By KEVIN BOWDEN
Staff Reporter
Obion County native Phillip Coleman returned to Nashville Tuesday after spending a week in Los Angeles that was highlighted by Sunday night’s Grammy Awards Show.
He told The Messenger Monday it’s an experience he will not soon forget.
Coleman and his wife, Catt Gravitt, spent the week at a Los Angeles hotel before attending Sunday night’s Grammy Awards Show, which he attended as a nominee. Despite being sick with the flu and a sore throat for part of their stay, Coleman described his Grammy experience as “surreal.”
All week long, Coleman said he got to see and even meet numerous actors and musicians.
One of his most memorable encounters was with actor Billy Bob Thornton, whom he met during his stay in Los Angeles.
“We had a great conversation,” said Coleman, who described the actor as very friendly and down-to-earth.
Among some of the other celebrities he spotted were Gary Oldman, Julian Lennon and Harrison Ford. He said he had a nice visit with Oldman, one of his favorite actors, but other celebrities had bodyguards and were not as accessible.
As far as meeting Old-man, Coleman said, “It was pretty cool.”
Reflecting on Sunday and the Grammy Awards Show, Coleman said, “It was a long day.” He said it was an 11-hour day and although he was “a little bummed” at not winning a Grammy, he said it was an experience he would like to repeat.
“It’s one I want to experience again ... I want another shot at this,” he told The Messenger from his Los Angeles hotel Monday. He said as he was leaving the show Sunday night he turned back to look at the Los Angeles Staples Center and already began thinking about a return visit.
Coleman said the Grammy tribute to the late reggae legend Bob Marley by Bruno Mars and Sting was most definitely “the highlight of the night.”
Coleman and Ronnie Dunn were up for Grammys in the Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Song categories for the song they co-wrote, “Cost of Livin’.”
Carrie Underwood won the Grammy for Best Country Solo Performance for her hit “Blown Away,” which also won the Grammy for Best Country Song.
Coleman also worked with Miranda Lambert on “All Kinds of Kind,” which appears on her album “Four the Record,” which was up for Country Album of the Year. The Grammy for Country Album of the Year ended up going to the Zac Brown Band for “Uncaged.”
Although he didn’t win a Grammy, at least now Coleman can add “three-time Grammy nominee” to his songwriting resumé, and he has a medallion, photos and a week full of memories to remind him just how far his first major hit, “Cost of Livin’,” has taken him.
Coleman is the son of Kenneth and Carolyn Coleman of the Mt. Pelia community and is a 1983 graduate of Obion County Central High School. It was in 1995 that he moved to Nashville to pursue his career as a country music songwriter.
While he was in Los Angeles for the Grammys, Coleman said he had several meetings with industry representatives, including American Idol reps.
All in all, Coleman’s Grammy experience ap-pears to have been entertaining as well as having been an opportunity for him to advance his songwriting career.
“Cost of Livin’,” also garnered a Song of the Year nomination at the Third Annual American Country Awards show held in December 2012 in Las Vegas. It is a mournful ballad in which Dunn brings to life the aftermath of the 2011 Goodyear plant closure in Union City.
Staff Reporter Kevin Bowden may be emailed at kmbowden@ucmessenger.com.

Published in The Messenger 2.13.13