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NorthCountryMusic interviewed Tracy Lawrence from his home in Nashville:
NORTHCOUNTRY: Your new album, “For the Love” is your first on your own label, Rock Comfort Records. How was it recording for your own label?
Tracy:
I really don’t see that the process changed an awful lot. I’ve always
been very actively involved in my song search and a lot of the elements
in the studio. I just went in and went through the procedures I usually
do. I have somewhat of a mental concept of where I want to go with a
record and have to go through the technical process. I don’t think that
really changed. |
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I think the most difficult part of the label situation now is learning all the things that go on behind the scenes. We have a small staff and you tend to take for granted all the people in the back office, all the clerical work they do and the licenses and the tedious things that the people in the office have had to take on. It’s just been a big learning curve. There are so many things we never had to deal with before.NORTHCOUNTRY: So now you are learning the business end?
Tracy: Yes, with the label side. You know my brother and I have always done pretty well with the management side and have a pretty good understanding of that. There are just so many things you just are never privy to behind the inner workings of a record label. We have been in places where they have pretty much told us don’t call us to meetings, when we want you, we’ll call you. So they keep pretty tight lock and key on that.
Its been pretty challenging and it really has been enjoyable and the most enjoyable part is seeing the success of the album right now and the way the single is moving up the charts. It really does show we have a little bit of a grasp of what’s going on!
NORTHCOUNTRY: The new songs seem to be more traditional country and be a mix of honky tonk (“Just Like Her”) and some more rock (“You Can’t Hide a Redneck”) – were you looking for particular songs/music for this CD?
Tracy: You know what I really drew from was that I really wanted to go back to my early motivation with music, from when I first came to Nashville. I wanted to cut a more traditional album, but I didn’t want it to be dated. So I really looked for a lot more positive lyrics, more up-tempo stuff. I just wanted to get away from chasing the pop direction like everyone’s done so much of in the last several years. I guess I just wanted to go back to the basics and cut an album that was true to me.
NORTHCOUNTRY: Your last album, “Strong,” seemed to be more ballads and had a serious sound – is this CD a reflection of a new or better place in your career with its lighter, happier sound?
Tracy: Yes, I think so. I guess one of the things I noticed when I was looking for the direction for this album, was that when I recorded the “Strong” album I was at the end of my record deal. That album was actually recorded for Warner Brothers and my focus going into that album was to showcase all the different avenues that I was capable of doing as an artist. There’s some really edgy stuff, there’s some pop stuff, there’s some traditional country, things that are on the blue-grass edge and ballads. I wanted every song to be completely different from the next. And I achieved that—we had success with that album. “Paint Me a Birmingham” was a huge record, but after finishing that album, and kind of getting back on the charts and going out with George Strait last year, what I realized was that there are a lot of traditional country fans still out there, that are really starving to death for artists to go back to the music they love and I kind of took that back into the studio with me.
I realized I didn’t have to keep chasing that any more, I had gotten back on track with my career, I was at peace with myself in my personal life and I really wanted to go back and make the kind of record I came to Nashville to make many years ago.
NORTHCOUNTRY: I saw you during the George Strait tour here in New England. Were you surprised by the fan reaction here in the North?
Tracy: It surprised me in about all those shows! It was really the first opportunity I’ve had to get back into big arenas in quite some time and to play for large, really large crowds, other than fairs and festivals which are a whole different thing, and just the response that I got throughout that whole tour really opened my eyes to what it is I’m really suppose to be doing as an artist. I really don’t feel like I’m chasing the format I’m doing the music that I’m suppose to be doing.
NORTHCOUNTRY: You included “Speed of Light” on the new CD, a song that you wrote. Is it hard to judge your own music?
Tracy: It’s very difficult because I feel like my stuff has to be as strong as every thing else on the album. It has to hold up. There are a lot of things that I write that never make records. And a lot of times it’s not that they’re not good songs, but they don’t fit the direction of a particular album at that certain time. But I was real proud of “Speed of Light”. That’s the first song that I’ve written alone that I recorded. That was a big step for me, to make that kind of leap of faith and to say that I believe this song is just as good as anything else that’s out there and it fits the direction of this album – where I want to be and how I want to be perceived right now.
NORTHCOUNTRY: It tells a story like many of your best songs.
Tracy: I try real hard to write those things and to find those things. Songs like “If the World Had a Front Porch” and “Time Marches On”. They have kind of been a staple of my musical repertoire through the years and I actively search for those types of songs. I like giving people that little moral message, something to think about, to chew on.
NORTHCOUNTRY: You also co-wrote, “Til I Was A Daddy.” Do you like to write alone or co-write?
Tracy: Both. It’s definitely a little bit of a freeing experience to write and actually finish something by yourself because it’s something that is totally from your mind with no outside influence. But to co-write I think you tend to tweak things out a little more. Co-writes are really enjoyable because you have other people to bounce things off of and you have different perspectives and all too often the songs are a little less personal. This song is a good reflection of that. One of my co-writers brought this idea in and I kept trying to wrestle it around and make it more about my daughters since I don’t have any sons. But the ideas kept coming out and everyone kept finding lines that went in this direction. So it actually has nothing to do with my own family. So to write with writers that had sons I had to draw from my own childhood to be able to relate to the message in the song. If I had written it by myself, I would never have written the song in that direction.
NORTHCOUNTRY: Now that you have your own label are you thinking about recording other country singers? Would you like to get into the production end?
Tracy: Absolutely! Our entity is growing and we have financial backers that will be in place very soon and will give us the resources to be much more competitive with the other labels in town. We will be staffing up our entity very soon. I signed Chad Brock already. He’ll be my first outsider. There are several other bands and singers I’ve been looking at in town, but don’t want to pull the trigger on those until we get our money in place. But we are moving in that direction.
NORTHCOUNTRY: Would you personally be working with them and producing records?
Tracy: Absolutely! However, a lot of it will depend on the artist. If I find an artist that’s a little bit to into a direction that I really believe in musically but I don’t really know what to do with him, I would definitely find outside producers. There are some really talented people here in town and I’m friends with most of them. I know there style and their direction. You have to let the artist go where it is they want to go. It’s one of the things I don’t want to do as our label grows. I don’t want to make people be what I think they should be. I want to help nurture their own talent and lead them down the road and give them the vision and knowledge of the industry that I have and let them be the artist they want to be. A lot of artists don’t get that until they’ve really kind of proven themselves. Being an artist who’s also been involved in the business side of it for a long time, I think I come in with a little bit different perspective and with the frustrations I felt towards record labels for a lot of years.
NORTHCOUNTRY: More and more artists are starting their own labels. How bad is the recording business competition?
Tracy: The competition is tremendous. There is nothing easy about it. You have to be as chart-savvy as you possibly can be. You have to have a good staff of people and you have to have a little luck and hit songs. It all goes back to having hit songs. Its not just independent labels, there’s so many majors, there’s so much competition and their muscle is so strong, to be able to compete you really have to understand the game. It really is a game.
NORTHCOUNTRY: So the larger companies get more radio time and have more power?
Tracy: Yes. They may not be paying for it, but they do carry a lot of clout. When Capital Records picks up the phone and calls the programmers for ClearChannel – they take the call and it carries a lot of weight because they can buy advertising time in large volumes even though if they aren’t directly paying for airplay it’s still influencing those radio stations. That’s just the way it is, it’s the politics of the business.
NORTHCOUNTRY: Will you be spending a lot less time touring now that you have the label business?
Tracy: You know that’s my goal over the next five years. I did about 120 to 150 shows last year and I’m going to do around a hundred this year and my goal is to continue to taper off. My children are small and when they’re knocking on their teenage years, in the next five years or so, as they get to be about that age, I want my tour schedule to be cut about half. I’ll spend more time in the office and produce records and do other things. I’ll never stop touring and always want to continue to play the chart game with my own records. But I want a stable of 4 or 5 other acts. I guess I’m just at a place where I’m enjoying the challenges that are in front of me and looking forward to them.
My children need me here more as they are getting closer to the age of puberty and the trials of all that. My wife needs me to be here too.
NORTHCOUNTRY: Going back to the “For the Love” CD, I have to say that I love the final track on the CD (the title track) with Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw. You all sound like you are having fun. How did that come about?
Tracy: We’ve all been friends for a long time, about 16 years – we go way back. We have a lot of history together. We all ran around in Nashville when we were getting started, hitting the clubs, jumping off the cliffs at the lake and crashing on each other’s couches. Even after everyone started having success, until Kenny exploded into the superstar he is, he lived very close to me and we were always at each other’s houses and going back and forth and hanging out with each other. We talked about recording something over the last several years; we just never found the right song. When I found this one, I actually had the track done, had my vocal done on the album, I got some roughs done and sent it to them. They both loved it and we found the time, got together in the vocal room and finished everybody’s parts and then just hung out for about 4 hours and just got caught up instead of the occasional phone call. It was just a good time for us.
NORTHCOUNTRY: It seems like people in Nashville stay friends – they are competing all the time?
Tracy: The competition is between the labels. Really and truly, I think we all have had enough success, we are secure with our own lives and I don’t think there is any animosity toward the other one. At least with most of the guys that I hung out with, my friends like Byrd, Joe Diffie and just down the line, lot of us who have been around a long time, we just enjoy the relationship we have with our peers.
NORTHCOUNTRY: So what’s next for you?
Tracy: We are planning a video for the next single, and I’m glad you brought up “Can’t Hide a Redneck” because I’m really leaning towards that one. I think it would be a great summer time record. I’m excited about doing another video soon. They are a lot of fun, especially the kind of thing I think we’ll be able to do with this one. It should be fun.
NORTHCOUNTRY: And you will be touring soon?
We are looking at some possibilities for the fall. I’ve just been doing clubs and little theatres for the spring; I’ve had so many radio shows and all that kind of stuff with the launch of the album. We’re shifting gears and moving into the summer phase where we do fairs and festivals and hopefully will have a big tour put together for this fall. We don’t know who it will be yet, we’re looking at a few people and hopefully that will come together.
For more info on Tracy Lawrence, visit his website at TracyLawerence.com
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