Brandon Lay, on the Country Thunder lineup, made his Grand Ole Opry debut two days after he and his wife had a child.
Brandon Lay is coming off a pretty terrific 2018.
He jumped on the spring/early summer leg of Kenny Chesney’s “Trip Around the Sun” stadium tour last year and then tagged along with Old Dominion in October for the 2018 “Happy Endings” World Tour in the UK and Australia.
Last fall, he made his Grand Ole Opry debut two days after he and his wife Nicole welcomed their first child, Ryder Knox.
And this weekend, Lay, the son of a Tennessee preacher who played basketball in college and started his music career as a songwriter, is making his Country Thunder debut.
“This is my first time so I don’t know exactly what to expect,” he said during a phone call from his home in Tennessee last month. “It’s cool to do festivals like Country Thunder because there’s always so much energy around you. People wait all year for this one event.”
Lay can relate. He waits all year for festival and fair season, and not just because it’s a chance to get on stage and perform for audiences that often number in the thousands.
“I love fair food,” said the 32-year-old, who confessed he has an affinity for fried Oreos or, frankly, anything unique — think candy, butter, donuts and the like — that can be dipped in batter and fried crispy golden brown. “I can get barbecue anywhere, but sometimes you can’t find those obscurities.”
But he’s also anxious to get on the sprawling Country Thunder stage and warm it up for Friday’s headliners — Texan Clay Walker and superstar Tim McGraw.
“We’re champing at the bit. We’re definitely looking forward to it,” said Lay, who kicks off his spring tour with the Florence show.
During our March conversation, Lay talked about what we can expect from that show, the impact on his music of being a preacher’s kid and how fatherhood has forever changed him.
Energy and an escape: “I try to give (audiences) a little something that they might have heard or grew up on. I think it’s important for a guy in my position, a new artist with not a whole lot of songs out, to kind of throw out some classic rock stuff or things that are familiar with if they’re not familiar with my music. We cover a lot of ground between covers and working on our own end. Having a lot of energy because that’s obviously conducive for a country music show. Hopefully it’s just a time where people can escape for a short window of time and just flow with it.”
Making his father proud: “I feel like a (preacher’s kid) can go one of two ways: They either follow their dad’s footsteps or they’re a little wild child. I was a little bit of a wild child, kinda touching the stove if it was hot kind of thing. But the older I get and the more that those life lessons, faith is a bigger part of my life. I tried to incorporate that in my daily walk and songwriting. I’m grateful for it. Country music right out of college for me because we were playing pretty rough biker bars, I don’t think (dad) was thrilled about that, but he kind of knew it was a stepping stone to get where I am now, to play things like Country Thunder. I’m lucky to have his support and it’s been one of those things where I don’t know if I could do it without him.”
Fatherhood and changing priorities: “(Becoming a father was) a gear changer. One of the lessons I learned from Kenny Chesney was to really live in the moment. We might not ever be here again or we might meet again next year. You just never know. I have a tendency to get hyper focused and competitive that sometimes I don’t wake up and smell the roses. ’18 was fun but it was a grind. I think ’19 we’re still going to grind, but I’m learning to enjoy these moments and not look past everywhere I’m at, and it’s made life a little more enjoyable.”
In 2019, more music: “I’m dying to release the songs that I’ve been sitting on. I moved to town 10 years ago and I was a staff writer for Warner before I got my label deal so I’ve got a lot of songs I want to share. 2019 is hopefully the year where I can just share the songs with the world and let them have a new life. And play them live — that’s ultimately the main satisfaction for me. I would like to have a big old smash hit, I’m not gonna lie. But you know what, if I don’t I’m learning to start to enjoy some of this stuff.”
