Regarding the reality that people like us stand a snowball's chance in Hades of ever selling a song to Nashville, the thought occurs to me that the same level of "sell your soul to the industry" (if applied to the task of building your own reputation rather than being applied to the task of writing songs for others) could lead to a certain following who would want to hear your songs played by you.

Joe Bonamassa is a good example of a guy who has forged his own reputation, and now he enjoys the fruit of his labors.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ey71h8ep047758h/AAC12jNM0Hz9Q8zsh5iDeqNHa?dl=0