After three years in the U.S. Army, Bobby paid the first of his dues playing clubs and fairs across the country. In 1996, Pinson moved to Music City with a "sack full of songs that weren't worth packin'." The pursuit of his artist aspirations proved to be fruitless in the beginning. For the next three years, Bobby delivered everything from pizzas to the Yellow Pages, worked as a banquet server and bought and sold junk at yard sales and auctions to survive.
In 1999, Bobby signed with Sony/ATV Music as a staff songwriter. In 2000, he signed to what is now known as Stage Three Music. Bobby's songs found their way onto albums by LeAnn Rimes, Tracy Lawrence, Blake Shelton, Marty Stuart, Van Zant, and more. Though songwriting steadily became his Nashville toehold, Pinson's artist aspirations were alive and well.
In 2002, Pinson started playing artist/writer showcases around Nashville. Though there were no record label eyebrows raised in the beginning, the "Bobby Pinson buzz" was spreading fast among the underbelly of Music Row.
Producer Joe Scaife heard him at one of these shows and, excited about what he heard, began to work with Bobby. It was the "pre-Gretchen Wilson" Scaife who was interested in Pinson's raw ruggedness. Four million Gretchen records later, Scaife got his shot with Pinson when RCA's Renee Bell asked, "Joe, what else ya got?" After nine years and some 30 outside cuts, Pinson and Scaife teamed to produce Bobby's debut album, Man Like Me.
"My music is passionate and honest and is carved from pieces of my life. Not that everything is literally true, but the feelings are true, and the emotions and experiences are real, even if they're not mine. I put myself into the character of that small town guy who's made it out, or the one who hasn't.
"I think there are a lot of lessons to be learned without saying, 'Here's what ya gotta do.' I've never come from that spot. My parents didn't come from that spot with me. It was like they were telling me, 'you'll figure it out, but if you want a hint, here it is.' That's what I try to do with my songs. I'm just a guy who's been 'the idiot' who doesn't mind saying so for a good cause. I think people will hear 'the idiot' long before they'll listen to the man on the soapbox.
"Some people have called me an 'outlaw.' Boy, Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash would get a good laugh out of that. I just think for myself and speak my mind. With that often comes the 'outlaw' tag, but I'm just honest and real and not askin' anyone for permission to do what I do. If that scares the Hell out of somebody, then so be it!"
Pinson's "lived-in" vocals paint the real life pictures of pain, regret, God, the devil, and the girls that make you believe in both. His songs are colored with wit, stained with whiskey and framed with hard won "wisdom by default." Bobby Pinson's music is that oil on canvas portrait of who you were, who you are, and who you want to be, that you wish you could hang on your wall and look at everyday on your way out the door.