The past year and a half have been an incredible time for Big Loud recording artist Chris Lane. In August 2016, the singer topped the Country Airplay chart with “Fix.” The romantic follow-up, “For Her,” is currently No. 19 on Hot Country Songs. He says that between his recording success and his opening for Florida Georgia Line, 2017 has been the culmination of a lot of hard work – and he’s enjoying every minute. And more good things are on the way — today (Aug. 24), Billboard is premiering an acoustic/unplugged version of Girl Problems, which will be officially released Friday. Listen below.
“I didn’t know what to expect coming out of a radio tour,” he tells Billboard. “You never know if people are going to react to a song, and if they do, what that reaction will be. From the get-go, people really jumped onto the song. I was lucky to have my first No. 1 with it. ‘Fix’ was a song that definitely put me on the map, and changed everything for in me my career. I’m really thankful for it.”
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Getting to see the world through the stage of FGL has been an equally unforgettable experience, as well. “It certainly has been an incredible year. We’ve been out with Florida Georgia Line all year long, and that’s been the icing on the cake for me. We played Wrigley, Fenway, Target Field, and a lot of historic baseball parks. I grew up playing sports, and played college baseball, so that made it really cool that I got to play music in those stadiums. It was certainly something that I never thought I would get the chance to do. I even got to do a little bit of batting practice that day.”
Lane says that he is trying to following the FGL example of how to handle being the headlining act, taking notes for his upcoming headlining tour in this fall. “They bring such an energy to the stage. Their music speaks for itself, and they have such great songs. They know how to put on a fun and entertaining live show, and they don’t take themselves so seriously. They have great personalities, and people vibe with that and like that. I try not to take it too seriously, and just have fun with it. People usually feed off of that, and it makes for a fun show.”
Lane is also enjoying the success of his debut album Girl Problems, which hit the top ten of the Top Country Albums chart. Friday (Aug. 25), Lane will release an acoustic version of the record. “For the people who bought the album and loved it, I wanted to give them a different take of some of the songs that they like, and did a full album version of acoustic songs.” Lane says that he feels his fans will hear a different side of the singer on the project, which includes all of the tracks from the original album – in unplugged form.
“Back when I was growing up, if I loved a song, I would record it off of the radio so I could hear them as many times as I wanted. We’re in a much different time now where you can stream songs. It makes it cool because you can reach so many more people like that nowadays for sure.” He says he loves being able to get up close and personal with his fans from a viral standpoint. “I really enjoy that part of it, because they can really peek in and know more about you and your personality, and maybe some things they may not get to know about you while you’re on stage because it’s usually song, song, song….you don’t really want to spend an insane amount of time talking. With Instagram and Twitter, they really get to know you and your personality. I think it makes for a really cool way to engage with your fans.”