When It Comes To Back Stories, This One's “Got 'Em All”

Trent Harmon came into my office on Tuesday, February 27th and kicked my ass. I mean, he put me on the floor. It was the second such whippin' in less than three weeks, and this time, I even knew it was coming. No need to call the authorities; this was an emotional, not a physical, takedown. That said, and – to be clear – though I may have a lot of years on Trent, I adhere to a strict, six-second abs fitness routine, thigh-master workouts, and – when absolutely necessary – hitting the deck to knock out 25-30 perfect-form push-ups. If it somehow comes to blows, I got this.

It won't, though, because, Trent and me? We're good, even though he rendered a massively manly-man such as myself harmless and speechless with his in-office performance of "You Got 'Em All," his new single on Big Machine Records. I was first reduced to putty in the back of a huge, crowded room at the Wednesday, February 7th Big Machine luncheon during CRS, and I wasn't alone. Harmon got a standing ovation after absolutely slaying the tune, which had extra intrigue. Right after introducing "You Got 'Em All," his keyboard went silent. It was a potentially awkward silence, not to mention a momentum killer, waiting for a tech to come out, do tech-like things, and make an instrument functional again. But, Harmon handled things like a pro. Hmm ... I guess a successful, winning run on season 15 of "American Idol," in front of millions of TV viewers every week, taught him how to stay cool.

"In that moment, your character is tested," Harmon later shared with me. "I could've said a lot of different things, but I stayed calm. A lot of people have put forth a lot of effort in a short amount of time just to get here; I thought, 'this song is going to be played on piano and played correctly – and I'm gonna nail it.' I only had one job that day, and it was to nail that song, in that room. I've had to do harder things – I mean, I couldn't exactly get voted off that day."

Voted off? No way. Voted back in is more like it. The few moments of dead air before Harmon's buzz-worthy, CRS moment was ironic, given a frustrating, beyond-his-control radio silence in 2017. Also ironic? His unplanned year away from the spotlight followed an identical CRS-moment in 2017, when, after crushing a live, standing-O-inducing performance of a song called "Her," Harmon soon found himself wound up in red tape, paperwork, and a logistical nightmare, all of which conspired to cast doubt on whether he could continue his dream of being a recording artist.

Shortly after CRS 2017, Harmon's label, Dot Records – a joint venture between the Big Machine Label Group (BMLG) and Republic Records – was shuttered when the agreement between the two companies was not continued. This was preceded by the Chapter 11 restructuring of Core Media Group, owner of 19 Entertainment, which owned "American Idol." As Harmon remembers, "That started a chain of all kinds of things – I wasn't on bad terms, I wanted to stay where I was." And, Big Machine wanted Harmon, too. "Scott Borchetta even told me more than once, 'My hands are tied,'" recalls Harmon. If BMLG President/CEO Scott Borchetta, annually on every conceivable "most-powerful" music industry list, says HIS hands are tied, welp, your next best strategy is probably patience, my friend.

Or, songwriting.

"The only thing I could do every day was to write," Harmon says. "And, I wrote a lot – every day. My publishing is also with Big Machine, and they set me up with an appointment every day. For about a year, that's all I did."

I wondered if Harmon, suddenly a reluctant fulltime songwriter, ever considered devoting his time and energy to the craft as a long-term career pivot? "For all intents and purposes, I was being groomed to do that," admitted Harmon. "Mike Molinar, the GM of Big Machine Music, told me after I said I was tired of fighting it, 'Well, if you give up [pursuing the artist career], I think you have a future as a songwriter.'" Molinar confirmed that with me, too, remembering, "At some point, it became obvious to my team and I that Trent was a real songwriter. We told him that while we were all committed to doing our part to help him out of the limbo on the artist side, his talent was strong enough to compete and succeed as a songwriter at the highest level."

Both Molinar and Harmon told me the songs kept getting better; Harmon started getting holds, including a few from superstar acts. "We pitched a few songs that we normally would have been holding for him," says Molinar. "The interest immediately proved our instincts to be true. He’s not just only a great vocalist, or performer, or songwriter – he has all of the skills and intangibles that we see in the very best."

That feedback came early in this process. "I probably wrote for another 12-15 months after that," Harmon says. "As much as I talked to my friends and family and the good Lord, I probably talked to Mike more. He said, 'The only thing you can do is write, so let's keep getting better.'"

Eventually, complications regarding Harmon's record deal started to ease; now, things were looking optimistic. Harmon received word he should start looking through his catalogue for the right song to release. "Of course, at that point, we're talking the second half of 2017. So, now, a year has gone by," he remembers. "I'm just about to walk onstage one night and wanted to share this with my long-term girlfriend. I told her, 'I've got big news.' And, she said, 'I was just about to text you with big news, too – I just received word that I'm moving to Thailand for a teaching position.'" Harmon's reaction? "It stopped me dead in my tracks – I can't explain with words how I felt – I'd been at such a low, and a high – this was another low."

Back in Nashville a day or so later, a despondent Harmon was convinced to keep a writing appointment; the session yielded "You Got 'Em All" with co-writers Justin Ebach and Jordan Minton.

Flash forward to, say, now. We'll spare you the minutia, but Harmon and Big Machine Records are happy together. He's visiting radio with a memorable performance at CRS under his belt and an impact date of Monday, March 19th for "You Got 'Em All." Radio's reaction to the song live was fantastic, and they love the record, too, with many programmers using lofty words like, "song of the year" when describing the single.

Oh, and it gets better. If the career component wasn't a strong ending to this true story, there's this: Harmon and his girlfriend are doing fine, too. In fact, she was in town and in the room when he cut the vocal for this single. "We are in a good place; uncharted territory," says Harmon. "We're still together, but we are not holding each other back from realizing any dream. There has been a lot of trust – and, thank goodness for FaceTime – text messages can only go so far. When I wrote this song, I did write it from a place where she wasn't coming back. If she did, I thought she'd come back changed, or maybe moving on from the two of us. I was afraid of losing someone special to me, but she did come back, so it does have a version of a happy ending."

No kidding. None of the past 15 months or so were easy, but now Harmon has a huge, gut-wrenching, potential career song – and, along the way, got his deal AND his girl back. How's that for an emotional ass-kicker?