Lindsay Broughton comes from the small town of Brooklin, Ontario and is one of Curve Music’s top artists. Nominated for female artist of the year in 2014, Lindsay has played major festivals all over the world and is heading into 2015 with a new record, a new single and a new video on the way.
We’d like to start out by saying thanks to Lindsay’s label Curve Music for setting up this interview, all images are from the official Lindsay Broughton website.
Sound Check: Hi Lindsay, how are you?
Lindsay: I’m good. I’ve got the weekend off so I’m just relaxing and enjoying it before the craziness starts again.
Sound Check: Can you tell us about the field trip to Nashville that started all of this?
Lindsay: It was my first trip out of the country to start with. It was this exciting thing for me in the first place, but to be going to the “mecca”, as everybody calls it, of country music, it was even more exciting for me. I’d joined a songwriting club when I was in high school and I’d written a couple songs and I thought I could really do something with my skills. And I just need to hone in on them, so they took me to Nashville to show me the ropes and introduce me to a few people. We drove into Nashville and they opened a lot of doors for me.
I sat down in publishing houses and spoke to publishers. I played a bunch of my songs that I’d written and they critiqued me and gave me some pointers, things I needed to work on. At one particular house, they absolutely loved my music but of course at the time I was 16. I ended up getting a publishing offer to write songs for a living, down in Nashville but being 16 my parents were not ok with that.
I went home and took it as an experience. I thought to myself, clearly there’s something here. It was a great experience in Nashville, because everyone you meet is so talented. There’s no shortage of talent, songwriters, studio musicians, backup singers, engineers, everyone. It’s a humbling experience. You see, as an artist, how hard you have to work to make it.
Sound Check: You played Boots & Hearts in 2012 and 2013, any chance you’ll be back this year?
Lindsay: I don’t know. We’re in talks with them but I don’t know if we’ve confirmed a slot. Last year was my first year not being at Boots & Hearts. I did the Big Valley Jamboree out west, which is sort of the equivalent of Boots & Hearts. Yeah, I really hope to get back there at the new location, great lineup, they’ve announced some great artists. I hope to be back!
Sound Check: We hope you’re back too! I just watched your recap of 2014, what was your favourite moment?
Lindsay: That’s such a hard question. There are so many different things. They’re all exciting at the time and their own level. France I guess for me, was an amazing experience and it was very different. Going over to Europe and seeing the different cultures and playing for different people. It was nerve wracking in the first place because, there’s going to be a language barrier and I wasn’t sure how people were going to receive my music. To have people receive my music positively and respond to me, was amazing. I was playing on a Monday night, in this tiny little bar, and it was absolutely packed. There was an upstairs and a downstairs and there were people sitting on the floor in front of me. No matter where I looked there were people gazing down on me. It was one of the most amazing experiences.
But at the same time, when I went out west to play the Big Valley Jamboree that was another amazing experience. I set a record for the Sunday night, there were 12,000 people in the audience and I was playing right after Miranda Lambert. I remember I was on stage and I walked over to my bass player at the time and I said If I never get to play another show again, that’s ok with me. It was the most overwhelming feeling to hear people singing my songs back to me, chanting my name. A sea of people, I can’t even explain to you how unbelievable that is. To have people singing a song back to you that you wrote in your kitchen or living room, it’s a pretty amazing feeling.
Sound Check: The album came out in November and the single “Take Me There” is doing pretty well, will we be getting a new single soon?
Lindsay: There is a new single, ‘Stay with Me’ was released just before Christmas. I’ll be shooting a video in the next couple of weeks. We’re going to Mississippi to shoot. It’s a big ballad. I’m not sure what the next single is but hopefully we can ride this one for a while.
Sound Check: What’s up for 2015?
Lindsay: As far as summer goes we’ve got a lot of festivals. In July I’m going to Colorado Springs and playing at an army base. It should be really interesting, I’ve never done anything like this before. I’m really excited about it. There are supposed be around 46,000 people there.
We’re currently working on getting a radio tour together. Then there’s the ballot nominations for the Junos and we kinda need to stick around. I don’t know if I’ll being going to the Junos or not but there’s a lot of exciting things in the works.
Sound Check: We hope you’ll have video from the army base performance.
Lindsay: Yes, for sure. This year I’m going to go out and get a decent camera instead of just using my iPhone all the time and film things properly. Sorting through the things I have when I’m older I’m going to want to look back at this stuff and remember it.
Sound Check: What artists would we find in your top listens on iTunes?
Lindsay: Oh, that’s a loaded question, it changes from day to day. I have my favourites that I go to all the time. I grew up listening to The Judds. I do like my little guilty pleasures. I like my Taylor Swift, and I like Rolling Stones and Fleetwood Mac.
Sound Check: Last thing you played?
Lindsay: I think, I always put my Songza on probably the last song, my gosh… this shouldn’t be this hard. I don’t know!
Sound Check: Don’t worry, I’m going to let you off the hook. Women in country, do you think 2015 is the year the trend turns?
Lindsay: Absolutely I do. I think 2014 was sort of a great year for female artists. Specifically Jess Moskaluke, she’s from out west and you know, selling as many records as Shania Twain, nobody does that, even males do not do that, in the country music world. So I think, for us females, that’s a really great thing. I’m so proud of females in country music and as much as we’re all competing against each other I’m very happy to see that females are succeeding nowadays and I think 2014 was a step in the right direction. I really do believe in 2015 you’re going to see a lot more females coming out on the scene and competing with the males.
Sound Check: Can we talk about Canadian country music as a community?
Lindsay: Everybody’s friends and you go to the CMAO and it’s like a family backstage, Everybody knows everybody. We’re just happy for each other. Everybody knows it’s a very hard business to succeed in so anybody who’s had success, you have to be proud.
Sound Check: If you could pick one person to sing a duet with, who would that be and why?
Lindsay: Canadian-wise, I really admire Brett Kissel. I love the stuff he’s doing right now. Steven Lee Olsen is another one. I’ve written with him a couple of times and he’s so, so talented. He’s coming onto the scene as well, I just love his style and I feel like Steven and I, and Brett and I have a similar rocky edge to our music. I really admire their voices and I’ve had time to talk with them both about music. I admire them as artists and I’d really love to do a collaboration or duet with both of them. I think we’d mesh well and I think it’d be a lot of fun especially on stage, if we got to do it live.
Sound Check: Is there anything else you want your fans to know that I didn’t cover?
Lindsay: We covered the upcoming stuff, the new single, the record being out so, yeah. As much as I can talk about right now, I think we’ve covered all the bases!
Thanks to Lindsay for taking the time to chat with us. Looks like we need to keep an eye on Lindsay for some upcoming news!
