BobbyCast Recap: Bobby Bones Chats With Tracy Lawrence About 90s Country, His Career Journey
Lawrence decided to skip out on college to move to Nashville and pursue his dream.
On episode #259 of his podcast, the BobbyCast, Bobby Bones chatted with country star Tracy Lawrence. Lawrence began his music career in 1991 at the beginning of the ‘90s country era, and he was instrumental in shaping the country musical landscape of the ‘90s. That particular decade of country music is one that is still revered as groundbreaking, and Lawrence reflected on why he thinks the ‘90s were such a special time.
“It was really a magical time for country music,” he told Bones. “That young country energy that had swept the country, it all started in ’89 with Garth Brooks and Clint Black and Travis Tritt and Alan Jackson and Mark Chesnutt. That was the beginning of it, and that explosion drove so many of us to come to Nashville.”
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Lawrence was among the artists who were inspired to take the plunge and move to Music City by the early ‘90s country era. Before he moved, Lawrence was living in Louisiana, playing in a band and getting ready to go back to college, but his plans changed before he made it back to the classroom.
“I was going to go back to finish my degree and all that music from ’89 came out and I’m sitting there thinking, ‘If I wind up going back to college, I’m never going to go to Nashville. If I’m going to do it, I need to do it now,’” he says.
Lawrence moved to Music City in September 1990 in a Toyota Corolla and $700 in his pocket, thanks to those who donated to him at his last show in Louisiana. Once he made it to town, Lawrence lived with acquaintances and friends, made connections with fellow musicians on Broadway and started playing shows. He got his big break just three months after moving when Atlantic Records executives attended a show he played. He soon earned his first record deal with the label and released his debut album, Sticks And Stones, in November 1991.
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Since then, Lawrence has released many records and earned countless accolades. The singer released his latest album, Made In America, in 2019, which gave him the opportunity to stretch his songwriting skills, writing eight of the 12 tracks on the record.
“I know this sounds crazy, but I really always lacked self-confidence in my own songwriting,” he says. “I always tried to beat my own songs out with things that I found from other publishing companies. As I was looking for material for this record, I just couldn’t find what I was looking for, and I wound up just really knuckling down and just writing this record.”
To hear more from Bobby’s conversation with Tracy Lawrence, listen to episode #259 of the BobbyCast.
