Kelleigh Bannen celebrates the 100th of Today’s Country Radio with an interview with Gabby Barrett and Deana Carter. Ahead of the release of ‘Goldmine (Deluxe)’ Barrett reflects on her growth as an artist and looks ahead to co-producing her next album. She also drops her new laidback Country jam “Pick Me Up.” Deana Carter also joins to chat about her debut album ‘Did I Shave My Legs For This?’ released 25 years ago. Carter describes the importance of taking creative control over her sound; only recording songs that deeply resonated with her own life experiences. Tune in and listen to the episode in-full today at 11am PT / 1pm CT / 2pm ET or anytime on-demand here.
Gabby Barrett on Being Influenced by Michael Jackson Growing Up
I was influenced a lot by of course what my parents played around me growing up in the car and what I was always hearing, but I really gravitated towards Michael Jackson and his music. I don’t know. There was so much creativity there and so much difference in, so many things he did separated him from a lot of people. I feel like at that time when he was coming out with music, it was just like, “This is Michael Jackson.” And it was always a big deal. And so I don’t know, I just loved him in a lot of ways. I loved the style of music. I originally started out in church singing, so R&B was a very connect to me, R&B and that poppy sound that he had. And so, I don’t know, there was just something special about him that grabbed me. But I learned about his music from my dad.
Gabby Barrett on Paying Homage to Michael Jackson On Stage by Wearing Gloves During “I Hope”
Gabby Barrett: I wanted to do something that just changed it up a little bit and “I Hope” has just been one of those staple songs in my career. And so to just do something special for that song was cool.
Kelleigh Bannen: That’s right. I mean this as a compliment: you’re very approachable. Your persona on stage, it’s friendly. It’s a good, healthy combination of badass and friendly. But we need a little dramatics, right? We’re women. I love that there’s a little moment like that. And now I’m like, “Wait a second. Is there a Michael Jackson connection with the glove?”
Gabby Barrett: I mean, yeah, a little bit. Definitely. First of all, actually those gloves were meant to be worn with my CMA performance last year when I was pregnant outfit. So I did a whole custom jumpsuit with the chains and stuff and I did that. But I’m so specific about my colors of gold and stuff matching that the gloves did not match to the chains on the outfit. So I was like, “I can’t wear them.” I was like, “I can’t go up there and have a yellow gold and a yellower gold.” And so I always saved those gloves and I wanted to wear them for something, but I wanted to wear them at CMAs as a nod to Michael Jackson. And I just love the glove and all of that. And so we kept them and I was like, “We need to use them for tour.” And so we used them for tour.
Gabby Barrett on “Pick Me Up”
I’m so very excited about this song. I love it so much. I wrote this with Ross Copperman and Jon Nite. I’ll say that it’s a very laid back, easy country song, because I didn’t really have one of those in my repertoire, if you want to say. And so when we were writing this song, it’s just very laid back and very country vibes. So I love it so much and I’m excited for everybody to hear it. That’s why I wanted to release it a little bit sooner than when the whole deluxe comes out.
Gabby Barrett on Wanting to Produce Her Second Album
I definitely want to be a producer on the album, 100%. I think that’s something that I definitely want to do and be a part of just because I really like the producing aspect to it and going back and saying, “It needs more of this instrumentation or maybe this, or a fiddle in it or something here,” all of that. And so, because I did do that so much on the ‘Goldmine’ album with just making notes and edits and things, I realized definitely for the second album, I want to be a co-producer on it, and to just continue writing.
