Brandon Lay has gone from strength to strength in his career. His new single ‘Broke‘ may be his best to date. Here, we interview Brandon Lay about the new track and what’s next in his career.
Hi Brandon! Congratulations on your new single, I’ve been listening to it on repeat. How good does it feel to have it out? I know it’s part of a string of singles you’ve released recently.
Oh, gosh, it’s a great feeling, I’m very happy. We’ve been working on this project for about a year.
I feel like your sound has evolved so much. Every single you release is better than the last. Looking at the evolution of that sound, how much was Jonathan Singleton a part of that? I know you’ve worked with him a lot.
He was a big part of it because I hollered at him about working together. He was like, ‘yo, if we’re gonna do it, we need to make sure it’s different.’ He opened the show up for me in my hometown Jackson. He was like, ‘we got to get on the record what your band sounds like live’ and there was a disconnect there from what I had on the radio to what I sounded like live with my band. We definitely just went for more of a band sound and that’s his wheelhouse.
‘For My Money’ was one that stood out as more of a rock edged sound. How important is it to you to show every side of your music through the singles you’ve been doing?
Well, I think my ambition can be a detriment creatively sometimes, because I do have so many sides. In this day and age, being on a major label, the release schedules are usually about two years behind the creative schedule. So, to say I’m ready to put music out is like a huge understatement. I try to show sides but honestly, I think I kind of circle back around to more of who I was when I first moved to Nashville. I’ve honed my craft, as far as a songwriter, but I think the spirit of the songs is more from the heart, that’s definitely what I’m trying to get across.
Talking about that delay, does it ever feel strange when you’re releasing music? Obviously, it’s been two years and where you’re at in life changes, so does that ever feel strange to perform new songs that are actually from a different stage of life?Â
Yes, it does. There’s a little disconnect there, but to be honest, I think it’s funny with certain metrics on the charts and stuff. I feel like the better you do, the faster you can release, so definitely, it’s a snowball effect. COVID kind of prompted me to make a shift, kind of back to the more band sound. I know, everybody’s talking about getting back to their roots these days. I think COVID gave me a good time to reflect on what am I and what am I doing here? What do I really want to get off the bus and play every night normally?
It’s important, because you’re gonna be playing every night, you want to be able to know that this is authentically you and the kind of music you want to put out.
Absolutely, I feel like I found that out the hard way. Not that I didn’t believe in the songs I was doing, but nostalgia for me has always kind of been a default when it comes to creativity. Â I’ve loved guys like Eric Church and Kenny Chesney and their songs. At this stage of my life right now, I feel like the here and now are the good old days. As I move forward, I think that’s going to be kind of the undertone, right here today where we’re at instead of the songs I have looking back.
I feel like that is something that people have been doing over the past year – looking back as we were kind of stuck in this weird in-between phase.
Yeah, I think so, I think I’m similar in that regard, it’s such a snowball effect and what I hope will happen with this is to keep our momentum rolling. The more content I get to put out, the better shape me and my band will be in. So, right now, we’re just keeping the wheels rolling.
Finally to be able to get to play live again, must feel amazing and refreshing.
It’s cool to see people I haven’t seen in two years, they’ll drive eight hours and come see me just to come see me, that’s overwhelming. It’s just that, right there, is why I get up in the morning.
Releasing singles during this time, it must be nice to finally see everyone’s reaction rather than online, people writing I love this song is not quite the same thing as hearing it.
That’s another thing, not having that much out for so long. I mean, we were touring so hard with not that much content out and I feel like that made it harder, definitely more is more is more in this case.
Talking about not having that much content out, did that give you time to understand which songs you wanted to put out, seeing the audience reaction and knowing which songs they were gravitating toward?
Yeah, I guess that was the silver lining there, because we did have plenty of shows, trying out new songs. I would go to these radio lunches and listener parties and stuff and they seemed to fall in place live and I feel like that live value means a lot to me, because, like you said, you gotta love the songs when you get off the bus and sing them every night, I’d rather have some fun songs in there, not just ‘Broke’ every night, I want to keep a balance there.
It’d be quite hard to have a whole set of just heartbreak songs about break-ups. Talking about ‘Broke’ which you wrote with Dean Dillon, can you talk a bit about the track and the inspiration behind it?
Dean and I wrote it back in 2013. To be honest, it sat for so long because I thought it was too contrary for what I was wanting to come out. As a brand new artist, I didn’t want to come out as a neo-traditional country guy, I was so scared of that, I think it scared me off this song. It’s so interesting how working with Jonathan as a producer changed my whole complexion on that song, because, all of a sudden, it dropped pretty hard live and it makes sense. It’s still got the lyrics of more of a songwriter vibe, making those worlds meet was crucial. I think that’s where Jon came in.
It’s interesting you say that people are almost scared of being too much of anything, but I feel like your music is squarely within that really refreshing piece of music, where everyone’s finding their own lane and not trying to be anyone else, which is pretty nice.
You know, being different can be such a headache, you know what I mean? There are just times where it pays to play like everybody else and I just can’t do that. There are songs that would have put me further ahead in my career. Sometimes I’ll look back and think maybe I should have done this or that, but I just think God, let me do country music for a living and I feel like the whole thing has to be authentic. I feel like not trying to sound like everybody else can really be a hassle.
It’s a hassle, but it’s something worth doing. Obviously, you grew up in Jackson, but have moved to Nashville since then. What was the music like in Jackson growing up and how much did moving to Nashville change your music?
Well, Kenny Chesney was a huge inspiration throughout high school. The ‘When The Sun Goes Down’ album, I drank my first beer to it on the lake I always aspired to reach that many people. I grew up listening to the local station and they played mainstream country, but it definitely had more of an edge than maybe some of these major markets. I liked that stuff, with a little more bite to it. People in Jackson are so confused, because, you know, there’s a huge hip hop scene coming out of Memphis and there’s obviously RnB down there and there’s a huge rock scene in Jackson and then you’ve got a bunch of country boys. I think I actually hit right at the right time when I started to play in Jackson, because there was nobody else that was doing country. So, we got a bunch of gigs and got momentum and then when I came to Nashville, it was almost like two different worlds. I have my live band world, but then I had my weeknight songwriter world. I think ever since I’ve moved to Nashville, I’ve been trying to make those work together.
Obviously, you’ve had this slew of incredibly strong singles, what is next in the pipeline for the rest of the year? I know you’ll finally be able to get out and do live dates, but what are the other plans?
We have some dates here and there, including an Opry appearance and stuff, that’s always an honour. ‘Back Home’ is a song that is another eight year old song that we’re gonna be putting out next month, it’s something I’ve been wanting to put out for a long time. There’s a song called ‘Rust’ that I’m pretty sure we’re gonna go to radio with. So, from now till then I think releasing the songs is to build some interest.
Well we can’t wait to hear more of the material. Thank you for taking the time to chat today and congratulations on the new single!
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