Chris Lane

He had a huge summer with the success of Filled Them Boots, and he's shipping up to have an even bigger winner with his new track Stopped Coming Over and a new tour on the horizon too. It kicks off on January the House of Blues in my hometown of Boston, Massachusetts. I'm so happy to welcome Mr Chris Lane. I hope

you enjoy our conversation. So many things I want to talk to you about, but I want to start with your brand new song Stop Coming Over, which I love because when I first heard the title, I thought, oh man, here's a breakup song if I've ever heard one. And then I listened to the words and I was very are we wrong? Tell me the story about that song. Is it based on a true story for you? Yeah? Well, um,

long story short, Um. Some writers at Big Loud, my record label, wrote this song and pitched it to me, and that was the first thing. My My initial thought was, Oh, it's a breakup song and uh. When I listened to it the first time and heard the hook of it when it said stop coming over and start coming home, I was like, I have to record that song. It's it. I feel like for me, it's uh in a way I don't know about you. To point out, it has a very similar, very similar sound and style of vocal

on it. Um that I was able to throw on it. So yeah, I loved everything about the song. I feel like it was very uh catchy and clever songwriting. Oh it's such a great track. I gotta say I love the guitars on it too. It sounds like an old Royal Orbison track or something. I love what what you guys did with that. Yeah. Yeah. Joey Moore and my producer always knows how to find a way to take a song at the next level. And I really do love those guitars as well. I can't wait to play

that song live. Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean, you got so many great new songs to you know, to bring to folks. Me had a huge song over the summer, fill Them Boots. It's interesting to me that you had that song kicking around for quite some time, like I think over two years. Can you tell me a little bit about how that song came to be? Yeah, So, fill Them Boots was a song that I wrote out on the road. Now, I have not had a ton of writers out on the road with me, um up

until that point. It may have been the first weekend

I had ever had writers out on the road. So three of my favorite guys here in town, Ernest Josh Miller, Mark trussell Um came out rode the bus with me, and we ended up writing this song late night one night after a show I believe in Michigan, and um, just a just a song title that I've had my phone for quite some time, and uh we kind of started freestyling around a little bit and and that was stuck in the room and uh yeah, we wrote it that night, and I sat on it for two years

and never got tired of the demos, So I figured it was probably time to record that thing. Do you get inspired on the road. Like, I know that's there's probably a lot of you tuck a lot of artists and they say that going on tour, there's a lot of hurry up and wait. Do you like got a lot of ideas for songs and you know, humming things in your voice, notes on your phone and stuff like that a lot. Is it an inspiring time for you? Yeah,

for sure. I think. I think for me, what I've liked about the process of writing out on the road is I tend to work well after the show. I don't know why that is, but you come off stage and uh, you're just super pumped up because the crowd was incredible. They were singing along to your songs, and I think it's, uh, it gives you that desire to want to sit down and try to write the next

one that they'll sing along too. And and so maybe it's just an inspiring moment walking off the stage and and uh and writing in that moment even though you're kind of exhausted, you're out of breath. All that kind of stuff I've had a good time doing. And I feel like I've had some luck doing that. That's so interesting. I've never heard anyone say that, But that makes total sense. You got the adrenaline going and you want to recapture that desire to connect with people like you just had.

That's amazing. Yep. You mentioned that Joey moy earlier. I mean, he has an amazing track record working with folks like Florida, Georgia, Line, Nickelback, so many people. What does he bring to the table. What's your working relationship like with him? Working relationship. We've been working together for probably six years now. UM, he's the only producer I've ever had, UM my first producer

here in town. And UH that was honestly a big reason that I signed here at Big Louder early on, and just with the production, UH management and and UH a publishing deal I signed all at the same time. But he was a big part of that UH. And he had just had massive six as with Florida, Georgia Line.

I really loved what he had done with UH with them, and I thought, Man, if I have the opportunity to work with him, I absolutely have to take that and and and so I did, and I feel like it's been the best decision I could have ever made for my career. You know, now he's got a whole slew of artists under and Morgan Wallin Hardy, you know all these guys who are who are really popping off right now. So, uh yeah, I feel lucky to have him as my producer.

I feel like he always knows how to take songs to the next level, and we worked really well together. He knows how to push me to get to get the best, uh, to get the best out of it. I love what you guys do together. I love the song from I think it was from earlier this summer, the summer job money, Uh that song, I mean just the message, bhy the story, and it really takes me back. Tell me about a little bit about that song. Yeah, I think you you nailed it there. It does the

same exact thing for me. It takes back to uh to high school. I mean for me, I actually worked uh as a landscaper for my summer job, and you did it so you could take your girlfriend out on the date or whoever it may be. And um, yeah, it feels nostalgic. I've been a huge fan of Kenny Chesney for so long and I feel like he is the king of these style songs. And I heard that song for the first time, and I had to report it because it did a very similar thing that Kenny

Chesney songs do for me. It kind of takes you to a certain point in your life and and some great memories that you've had, and and hopefully it's done that for others as well. Oh totally. You know, it reminds me of that old rock and roll song Summertime Blues by Eddie Cochrane about a guy working all summers trying to earn some money. Yeah, it's got that as a great old track. I thought this was a really cool, like kind of update of it in a way. Yeah,

tasting back to my landscaping days. Man, I don't necessarily miss him though. Yeah, I was gonna say the video has that too, you step out of the truck with with Lane long Care on it. I mean, it's it's it's so cool that I love that you had that personal touch in the in the video there. Yeah, I felt like I had to have been a missed opportunity not to do that. And and my dad's still running Land and Sons Landscaping there in Kurd of this little

North Carolina. No way, I didn't realize that still running it. Man. I feel like I feel like I've got to get back there one day and just run out there and help them strike some yards up. Oh man, I mean, it's it's crazy to think of being about all all the different paths your life could have taken me. We're working at you know, your your your folks long care company. I know you were an athlete in college on the

baseball team at u NC Charlotte. At what point did you know that that music was gonna be the you know, the direction in your life? Man? I would say I discovered it super late in my uh, super late in my life. I wish I had learned how to play the guitar as a kid in and stuck with it all that kind of stuff, but that just was not the case for me. I didn't really sing my entire life, none of that. I played sports, football, baseball, basketball, um,

every day of my life. I feel like, as a kid all the way through high school and college and and then play baseball there in college. And you know, I think my real dream at the time was to go play professional baseball. That's what I had worked for, you know, ever since I was a kid, and that's what I wanted. Um. But then it ended up not happening. I have an identical twin brother that also played with me, and and you know, he had the opportunity to move on and play decided not to do so, but I

did not have the opportunity. So, uh, my last semester of college, I had to go back for a half semester to finish right after my four years of baseball, And that's when I started learning how to play the guitar, just for fun. And when I got good enough at playing the guitar, I started trying to sing. And I'd sit there and play all those Jason Aldean at church, Kenny Chesney, I mean, you name it, I would. I

would learn it and play it. And then I would go up to this place called board Wall Billy's there in Charlotte, North Carolina, just right up behind you and see Charlotte, and they do a college a college night there and it would be an open mic and I would jump up there and play two or three songs, and people always encourage me. They would be like, man, I really like what you do. Uh, I feel like you're really good. All that kind of stuff, and so

it encouraged me to keep trying really hard. And I developed a passion for music, UM that I never had with baseball, and and and again baseball was my dream. So I worked really hard at the music. UH started a cover band in North Carolina after I graduated. UM my twin brothers started learning how to play the drums just for fun. And UH, it's crazy here we are, all these years later, UH still getting to play music together.

And and now we're out on the road. UM, you know, touring with some of my favorite artists of all time. It's been it's been quite the ride so far. But yeah, a couple of years into being a cover band, two or three years, I decided, you know what, I was able to start selling out all these big clubs that national acts from Nashville come down, and sometimes they would

not sell my hometown club out. So UH, I started branching out into Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, as well as UH playing a lot in North Carolina Steel And that's how I ended up getting discovered, and people from Nashville record labels UH started flying out to watch me play and and I ended up with the record deal on the table. And here I am now with my sixth

song on the radio. Is pretty crazy. Oh man. At what point did you move from from primarily doing you know, cover songs and other people's songs to uh, to write in your own I mean that's that's a big jump for any artist. Yeah, for sure. Um. I would say probably two years into being a cover band. UM, I started trying to write my own music. Now, I didn't know where to begin. I'd never tried writing a song before,

didn't even know how to write a song. But uh, I just thought, Okay, what would Kenny Chesney say that, you know, as my one of my favorite artists, or what would Keith Urban say, or how would they I would listen to one of their songs and and and just try to put the pieces together on how to write my own song. And that's what I did. Early on. I'd sit there and right by myself. I put out a little self made record that was really terrible back in the day. It was under Chris Lane band that

was my name back then. Um. I didn't put much thought into that, as I had no idea one day down the road I would end up with the record deal. But I think the encouraging part for me was to see people showing up night after night and they would sing those terrible songs that I would write, and uh, yeah, it just it created a hunger in me man to

keep writing. And then, uh, when I got to Nashville, I started getting into the room with guys who have had tons of number ones, who actually know how to write songs, and I really started learning from there on how to really write a song. Um and and that was huge for me from the beginning. So it really took me getting to Nashville to kind of learn from guys who had a clue what was going on and who who knew how to do that for me to

actually learn. But you know, everybody starts from somewhere, and I wouldn't trade those songs to the world, even though I go back and listen to them now and track up. How is the pandemic impacted you creatively? I mean, I know that on one hand, that's you know a lot of added stress, but also there's a lot of uh time that you're able to you know, not be on the road and and kind of be in one place. And I know you said in some interviews that you've

actually written a lot more than you ever have. How has that been for you? Yeah, you know, what it did give me the opportunity to sit down and write a ton of songs and a lot that I'm very excited about, and and a lot that I probably would never have written and had it not been for that. So that's kind of been the silver lining of the pandemic for me. You know, I've missed touring a lot. I feel like I had a great momentum going before COVID hit. Um, and you know, everybody's gonna work to

get that back. But um, you know, great songs will help carry your career for until you want to stop doing it at the end of the day. So very excited about those songs that I was able to write, and and um that I'll continue to write now. Now I'm gonna bring writers out on the road a lot when I start touring again, UM, because I feel like I've I've, for whatever reason, I write a little bit better out on the road. I'm a little more creative, I think here here here in Nashville, I'll go in

and write. And even though I've got some really great songs, you know, now that I have a little boy, I've gotta I've gotta try to manage my time a little bit better, and I've got to get home um as quickly as I possibly can to help out out on the road. You know, it's just right all day long if you want, or you can take a break and play the show and then come back on the bus

and write again at night. But I will say this, early on in my career, UM, I did not write a lot of my songs, and a lot of that is my path was different than some of the guys uh nowadays, where they start out as songwriters and become successful at that and then their career pops off. Mine actually happened. I guess when I got here to town, recorded some songs, and then I got my first song

on the radio. Everything happened so quickly that I didn't have the opportunity to sit down and write tons of songs. So I read lied a lot on outside cuts on my first two records because I wasn't able to sit down and write as much. I was out on radio tour for twenty one straight week. But you literally just can't write here your point blame because you're gone seven days a week, every day of the week, and then

playing shows on the weekends. UM So now, like I like the fact that I've been able to have some success. You get a little bit more time off, you don't have to go play as many shows, you're not out there on radio tour. So it's given me a chance to sit down and write uh tons of songs now and and um, I'm feeling better than I ever have

with with the whole creative and writing process effects. And this is a question coming from somebody who's never written a song in his life, Not to get tu nitty gritty, but how is that process for you? Do you hear something in your head and then go to an instrument and try to get it out of you or are you just sit down with a guitar or piano or whatever you're using and just kind of let your fingers move until you hit something that you like and build

it up from there. Is it a combination. I think it's a combination of both. But um, at the end of the day, every song is different, and the way

you write it, every song, honestly it feels different. Um. A lot of times I will have an idea in my head and I'll go to my voice memo on my phone and and whether it's a melody that I record in there or whether it's an actual idea, and I'll literally just sit there and talk out on my phone and say, uh, this is the idea that I want to portray and and this is the hook that I want to come across. And then I'll start figuring

out how to get it there, and sometimes you can't. UM. It takes up and getting into the room with other people to say, hey, I have this idea, playat form and then as a collective group, you figure out what would be the best uh, what would be the best look for UM. So I yes, I'll sit there and write songs by myself, but it usually takes getting into the room with at least one more person, if not two people, to kind of uh nail it out. And sometimes you don't even get it right in the room.

I mean my song Big Big Plans. We went back in three separate times and finally finished that song. Um. We didn't necessarily have direction on how to finish it, and I said, you know, I do plan on proposing in the next couple of months. Um, maybe we could write a proposal into that third verse and I could use it as that and and not knowing in the moment that I'd end up having it as a single. It was never even intended for that. But um, it's crazy how songs spinne their way and and each song

is different. When you sit down to write it, I think it's gonna be crazy for you. I mean, you know, Big Big Plans is a great example. I mean, the song that that came from that such a part of your life, a big part of your life with with your proposal, and then you you watch it take on a life of its own and become you know, I'm sure there's that song has played it so many weddings now, and you know. I mean, have you ever had people in the audience of some of your shows proposing in

the middle of your show? I mean, I wouldn't doubt it. But I mean what that like for you to watch that that kind of blossom like that. I think when you sit down to write music, Uh, do you want every single time that you sit down and write a song, you want that song to connect in the way that Big Big Plans did. I had no idea that it would because it was such a personal song for me,

a personal moment for me. But um, I think the big win is when you write a song that is personal to you, and it connects to a lot of people and they take it and turn it into their own story. And that's what it really happened with that song. I mean, I think when I was out on my Big Big Plans tour, I had at least one proposal every single night, and uh, I was able to bring people on stage and really watch them go through what

I went through when I proposed. I mean I watched Guy's blackout night after night when they get up on stage forget what they want to say. I was the same way, so I know that feeling. But um, I think that was the coolest part of the whole add On song was not only did I use it to propose and I have that moment for the rest of my life, but people are taking it and making it

their own. I feel like Kenny Chesney's the king of that, like uh uh having those kind of songs that connect, whether it's whether it's Don't Blink or or or many of his other songs, you know, it connects an emotional way and takes on a life of the song. You turn it into your own story. I thought you did a beautiful job for your song, for for your at that point, I'm born son, ain't even met you yet, which I thought was profoundly moving. I mean, I'm sure

that track's got to mean the world to you. Tell me more about about that song. That's really an incredible track. Thank you, man, I appreciate that. Um yeah, I think it. Uh. It captures the the emotion that as a as a about to be dad in a couple of months I wrote.

I wrote that song probably two or three months before Dutton was born, but just the emotions that I was going through at the time that I feel like probably most guys are, or even most moms are about to um experience the nervous but very excited you can't wait to meet him, and you're just wondering what all these things?

What's again look like? You know, just all these things and and uh yeah, we sat down wrote that song, and um, I knew immediately I had to record it, not not for uh, not for a radio single or anything other than that, but just I wanted to record it for for Dutton so that I could play it for him and say, hey, this is how your dad was feeling, uh to three months before you were born. And um, I wrote this song for you, and I want you to have it kind of that. You know.

I'm just glad that other people can relate to it. Um. You know, I feel like it's a song that can carry throughout, you know, a hundred years from now, because people are always going to be having babies, so that feeling will probably stick around. Yeah, I mean, and you articulate a lot of things that a lot of people

aren't able to with that song too. So you know, I'm sure a lot of of of parents can, uh you know, not just dads, but moms as well, can years later, you know, play that for their their kids to say, yes, this is this is what it was like. I mean, how is becoming a father impacted your your songwriting? I mean, is it, aside from having a lot less sleep, is it impacted you creatively? Um, that's a great question.

I mean I definitely have a whole new set of inspiration, you know, being only two years into marriage, um and uh having a boy. I mean, I don't know if it brings out a more sensitive side of me, um that that I didn't experience or couldn't write about before. But um, I would say probably in that way if I had to guess. That's so that's a really great point. I hadn't thought of that. I Uh, I have to ask your son's name is is is Dutton? Uh? There

were there was another uh name briefly for consideration. Uh can you tell me uh what that is? I heard, uh Servester Stallone would have been very happy. Well yeah, so early on, you know, we we had before we even knew we were pregnant, we were watching Yellowstone and got really into that show. And uh, my wife said one time, you know, if we ever have a boy, we should name him Dutton. And I was like, oh,

I like that name. Like obviously it's the family's last name, but we thought it could make a good boy his first name. And then I said, I love that, Like we should to see keep saying it, you know, over the course of time, and when we find out if we're ever gonna have a baby, then then, uh, that name will be at the top of the list. And then I said, what about Rambo? And I was honestly very serious, and my wife shut that one down really

really fast. So yes, I think Sylvester Saloon would have been uh would have been pumped about though maybe next son, maybe next time for sure. Um. And then and then Walker was another name that my wife really liked a lot, and uh so we ended up using both of them for Dutton's name. We just Dutton Walker Lane. That's such a cool name. So the next time, yes, if we have another boy, we'll have to name him. Uh. I

just felt I feel like Rambo is tough. You know, he steps up to uh on the tea box to hit a golf ball, I feel like he's gonna annihilate it, you know. Oh yeah, it's got the imidation factor. I mean, Rambo laying that is a name right there. Oh man. I mean You've got all these songs that you know, connect so strong with people, big, big plans and even yet and now you're going back on the road to actually play them in front of people. How does that feel for you? After the last you know, two years

that we've had. That's got to be like, how do you even plan for that? It's gotta be like going back to your athlete days and like, you know, getting prepped for like a marathon or something. What's it like in the lead up for that. Yeah, you know, I'm in the process now of putting my show together and trying to figure out what songs I actually wanna do live outside of the singles and um, you know now that I'm I'm putting uh stop coming over out, I'll be able to throw that one in the set and

can't wait to hear people sing that one. But I've been working on other new music that I hope to have out in in the early parts of January as well that I feel like I've got some very siding music on the way that that hopefully I can't wait to play in the set. But yeah, I can't wait to get back out there and just play to people face to face. I'm glad they feel that they're getting

back to some bit of normalcy. And you know, I played a lot of shows this summer and into the early fall, and uh man, the energy from the crowd was was crazy after being cooped up for a year. So I can't wait to die back in and and after having a couple of months off here and kicking back up in January, get in front of the fans is my favorite part of being an artist. Oh man, we can't wait to get you back out there, Chris. I don't want to take up too much more of

your time. Thank you so much for your time to be. It's been such a joy and pleasure talking to me. Thank you, hey, yeah, thank you so much for taking the time. I appreciate it. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Inside the Studio, a production of I Heart Radio. For more episodes of Inside the Studio or other fantastic shows, check out the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast.