During C2C week, we sat down for an interview with Brian Kelley to discuss Tennessee Truth, his new single ‘Kiss My Boots’ and more.
Welcome back. I feel like you’ve been here so many times at this point that you should get your citizenship. Your first C2C was in 2015, are there any stand out memories from that trip?
Yeah, I mean my first memory is just the fan reception. Just great people here, great fans… it’s a little weird having your songs sung back in an English accent. So, I’m really thrilled to be back.
It’s gonna be a huge few months with the release of Tennessee Truth, I’ve seen you refer to it as your first true solo debut. Can you talk about that a little bit about that?
So, Sunshine State of Mind was my first project. I guess the reason I don’t consider that my debut solo album was that it was such a passion project. I made that during COVID, when the world was shut down and it was a time where it was confusing. It was ‘what do we do with our time, there’s so much going on in the world with division and politics and all these things?’ I just did what I’ve always done, I turned to my songs and my music, and I just invested in myself. I made that record with Sony, with respect to still at the time, having FGL dates on the shows, so I wasn’t trying to at all interfere with the work that we do, you know, so it was just different. Obviously, a couple years later, we’re both doing our own thing. When it came time to make a new album, everything was fair game for me in terms of sonic influences. I’m gonna have to stand on my own.
You can definitely hear that, you’ve honed and found your new sounds. I think everyone talks about how they’ve had a whole lifetime to make their debut record, but you’ve had a whole musical life before this. How has that been for you finding your own sound? I can imagine it’s almost a little harder, because you’ve had so much musical history behind you.
Honestly, I mean, I’ve been working on this for 18 months or so. Probably overwrote for it, we just kept writing, even when I thought I probably had an album. I’m so thankful I did, because I ended up with a couple songs that ended up on the record. I’m proud of the work ethic. I wrote 8 out of the 12 songs on there. So for outside songs, those really helped shape and complete the album. I thought that was really cool. I love supporting songwriters. I’m a songwriter.
You said it somewhere else that you’re a ‘song hunter?’
It’s not necessarily just got to be my songs – it’s just the best song wins. Dan Huff produced this project. He really helped elevate the songs. He helped elevate my vocal. He’s a legendary producer, legendary guitar player. He’s got solos on this record that are just phenomenal.
How did you find working with him? Because I can imagine there’s a whole legion of people who are signing up to work with you.
No, I just I asked through our label manager to reach out and he was definitely interested. He came over the house and listened to a couple songs. He was all in. I’ve been a fan of his work, I mentioned this earlier and I’m just fired up by how talented he is – his range of work with different artists, Rascal Flatts, Lone Star, Kane Brown.
That’s kind of comforting because it means that he’s not pigeon holing you to one sound exactly.
Everybody has their own sound and Sonic branding. I cried a lot to the sound and the songs that we wrote and songs that were sent to me. It’s just a really cool collection and a really cool representation, a snapshot of where I’m at. Sunshine State of Mind was no different. That was a snapshot. This is a snapshot and I can’t wait for the next snapshot. It’s all authentic. I love the beach as much as I love the country. I love the woods as much as I love the back rivers, I love skiing, I love the mountains and I’m not going to ride or sing about anything that’s not real to me.
You’re almost building a seasonal picture, now you’re building maybe into a spring / fall kind of vibe. Talking about the songs in particular, ‘Dirt Cheap’ is blowing up at the moment. Can you talk a little bit about that one and kind of hearing of the first time?
Yeah, I was driving in my car, and my truck and my label had sent me a link of some outside cuts, maybe like eight to 10 songs and that was the first song. It wasn’t the first song on the link, but it was the first one I chose to listen to because I saw the title and I thought ‘I’m either gonna love this or I don’t know how they’re gonna hook this’. I’m a songwriter and I can typically already think ahead of the hook of this thing. How did they write this? From the first lyrics, I loved the melody, loved the words. They nailed this and it was a no brainer. I’m just grateful. I’m a big manifester. I believe in the power of positive positivity. I was putting that out there in the world, telling my whole team to send me songs. I want as many songs as y’all can send me, here’s waiting to listen to as many songs and I want, I want a whole vision board to choose from and hone it down rather than be hunting around.
What do you hope people come away from this record thinking about your music?
I don’t know what the perception is of me. Truly, I think those that that dig what I’m doing, and maybe those that aren’t even aware of what I’m doing or don’t like me, I hope they give it a listen. I want them to know that I work really hard. I’m just a true artist. I follow inspiration, and I follow creativity, and every move that I’ve made is intentional. I hope that they can see that, and I want them to grow with me. I think going from Sunshine State of Mind to this record, there’s a lot of growth. There’s a lot of vocal growth, there’s a lot of songwriting growth, and I’m forever grateful for Sunshine State of Mind, if I hadn’t done that we wouldn’t be here talking. I just I hope that at the end of the day, they’re connecting within that they want to share with their friends and they want to come to a concert and live these songs out in real time with me because that’s what I want. I’m so excited for the record to be out.
