Steve Leslie and his Walkin' Man Band will make a special appearance at Nashville Unleashed to honor the master songwriter of our generation, James Taylor. James was one of Steve's strongest musical influences and can be heard tastefully in Steve's own songwriting arsenal.
Steve received his bachelors degree in guitar/jazz studies from Morehead State University in Morehead Ky. After teaching privately in Tallahassee, Fl. for eight years, Steve moved to Nashville in 1992. He was signed to a staff songwriting position at EMI Music Publishing shortly thereafter, where he had songs recorded by Kenny Rogers, Mark Chesnutt, George Strait, Darryl Worley, Rhonda Vincent, and Neal McCoy, to name a few.
Steve earned a Grammy Certificate for the title cut to Ricky Skaggs' 2004 "Brand New Strings" which won a Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album of the Year.
Steve left EMI after nine years to open his own publishing company, Chord Boy Songs. He signed to Stage Three Music Publishing in 2005. Since 2007 he has maintained a career as an independent songwriter and music publisher. His new company, New Modern Songs, has published works by Darryl Worley and Darius Rucker, all written by Steve.
As an educator Steve was adjunct professor of Jazz History at Tallahassee Community College in Tallahassee, FL. from 1991-1992. He is a popular songwriting clinician, and has held workshops all over the country and in Canada, at places like Morehead State University, Morehead, KY., Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN., Belmont University, Nashville, TN., Berklee College of Music, Boston, MA., Nashville Songwriters Association International, and NSAI Chapters in Toronto Canada, He currently teaches songwriting courses online via Skype, and mentors students privately in his home. He has reviewed book proposals for Oxford University Press, and was hired Adjunct Professor of Songwriting at Belmont University, in Nashville, TN. September 2011.
As a recording artist, Steve has two albums available; "In The Middle", and "Greater Gravity". He has also written and produced a CD, with DVD, "Beautiful Love", introducing young adult-contemporary artist Britt Lane.
He lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with his wife Amy, a fifth-grade public school educator, and 2009 Teacher of the Year! He has two sons, Steven and Jacob.
Steve is currently in the rehearsal stages of a newly written musical, "Umbrella", a romantic comedy featuring eleven original songs. He is also writing a book of essays on the craft of songwriting.