By Preshias Harris
“What’s your name, what’s your sign, what’s your birthday? / What’s your wrist tattoo bible verse say? / Tell me this, do you kiss on the first date? / Don’t hold anything back.” – lyrics from “I Don’t Know About You”
It took 45 weeks to climb to the top of Billboard’s Country Airplay charts, but Chris Lane’s “I Don’t Know About You” (Big Loud Records) finally made it to No. 1 on October 01, 2019. On Tuesday, January 28, Chris celebrated that achievement with the song’s writers at a Number One party in Nashville, hosted by the performing rights organizations, BMI and ASCAP.
Receiving plaques to mark the occasion were songwriters Ashley Gorley, Michael Hardy, Hunter Phelps and Jameson Rodgers. The event was extra special for Phelps and Rodgers as “I Don’t Know About You” marked the first No. 1 for both songwriters. For Ashley, it was his forty-fourth No. 1. (To make things more complicated, last week Ashley celebrated his forty-fifth No. 1 for co-writing “Good Vibes” for Chris Janson, and since then has already scored his forty-sixth and forty-seventh chart-topper!)
Song struck a chord with listeners
“I Don’t Know About You” really struck a chord with listeners as it is built around typical questions that a guy will ask a girl when they first meet, hoping for a date.
During the media roundtable before the presentation Lane and the songwriters talked about the song. “Lyrically, it had really cool lines in it,” said Lane. “For whatever reason, people just gravitated towards that. And even fans. I mean, a line as simple as, ‘Girl I know your favorite beer because you told me and I bought it.’ I’ve watched people scream that line! Obviously with the ‘wrist tattoo’ line. I’ve had people come up to me in the grocery store and say, ‘I love your bible verse tattoo song.’ That’s what they refer to it as, they don’t call it by its name! People took to it because of really great lines and a great melody as well.”
Michael Hardy nodded in agreement. “I think ‘bible verse’ for sure,” he said. “I’m trying to think of another song that has that example. It was just a formula for a 52-week Number One,” he added with a laugh.
Lane made a point of expressing his gratitude to the songwriters. “I heard there were several other artists who wanted it, but I was the lucky guy that got it,” he said. “So thank you all so very much, a, for writing a monstrous song and, b, for giving a young artist like myself a chance on it because it changed my life and career.”
20 minutes left in writing session
Hunter Phelps recalled the day they began to write the song. “We actually wrote a different song that day,” he said. “And in typical Ashley fashion, he had twenty or thirty minutes left before he had to go pick up his daughter at basketball. We’d finished the first song and he wanted to write another one in twenty minutes! So we threw out the idea and I think we wrote a third of the song that day. We got the bones of it that day and a couple of months later, we finished it up.”
Jameson Rodgers picked up the story. “I guess we got the chorus the first day, and when we finished it up, I remember it didn’t take long. I’m pretty sure we finished it and went to Martin’s BBQ and it was really packed so it was between noon and one p.m. which means we’d got done early because we definitely didn’t start [writing] before eleven!” All four writers laughed at the recollection.
I then asked Chris if any couples ever come up to him and say that they started dating after the guy used some of the ‘pick up’ questions he’d picked up from listening to the lyrics in “I Don’t Know About You.”
‘This is our song! This is our story!’
“I don’t think anyone said they’ve used the lines,” he replied, “but a lot of couples come up and say, ‘This is our song! This is our story!’” Nodding to the songwriters, he added, “I feel like the guys definitely wrote out a blueprint for all guys going on a first date. They just listen to this song and they know the questions to ask.”
The discussion then moved on to Lane’s current single, “Big, Big Plans,” that is rapidly rising in the charts. He talked about the role that the song played when he proposed to Lauren Bushnell whom he met when she was a contestant on the TV show, The Bachelor.
Lane co-wrote “Big, Big Plans” with Jacob Durrett and Ernest K. Smith
“For me, ‘Big, Big Plans’ was just a very personal song for my life and relationship and, I guess, the plans that I had to propose and all that kind of stuff,” Lane admitted. “At that time, I had no idea that I was going to use this song to propose. In fact, I got together with my co-writers three different times to try to finish this song and then the last time, I said, ‘Well, I do have plans of proposing in the next couple of months. Maybe we could write a proposal in and I could use this song to propose to her.’ Everybody loved that idea and it happened very quickly from there and I used the song [when I proposed]. I had no intentions of releasing it out into the world but I guess it found its own way, and now it’s my new single that I’m very excited about.”
Video: Chris proposes with ‘Big, Big Plans’
You can see video of Chris playing “Big, Big Plans” to Lauren on his phone for the first time, before going down on one knee and proposing while the song plays in this video at YouTube. Video of their wedding is also included in the official music video of “Big, Big Plans.” You can see it at YouTube here
Lane talked about his new life as a married man. “About a year and a half ago, I was the guy who was saying, ‘I would never get married.’ It just wasn’t something I was looking for,” he confessed. “But I met someone who changed all of that and changed the way I thought about marriage and it’s been amazing.
“I’m lucky that I married someone that I fell in love with that I can call a friend as well,” he continued. “It’s like we’re best friends who love each other. It’s been a big change for me, because I hadn’t really dated anybody in a really long time so going from never really hanging around a lot of girls to basically being married in a year’s time was quite a change,” he laughed.
The pros and cons of being a twin
Chris Lane’s brother Cory is the drummer in Chris’s touring band. I asked him if there are pros and cons involved in working with a sibling. “The pros are we both get to play a lot of golf together and we’re both very competitive, so that makes it a lot of fun. Obviously, we’re twins, so I feel like we share the same thoughts. It’s kind of weird; we say the same things at the same times. So it’s super special having someone you’re so close with be a part of this thing with me.”
But then, with a smile, he shared a story about being on the road with Cory. “I’d say some of the cons are people get us so confused all the time. I don’t get a chance to go out after the shows or anything like that but I get tagged in so many [social media] photos each night with people saying, ‘Just met Chris Lane,’ but it’s always a picture of him! I tell him all the time, ‘Dude! Start telling people that you’re NOT me!’
Hardy shares “One Beer”
Michael Hardy is a recording artist (simply using the name HARDY) as well as a songwriter. He shared some information about the song, titled “One Beer” (Big Loud Records) set for release in early February. It’s the one that went crazy on social media and all the platforms,” he said of the song.
“As a songwriter, I love telling stories. I think that song tells a really cool story. We just shot a music video for it and I personally think it’s going to be one of the dopest music videos that’s gonna come out this year. Basically, it tells the story of what one beer can turn into. One beer can turn into someone saving someone’s life and you’ll see it as the music video comes out, but I’m excited, there’s a lot of hype around it. It’s selling really well and doing a lot of cool stuff. I’m ready for it to go and see what it does.” See the video for “One Beer” by HARDY featuring Lauren Alaina and Devin Dawson here.
More about Chris Lane at his website https://iamchrislane.com/ and on Facebook.
Special note: During the media meeting before the award presentations for “I Don’t Know About You,” Chris Lane and the songwriters talked about what drew them to Nashville and how they got to this level of success. You can read my report in another story at this site.
Preshias is also a music career development consultant with the emphasis on new and aspiring artists and songwriters. Visit www.collegeofsongology.com for more details. Follow her blog at www.nashvillemusicline.com