Chris Lane dropped his first full record today since 2018, Shade Tree. He stopped by The Bobby Bones Show for some life updates and talk new music.
Currently, Lane and his wife Lauren are expecting their third child and apparently they learned the hard way. Lane admitted they weren’t trying for a third child, but Lauren was feeling incomplete with two because she really wanted a girl eventually. However, they have boys that run in their family and there was no guarantee so they were trying to be careful, so much so Lauren was tracking her cycle. That worked for a really long time, but obviously, it wasn’t bulletproof and that’s why a baby is now on the way. Their two kids Dutton and Baker are 15 months apart, but this new sibling will be 3 years apart. Lane admits they did found out the gender, but they’re not telling anyone yet. Lauren wanted to wait until birth, but he begged because he couldn’t mentally wait.
Besides becoming a dad x3, Lane just put out a new album for the first time since 2018. He’s put out a lot of songs since then, but this is the first full record in seven years. Shade Tree features one of his favorite songs that he almost didn’t record. It was lost in one of his write folders and his wife found it, when he played it for her he remembered how much he liked it. He recorded it in the studio and it felt like the name of the record because it’s about where he grew up in North Carolina and truly encompassed every song on the record. He wrote most of the songs on this project, which was a first for him as he spent a lot of time for his first albums on tour so there wasn’t time for writing. He admits he’s most proud of this record because of all the writing work he put into it. When looking at all twelve songs, Lane shared “What Am I Supposed To Tell The Dog” is by far his favorite song he’s ever written. It’s about a couple who gets a dog, they break up and he wrote it from the dog’s perspective. The idea came from his wife who was mad at him one day and said if they ever split, she’s taking the dog. He was on the mower later that day and wrote down the title in his notes. He brought the title into a write and the writers in the room didn’t know how they wanted to write that song, but Jameson Rodgers was in the room and told Lane he wanted to be part of the song. So they went into another room and wrote the song in 45 minutes, they both agreed it was the saddest song ever, but in a tongue in cheek kind of way. This song has been performing well live, it reminds him of his song “I Don’t Know About You” when he first started sharing it on tour, people have been going crazy over it. He also really loves the title track, adding that he hopes it gets its chance and moment, he believes it’s his version of Rascal Flatts “Mayberry.” Also on the record is “If I Die Before You,” which is the slowest song he has ever had in his career, but also the most heartfelt. It’s a tough conversation between a husband and wife, he admitted it’s stuff he has started thinking about since getting married and having kids.
Lane has been touring with Rascal Flatts, however this particular tour was supposed to happen in 2020 when the world shut down. He heard rumblings of them going out again so he asked to be part of the tour, and it’s been a fun time for him. Opening for the band, he had to cut his typical set in half so he could also throw in some new songs. At the end of the day, being a support act is all about hyping the crowd up for the main act, and his goal is to make new fans and sell some merch. His only hope is that if anyone goes to the tour for his set, he plays the songs they want to hear. He’s had arguably more fun standing side stage every night singing at the top of his lungs to all of Rascal Flatts’ songs. He would get to go up at the end of each night to sing “Life Is A Highway” along with Lauren Alaina, but they didn’t know this was going to happen until the first night of tour. Rascal Flatts were headed out on stage when they told Lane and Alaina what they were going to do, so both of them were backstage scrambling learning the lyrics the first night.
Beside being a country music artist, Lane is also a big fan of the genre. He shared his favorite country song of all time is Kenny Chesney’s “I Go Back” because he loves nostalgic style songs and it takes him back to high school when he was playing sports and being on the baseball field taking hits. His Mt. Rushmore of country artists includes Chesney, as well as Tim McGraw, Toby Keith, and George Strait.
