Nashville Legend Billy Crain Talks New Record

Nashville native Billy Crain is a local legend around these parts (and on an international level as well to note!) The great has just released his new record "Broken Things," right before the holiday season, which has indeed been a bit of a spiritual experience. The album is filled with explosive Southern Rock sounds that brings the essence of Billy Crain to life. Late last year we had the honor of catching up with Crain to see what the New Year holds for him. Dive in!

You have a new album recently released, "Broken Things." What can you tell us about the record, and what fueled its release?

It's moving into new territory for me. The music is more intense, the songs are more intense, you could almost say it's kind of dark for a Billy Crain CD. The idea for it came after going to Honduras in January of 2017 to do some volunteer work at an orphanage way back in the mountains. I got to meet all these different people and hear all these cool stories and folklore and such. I mean when some one tells you about a tree called "The Skull of the Mayans," how can you NOT write a song with that title. I had great song titles and music flying at me from every direction!!!

Was there any specific storyline you had for the record when writing?

Every one of them has a particular storyline. "Skull of the Mayans" is about a pre-teen girl and how she was saved from a life of hell on earth. "Orphans" is about exactly that. The title track "I Like Broken Things" is about, well, did you ever see Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer? Well this song is about the island of misfit toys with a special twist. "Somewhere Under the Rainbow" is about a college girl who leaves the mid-west for the lights of Broadway only to end up strung out on heroin. I love the last song called "Velvet Tears."It's about my wife's beloved horse "Sugar" who died earlier this year. We've had horses for years and the night he was dying, I saw something I have never seen before, a horse crying tears. Every song has great story to tell. I'm pretty excited about this one!!!

When writing music, what are your influences? How long does it typically take you to write a song? Do you keep coming back to a piece and revising?

I have soooo many influences. I listen to a lot of World Music like Celtic and East Indian Music. I incorporate quite a bit of those sounds into my music. Sometimes I can write a song in 20 minutes and sometimes it might take a few years. There\'92s two in particular on this CD that were older. One was started back in 2011 and another one in 2013. There were some missing links that just one day seemed to pop out of nowhere and poof, there you have it!! I always do a little revising. There's always that one or two lines or a verse where I think, I can do better than that. Don't bore us get to the chorus does NOT apply to my songs!!!! A lot of my songs don''t even have a chorus.

What are your influences musically and lyrically?

I grew up in the great era of Southern Rock so I have deep roots there. I love The Allman Brothers Band, Tom Petty, Dire Straits, The Police, the Beatles, and those type of bands. Lyrically, I learned over the years, just write it from the heart. I spent 20 years writing professionally on Music Row in Nashville and it was like "what are we gonna rhyme with love today." I've spent all those years writing what I THOUGHT you wanted to hear on the radio. Now I write songs that I would LIKE you to hear on the radio. My lyrics cover a lot of topics. It's a scary place up there in my head!!!

What was the recording process like for the new record? Did you self-produce? How long did it take to write and record the album as a whole?

This one took a whole year. Of course I was already writing for it as soon as my last one, "Hard Places"came out. The recording process took much, much longer. My wife, Sandy, and I have a 2nd set of children. Both are adopted and require a lot of time and attention. I spent many a late night putting songs together. I have my own studio (like everybody else in the world). I am a multi instrumentalist and darn good programmer so it's pretty much DIY recording. The thing I like the most about that is, if I don't like something about a song, I can fiddle with it until I get what I actually want to hear on there. On an interview a few years back, the interviewer said "Obviously Mr Crain uses the best studio musicians in Nashville." NOT!!!! It really came down to the wire. This is the first time i had a deadline and was really sweating it through the mixing/mastering process.

Do you have any plans on touring or new music in 2018?

Yes I actually do. If all the right pieces fall into place, I want to get back in the game and do some live shows. I'm hoping to open some shows for my former bandmates "The Outlaws."

What do you hope to accomplish in the early near year, for 2018 and beyond?

When I retired from the road in 2013, I was fortunate enough to continue to make CDs and do it the way I did it when I first started, for fun!!! I found a great way to really let the music make the world a better place and that was to give away the proceeds from the CDs. I'm not talking about a slight percentage, I'm talking ALL of it. The last CD, 100% of the proceeds went to the Papillion Center for FASD. The new CD "Broken Things," 100% of it will go to the Hope In Jesus children's home in Honduras. I don't recoup anything. Another tradition I will continue as I have on each each CD is "if you can't afford one, send me your name and address and I will send you one on me!!!!!