EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Charles Esten @ CMA Fest

Once again, Music And Tour News were lucky enough to be welcomed to cover CMA Fest in Downtown Nashville TN where we got to attend the incredible live shows from some of country music’s most exciting acts and interview some of the incredible talent. One of those people that we got the chance to speak with was the wonderful Charles Esten who spoke about his debut album, the TV show Nashville, and his love of the UK fans.

First off, congratulations on the release of your debut album

Oh, thank you so much. It’s been one of my life’s highlights actually, certainly in my recent life. To finally get to make this album means so much to me.

How have you found the response to the record, especially in the UK?

That was truly special, getting to go over there, or to return there is what I should say as that’s where I started both my careers music and acting. I started playing Buddy Holly in London and it’s always been a touchstone to me to return there and the kindness has been constant and so to be there with this album, which I see an album as a bit of a journey. Somebody’s gotta take it with you and start with that song and go through. Maybe they’re on a car ride, maybe they’re on a train, maybe they’ve got their headphones on living their life, I don’t know what it is but to be in a room with people that have done that and to see my songs on their lips or to see somebody turn to their friend, or their wife and be like “this is your song”, that kind of connection is what I crave, what I aim at so when you receive it from folks so far away from where these songs were written, any number of people gathering in any room to hear my songs still blows me away, let alone the crowds we got to have in the UK.

And, Sam Palladio coming out at the London show was so special..

He is just constantly amazing to me. I knew how talented he was immediately when I first saw him on the show. I didn’t have that many scenes with him in the first episode. When the first pilot came out, we were all watching it together and he and Clare started singing that song and I was like “Who is this guy?”. And it blows my mind that all these years later with his most recent music he is still expanding on what was already so wonderful. His songwriting is truly special to me. So, it made a lot of sense to do ‘Meanwhile In London’ while we were in London.

Do you plan on releasing a full recorded collaboration with anyone from the Nashville TV series?

One of my favourite things that we’ve already done beside all the Nashville music is the live album. I am just so impressed by that live album. First of all, we knew the calibre of musicians we were surrounded by so that was all fantastic. We don’t have anything lined up in the works. But damn, I would be down to record with any of them any time.

What would you say was your favourite moment while filming Nashville?

Countertuivety it was the saddest, which was the finale because I think it’s important to end well so the fact that we ended Nashville on stage at the mother church, The Ryman Auditorium. Deacon is singing a song, the song ‘A Life That’s Good’ with his father who he’s finally reconciled with and slowly but surely the other cast members start coming out on stage and cast members who have not been on the show in a while, and then Rayna comes out and the crew come up on stage. So, I found it so poetically fitting that we finished that gorgeous concert that was Nashville with a song that we all sang together, which was really special. Another one was when Deacon and Rayna sang with Maddie and Daphne on stage very early on in the process of shooting the whole show and I knew if you wanted to do anything about country music then you had to do something about the connection with the military. There’s a very strong connection. And sure enough, in one of the seasons where Deacon and Rayna were reconciling, we went out to Fort Campbell and literally were on stage playing music for the families of all the service men and women out there so that was special enough in itself but to have it commemorated on stage once again with ‘A Life That’s Good’ was perfect.

Going back to your album, what would you say has been the standout song for you in terms of connecting with the fans?

The beauty of it is that it changes from time to time. Just when I think I have the favourite child labelled someone else will come in and tell me about what a certain song means to them. The other night at some show I did, I played just about everything but I ended up not playing ‘Maybe I’m Alright’ and I was meeting folks afterwards and somebody said “Oh that song, I just wish” and I was like “I’m so sorry”. Having said that I think one of the real standouts has been ‘Somewhere In The Sunshine’. I knew it was a delicate song because it’s about what happens next, what happens after this beautiful life. To my mind, it’s a song for those people we’ve lost and miss most desperately and my faith says and my heart say that they’re somewhere in the sunshine and this is a message from them. You have to do it right because if you even do it a little wrong it just rings really badly and I’m grateful to say with the help of my good friend Jon Nite, a fantastic songwriter I think we found a path towards communicating those thoughts and those feelings because it has truly resonated. When we put up the video for ‘Somewhere In The Sunshine’ the comments, they always say don’t read the comments haha, in this case, I did and I’m so glad I did. They were so meaningful, every one of them touching on who the song made them think of and the peace it gave them in the moment. That one’s been extremely special. When I finally go, hopefully, years and years down the line I reckon they’ll play that one, and I wouldn’t mind if they do.

And when you’re playing the album out live, how would you say the US and UK audiences compare?

Well, I don’t mean to insult the US audience but those UK audiences are rather hard to beat, a lot of my friends in country music will say so. At the time I was over there my friend Darius Rucker was over there too and we were both marvelling at the enthusiasm and the knowledge of the deeper cuts and the lyrics. Not that I don’t have wonderful audiences here, I just played in Charlotte, North Carolina and it was really special. To me the real mark of a great audience is do they take the full journey with you. Some audiences are there for the big rocking songs, but if you take it down and get too quiet they start to chatter and some audiences want the quieter stuff. I’ve been blessed with audiences where when I get quiet they get quiet and when it gets loud, they get loud which is amazing for me.

One last question before we let you go, what is your message to the UK fans?

I would say it’s the same as the Terminator’s “I’ll be back” haha, But I’ll start with thank you. I was writing an essay today for somebody who asked about my time doing Buddy Holly and when I end up speaking about Buddy and how powerful that music is, it’s impossible not to share the impact it had on those British audiences and the impact those audiences had on me way back then in the early 90s all the way to today. I honestly can’t thank the UK fans enough and maybe even more specifically the UK fans in country are a special breed.

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