Sam Palladio has a really heartfelt and lovely single called Wake Me Up in Nashville!
The song is inspired by his grandfather’s love story when he was a bomber pilot in the Second World War.
Sam said: “‘Wake Me Up In Nashville’ was the first song I wrote after moving to Nashville to shoot the TV show ‘Nashville’.
“It’s a song that I’m really proud of as it honours my late grandfather Owen Scott who was a famed Lancaster bomber pilot in World War II. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross for his service in over 30 missions throughout the war.
“The inspiration for the song came from his real-life wartime romance with a girl from Nashville. He met her while training in Pensacola, Florida and had started a romance until being sent back to England. He was put on a train that travelled across America, and on discovering he would be stopping in Nashville, managed to get a letter to her to say he would “meet her on the platform” at Union Station in Nashville to say their farewells.
“The story goes that he tipped the train conductor to wake him up in Nashville as the train would be passing through early in the morning. Unfortunately, he was never awoken and never got to say goodbye to the girlfriend who had been waiting for him on the platform.
“It’s a story that has captivated fans for all the years I’ve been playing this song live and to finally put it out on my debut record feels very special.
“I was able to record him telling the story before he passed in 2018 and made his voice the intro to the song, making it all the more personal and special. Living in Nashville and being surrounded by a community of songwriters where storytelling is at the heart of the craft, inspired me to follow that path and put my grandfather’s story to music.”