Kristian Bushās upcoming album is fully informed by his life. He just has no idea when itās going to be released, and thatās just fine by the former Surgarland patriarch.
āBecause Iāve been doing this for as long as I have, I will tell you the truth,ā says Kristian to Nash Country Daily. āIām the last person to know when my record comes out. Iām the first person to know what it sounds like. I will write and record until they tell me to stop. So up until they have to ship it two weeks ahead of time, I will still be spinning the plates in the air, and keep them spinning.ā
Since he dropped his debut solo album, Southern Gravity, in 2015, Kristian has experienced his share of trials and tribulations, including the recent death of his father. Kristian, a father himselfāages 11 and 14āis also six years removed from a divorce, so heās ātrying to learn to love again.ā The aforementioned topicsāand many othersāhave manifested into a plethora of songs that Kristian is combing through for the album.
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āIām 160 songs in right now,ā says Kristian. āYouāre going to hear about all of that on the new record. I mean, the part of becoming a solo artist that I think I didnāt expect was how much you need to communicate about your life. And I didnāt understandāuntil I put out Southern Gravityāthat what we were talking about was the fact the stage fell on our heads, and the fact that I got a divorce, and the fact that my band suddenly stopped working, and I didnāt have a job. You know, there was all this stuff happening. And I didnāt realize it until I started giving interviews, and had to tell people about what was happening in my life. So for this new album, now those muscles are a little less shameful. You know, I can actually start to use them, and I feel a little more confident and a little less fear about going, āHey, Iām a single dad. I donāt know if thereās anybody else thatās a single dad, but Iām a single dad. I have two kids who are 11 and 14. Theyāre awesome.ā
āIām trying to learn to love again. Thatās really weird at 40-something years old. And I donāt get it right all the time. And I want to write about that. And my dad died, and that was strange because he and I didnāt get along, but between when he called me and said he was sick and died three months later, I went up there everyday that I wasnāt working, and we put our relationship back together before he passed away. Thatās the most heroic thing Iāve ever see anybody do. So yeah, Iām going to talk about that. And yeah, itās going to be on my record. And if itās in your life, I want you to connect to this record.ā
While we wait for Kristian to stop spinning those plates, enjoy the upcoming albumās lead single, āSing Along.ā
photos by Jason Simanek