360°Sound caught up with Amarillo, Texas-based country singer Lindsey Lane. Born and raised in Lubbock, the 29-year-old was voted Amarillo’s Best Female Vocalist last year. This year she’s been nominated for Best Female Vocalist, Best Local Band, and Best Live Band.
Lane left a career as a third-grade math teacher to pursue her dream of becoming a country star. In 2017, she released her debut EP Gypsy Leavin’ and has since released a number of singles. “Run” is her latest, which has been steadily climbing the Texas country charts. Lane plans to release a full-length album next spring.
360°: Please start by telling us about your music and style.
Lindsey Lane: I would say my music is in the range of Texas country and progressive country. It’s not super twangy as far as Texas country goes, but it’s definitely not your modern country. The cool thing about Texas country is it doesn’t have to fit specifically in that realm of twang country. It has a variety. As long as it’s not pop, you’re usually pretty good to go.
What are some of the themes you like to address in with your songwriting?
A lot of times it’s what comes to mind. A lot of it ends up being about chasing down whatever I’m looking for. Heartaches. I don’t write a lot of love songs for some reason. I don’t why. They just all come out so cheesy. I can’t figure it out. Most of mine are break up or running away. I probably need to see a psychiatrist [laughs].
“Run” is described on your website as a blend of “nostalgic Nineties tones with a driving beat of Eighties charisma.” Are you a big of 80s and 90s country?
Oh yeah, for sure. Some of the guitar parts were inspired by The Mavericks. When people think 90s country they think Shania Twain, Garth Brooks, George Strait. But there were so many that seemed to get swept under the rug. The Mavericks, Blackhawk, Doug Stone, I grew up around that. That and really old classic country.
Listeners have a lot of options with streaming, YouTube, satellite radio and other outlets. However, it seems like regional terrestrial radio is still very important for Texas country artists.
I prefer radio to streaming. There’s so much controversy around Spotify with how they take care of their artists. I know it’s important and that’s the first thing people look at. But I honestly don’t push it as much as I probably should. Radio is more fun because you get to meet people, whereas with Spotify you don’t know anything about what’s going on.
You released a “Let It Snow” single last year. Any plans to record Christmas songs this year?
Maybe not this year, eventually. You know, everyone puts out a Christmas album. I thought it would be fun to do a Halloween one where you redo all the fun Halloween songs – not the ones that are dark and scary. Like “Monster Mash” and stuff.
That’s a good idea. That may be a first. I can’t think of any country Halloween records.
Yeah, I’m like, ‘Man, we need to revamp this.’ [laughs].
Do you enjoy interpreting other people’s work?
Oh yes, absolutely. I love doing covers. Go-to ones for us at live performances are LeeAnn Rimes “Big Deal” and Martina McBride. I like to cover male songs too because people don’t expect it and that’s pretty fun. We’ll do David Allan Coe and Johnny Cash and stuff like that. I like to do the unexpected a lot of times.
What are your goals as an artist?
I would like to definitely establish myself to where I am paying my bills without having to worry about that. I definitely would love to do big tours across the U.S. and the world. My ultimate goal would be to win CMA Entertainer of the Year. That’s what I work for at every show, knowing that I’m playing a little restaurant on a 5×7 stage. You gotta start somewhere.
What can the fans expect from you in the future?
I’m new to this business. I didn’t have anybody to show me the ropes or anything like that. Everything is pretty new to me so I’m learning as I go. I don’t know what the future holds, but I hope it’s good [laughs].
Lane’s music is available on all major streaming services. You can follow her on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. To visit her official site, click here.
