Brandon Lay Is ‘Livin’ The Dream’ on Kenny Chesney Tour

Country newcomer Brandon Lay got the opportunity of a lifetime when Kenny Chesney invited him out on his Trip Around The Sun Tour.

Brandon Lay Is ‘Livin’ The Dream’ on Kenny Chesney Tour
Brandon Lay; Photo courtesy of UMG Nashville

If you ask Brandon Lay how he’s doing these days, he can’t help but smile and say, “I’m livin’ the dream.”

The Jackson, Tennessee, native is expecting his first child, a boy, due in October and is burning up the road this summer opening for Kenny Chesney on all 19 shows of his Trip Around the Sun stadium tour. “My wife Nicole has been able to come out to every show,” says Lay. “Every week we take a picture during soundcheck on the stage and she’s just getting bigger and bigger. It’s an exciting time. I’m very blessed.”

Lay began garnering attention last year with the autobiographical debut single, “Speakers, Bleachers and Preachers,” and currently has fans singing along with his catchy new single,“Yada, Yada, Yada.”

“I just got the melody in my head on the way back home from a gig and put it in my phone and it was just a place holder lyric,” he says of the phrase that evolved into the song’s title. “I was writing with Mikey Reaves and Heather Morgan, who are two of my favorite people to write with in town, and I kind of threw that out there because I had the melody. We kind of figured out a little angle for it and we just went with it because it felt fun. The song is not meant to move the world with its meaning necessarily but it’s supposed to be a summertime, feel good song and luckily people have been singing it back to us which is a really great feeling.”

When asked how he landed the coveted opening spot on Chesney’s tour, Lay laughs and says, “I name-checked him in a verse in my first single…I don’t know if it had anything to do with it or it if helped. I knew my name was in the hat, but I didn’t think that much about it to be honest, and then my manager called and said, ‘Hey, Kenny digs what you are doing and thinks you’d be a good kick off for the Trip Around the Sun tour,’ and it was great news to hear, obviously.”

Lay admits to being nervous about opening on such a big stadium tour, but says he and his band tried to be as prepared as they could. “I realized real quick that a lot of the go-to things you do in these small bars and clubs that we cut our teeth in just don’t work the same way out there,” he says of playing stadiums. “Me and my band actually went to a high school football stadium the week before the tour started and just spread out. We kind of marked off the size of the stage and that’s how we tried to prepare, but really when you go out there and see how many people, it’s one of those learn on the job kind of things. Luckily, the fans are hungry for new country and supportive, so it makes it a little easier. I said a prayer and just let it fly.”

In addition to songs from his upcoming debut album, Lay is incorporating some familiar songs during his 35-minute set, including the Merle Haggard hit, “It’s Been a Great Afternoon,” and some classic ‘80s pop as well. “Probably the most unexpected is a little Roxette,” he says of the Swedish duo known for such ‘80s pop/rock hits as “The Look,” “Listen to your Heart” and “It Must Have Been Love.” “I’m a big ’80’s guy. We’re doing a transition using ‘Listen To Your Heart’ as an instrumental and it’s like a segway before ‘Wilder Horses.’ People don’t see it coming. 80’s sounds in particularly really inspired this record for me–80’s country and 80’s pop/rock–and we just tried to show some of those colors. You can see it in people’s faces when you pull out like Def Leppard or Roxette right after Merle Haggard.”

Lay admits touring with Chesney has been a great educational experience. “I definitely try to watch every beat of his show,” he says. “I told somebody that’s one of the extra perks of being on his show is I get free tickets to his show every week, so it’s really cool to get a perspective week in and week out and see how he manages to give everything he’s got every week to the fans. As a new guy, you are thinking about yourself, not in a selfish way, but you want to do a good job and I feel like what Kenny does, he gives everything to the fans in that moment. It’s all about them and not about him. That’s something that’s challenged me to be right there in that moment and live it up. That way you are on the same page as the fans instead of worrying about missing a lick or a note. At the end of the day, that’s okay. It’s more about the overall feeling, so that’s something I strive for.”