EXCLUSIVE: Laura Evans Talks New Single ‘Take Me Back Home’

Following on from a major breakout year of success in 2020 with her stellar EP ‘Running Back To You’, Welsh country/blues talent Laura Evans will release her latest single ‘Take Me Back Home’ on Friday, March 5th with the track being the fourth song to be lifted off the tracklist.

Here we chat exclusively with Laura Evans to discuss the track, and her influences in more detail:

Congratulations on all the success you had last year, how did that feel during a year of such turbulence?
It was a very strange and challenging year with not being able to play live! But as hard as it was I felt lucky I was still able to create & release new music, make music videos and hear my new songs on the radio.

Your EP in particular broke a lot of sonic boundaries, was that always an aim of yours when creating the project?
Yes, I made a choice in 2019 to write better songs and start to really push the boundaries with genres especially with my blues influences that I love, I’m so glad I gave myself that freedom as an artist and feel like I really discovered my sound in 2020.

With your sound, you like to incorporate blues, country, and rock, is that the kind of music you grew up listening to?
I listened to a bit of everything growing up, from pop, blues to soul & country, from Mariah Carey, Stevie Wonder to Dolly Parton, and The Eagles.

You were raised in the South Wales valleys in Aberdare, was country music surrounding you at that time, or did you find it to be pretty niche to you?
I don’t think there was much country music being played – but there was definitely a lot of “Folk” music and I remember hearing songs like “Lying Eyes” & “Desperado” by the Eagles that’s when I discovered the genre, shortly after that I found artists like LeAnn Rimes and Faith Hill and I knew these were artists with great songs and great vocals that I wanted to aspire to.

How closely do you pay attention to the country music scene that is bubbling up in Wales at the moment?
I listen to BBC Radio Wales and there is so much great talent out here, I’m not sure if it’s country – but some beautifully written songs and singers out there. It’s all very inspiring as I love all genres of music.

With your upcoming single ‘Take Me Back Home’ you were influenced by your Welsh roots for the lyrical story, how did you find the writing session for the single?
I wrote this song in Nashville with my writer friends Tim Lee Jones and Leroy Powell. Tim wrote one of my favourite songs called “Mississippi TurnPike” by Shelly Fairchild and so when I got to the session, Tim said “Let’s write about your hometown” so I talked all about where I was from and we started writing basically the story of my upbringing/family and my hometown. I wanted the song to have an element of country & soul with the lyrics and melody and we wrote it pretty quickly.

Do you have a favourite memory from creating this track and the EP overall?
My favourite parts of the process are definitely in the “writing room” and then recording vocals in the studio. I remember recording the vocals for the bridge and layering up loads of harmonies and getting really excited about the song coming to life! there were lots of magical moments in the studio that day. Those moments are so precious as they only happen once!

Do you currently have any set goals in mind for this single when it’s officially released next month?
The song was actually released as an album track back in July and has just over 100k streams on Spotify which resulted in it being re-released by Universal Music – which is very exciting for me as an independent artist. So I’m pretty happy with the way it’s going, if I can just reach more people/ listeners with this song I’ll be happy, and getting some airplay on BBC Radio 2 would also be a dream.

What are you hoping listeners take away from the song and its message?
I hope the song resonates with people who like me, love, and miss their hometown and if you live in a big city or even a different country – that thought of “home” will always be there and you can always take a trip home to reset and reconnect to your roots.

Looking ahead, what else can we expect from you this year?
I’m releasing a cover mid March and also have a brand new single coming out in early May along with a new music video too! Hoping to play some live shows or even small UK tour plans are in preparation for the end of the year.

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Feature photography credit: Sonya Jasinski