Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandon Lay.
Hi Brandon, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I moved to Nashville in July of 2010. My sister taught kindergarten in Murfreesboro and had an extra room so the segue was easier than if I had come from Kansas or somewhere far. I was blessed to have that runway. I bought my moms 97 Toyota Avalon (better city car than my F250) and commuted to a different songwriter round every night of the week. On the weekends me and my band would play SEC towns and all the college parties. That eventually led to a publishing deal and a record deal. After years of touring I started a family and changed my pace to a more sustainable life. Today I live a hybrid lifestyle of music and renting heavy equipment for my business called Budget Digs.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
My struggles were so stereotypical it’s almost boring to hear. Playing for tips/the door/and exposure. Those are all synonymous with the word “free.”
All in all it taught me lessons of humility and having grit. Those experiences parallel sports in so many ways. The songwriting aspect was a personal grind much like training your body for sports. My band dynamic and live show was a lot like my basketball team and working in the same direction.
Not to throw anyone under the bus (pun intended) but a struggle to find the right 5-6 guys wasn’t always easy. Sometimes just replacing the bass player helped everything.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am country artist on Harpeth River Records. I spent 7 years on Universal Music Group’s roster before I decided to ask off of every music relationship in one day. My wife and I refer to it as “Wipe Out Wednesday.” Label/publisher/manager/attorney/business manager…the whole shebang. I guess it’s my eccentricity that makes me all or nothing. Maybe I have a touch of Bi-Polar? I digress. The only second thoughts I ever had were the next morning and I was like “did that just happen?”
I traded the safer future I knew for the totally rogue future I didn’t and I shoulda done it 2 years before I did.
It was nothing personal and I still hold deep relationships with almost everyone…I just had enough and was ready to be autonomous. I had written over 700 songs and couldn’t put anything out? I was wearing the proverbial golden handcuffs.
I saw a gray hair in my beard one morning and thought this is all so dumb. How can I produce social media content relating to music without putting the actual songs out?
(of course those same experts have since changed their tactics.)
I remember calling Mike Dungan (president of Universal at the time) and left him a Voicemail. I guess he could tell what I was feeling. He later called me back and before I could say hello he said “yea we gotta drop you it’s just not gonna work…”
I said “Mike you know I was calling to part ways with you” and he said “I know.”
This was like a 7th grade girl breaking up with you so it could be printed in Music Row magazine “Brandon Lay Got Dropped.”
That really solidified my decision.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
What I like least about Nashville is it can be the most fake city on the planet but it can also be the most real. That’s my favorite part.
My suggestion to new artist is to write alone so you can at least start a healthy idea for a co write if you can’t finish. I feel like that pure dreamer in someone comes out at the most random times in life and not necessarily in a writer room staring at a stranger. Find others like that because there are plenty of them. Dreams come true all the time here. They did for me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Brandonlay.com
- Instagram: Brandonlaymusic
- Facebook: Brandon Lay
- Twitter: Brandon lay
- Youtube: Brandonlaymusic
- Other: YouTube – @redneckhipster
