Tim O'Connell
An ASCAPLUS Award-winning songwriter who grew up in Clinton, Maryland, Tim has made Nashville his home for over 50 years.
Tim began listening to rock and roll in the mid-1950s, courtesy of his older brothers’ record collections and American Bandstand. When he was 16, he discovered soul music and began paying close attention to the songwriting. Smokey Robinson was an early inspiration, followed by Bob Dylan. In the summer of 1968, Tim worked with some housepainters who listened to country music all day long. That’s when he first heard Johnny Cash. Two years later, Tim moved to Nashville.
Tim's songs have been recorded by artists in seven different countries, including Cash. USA Today called Tim’s song, “A Singer of Songs,” one of the key songs of Cash's career.
Which brings us to the current single, "I've Got a Song in My Heart." "I wrote this song last year," Tim says, "and after I made a demo of it, I thought I might have a summertime hit single on my hands. Because it repeats, I thought it would be good to make a duet out of it, with the male and female vocalists trading verses. I contacted a singer named Kiki Halliday because I liked her voice and hired her to sing the duet with me. I'm very happy with the results. I worked with multi-instrumentalist Buck Brown to record the tracks. This is the fifth record I've made with Buck, and he continues to amaze me."

"I've Got a Song in My Heart" is the first single from Tim's upcoming EP, which is called "Make America Fun Again!" The other four songs on the EP feature a horn section put together by Max Abrams, the saxophone player for the Mavericks.