Former Chattanoogan Mitch Rossell recalls that when he moved to Nashville in 2010 to chase his songwriting dream, he was focused on one goal and posted it on Facebook: "I want to make music that gets back to Garth."
Scratch that off the bucket list.
Rossell not only became friends with and was mentored by superstar Garth Brooks, he wrote the song that became a No. 1 hit for Garth Brooks in October 2017, "Ask Me How I Know." It was Brooks' first No. 1 in 10 years since "More Than a Memory" in 2007.
Rossell has returned home in recent weeks to play for intimate audiences at the Bethel Country Connection and MaryEllen Locher Foundation benefit, but he's returning Sunday, June 10, for the big show: Riverbend Festival.
He'll play at 8 p.m. on the Unum Stage.
Rossell says his Riverbend debut was a half-dozen years ago, when he was still working on getting his name and his music out in Nashville.
"Coming back to play Riverbend is cool for me - it's hometown. Also, I love outdoor shows, the music sounds so good. I grew up going to Riverbend, but I never imagined I would perform there. I didn't even play guitar until after high school," he said in a phone interview.
Rossell is a graduate of Silverdale Baptist Academy, attended Virginia Tech and finished college at UTC. He laughs recalling he didn't sing in high school until his talent was accidentally revealed during a Young Life skit.
"We sang 'This Little Light of Mine,' and by the end of the skit I'm the last one singing," he laughs. Word of his unexpected talent got back to the school music teacher, who asked him to sing in a spring concert.
"He was scared to death, I mean terrified," recalls that SBA teacher, Brenda Rayburn. "He had never been on a stage before. He was fabulous - he brought the house down."
"I sang a Brian McKnight song, and that was the first time I ever felt like I had a little talent," Rossell recalls.
His freshman year of college he picked up a guitar, learned some chords and then how to transition chords. From there he started writing songs in his college dorm.
"In high school, I wrote poetry and short stories. English was my favorite subject and I always enjoyed English assignments," he explains of his talent for words.
He found the "cool thing about songwriting is there are only so many emotions, but you can channel them all into writing. I believe you write the best songs from personal experience."
View Our Coverage of Riverbend 2018
Take, for example, his ballad, "The Rain," which he says is being pitched to Trisha Yearwood to record.
The song was written at a time when he had been working and writing for awhile in Nashville, yet to no result and he was feeling the frustration of knowing he was doing something well, but the industry wasn't noticing.
"I wasn't Bro Country," he says of the country sound popular then. "It was the first time I doubted myself and began to have thoughts of moving home. Then I started talking with Garth, and having him say my songs were good was such a validating thing."
And as he wrote in "The Rain:": "Everything works out just how it should."
Rossell promises his Riverbend set will be high energy and include some surprises.
"I've got a lot of songs you know and a few you don't - new songs I've only played for smaller audiences."
Contact Susan Pierce at spierce@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6284.