Local songwriter nominated for seven ISSA awards
BRIGHTON — Brighton resident and local artist Greg Paddock has been nominated as a finalist for seven awards from the International Singer Songwriter Association.
ISSA will present the awards in Atlanta, Georgia, on Saturday, Aug. 5. Paddock will be in attendance with a friend. He's been nominated for USA Male Entertainer of the Year, Vocalist of the Year, Rising Star, Album of the Year, Band Single of the Year, Songwriter of the Year and Emerging Artist of the Year.
Paddock has played in bands since the early 2000s. He started performing regularly in 2009 in the band Paddock and his acoustic duo Sugartips Acoustic. When he received notice that he was nominated for seven awards, he couldn't believe it.
"It's kind of surreal," he said. "It's really weird because it doesn't seem like it's me because I'm just, me."
A lot of his music is based on life experience, including some songs from his debut EP produced in 2019 called "Cotswold." His song "Cold Blue Morning" is about suffering a traumatic brain injury. "I'm Not Ready to Say Goodbye" is about the death of his father. "Queen Heart" on his latest EP is about falling in love.
"It's a way of expressing yourself," Paddock said. "I've never really been one for awards or stuff like that, but I'm not going to lie. It's really neat. I'm pretty thrilled about it and I'll say I'm proud. This work, telling these stories and then having it recognized, it's pretty cool."
Paddock said he wants listeners to be able to relate to the things he's gone through. He calls his TBI a "blessing in disguise" because that's when he started performing acoustically again.
"I struggled for a while. I had a hard time remembering words, learning words, concentrating, multitasking, so it was difficult at first. I was going to stop doing it and then people encouraged me not to stop."
At one point, Paddock established a relationship with his biggest influence, lead singer and songwriter of Dishwalla, J. R. Richards. He met Richards in the field and they chatted about backing vocals. Richards brought Paddock out to Santa Barbara to record.
"He started talking about producing original music for me if I was ever interested," Paddock said. "He really liked my vocals and everything. In the meantime, he moved to England."
Paddock said he would fly to England and visit, and that's when his first EP was born.
"I saw it streamed in over 80 countries," Paddock said.
Last November, Paddock flew to England again, and the duo started working on new music. Paddock's most recent EP was released in February.
"I love the process of writing songs," he said. "I absolutely love the process of recording songs and it's just so fun putting that stuff together."
— Contact reporter Patricia Alvord at palvord@livingstondaily.com.
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Local songwriter nominated for seven ISSA awards
