When Cleveland Country Magazine first started in 1991 one of the first artists we featured as an up and coming star in Country music was Tracy Lawrence. The Arkansas-bred singer was getting a buzz around Nashville for his debut album, Sticks and Stones, which produced a #1 hit with the title track and also charted with three other singles “Today’s Lonely Fool,” “Runnin’ Behind” and “Somebody Paints the Wall.” Fast forward 26 years later and Lawrence has a list of #1’s, over 13 million albums sold, 22 single’s on the Billboard Country Chart, ACM and CMA Awards and a Grammy nomination.
Lawrence is still getting accolades for his work and earlier this year was nominated for National On-Air Personality of the Year at the Academy of Country Music Radio Awards in Las Vegas. His syndicated radio show “Honky Tonkin’ With Tracy Lawrence,” launched in January of 2015 and is broadcast in 60 markets around the country. The three-hour radio show pays homage to Country Music of the 80s, 90s and early-2000s.
Lawrence has also been working on a soon-to-be-released “duets” album with some of his closest friends, that just happen to be some of the biggest names in country music.
“I’m excited about this! It’s gonna be a fun project,” Lawrence stated in a recent interview with The Boot. He has been careful not to share too much information about the album but did give just enough to make you want to know more about his first record in almost four years. “We’re doing a duets album of nine of my old hits and one new song, and I’m doing it with some of my friends in the business, like [Tim] McGraw and [Jason] Aldean and Justin Moore, Dustin Lynch, Easton Corbin, Chris Young, Kellie Pickler. I let all my friends pick their favorite Tracy Lawrence song …”
Lawrence has been dropping hints on social media and he does reveal that the project will include “a lot of the big corner pieces of my career.” Lawrence’s biggest hits came during what he considers the golden age of country music.
“I think some of the music from our era, from ’89 to ’96, was some of the best country music ever,” Lawrence says. “Like Ronnie Dunn and Mark Chesnutt and Joe Diffie and Clint Black. Most of the guys from that era, I’m still a fan of … I still think that music holds up really well, even 20 and 30 years later.”
But, Lawrence doesn’t rest on his laurels either, always coming up with new and creative ideas and if you ask him he will tell you that there has never been a better time to push the creativitity of country music. “You have to continue to grow and evolve. I feel really good about the new stuff,” he says of his forthcoming new album. “I’m really excited about getting it out there.”
Almost 30 years since the teenager arrived in Nashville with a guitar and $700 bucks in his pocket, Lawrence is still working hard on his career with his radio show, touring schedule and upcoming album. He continues to push boundaries and keeps growing strong.
Tracy Lawrence will be performing at the Dusty Armadillo in Rootstown on Saturday, July 22. Doors open at 7:00pm and show is at 10:00pm. The show is Sold Out.