Alternative hitmaker Brandon Flowers – The Killers frontman – went solo earlier this year and released his very own country music album. The story behind why he did so? Funny enough… storytelling.
Artists from all different walks of the music industry have traded in their regular form of music making to try their hand at country music. Post Malone, Beyoncé, and Lana Del Ray are probably the most famous names… and you can throw former Beatles member Ringo Starr in there too.
One of the latest is one of music’s most talented vocalists: Brandon Flowers. The frontman of The Killers – a Las Vegas based band formed in 2001 with countless hits like “Mr. Brightside” and “Somebody Told Me” – apparently got an itch to record some country songs. He released his entry into the country genre – titled THRASHER – back in late August.
Flowers recently spoke with Pollstar to detail how that musical detour came to be.
When he touched on his own musical taste, the artist explained that his father was always listening to legendary artists like Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, and that sound always stuck with him:
“I was on a strict diet of bands from Manchester, England. But it was funny. That was the road that I chose when I was with my parents. My father, obviously, wasn’t so into The Smiths and New Order.
He was listening to Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings and the boys. John Conlee was a big one for him, and even Ray Charles, who’s, I think, country adjacent and people like that.
So, it was always there, and I had gained a real appreciation for it. I would learn those songs, and I knew the words, and I knew the stories, but it just wasn’t something that I had chosen. I just didn’t fully appreciate it until I started getting older and having some life experience.
The more personal I get, I’m always surprised to see how much that resonates with a lot of people. That’s an interesting serendipitous thing for me that’s come along with writing country music.”
In other words, once Flowers had enough life experience, he felt like it was finally time to go country.
Though it wasn’t his favorite genre growing up, one thing Flowers always appreciated about country music was the storytelling aspect. With THRASHER, he set out to tell some country stories himself, and was very pleased to see how intimate some of the songs turned out to be:
“A lot of storytelling originated in music with this type of music. And I had these characters and these stories that I had to tell that were from my upbringing in a rural town in Utah. And it was just the perfect skin for them to live in….
One of my favorite aspects of country’s tradition is the storytelling — not just in the songs but around the songs. I don’t have a lot of opportunity to do that in a stadium or in an arena. It just doesn’t lend itself to story time very well.
I really wanted to be in a place where I could do that, try that out and maybe give more insight into where a song comes from or what it’s about. I’m looking forward to exploring that.”
Notice that he said he’s “looking forward to exploring that,” as in there’s more to come… we’ll get to that in just a second.
But first, I’ve got to turn your attention to a live performance of Flowers’ new song “An American Dream.” The artist went on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and delivered a rendition of his album’s closing track that was as impassioned as you’ll ever see a performer.
If you haven’t seen it yet… lucky you. Flowers certainly gifted the Tonight Show audience with story time:
“An American Dream” by Brandon Flowers – Live on The Tonight Show
Yeah… you can tell Flowers isn’t just playing dress up.
And if you liked that, and haven’t checked out THRASHER just yet, do yourself a favor and give it a spin.
Not only because it’s one of the better entrants into country by a non-country artist (for my money), but also because there’s more where that came from, according to Flowers:
“There’s a follow-up record. We made two records in Nashville. We’re putting the feelers out there and doing these shows and seeing how they go. It’s just taking it one day at a time.”
Two country records? Say less.
