Lee Brice Releases ‘Lee Brice,’ His Most Personal Album Ever
Lee Brice's self-titled album album (Nov. 3) is a snapshot of his life.
The eponymous project, Brice’s fourth studio album, reflects on the 38-year-old's relationships, spirituality and age more than ever before. It’s also his most personal record to date.
Brice wrote 11 of the 15 songs on the release, which share his joys and struggles from the pros and cons of aging to romantic love, friendships and his children. One of the four outside cuts is the album’s lead single “Boy,” written by Jon Nite and Nicolle Galyon — it's a song that Brice instantly fell in love with.
“Number one, ('Boy') just stated where I’m at in my life,” Brice tells Taste of Country. “It’s a clear picture of that. Number two, I wanted something that just popped out at you and when I heard the first line in ‘Boy:’ ‘Boy, you're gonna know it all,’ it grabbed my attention immediately. I knew I was gonna cut it and put it out on the radio. … It’s where I’m at in my life right now, so it’s an honest truth.”
Though Brice didn’t write "Boy," he is known to be a prolific songwriter, co-writing personal hits such as “I Don’t Dance” and “Parking Lot Party,” while also tattooing his name to major artist cuts by Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw. However, to bring "Boy" closer to home, Brice enlisted the help of his wife, father and sons to star in the music video.
“I don’t care whether I write or I don’t write the songs,” Brice says. “That’s not necessarily important if I can find all the other songs that say what I want to say. It’s probable that I’ll write more than I don’t write because that’s just who I am. I’ve been writing songs since I was 10 years old. … I’m not afraid to cut outside songs. They’ve just got to be the right ones.”
Some of the “right ones” in the past include major hits like “I Drive Your Truck” and “Drinking Class.”
“Every note of every song I write for myself has to be just right,” Brice says. “And when I write a song for another artist, I still have that bar set high. ... There are a lot of songs I’ve heard; I hear the chorus and I’m like, man that’s a smash but the verses don’t kill me. They just don’t slay me. …. It might not necessarily be important as far as what’s a hit or not, but to me, it’s important to have integrity in the lyrics on the record. If you listen to this record, every word of it to me is just right. It’s exactly how I wanted to be.”
Three that strike Brice on the new album? “What Keeps You Up at Night,” which Brice co-wrote with Ross Copperman, Jessi Alexander and his preacher Pete Wilson; “Songs in the Kitchen:" a title that came spontaneously from a jam session at Brice’s house with Randy Houser and Kellie Pickler; and “Have a Good Day,” which Brice derived from a true story that focuses on appreciating what we have in life because “someone, somewhere is probably having a lot worse day than you are.”
Brice will finish his live tour dates through Dec. 13 and officially launch a tour (name TBA) to promote Lee Brice in early 2018.
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