North Adams Country Singer Releases New Single
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — CJ Field went to Nashville more than a decade ago to focus on being a solo artist and a professional songwriter. His career has taken him all over the East Coast and country joints throughout the South.
Despite his travels, he has kept the spirit of his hometown with him. He says the cool rustic atmosphere that North Adams used to project helped him find his sound — a sound he's brought back to the Berkshires numerous times over the years.
Field said he hopes every song has meaning to someone and that he makes music to leave something behind for his family, to heal and help people, and because he knows he only has one chance at this.
That's apparent in his new single "Good Day," a happy, optimistic and catchy song that started to mean something to him because of how much it impacted his audience.
"What drives me is leaving something behind for my kids. Being here is temporary. So that drives me, the biggest thing, I've always had a passion for music and writing but what keeps me doing this is knowing that I'm not going to get a crack at it again," Field said. "Making my family proud, making my hometown proud. I have a lot of support here in my hometown. And I don't want to let people down. So I take it very seriously."
People started to reach out to him saying "Good Day" helped them start their day or that it lifted them when they were having a bad day, and suddenly the meaning of the song grew.
"Good Day" is being released across all platforms on Friday. The song opens with the main character feeling it's going to be a good day and Field wants to encourage listeners to share their good days. He's hoping to attach it somehow to supporting mental health or getting people to do something to pay it forward.
"The truth is you don't really have to wait for a good day to just appear. There's things you can do to help people around you and make people's day brighter," he said.
"It really doesn't take much. Buying a coffee in the line of McDonald's to put a smile on people's face. Little things like that can help. It really doesn't take much. So hopefully with this single, we're doing some of that."
Field has been working diligently on this single in an effort to reach a larger audience, to help establish himself as an artist, and to get new music out for fans.
"Good Day" is the first of several projects he's working on — there's another single being released and two albums.
The two singles were recorded at Sound Emporium Studios in Nashville and the two albums in the state-of-the-art Studio 9 at the Porches inn.
In 2016, Field moved back home to Massachusetts so that he could focus on his family and owning and operating his family business Field and Field Builders.
When he moved away from Nashville, he thought that was the end of his journey as an aspiring artist but instead his friends never stopped involving him in things and he saw the change that North Adams had gone through.
North Adams now has a lot of musical opportunities including the Fresh Grass Festival, which he performed at in 2021, and Studio 9.
He wrote "Good Day" four years ago with country singer Misty Loggins and Nashville producer Brian Kolb.
He's also worked with country singer Ashley McBryde, and songwriter Blue Foley, among others, and has performed on Music Row and on Broadway
In 2018, he wrote "Home Sweet Highway" with McBryde and Foley that is featured as the last track on her debut album "Girl Going Nowhere." The studio album debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard charts and was nominated for a Grammy as best album of the year.
Field said all the professional relationships he has formed came naturally.
"I don't cold call people or email for gigs or spotlights. Everything that has come my way has simply been organic and formed from relationships I have with people," Field said.
Now Field is experiencing a lot of firsts including a new single, a publishing deal, and the two new albums titled "Tragedy" and "Comedy" that will drop in the spring.
Very recently, he signed his side of the landscaping company back over to his brother so he can jump into the music business completely, which he said is nerve-racking and a huge risk but also "amazing."
His band has a unique mix of people that come from a range of genres. He met his bassist Chris Samson at an open mic when he was 20 at a time when Samson was in a metal band and had little to no experience playing country.
This metal influence makes their version of country slightly more aggressive than what people may be used to in the genre, he said.
They met their guitarist Wesley Childers in Macon, Ga., after he filled in for their former guitarist broke his wrist and they never switched back. Childers is constantly experimenting and finding new places to go on the fretboard, said Field, and he brings the Southern rock, blues, and slide feel to their music.
Other supporting band members include steel player Jimmy Roule and multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Greg Caproni.
Field will be going overseas this week to perform for the first time at the Nashville Nights International Festival in Denmark alongside a list of Country Music Hall of Fame songwriters who combined are responsible for almost 100 No. 1 hits.
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