Artists That Begin With L

Lady Antebellum

Fri, 04 Mar 2011 19:26:00 GMT

Lady Antebellum

Lady Antebellum's truth is in the music. But the alchemy which forged this six time Grammy award winning trio extends beyond its signature vocal blend and heartfelt songwriting gifts. With a self-titled double platinum debut album and triple platinum second effort—Need You Now—it's easy to applaud their amazing achievements, but equally significant is the underlying importance of the group's shared heartbeat.

"That's the core of our group, how we started," says Dave Haywood, harmony singer and multi-instrumentalist. "What spawned our friendship was that special writing chemistry. That's when we are the happiest, just sitting in a room together making music."

"Maybe it's a self preservation kind of thing," agrees co-lead singer Hillary Scott. "Especially on the road we have to work to nurture our relationship. I write so much from about what is happening in my life and the people closest to me, so knowing my friends care about what is going on in my life outside of Lady A, makes me more likely pour it all out into a song."

“Writing lets us chill and slow down a bit," says Charles Kelley whose edgy lead vocals merge and weave with Hillary’s velvet tone."

Lady Antebellum formed in 2006. Hillary and Charles decided to try writing together after a chance meeting at a Nashville music spot. Charles and his high school musician friend and co-writer Dave Haywood were living with Charles' brother Josh Kelley at the time. Late night songwriting sessions with the new trio soon became the genesis through which they discovered the remarkable emotional effect that was created when Charles and Hillary's vocals blended. With Dave's harmony sounds and instrumental prowess added to that mix the three young musicians realized they might not just be writing songs for other people, but perhaps would get to perform them, too. A Music Row "buzz" began to spread as the newly-formed trio started making appearances on local stages.

Soon key tastemakers began to believe in the group, including producer Paul Worley who has worked on all three Lady A albums. By April 2007, a blink of an eye in music industry time, Capitol Nashville had signed Lady Antebellum to a record deal and the trio began to ascend toward the constellation of country music stars with powerful hits such as "Love Don't Live Here," and "I Run To You."

The group's second album, Need You Now (released Jan. 2010) took the band to an even larger audience. To date the album has sold over five million copies worldwide, spawning three multi-week No. 1 hits (“Need You Now,” “American Honey” and “Our Kind of Love”), and scored five Grammy Awards. It has also received over a dozen other award show trophies. ‘Need You Now’ introduced the world, outside North America, to Lady Antebellum. The single was a huge airplay hit around the globe, reaching the No. 1 spot in numerous markets and achieving Top 5 Airplay in 30 countries world-wide. The album has sold in excess of one million units outside the US, and ‘Need You Now’ remains in the airplay charts more than 18 months since release.

"We never expected to be thrust into the international spotlight in the way that we were…from the success of just one song," says Kelley. "It was six months or so after the album came out that we were finally able to go play overseas. When we got there, we were floored at the life that 'Need You Now' had taken on. The power of that one song really changed the scope of our entire career at home and in all these places we had only dreamed of playing."

In The Studio – Own The Night
The pairing with Paul Worley has proved a good fit. His warm temperament, creative sensibility and platinum experience with acts such as the Dixie Chicks and Martina McBride helped guide Lady Antebellum's studio development.

"Recording for us is an open forum of ideas," says Dave who readily avows, "One of my first loves is messing around with studio production. Paul has great vision for where these songs need to go. Over three albums we've learned a lot about the recording process, how to speak the language and what it takes to get it done. Naturally, as songwriters we envision these songs a certain way. It's not some far removed kind of thing with a bunch of session guys and us just showing up to sing. This is from the ground up—we are writing these songs, playing these instruments and creating the arrangements."

Lady Antebellum's third album, Own The Night
is scheduled for release Sept. 13. The upcoming 12-cut set features the band's fastest rising single to date, "Just a Kiss" plus 11 additional tracks. Charles, Hillary and Dave wrote or co-wrote 10 of the songs, including "We Owned The Night."

"'We Owned The Night' opens the album, "says Dave excitedly, "and I really love this song. We reworked the title slightly to make it present tense for the album title–Own The Night. When people come out to our live show it's a call to action. Be confident, live in the moment and enjoy the experiences you're going through—own them. That's the premise of what we wanted to say."

Own The Night 2011 Tour
Part of the challenge of a new album is translating it into a live show. "When we were tracking 'We Owned The Night' in the studio," says Hillary, "I was in the control room with Paul (Charles sings lead on it). Listening to the track inspired me to visualize our live show. I grabbed a legal pad and began drawing out the stage. That was the first sign to me that the song would be a cornerstone of this third album."

"Many of our songs have an interplay between Charles and Hillary and we feel strongly about creating that emotion live," adds Dave. "And being on tour with artists like Kenny Chesney and Keith Urban has also given us a lot of ideas. So yeah, we're excited to get a chance to jump up into arenas and give that a shot."

"People want you to entertain them," says Charles. "The fans feed off your energy. They see it on your face. So we've learned to let ourselves go on stage. With three people the strongest moments are when we are close and tight together. But it's a giant stage to fill up."

Being themselves has worked for this group. As Hillary recalls, "I'll never forget when we were on our first radio tour and a programmer said, 'I don't think two lead singers, a girl and a guy are going to work.'

"Especially with the name too," remembers Dave. "Programmers weren't sure if people could identify with two singers. It was a risk at the time. But for us it was just like, well that's who we are. How can we not do that?"

It's All About Our Fans
"We stay connected with everybody in a huge way online with our webisodes and social networking,” says Dave. “After a show we pull up Twitter to see what people are saying, especially when we're introducing a new song. We care about what they think and the internet gives us a way to get an immediate reaction."

"All these people who spend their hard earned money on a concert ticket or a CD, they invest in us and who we are," says Hillary. "Not just in the music we play, but in our lives. So the least we can do in return is reciprocate that trust in the form of continuing to tour, create music and do our very best at both."

"We are just as vulnerable about this music, self-conscious and need approval like anyone else," says Charles quietly. "We recognize we've been given an amazing opportunity and don't want to let anyone down. We hit the lottery. We’re just lucky we can sing and play instruments."

"I hope people realize we aren't taking it all for granted," says Dave. "This is crazy, but we want to enjoy it and do our very best. Twenty years later I hope people will talk about us and say, ‘They were just genuine people who made genuine music based upon their life experiences’."

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Tracy Lawrence

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:31:00 GMT

The new Tracy Lawrence album is titled The Singer, but the collection is much more than a showcase for one of the most unforgettable voices in contemporary country music.

"I'm at a time in my life where I am about to blossom, artistically -- as an artist, as a songwriter, as a producer and all these things," says the multi-million-selling entertainer. "I'm learning how to express myself more, in many ways."

Tracy Lawrence co-wrote six of the new CD's songs. He co-produced the entire record. And perhaps most significantly, he created a striking new sound for himself. In an era when rock-influenced bombast and cluttered over production seem to dominate Nashville's country recordings, Tracy Lawrence is offering a refreshing, stripped-down, "unplugged" record that throws the spotlight on songs' lyrics and his beautifully resonant voice.

"This was such an easy record to work on," Lawrence comments. "There's something to be said for going back to being understated, taking a breath and getting back to basics."

He has been silent on disc for more than two years. Along with fellow stars John Anderson, Lorrie Morgan, Darryl Worley and a number of others, Tracy Lawrence was trapped in a contract with a label that sank.

"I thought, 'What am I going to do?' My fans need some new music. I need to get something done. So in May, we decided we were going into the studio and do an acoustic project. The album was recorded, pressed, packaged and released in four weeks, in time for my Fan Club Party at the CMA Music Festival in June.

"Originally, I just intended it to be a 'bridge' project, to have something out there while we worked on the next, full-production album. But as it started coming to life, I realized we have something special here. The fans told us how unique it was and how much they liked it. So now we've realized that we have something really refreshing in the market. I think it's something that is needed."

The Singer includes the haunting story song "Saving Savannah," as well as the tongue-in-cheek "Pills." On the relationship front, there's the heartache of "Cloud of Dust," the romance of "Tender Enough" and the enigma of "Roswell and Marilyn Monroe." The philosophical "Jealousy," the deeply painful "Heaven for A While" and the timely "Hard Times" are all illustrations of Lawrence's new maturity as a songwriter. The album's title tune and debut single seems strikingly autobiographical, as does the restless "Whole Lotta Me."

Rounding out The Singer are lovely new versions of 2004's "Paint Me a Birmingham" and 2006's "Find Out Who Your Friends Are," two major hits that brought Tracy Lawrence renewed popularity in the new millennium. All 12 of the tracks collected on this extraordinary disc ring with emotional authenticity and country conviction.

"I think everybody else seems to so busy trying to be pop stars that they've forgotten what they came here for," Lawrence observes. "I didn't come here to be a pop star. I came here to be a country singer. I've been passionate about country since I was a kid. I still love it, and I'm desperately trying to hold onto it, in spite of what the marketplace says is 'fashionable.'"

Tracy Lawrence's respect for country-music tradition has made him one of his genre's cornerstone stylists. The Arkansas native burst on the scene with 1991's Platinum-selling Sticks and Stones. The album contained four massive radio hits, including its title tune. Alibis, issued in 1993, sold more than two million copies and spawned four consecutive No. 1 hits, "Alibis," "Can't Break it to My Heart," "My Second Home" and "If the Good Die Young."
"Can't Break it to My Heart" and "My Second Home" were the first hits that he co-wrote. Lawrence also had a hand in penning "If the World Had a Front Porch" (1995), "Stars Over Texas" (1996), "How a Cowgirl Says Goodbye" (1997) and "Lessons Learned" (2000).

"Back then, I had a lot of confidence issues about my songwriting," he reflects. "I got placed with tremendously talented co-writers. Working with them, I realized how inadequate I was as a songwriter. It really made me hard on myself and very critical of the material that I wrote. But it also made me want to work harder.

"Over the past three or four years, I've become much stronger at it. It took me a long time to know that a song I wrote had the caliber to stand up to anything else that was out there. I've found that as I've matured, my favorite songs to write are ones that have a moral foundation, some insight, some substance and a message."

His journey as a record producer began with 1993's "Renegades, Rebels and Rogues" from the soundtrack of the movie Maverick. His Platinum-selling 1994 CD I See it Now had three self-produced songs on it. The Double Platinum Time Marches On (1996) and Gold-selling The Coast Is Clear (1997) each contained five tunes that the artist co-produced. Then came the 1999 all-star collection The Civil War: The Nashville Sessions, the first full album he guided.

"That was a big step for me as a producer, working with other vocalists and taking things I'd learned by working with myself and applying them to people like Trace Adkins, Travis Tritt, Deana Carter and John Berry."

He co-produced his own Lessons Learned (2000), as well as its successors Tracy Lawrence (2001), Strong (2004), For the Love (2007), All Wrapped Up in Christmas (2007) and the Grammy Award nominated The Rock (2009). Along the way, Tracy Lawrence has picked up a number of other accolades. He was Billboard's Top New Male Vocalist in 1992. The following year, Performance named him New Country Artist of the Year and the Academy of Country Music honored him as Top New Male Vocalist. Country Weekly gave him top awards in 1995 and 1996, and both the Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music gave him 2007 statuettes for his No. 1 smash "Find Out Who Your Friends Are."

"In my career, I don't really need to prove any points anymore. I don't feel like I'm searching for anything. I just want to keep on being creative."

The Singer is certainly proof of that. Its sounds are among the most creative in Nashville today.

"It was so refreshing for me to sing on it," Tracy Lawrence comments. "And I think it's going to find a home. The albums are selling as fast as I can make them. I'm very happy with it."

The former hell raiser has found happiness in his personal life, too. His 2000 marriage to wife Becca and his devotion to their daughters Skylar, born in 2001 and Keagan, born in 2003, have matured him immensely.

In Nashville, he is famed for his massive annual turkey frying for the homeless each Thanksgiving. His golf tournament raises funds to battle breast cancer. Over the years, he has devoted his time and talent to many other causes and charities.

"I feel very content," says Tracy Lawrence. "I feel very happy in my life, in my home and in my career. It's a really good place to be in my life. I'm moving on, and I plan to be around for a long while."

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The Lost Trailers

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 06:48:00 GMT

The Lost Trailers is a country music duo of songwriter/producer Stokes Nielson and collaborator Jason Wyatt. Nielson’s first record using the name The Lost Trailers was an album entitled, “The Story of the New Age Cowboy”, which was discovered by Willie Nelson in the spring of 2000. Nelson was so impressed with the album that he invited The Lost Trailers to perform at his legendary 4th of July Picnic.

Using that show and others with Nelson as a launching pad, The Lost Trailers rose from a hard touring regional act to snagging 3 ACM Nominations and several Top 20 hits on country radio while opening for Sugarland, Taylor Swift, Jamey Johnson and many others.

Buoyed by Nielson’s songwriting, which was also being noticed by other artists- he was one of the few outside songwriters on Grammy Award recipient Zac Brown Band’s Double Platinum Album “The Foundation”- The Lost Trailers were recognized by Mediabase as the most played new country band of 2008.

The Lost Trailers continued touring through 2010, first as opener for Tim McGraw’s attendance shattering tour with Lady Antebellum, then as a part of the Inaugural Country Throwdown Tour with Montgomery Gentry and Jamey Johnson.

In the summer of 2011, singer/songwriter Jason Wyatt joined Nielson, launching the next chapter of The Lost Trailers. Wyatt spent years honing his live performance chops and songwriting skills in venues around West Texas, where he developed a reputation as a vocal gunslinger. Together they share the same vision, passion and excitement for making great music, and have found a unique similarity in their desire to write music that speaks to the heart of the everyday person – real music that their fans can relate to.

The Lost Trailers are currently preparing a new release, which was partly recorded in Abbey Road with legendary producer Eddie Kramer.

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Lonestar

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 19:08:00 GMT

Country music group, Lonestar, made its debut on the Billboard country music charts in 1995 with the Top 10 Single “Tequila Talkin’”. Since then, the band has amassed a total of twenty-seven singles on the country charts, with 10 of those reaching Number One. The band’s musical legacy is tied to modern-day classics like “Amazed”, “I’m Already There”, and “My Front Porch Looking In”. In 1999, Lonestar achieved crossover success when their hit single, “Amazed”, reached #1 on both the country charts and the Billboard Hot 100.

In 2007, Cody Collins stepped in as lead singer, bringing a fresh look and sound to the already successful band. Cody brings to LONESTAR a perfect complement to the bands current musical dynamic, winning over audiences world-wide. In asking founding member, Dean Sams what the future means? Sams says "We feel like we have the opportunity that few bands ever get, we've sold millions of records, have had 10 #1 hits, and now we have the chance to take control of our careers and do it all over again."

Lonestar, consisting of Cody Collins, Dean Sams, Michael Britt & Keech Rainwater have released their 11th studio album in the spring of 2010, continuing the band’s legacy.

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Aaron Lewis

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 19:24:00 GMT

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Love and Theft

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 17:59:00 GMT

Love and Theft is a bit different from the group that scored a Top 10 hit two years ago with “Runaway.” But the changes that have affected the group—most notably, signing with RCA Records and downsizing to a duo—have actually brought Love and Theft closer to what it originally set out to be: a band that writes, records and performs honest, soulful country music.

While Stephen Barker Liles and Eric Gunderson are proud of their successful first effort, they are excited to have teamed with producer Josh Leo (Alabama, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) on their RCA effort. "We love performing" says Stephen. "The way we are recording now is the way our influences made records: live with a band. It's a lot more organic.".”

Eric’s earthy voice is the perfect complement to Stephen’s high-altitude tenor. The guys happily share lead vocals, harmonize like a church choir, and bolster their band with their own guitar work. “Stephen and I have always been on the same page as far as the vision for Love and Theft and what we want it to be,” says Eric. “We feel like we have made the record we’ve always wanted to make.”

The result is a nod to the duo’s varied influences. “She’s Amazing” evokes the brilliant harmonies of the Eagles. The seductive “Amen” channels all the yearning of Roy Orbison. And the rollicking first single “Angel Eyes” brings to mind Elvis Presley’s “(You’re the) Devil in Disguise.”

While Johnny Cash and Orbison are both enormous influences, it might surprise fans to learn who the duo’s favorite artist is. “Hands-down, Elvis,” says Stephen. “My dad was really into him, so I got into him. I was all over Elvis growing up.”

Coincidentally, both Stephen and Eric—who didn’t meet until they were in their early 20s—were raised as pastors’ kids, and their respective fathers fed them a steady diet of gospel, oldies and country. “Our parents didn’t want us listening to secular music that much. But they’d let us listen to Elvis, Roy, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band…,” says Eric. “It was cool to grow up that way, and that’s still my favorite kind of music.”

It isn’t lost on the guys that they’re now recording for the very label that released some of their hero’s biggest hits. “We’re excited to be on RCA, the same label Elvis was on,” Stephen says with a smile.

Perhaps it was some divine intervention that led the friends to this point in their career. Eric and Stephen, after all, will be the first to tell you that their shared spirituality is a cornerstone of Love and Theft. In fact, both used to lead worship at their churches.

“That’s how we got our start playing music. Our faith is a huge part of our lives,” says Eric, pondering the fate of it all. “I feel like it was meant to be this way from the beginning. Our journey over the past four years was preparing us for where we’re at now.”

Which is squarely at the doorstop of a prosperous career in country music. With a young, vibrant sound, a captivating live show, and a passionate fan base, Love and Theft are poised to become the genre’s next great duo.

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Locash Cowboys

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 17:38:00 GMT

It was April of 2008, and the LoCash Cowboys were doing what they do best--rocking a packed house. They were at Nashville's Wildhorse Saloon, where the two of them--Preston Brust and Chris Lucas--had met a few years earlier. The amped-up crowd was living, screaming proof that they had put the time since then to good use. They had been criss-crossing the country, honing their craft on stages large and small, developing one of the most dynamic live shows in any genre of music. Along the way, they had sold more than 60,000 copies of their homemade CD, earned endorsements from the likes of Budweiser, shared bills with artists including Charlie Daniels and ZZ Top, performed at halftime of NBA and U.S. Olympic team basketball games, and earned television appearances ranging from Tanya Tucker's reality show "Tuckerville" to "Pageant School: Becoming Miss America," writing the theme songs for both.

They had also attracted their share of support from those in the industry who recognized just how much of the total package they had--great vocals, world-class dance moves, a unique look and charisma to burn, as well as a wealth of experience and a work ethic that impressed everyone who dealt with them.

On that warm spring night, the final piece of the puzzle would fall into place. Jeffrey Steele, one of Nashville's biggest names in songwriting ("The Cowboy In Me," "What Hurts The Most," "My Town") and producing (Montgomery Gentry, Keith Anderson) was working his way through the crowd.

"Everybody's screaming and he can barely get to the stage," says Preston. "He was almost crowd-surfing his way to the front. He grabbed hold of me in the middle of a song and yelled, 'I get it! I want to work with you!' It was a monumental moment."

Steele, like so many others before and since, had caught the LoCash vision, and he signed on as songwriting partner and producer. After building and gathering strength for years, earning a growing legion of fans inside and outside the industry, the LoCash Cowboys saw their momentum become a perfect storm.

"We had a few great songs already," adds Preston, "but writing 40 songs with Jeffrey amounted to honing the vision, defining who and what we are. We knew the whole time that this wasn't just going to be 11 or 12 songs on a record. We knew it would be the debut of what the world will know as LoCash."

That debut, called This Is How We Do It, is a fitting introduction to a compellingly charismatic duo, a well-rounded CD that captures all the excitement of their stage performance while displaying a softer, more philosophical side as well. The project's first single, "You Got Me," is the best of both worlds. Penned by Chris and Preston, it is, quite simply, a love song that rocks.

The core of the CD is a series of high-energy manifestos, songs that celebrate the unabashed fun of the LoCash lifestyle, the conviction that the best things in life are free or at least low-cash. Songs like "Fresh Off The Farm," with its riff-laden punch and inventive harmonies, "Here Comes Summer," with its free-wheeling look at beach season, "C.O.U.N.T.R.Y," an ode to the joys of country life, "Get Down," a bit of country rap, "She Goes Loco," a name-dropping tour-de-force, and "This Town Needs A Parade," which is as close to a recorded party as country music has ever seen, add up to a guided tour through LoCash territory. But then there are "Right Here In Front Of You," a passionate expression of romantic love, and "Keep In Mind," a parent's loving farewell to a child venturing into the world, both vivid examples of the depth and tenderness lurking within the LoCash heart. To top it off, there is "Independent Trucker," an uptempo country joyride that includes none other than George Jones, and "This Is How We Do It," a title cut that ties it all together with a high-energy bow.

The Cowboys' signing by Stroudavarious Records brought together two of the most important elements of the LoCash story--their ability to capture fans with their live performances, and their heart for humanitarian work, especially with young people.

It came about at another gig, this one in October 2008 following the Wicksburg, Alabama, high school football team's homecoming game. Chris and Preston, as they normally do, wanted to hang out with the kids throughout the day--they are tireless in their efforts to talk about alternatives to drugs, which neither of them have ever used. They attended classes and played touch football with students and were invited to run out onto the field with the team before the game. Word got around and the stadium was filled that night for the game and the concert afterward. Among those present was entrepreneur Ronnie Gilley.

"He's someone who wants to do something positive for the community," says Preston, "and a friend of ours from the area had been trying to get us together for a long time. He saw the crowd going crazy in front of his eyes and he knew we were trying to make a difference, too. He said, 'These are my kind of guys,' and we were thinking, 'This is our kind of guy.' Right then and there, he called James Stroud, the label head, and told him about us. Within a few weeks we were signed to Stroudavarious."

Their subsequent breakthrough is fitting testament to the talent, persistence and hard work that has been evident in Chris and Preston since their earliest years.

Chris grew up in Baltimore, developing a love for music that would ultimately span eras and styles, from Frank Sinatra to Justin Timberlake, with special emphasis on '90s R&B and country. He learned break-dancing on the city's streets and eventually taught others, but most of his time and attention as a teenager went to baseball and football. He says, "Sports is where I learned integrity and all the big lessons about character."

Preston was born in Arkansas, but grew up in Kokomo, Indiana, where his dad was a preacher--Preston sang a capella in church but had to sneak out to go dancing. He turned out to be a natural, and soon he was choreographing show choirs, ultimately winning a regional grand championship.

"I remember being so excited," he says, "but then I realized something was still missing for me. I wanted to perform, to share what was inside me as an artist, and not just choreograph for other people. I knew it was time to go to Nashville."

Chris, at the urging of a friend, had auditioned for a singing spot in a theme park show, and ultimately worked for Six Flags, Kings Dominion and others. He decided to chase his dream to Nashville as well. Calling on his break-dancing experience, he quickly landed jobs as an instructor at two dance studios and at the Wildhorse Saloon. It was there that he met Preston, who had moved to town the day before and was out on the town.

"We talked for a while and I offered him a job," laughs Chris. "I'd been there for a while and had begun to get discouraged, but Preston brought my energy back. We hit it off like brothers and when we found out both of us sang we said, 'Why don't we try something together?'"

They began writing, performing and recording, devising their strategy on the fly.

"We spent months knocking on the doors of producers and labels," says Chris, "but then one day it hit us. What we could control was getting out there on the road and making LoCash Cowboys a household name."

It wasn't easy," adds Preston. "We started out in our cars pulling U-Hauls. Then we moved to renting vans, then to buying a van, and then we grew into an old White Eagle Bus we called Ghetto One that we wrecked our first night."

Their live show did the heavy lifting, with their over-the-top energy winning fans in city after city.

"We became known for just going out and having a good time," says Chris. "We read each audience. We don't really have a set list. We just go out and make it fun."

They worked each bit of success into another step up the ladder, earning opening slots for name acts, rave press notices and TV appearances. One by one, they picked up believers--an attorney, a booking agent, a manager, a publisher, even a label that signed them, only to fold before they could release a record.

Their friendship with Jeffrey Steele began when a mutual friend began taking them to his house for Sunday afternoon basketball games.

"Once we got to know him," says Chris, "we told him, 'Someday you'll be working with us,'" a statement whose fulfillment was pivotal.

The list of those they have shared bills with continues to grow--Toby Keith, Blake Shelton, REO Speedwagon, Tom Petty, Gretchen Wilson and many others. They toured the country headlining Maxim's Red Man Roadhouse Tour. Their TV appearances have been as varied as they've been exciting, ranging from Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's SlamiVersary, where they performed before 10,000 screaming fans at Nashville's Municipal Auditorium, to Fox News Network's New Year's Eve Broadcast before two million in Times Square. All got the LoCash treatment.

"We're like stage Marines," laughs Preston. "We walk out, take one look at the audience and attack. We never let up, whether it's a thirty-minute appearance or a four-hour show. The energy stays at a peak the entire time."

Behind that energy is a world of industry knowledge put to good use.

"Everything we do is well thought out and part of a business plan," says Chris. "It feels kind of out of control and crazy, but in reality, I don't know two other guys who put this kind of time, effort, passion, drive, determination, creativity and initiative into making our ideas, music and dreams become reality."

As they prepare to have This Is How We Do It take them nationwide, Chris and Preston are aware of the dichotomy in their humble roots and bigger-than-life personas and achievement.

"I think underneath it all, we're relatable," says Preston. "Chris and I are real guys. You can get behind the smoke and mirrors pretty quick, and we're still just these two guys from Indiana and Baltimore."

They are also aware that the whole is bigger than the sum of the incredible network of parts that has brought them here.

"If you tried to line up the stars like this, it would never happen," says Preston. "It really feels like magic and destiny."

For their growing legion of fans, it is also the hard-won triumph of that combination of talent and energy that is LoCash.

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Dustin Lynch

Thu, 17 May 2012 16:42:00 GMT

“Shhh!”

The note on the Bluebird Café’s Facebook page says it all: customers who visit the Nashville songwriters club – instrumental in the development of Garth Brooks, Faith Hill and Kathy Mattea – are expected to keep quiet and listen to the words from some of Music City’s most influential composers.

Listening has an added benefit – it gives the listener a chance to learn.

That’s how singer-songwriter Dustin Lynch used the Bluebird. And he used it intensely. He rented an apartment behind the venue’s back parking lot and literally walked to the Bluebird several times a week to listen and learn about the mysterious art of creating songs from some of Nashville’s most important writers. Don Schlitz (“The Gambler”), Tony Arata (“The Dance”), Paul Overstreet (“Forever And Ever, Amen”) – all are mainstays of the Bluebird legend, and it was at their proverbial feet that he picked up key insights about the writing process.

“I was soaking it in, trying to be a sponge,” Lynch says. “I was mainly trying to hear the story behind the song, how it came about, what it’s really about. There’s something about understanding the songwriter’s realm. You get a little more grip on the way it was written and why it was written and how they got to the finished product.”

That education paid off in a big way for Lynch. He signed with Broken Bow Records – the home of Jason Aldean and sister label to Stoney Creek Records (home to Thompson Square) – and is working with producer Brett Beavers (known for his work with Dierks Bentley) and engineer Luke Wooten (Brad Paisley, Sunny Sweeney) on his debut album with a backlog of his own songs. He’s written that material with a bundle of Music City’s top writers – Dallas Davidson (“Just A Kiss”), Tim Nichols (“Live Like You Were Dying”), Casey Beathard (“Don’t Blink”), Phil O’Donnell (“Back When I Knew It All”) and Steve Bogard (“Prayin’ For Daylight”), to name a few.

But it all goes back to the Bluebird for Lynch, a native of Tullahoma, Tennessee. Influenced in his youth by such stalwart country singers as Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks and Clint Black, Lynch knew the importance of the Bluebird, and he chose his college – David Lipscomb University – in part because it was less than two miles from the club, which proved immensely important in his development.

Lynch auditioned on a Saturday morning for a chance to play its open-mic night the following day. He passed the audition and impressed host Barbara Cloyd so much that she chased him into the parking lot and offered to help him get some footing in the community.

As he began to establish himself at the Bluebird, Lynch got a call from Pete Hartung – manager for singer-songwriter Justin Moore – who had found Dustin’s MySpace page and wanted to get involved. Within weeks, Lynch had a publishing deal, and he made the most of it, writing a staggering 200+ songs in less than two years.

“I’m a workaholic,” he says. “I was getting paid to write songs, so that’s what I did. That’s just the guy I am, if I’m not doing something I get bored, so I was trying to write the best record possible and decided to just get after it as hard as I can.”

Even as a Bluebird visitor, Lynch had made an impression. After he signed his publishing deal, one of the company’s executives persuaded Phil O’Donnell and Casey Beathard to book a co-writing session with the new writer, even though they’d never even heard his name. As soon as he walked through the door, they exploded: “Holy crap, Dustin! We know you!”

But it’s not just physical recognition that Lynch has achieved with his studious approach to songwriting. He combined his fascination with words and melodies with concert skills he developed in high-school bands and playing the southeastern club circuit. That combination has made him one of country’s artists to watch, a performer who’s written his own mix of party songs and ballads with a unique perspective. It’s his own viewpoint, honed from watching the world, and watching the experts.

It’s all there, waiting for anyone else willing to…

Listen.

Find Dustin on the web:

Little Big Town

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 22:15:00 GMT

What is “The Reason Why” some bands survive and thrive? It is not likely one thing, but many. In the case of Little Big Town, the reasons are plenty. They have sold over 1.5 million records and garnered 3 Grammy nominations, including The Road to Here’s nomination for album of the year. CMA and ACM nominations have arrived in abundance. Critical acclaim and end of year “best” lists have been copious. But this is a band with a history. A band that has always put music first… and that is the biggest reason of all. The music is the reason for the accolades. The music is the reason they survived three record label changes and personal tragedy. The music is the reason that the band has collaborated with a wide range of other respected artists from multiple genres. The music is the reason four people with families, leave home to work and travel tirelessly. It is with this clarity of vision and purpose that the band entered the studio to record their fourth album, confidently titled The Reason Why.

While they've never been afraid to break new musical ground, the band truly had no bounds in the studio this time around. From the heartland country rock of the title cut to the groovy mountain soul of lead single "Little White Church" and the stone country in the ballad "Can't Have Everything," there is a creative hunger and renewed energy evident on each track. It all started with the band's approach, says Little Big Town's Phillip Sweet.

"For the first time, we were able to take off the road and really focus on making a record. It was an amazing creative time for the band. There's a lot of push and pull that goes into making music, we believe that's what makes it interesting."

Though that extra time in the studio led to new sonic territory on tracks like the soaring "Kiss Goodbye," the qualities that make up the signature Little Big Town sound remain intact. Namely, that trademark harmony.

"The harmony is the common thread through the record," notes Karen Fairchild. "It's always going to be about the harmony. It doesn't matter if the textures behind us on the record change. We're always trying to do something different, not just for the fans, but for us to be inspired."

That inspiration comes bound to very high standards though. For every song that made the album, two to three were scrapped because they just didn't make all four of them sit up and take notice. While those multi-dimensional harmonies form the heart of the Little Big Town sound, the exact ingredients of what makes a song work for the band is defined by their years together and the intangible magic that makes them who they are.

"There is a knowing. We kinda know when it's hit that marker for us," explains Phillip.

Achieving that level of personal satisfaction became a call the band had the luxury of answering on The Reason Why. "It truly is about the pure love of music and feeling connected to the lyrics we're writing." Phillip adds. "That's the whole point. If it didn't get us to that place, it didn't make the record."

That love for the music and love of harmony has always been the common thread for the band. From the first time those voices blended, sitting in Kimberly Schlapman’s living room, they knew this is what they were supposed to do...make music together. Karen and Kimberly had first met in college at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. While Karen and Jimi Westbrook had known each other from other touring bands, the timing of his move to Nashville didn't seem like a coincidence. Soon after the three began hanging out together, they were introduced to Phillip through a writer/friend of Karen's.

"At its core, the vocal blend is the same today as it was sitting in that living room when we first all four sang together," Kimberly recalls. Karen chimes in, "Now there's a maturity and a history to the band that can't help but come through -- the breathing together, the moving together. The knowing what we're going to do without having to say it to each other."

That kind of musical bond can only be forged over the span of many years and a lot of hard miles. Looking back on the past decade plus, Kimberly says, "It's been 12 years so crammed full with story after story and drama after drama...crazy stuff in 12 years that most people might take a lifetime to live out."

The backstory goes likes this -- Early in their collaboration, all four band members were in relationships. Due to break ups, divorces, and in Kimberly's case, the death of her husband Steven Roads in 2005, they all found themselves single again with their fellow band members forming their main support system.

Fast forward to the present and Little Big Town finds themselves with the happy problem of having less and less room on the tour bus due to their ever-expanding families. All four members have married and had a child in the last five years - Kimberly and husband Stephen Schlapman welcomed their daughter Daisy in 2007; Phillip and wife Rebecca had Penelopi Jane in 2007; and Karen and Jimi married in 2006 and added son Elijah Dylan to the family in March 2010.

The stability of these happy home lives afforded the band a stable environment in which to create The Reason Why, but that joy doesn't translate into a bunch of sappy songs about babies. Instead, the new lives all around the band have actually sharpened the band's creative instincts. "We're not easily satisfied with the art we make. Never have been and never will be probably. We're constantly striving towards the next goal, the next song, the next thing we want to accomplish. There's a hunger and edge to the band that people might not realize on the surface."

That edge Karen speaks of is evident in the rocking, dirty slide guitar of "Why, Oh Why" and the hard charging "Runaway Train". On the flip side, tracks such as "Kiss Goodbye" and "Shut Up Train" dig deep into the exploration of loss and "Lean Into It" also speaks directly to Little Big Town's own story of perseverance in the face of adversity. Taken as a whole, the songs that make up The Reason Why offer a 360-degree view of life with all of its ups and downs. That element of variety is only heightened when taking into account that Little Big Town has not one, but four lead singers.

"Each person has their own individual style, so the face of the band changes with whoever's singing," Jimi explains. "It gives us the ability to have a wide range of what our music is."

Now that they're armed with this new batch of tunes, Little Big Town will now go out and deliver them onstage to the fans in cities around the country. Plans to reinvent their live show grew as a result of the new sounds on The Reason Why.

"When making a record, you think of how some of these songs might translate with your live show, and the different things you can do with them," says Jimi "I'm really excited about all of these. Can't wait to play them all."

Of course, the crux of the live show lies in delivering great songs that entertain an audience, and that's exactly what fans will find on The Reason Why. Kimberly admits she often thinks of the fans while in the studio, and Karen agrees saying, "We're trying to take people on a journey when we're making a record. A lot of time gets spent pouring over lyrics and how to deliver a song. We're always trying to capture the fans by weaving in and out of moments that tell a story. Stories that are deeply personal and some that are not our own, but feel like they need to be told."

After just one listen it is evident Little Big Town has pulled that lofty goal off beautifully. This is an album that will live in the hearts and music collections of their fans for years to come.

As Always … music first is The Reason Why.

Find LBT on the web:

Miranda Lambert

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 22:14:00 GMT

In her hit single “Baggage Claim,” Miranda Lambert sings about the kind of luggage you wish would get lost. “I have been dragging around your sensitive ego,” she tells an ex-friend or lover -- soon concluding, with characteristic swagger, that she’ll “drop your troubles off at the conveyor belt/I hand you a ticket to go get it yourself.” Mr. Needy is left doing loops on the suitcase carousel while Lambert’s rocking out in the unloading zone.

With the release of Four the Record, Miranda comes bearing some baggage of her own – the precious kind, well-earned over the course of three highly loved (and unanimously platinum) prior albums. Her accolades could fill a whole set of trunks.

To point out just one carry-on case’s worth of kudos: She is country’s reigning female vocalist of the year, as bestowed by both the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music. She’s won the prized album of the year trophy from both organizations, as well – from the ACMs for her second record, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and from the CMAs and ACMs for her third, Revolution. She received the top country female vocal performance honor at the most recent Grammy Awards for “The House That Built Me.” And, lest all her honorifics be so high-minded, she’s been named one of People magazine’s Most Beautiful People and one of Maxim’s Hottest Women of Country. Frequent flyers can hardly rack up more awards points than that.

So when “Baggage Claim” was released to country radio stations in August, Lambert realized she was something she’d never expected to become: an automatic add.

She’s thrilled with her own radio success because, prior to Revolution, she’d never even had a top 5 single. Two years ago, as that make-or-break effort was prepared for takeoff, you didn’t have to listen far to hear whispers that maybe those same cutting-edge qualities that made her an award-show queen and press darling would be the kiss of death when the commercial rubber hit the road. But in 2010, she finally earned the triple crown – love from industry orgs, critics, and radio – when she bagged her first three No. 1 singles with “White Liar”, “The House That Built Me” and “Heart Like Mine.”

Naturally, with “Baggage Claim” burning a kerosene-fueled trail up the chart in advance of Four the Record, she approached the impending release of this album with a good deal more certainty. Not that anyone would have called her unconfident before now, mind you. But…

“I’ve never had an album release coincide with a hit, ever,” she points out, in the midst of her enthusiasm about the success of “Baggage Claim” as a teaser for the new album. “Revolution came out on a single that died in the 30s.” (For the record, that would be “Dead Flowers,” which marked the very last time that programmers were unsure whether to take a chance on Lambert.) “So I’m excited and so thankful. Because I don’t blame the program directors and DJs who used to have to put my songs on and have the listeners go, ‘What the hell is this?’ I am different, and I am a little edgy. But I’ve played so many tours and been on the road so much, I feel like people get me now. Or else they think, ‘She’s not going away, so we might as well just start liking it’,” she laughs.

Of course, merely being worn down has nothing to do with what made America fall in love with ‘Ran, as she’s known to her fans.

The fascination began in earnest when she was a humble yet feisty runner-up on Nashville Star in 2003, standing out as the most independent and least likely of all reality-show contestants. Sony Nashville quickly signed her with the understanding that, even though she was still a teen, she had the moxie and know-how to write many of her own songs and pick her own team, like co-producer and fellow Texan Frank Liddell. Reflective singles like “Famous in a Small Town” proved her wise beyond her tender years, and rowdy ones like “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” proved her bold beyond all expectations of just how fresh a country freshman should be.

Her recent nuptials to fellow country star Blake Shelton only heightened fans’ natural curiosity: Is she really a raging, red-hot rock & roll mama or blushing country bride?

The answer, of course, as heard in Four the Record, is all of the above and then some. The new 14-song set is epic in its range of musical styles and even the varied expressiveness in Lambert’s unmistakable voice. She’s clearly in a class with the slim handful of superstar “album artists” whose every full-length release is anxiously anticipated as an event that’s much more than just the sum of its singles.

“My sole mission with the Revolution album was to go ‘Hey, get me out of this corner you’re pushing me in. I’m not just ‘Kerosene’ and ‘Gunpowder and Lead’ and all that.’ I mean, that’s part of me, but I have so much more to say, and I definitely think I’ve been able to do that.” The sense of “mission accomplished” was cemented when, against all odds, it was two of the last album’s most subdued and sensitive songs, “The House That Built Me” and “Heart Like Mine,” that were the ones to take her to the top of the country chart (for four solid weeks, in the case of “House”).

When it came time to record Four the Record, the methodology wasn’t much different. As before, Lambert did a lot of the writing herself or in tandem with friends, while also picking selections from Music Row’s favorite tunesmiths (including Chris Stapleton and Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley) and the leading lights of alt-country (this time, Gillian Welch and Allison Moorer).

But while Revolution was recorded in two sessions of a week or less, the recording of Four the Record was even more compact, taking a mere five days from start to finish. Needless to say, getting things done in such a hurry represents an artistic choice, not an economic one.

“If everybody can get in one vibe and stay there the whole week, it makes it sound like an album, instead of chopped up,” Lambert maintains. “I’m a creature of habit, so I feel that, if this is working, let’s do it the same way. We started at 10 a.m. and went to midnight every night, and after the first night, everybody got so comfortable.” It didn’t hurt that the vast majority of musicians had worked on her previous three albums, too, as had trusted co-producer Liddell.

Even after recording Four the Record all day Monday through Friday, most of the same team reconvened on Saturday to record the four songs that were needed to wrap up the Pistol Annies’ previously-in-progress album.

As most country fans know by now, the Annies are the all-gal trio that Lambert formed with friends Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley, and their frisky debut came out in August…released by Sony as a digital-only album. Expectations were modest. So when Hell On Heels debuted at No.1 on the country sales chart and in the pop top 10, the pressing plants got to work trying to meet the demand from retail stores who wanted to carry the disc, too.

What’s nearly comical is how the recording of Four the Record, not to mention the Annies’ Hell on Heels, came right on the heels of Lambert’s short honeymoon. She went into the studio just a week after her wedding. For most mortals, recording a solo album or finishing up a group album or exchanging vows with the love of your life would be pressure enough, without combining those three things into a potentially lethal cocktail.

But, as most of the watching world has figured out by now, Lambert is not the type to easily buckle just because she’s squeezed three major life events into the middle of her tour schedule. “My goal was to have everything lined up and have the songs picked out before the wedding,” she says. (It came down to the wire: At her rehearsal dinner, Miranda was still doing some business, as she took songwriter/friend Kasey Musgraves outside to beg for permission to cut “Mama’s Broken Heart,” a song without which she felt she couldn’t make the album.) Remarkably, anyway, everything went according to plan, and Lambert wasn’t putting pen to paper or dialing up publishers during her newlywed week off. “It was great, because I got to clear my head a little bit before going in,” she says.

So if you hear some tranquility in the album—from, you know, a woman whose popular image hasn’t always shouted softness—that’s not an illusion. You might sense that peace most in the closing “Oklahoma Sky,” which Allison Moorer wrote specifically for Lambert.

There are other guests on Four the Record that meant a lot to Miranda, including guest vocalists from Patty Loveless to the women of Little Big Town. But Moorer’s “Oklahoma Sky” was the ultimate wedding present: a country benediction for the bride’s new beginning.

“I’m from Texas,” Lambert says—perhaps you’ve heard?—“and we’re Texas-proud and annoying and all that. I will always be from Texas. But now with this new life, I’ve moved away from my family and started my own and married an Okie. I feel like it’s my ode to my beautiful new home state. Just as much as I love Texas, I now love Oklahoma, and it’s my song for my life there now.”

Whatever sky she’s under, fans in all 50 states (and beyond) will want to share the vista with her. And they’ll surely let Lambert bring all the bags.

Find Miranda on the web: