Shy Carter

Along with a list of songwriting credits that includes work with Keith Urban, Meghan Trainor, Jason Derulo, and other Top 40 stars, producer/songwriter/vocalist Shy Carter also makes music under his own name. Active since the late 2000s, Carter has had a hand in multiple chart-topping hits, including Rob Thomas’ 2009 song “Someday” and Charlie Puth’s multi-platinum 2016 single “One Call Away.” As a solo artist, he began as a rapper/singer, but elements of pop and country crept their way into his sound by the time he released his 2021 debut EP The Rest of Us.
Shy Carter was born Blake Carter in Memphis, Tennessee in 1984. In his early twenties, he signed a production deal with Nelly and began working as a songwriter. Throughout the late 2000s and 2010s, Carter wrote songs for a wide variety of artists and occasionally appeared on these tracks himself. Carter wrote songs for Rob Thomas, Sugarland, Mr. Midwest, and Marcus Canty in his earliest phase, and on two tracks from Billy Currington’s 2013 album, We Are Tonight, he not only played a role in songwriting and production but also sang backup and added a rap verse. His work as a songwriter continued with credits on tracks for Meghan Trainor, Jamie Foxx, Jason Derulo, Charlie Puth, Kane Brown, and Citizen Way. In 2015, Carter released solo single “Bring It Back” with RCA Records, and the song made some waves.
Carter worked with a growing number of country artists in the latter half of the 2010s, penning songs for country hitmakers like Keith Urban, Faith Hill, and Chris Janson. In 2019, he contributed a rapped verse to Tim McGraw’s single “Way Down,” which paved the way for the rap/country sound that would appear on Carter’s 2020 single “All Night.” In 2020, he also released the gospel trap ballad “Good Love.” 2021 singles “Boom in the Boondocks” and the Cole Swindell and David Lee Murphy collaboration “Beer with My Friends” both returned to a country-and-rap hybrid sound, and in October of that year, Carter released his debut EP, The Rest of Us, with Warner Music Nashville. The eight-song release included several previously released singles and other songs in a variety of mainstream pop and country styles with rap undertones. ~ Fred Thomas