Squires, Raleigh (1953-Present)

He is songwriter born in Nashville, Tennessee, who took his education up to high school in his local area and then went to Chattanooga to attend the University of Tennessee in 1972 after receiving a Leadership Scholarship.

He graduated in 1974 after working as the editor for the university’s newspaper and majoring in political science. He returned to Nashville and following his interests in politics he managed to hold public office, becoming the youngest to have held that position in Davidson County at just 18 years of age. He also worked for two years for the Democratic Caucus chairman as his Administrative Assistant.

He decided to leave the politics behind him and concentrate on songwriting. This was a successful move when Mel Tillis recorded his first song. This would start him out on a long and successful career as a music publisher, songwriter and songplugger where he worked for Tillis companies and as an independent entity.

Often working in collaboration with the producer/songwriter Buddy Cannon, his songs have been recorded by many artists that include The Burrito Brothers, Vern Gosdin, The Oak Ridge Boys, George Strait and Don Williams.

Around the turn of the 1990s he turned his hand to working in the computer industry and in 1999 he brought his experience of music into the fray when he and Harold Shedd from Polygram formed the company Tyneville Music which was one of the earliest internet based record labels in Nashville. Sadly it didn’t last too long because of the lull in the market and so he decided to rekindle his interest in writing and journalism. At the turn of the millennium he became the Sports and Managing Editor of the City Paper in Nashville and remained there until 2002. He also wrote The Little Book of Golf Trivia with Matt Lindsey and edited the Required Restroom Reading by Paul Evens Pedersen Jr.

As a songplugger over the last three decades, he has been involved in getting cuts by many artists and groups that include Alabama, Mark Chesnutt, Patti Loveless, Reba McEntire, Bonnie Raitt, Geroge Strait, Randy Travis and Hank Williams Jr to name just a very few. In 2004 he decided to move his songplugging into the internet arena and became known as a pioneer in this field where he has been able to plug songs on a global level. Later that year he went into partnership with his long-time friend Matt Lindsey and since then they have delivered tens of thousands of mp3s in their internet songplugging.

His online music store VirtualMusicMarket.com has started a new internet record label and music store. He has also worked with artists such as The Memphis Boys and Burrito Deluxe on the online release of their albums.

The Burrito Brothers recordings
Blue and Broken Hearted Me (Buddy Cannon/Raleigh Squires)

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Squires, Raleigh (1953-Present)

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