Dustin Lynch has become quite the star the past couple years. His last album, ‘Where It’s At,’ produced three consecutive Number One singles and gave Dustin the opportunity to headline his own Hell of a Night Tour that took the singer to over 35 cities nationwide. In an effort to continue this run, Lynch has recently been heating things up with his latest single, ‘Seein’ Red,’ which gives fans a taste of what’s to come on Dustin’s third studio album. In addition to working on new material and growing his new clothing line, Lynch recently wrapped up Chris Young’s I’m Coming Over Tour and is ready to hit the road with Florida Georgia Line and Chris Lane on the Dig Your Roots tour. NECM was fortunate enough to steal some time from the busy singer to get the scoop all he has going on right now.
Throughout his career Lynch has continued to grow as an artist, a singer, a songwriter and overall as a person. His forthcoming third body of work will enable Dustin to share the latest chapter of his life with fans, he explained. “I’m excited about this new music because it is a bit of a snapshot of what I’ve been through the last couple years. It’s going to be fun to kind of open the book and pull back the curtain inside of my life.” For the singer, ‘Seein’ Red’ really embodies where he is right now. “I think it’s a great introduction to where I’m at in my life musically, relationship wise. I think life for me right now is about having fun and doing what I love.” Dustin also noted that this song has allowed him to have a lot of fun with social media teasers for the single announcement and music video. “‘Seein’ Red’ is a very visual song. The color red has a lot of emotions tacked to it too. The song really kind of dictated and inspired us to do some cool visual roll outs with it,” Dustin explained. His posts leading up to the single ranged from a creepy photo of a hand covered in red paint to a sexy video clip with flashes of Dustin, a woman, and a paint-covered shirt being ripped off the singer. Additionally, before announcing the music video, Lynch posted “sneak peeks” of clips of other music videos paired with the audio from ‘Seein’ Red.’ He laughed admitting that the joke went over some fans’ heads. “We’re nerds when it comes to making music and creating visuals and provoking emotions. I just I love the reactions we get online, both positive and negative, to the things we’ve done with this roll out of the video. It was just setting the tone,” the singer explained.
Lynch’s extraordinary support from fans has allowed him to experiment more and play around with different sounds on this next project. “We’ve been blessed to have success with a more traditional leaning sound with ‘Cowboys and Angels’ all the way to ‘Seein’ Red’ being our fastest rising single to date. So my fans, country music listeners and lovers, have really allowed us to paint with a lot of different colors, so this next album is a bit of all of that,” Dustin explained, adding, “We just kind of melt a lot of different sounds and my vocal kind of glues it all together.” Despite influences from R&B to Motown, the singer will always remain country at heart. “I’m never going to get away from sounding country, it’s just what I am and how I sing and deliver songs… and the cowboy hat helps that out too!” he laughed. The singer recognizes the incredible streak he’s on with the success of his last three singles, ‘Mind Reader,’ ‘Hell of a Night’ and ‘Where It’s At,’ and admits that he’s put quite a bit of pressure on himself following up this huge success. “We’re on a great run right now. I want to continue that run and put out music that people absolutely cannot live without. I want to put out music and songs on the radio that matter, that make people feel something and react,” he said. “We’ve just been blessed with having songs that have impacted people’s lives in that way and it’s a really good feeling.”
Dustin’s string of Number One hits, naturally, has led to more and more fans coming out to shows as his Hell of a Night Tour was heavily sold out. “Our crowds have grown not only in size, but in passion and energy, so we can expect a pretty high octane crowd, so it’s easy to put on a high energy show,” Lynch said. Anyone who has seen the singer perform live can’t deny that he always puts everything into his time on stage, whether it’s a headlining show of his own or in support of another artist. This fall, Dustin joined Chris Young’s I’m Comin’ Over tour and many New England fans had the chance to catch him when they stopped in Rhode Island and Maine in early December. Aside from indulging in the seafood we offer up here, Dustin always looks forward to the passionate, energetic crowds in the Northeast. “We have a great following up in New England and we have a lot of support up there on country radio, so we’re expecting loud crowds. I’ve got a brand new set, a brand new show, it’s my favorite show and set we’ve ever played in my life! It’s big, it’s bold, it’s loud and it’s fun,” Lynch said with conviction. “With the direct support slot, our job is to get the crowd up and moving,” Lynch explained. “It’s also to showcase who we are as a band and intrigue the Chris Young fans that wouldn’t be there to see us unless, you know, Chris is there. We have a lot of new bodies and a lot more bodies to be in front of and my goal there is to make people want to come back and see our headlining show. It’s kind of an introduction, like speed dating in a sense, it’s kind of like our first date and we’re hoping they call us back,” he laughed. While Dustin’s goal is always to put on an unforgettable show for the crowd, he admits that the view from the stage can be pretty entertaining as well. “When we’re up there singing our lyrics, watching the guys hit on girls, we kind of live vicariously through the dudes in the crowd because we can’t get out there and join in,” Dustin said as he’s well aware of his collection of flirtatious songs. “It’s a great view. A lot of things we get to see that a lot of the people at the concert don’t get to. Some of those you don’t want to see, but most of them you do,” he said with a laugh.
As previously mentioned, in addition to touring and working on new music, Lynch has been working on growing his Stay Country clothing line. The moniker comes from a song title written by the singer years ago when he had signed his first record deal. “I love what those two words can mean not only to me, and what they do mean to me, but how those two words ‘Stay Country’ can translate to different walks of life,” he explained. “It’s not about being hillbilly or redneck, it’s about who you are.” The singer took his time developing the line and launched it this past June at CMA Fest with a performance at The Stage in Nashville. The line includes both men’s and women’s shirts, hats, and accessories. The merchandise sold out so quickly after the launch it blew the singer away. “It’s definitely in the baby stages right now but the response we’ve had so far has been unbelievable and I’m so excited to continue expanding the Stay Country line,” Dustin said. “I’ll be working on it the next 12 months and we’ll hopefully have a roll out fall of ‘17 on a much larger scale. Right now staycountryclothing.com has all of our stuff and we carry some of it on our tour dates too!”
The hardworking singer is looking forward to a much-needed break over the holidays to really focus on his new work. “I’ll be resting my voice and really working at knocking some new songs out. I don’t know when I’ll put the bow and finishing touches on the next body of music, whatever it’s going to be called, an album or whatever… I’m just going to continue to chip away at it. I’m feeling really good!” Lynch said. “I’m letting the music talk. I’m really looking for a couple more specific things, and very special things, so you can’t rush it. We’re just going to know we have it when we have it.” Between the new music and the expansion of his clothing line, we’re eager to see what Dustin has up his sleeve and how the upcoming year unfolds for the artist!
You can purchase your copy of Dustin Lynch’s new single, ‘Seein’ Red’ on iTunes and Google Play.
Make sure you follow Dustin on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!
Photo credit: Ford Fairchild