kinda stem from that. Infectious melodies and good songs. Songs that I’ve either lived or kinda pertain to my lifestyle growin’ up, or something I’ve done that maybe I didn’t write about.” When I asked him if it’s fun to look for outside songs he replied, “It is.” I feel like Raised On The Good Stuff has a distinct 90s country vibe and he agreed that it does. From my time at Think Country, there’s absolutely nothing wrong about that, people tend to adore country music from that decade.
One more thing before we get into all the “album talk,” I need to share the link to pre-save Raised on the Good Stuff. Get in early and be the first to hear all of the fabulous songs first. Click right HERE and be in on the ground floor!
It was time to tackle the album, track-by-track. Starting with track 1, “Every Girl You Are,” (Wade Kirby, Brett Beavers, Phil O’Donnell) I heard the story behind the song. “This one was pitched to me by Phil O’Donnell. Phil’s a co-writer on the song and he was my producer on my 2021 record. Phil’s been around town a long time. He’s produced Craig Morgan, Trace Adkins and some really great artists, and he’s written a lot of amazing songs. He pitched me this song about three years ago and I didn’t cut it on my last record. It was kind of a straggler and this time I was like ‘Should I cut it? Should I not?’ and for some reason this song was still in the back of my mind. It’s very catchy, it has a very upbeat, happy element I’ve always loved. I think all men and women in America that are dating can relate to this song. I love ‘Every Girl You Are.’ It’s just a great fun summer song and it’s stuck with me all these years.”
That led to a discussion of opening tracks. I felt this was an excellent choice for the first song on the record. It comes out on a high note and you want to listen to the entire thing. That’s good, but what’s better is it sets the tone for the album. It makes you want to hear the whole record. Shelburne thought that was a fair assessment, but had never thought about it quite that way before. He put the song in the first spot because he liked how it felt. “The guitar parts are very catchy and I think that’s why that song stuck with me the last three years, and I’ve gone through a lot of songs in the last three years. I’m really glad Phil let me record it.”
Track 2 has already made waves in Nashville and beyond. “Summertime All Year” (Phil O’Donnell, Tim Morgan, Joe Diffie) was released as a single June 20, 2025 and it became a fan favorite. Shelburne shared his thoughts on the song months after its release. “It’s one of the songs I sang at the Opry. It was the first song we did. Phil O’Donnell wrote it as well, along with the late Joe Diffie and Tim Morgan. Joe actually cut that song a few years ago for an album and it was never a single. I just loved the sound of it and I wanted kind of a summertime anthem. I get a lot of requests from my fans that go to the beach. They’ll say they listen to my songs at the beach and it got me thinkin’ that I need more summer songs. Songs where people can jam them while they’re sittin’ in beach chairs, that kinda thing.” As popular as “Summertime All Year” has been so far, a music video was never shot in support of it. The reason? “We thought about it, but it was in the fall and there were no leaves on the trees.”
The Opry crowd loved it. Shelburne explained it was the first song they played because he wanted something that would set the mood for his entire performance. “When you’re first introduced, you wanna do something upbeat. I feel that’s been kinda my vibe and so we came right out of the gate with ‘Summertime All Year.’ It makes people smile and it was a great kickoff to my Opry debut.”
https://www.youtube.com/embed/yuXCw-9hNHs?feature=oembedAudio courtesy of JD Shelburne / YouTube
Track 3, ”Every Little Town,” (JD Shelburne, Mark Nesler, Tony Martin) is a creative number that talks about things all small towns have. It also stresses the one thing they don’t all have. I’ll let JD Shelburne enlighten everyone. “We brought the idea to Tony Martin. Tony just got inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and Mark’s (Nesler) probably not too far behind. So just getting in the room with those two, it’s a really big deal to me. I was thinkin’ one day how every little town has a mechanic, a post office, a church. I was thinkin’ about the things my small town has and Tony Martin said we should think how every small town has this and that, but it doesn’t have you. We all agreed that it was really good, so we started makin’ a catchy song. I recorded it and put it on the record and we actually tested it out live at a couple shows back in the spring. A couple people asked if I was gonna cut it, but the handwriting was already on the wall.”
“Backroad Kinda Love” (Mark Nesler, Mike McQuerry, Adam Fears) comes in at track 4. It’s already out in the world, but here’s how it came about. Shelburne said, “Mark (Nesler) sent me a compilation CD of songs that no one had cut that were just in his collection. I was lookin’ for a show opener, something that was really rockin’ that we could come out on stage with that would make people get out of their seats. I’m one of those guys that’s in your face when I come out. I wanna get people excited, get the adrenaline pumpin’. When you come to my shows, I don’t stand there and strum a guitar, we’re breakin’ sweats and everything else. I wanted something that was really high energy. I absolutely love the melody of this song. Mark wrote this one as well, along with Mike McQuerry and Adam Fears. Mike and Adam, I’m not really familiar with either one of them on writing, but Mike’s been awesome. We’ve been talkin’ and he’s so excited I cut his song. I love the title of this song. I actually created a merch t-shirt off the logo. It ‘s one of those songs where you wanna get in your truck and, you know, blast it.”
Track 5, “No Me Without You” (Mark Nesler, Tony Martin, Jim McCormick) is just a great love song. Shelburne feels it has sort of a Chris Isaak vibe, and once he said that, I agreed. “It’s just got that haunting melody about it and the lyrics say ‘There’s no heaven without an angel, no goodnight without a kiss, no dream without you in it…’ and it’s just got amazing lines. Mark (Nesler) is a great lyricist. Other lyrics say, ‘There’s no sinner without a future, no saint without a past, no question without an answer if you ain’t afraid to ask…’ A lot of back and forth. I just love all the lyrics, but especially, ‘ There’s no light without a shadow, no shore without the sea, and girl without your faith there’s no reason to believe…’ That’s a hit lyric. The song could not have been written any better. I was really excited to record it, everything was in the right wheelhouse when it came to key. We didn’t change anything from the demo.”
If ever there was a song that qualifies as a complete heart crusher, track 6, “Break Up With Me,”(Mark Nesler, Andrew Dorff, Wendell Mobley) is it. I felt physically and mentally deflated after listening to this one. It stood tall as the one I couldn’t wait to hear some background on. It wasn’t just me who grasped the biting emotion either. JD Shelburne was eager to reveal his thoughts too. He revealed, “If I had to pick one song off my record I thought would be a radio hit, I think this song would be it. Don’t get me wrong, they’re all great songs and I worked really hard on them, but if I had to pick a radio smash, I feel like ‘Break Up With Me’ would be it. It’s my wife’s favorite song. It’s just got a great feel and I love it. Mark Nesler wrote this song with Wendell Mobley and Andrew Dorff. Andrew passed away a few years ago. He wrote some huge hits. Wendell Mobley’s written a lot of Kenny Chesney’s stuff, so they know how to write good songs.”
I had to comment. “I can’t believe nobody grabbed this one up before.” Shelburne replied, “I can’t believe it either, it’s just such a great song.” I then shared that it was my personal favorite track. It’s so powerful and it has a way of tearing you apart from the inside. Absolutely hit-worthy for me.
As much as “Break Up With Me” left me crying and feeling lost, the next track, “Forever,” (Mark Nesler, Brice Long, Phillip Lammonds) stepped in and rescued me. The odd thing is it almost seems like these two songs were purposely placed on top of one another to display Shelburne’s incredible ability to stir up different types of emotions in his music. I made sure to tell him all of what I just said. He was surprised, but said, “It’s so funny you should say that, I love to hear that some things work out for a reason. When I heard ‘Forever’ on a demo I just fell in love with the song. Brice Long wrote it with Phillip Lammonds and Mark Nesler. Brice has written some really nice hits. I love ballads. I’m a sucker for love songs. I think it’s what gives country music its biggest platform, heartbreak and love songs. This is one I’d had my hands on for a while and it’s kinda funny that those two songs are back-to-back on my record, that wasn’t even planned.”
On to track number 8, the title track, “Raised on the Good Stuff.” (JD Shelburne, Rob Simbeck) “I wrote that with Rob Simbeck. Rob’s been around town a long time and he’s a great lyricist. He’s written a lot of award-winning books and the bios for nearly every country star in Nashville. He used to write for The Tennessean and Country Weekly. I sang demos for him years ago and we just kinda kicked off a friendship. He’s one of the good guys. We actually wrote the next two songs. I took the idea to him of being raised on 90s country. We refer to 90s country as ‘the good stuff.’ So we wanted to write a song that was kinda rockin’, but mentioning some song titles from the 90s. We even bled into the 2000s ‘cause I mention songs like ‘I Swear,’ ‘Time Marches On’ and ‘She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy.’ Songs that had an influence on me. It turned out to be what we call one of those ‘bangers,’ just a jam. It’s a song that people can relate to.”
Time for a little tongue-in-cheek fun and it pops up at track 9. “Little Heartbreaker” (JD Shelburne, Rob Simbeck) has a unique twist and fans will be so here for it. According to Shelburne, “We wrote this song back in the pandemic. I’ve had it in my arsenal for a long time. I wanted a Matchbox Twenty vibe because I’m a big 90s rock fan. Those are bands I grew up loving and I felt like this had that vibe.”
“Good One” (Jason Duke, Jayce Hein, Maks Gabriel, Jordan Rager) is another track that’s hard to let go of once the song ends. Shelburne shared, “Oh man, this is a huge hit. I think this song is a smash. It just has that feel, it’s got that different production in it. Maks Gabriel produced this song. He’s a friend of mine and he sent me this around the first of the year maybe. I cut it and fell in love with it. I started playing it out live and I had to throw this on the album. It’s been a great fan favorite. I play this a lot at my shows currently. I’m a sucker for love songs and the production sold me on this one.”
Finally, we reached the bottom, the bonus track, “Baby’s Talkin’ Babies.” (JD Shelburne, Mark Nesler, Carson Chamberlain) Why, though, is it considered a “bonus track” rather than just being track 11? Don’t worry, I’ve got the answer from Mr. Shelburne right here. “When I was cuttin’ the record, I wanted to have one more track. I feel like 10 songs is a complete record to me, so one more song would be a bonus track. Eleven leaves it like an odd number. I wrote this with Mark Nesler and Carson Chamberlain. Carson discovered Zach Top and stuff. We actually wrote this song about four years ago and it was always a fun, funny song. I thought it was hilarious. I took this idea to Carson and Mark. Carson’s kinda funny, he’s kind of a comedian. He makes me laugh every time I’m around him. I wanted to get his and Mark’s name on the record. Carson had a lot of success in his own right with Alan Jackson and he played steel guitar for Keith Whitley. I just really wanted his name on the record and we ended up cutting a good song, a perfect win-win here. We made it light-hearted and funny. We had the producer’s wife throw in some background vocals to make it even funnier. I tried to get my wife to do it, but it didn’t work out. It was a bad travel day, I was out of town and we were in a crunch time. He said his wife could do it and that was perfect.”
That wraps up the track-by-track portion of the interview, and now just a bit of miscellaneous stuff to round it all out. When you listen to the record, you’ll likely notice some tremendous guitar work. On much of the project, Sol Philcox-Littlefield created all of the memorable guitar riffs. I needed a little more about this and Shelburne was happy to share. “Sol Philcox-Littlefield plays on so many records, Luke Combs, Morgan Wallen, Jason Aldean, Sugarland, Miranda Lambert. I love his guitar picking, his ideas and he’s got great tone. He’s been a guitar player on my last three albums. He’s got great ideas, because a lot of the time if there’s no demo, we depend on the guitar player to figure out the signature riff. On ‘Little Heartbreaker” we took that in as an acoustic demo with no lead part on it and he came up with that riff. It’s been great to have him on the record and he played on the majority of the songs.”
Will there be a special event to celebrate the album’s release? You bet. “We’re having a concert back in Louisville, Kentucky at the Kentucky Derby Museum at Historic Churchill Downs,” said an enthusiastic Shelburne. “The show is already sold out so I’m really lookin’ forward to bein’ able to go back home. In the last few years they’ve been doin’ outdoor shows in my hometown. This year we’re doin’ something a little more intimate at the Derby Museum where they actually have one of my suits I wore at the Derby red carpet on display. It’s gonna be a great setting. Texas Roadhouse is our presenting sponsor, so thank you to them. We are so lookin’ forward to it.”
One last random question to squeeze some personal thoughts out of JD Shelburne’s brain. If he could experience a sailing adventure or cruise on any river, lake or ocean in the world, what body of water would he choose for his trip? His response? “I love the beach, I love hot weather, I love clear water. It would probably be somewhere near one of those Kenny Chesney videos where he’s always on the beach and you can see the bottom of the ocean from the top. Back when Chesney was makin’ those music videos and kinda changin’ his theme from where he came from to all this beach-themed music, I was thinkin’ ‘Where are all these places he’s going?’ A palm tree on the beach, somewhere out there where it’s water and islands forever. Turks and Caicos, the Atlantic Ocean, around there.”
Maybe someday JD Shelburne will host his own cruise to somewhere in the tropics. We can all go and listen to his music and savor the good life with some sand, sea and sunshine. A girl can dream, right?
Raised On The Good Stuff Track List
BONUS TRACK: Baby’s Talkin’ Babies (JD Shelburne, Mark Nesler, Carson Chamberlain)
Every Girl You Are (Wade Kirby, Brett Beavers, Phil O’Donnell)
Summertime All Year (Phil O’Donnell, Tim Morgan, Joe Diffie)
Every Little Town (JD Shelburne, Mark Nesler, Tony Martin)
Backroad Kinda Love (Mark Nesler, Mike McQuerry, Adam Fears)
No Me Without You (Mark Nesler, Tony Martin, Jim McCormick)
Break Up With Me (Mark Nesler, Andrew Dorff, Wendell Mobley)
Forever (Mark Nesler, Brice Long, Phillip Lammonds)
Raised On The Good Stuff (JD Shelburne, Rob Simbeck)
Little Heartbreaker (JD Shelburne, Rob Simbeck)
Good One (Jason Duke, Jayce Hein, Maks Gabriel, Jordan Rager)
Article published by THINK COUNTRY.
To read full online story, click here: https://thinkcountrymusic.com/music/a-special-track-by-track-interview-with-jd-shelburne-raised-on-the-good-stuff-drops-11-14/