Although Dustin Lynch may be a rookie to Tortuga, he is no rookie for success. Four straight singles that shot to Number One, and coming off back-to-back tours with country music stars Florida-Georgia Line and Luke Bryan, Lynch is set to release his third studio album this year, and on the sunny beaches backstage at the Tortuga Music Festival, Dustin met us to talk his current single, new album, and the beautiful festival laid out in front of us.
Released on February 16th, Dustin’s latest single, ‘Small Town Boy,’ hit the air, to which Lynch believes could in fact be his biggest single so far in his career. “Small Town Boy has been our biggest release so far, and it looks like it’ll be our biggest hit to date, which is crazy, it just one of those things where you put a song out, and to see the response be as big as it is, this quickly, its exciting for us. The band, we’re going out on tour with Brad Paisley this year which is a dream come true for us, and this song is going to be a really big moment in our career, it’s just exciting.” With ‘Small Town Boy,’ and previously released ‘Seein’ Red’ achieving such success, Dustin is set to release his third studio album later this year, and Rolling Stone magazine has declared it one of the most anticipated albums of 2017. “To be in that list of albums, it’s a lot of pressure, but I’m ready. We’ve been working on this album for almost two and a half years, and I’m having the hardest time saying that it’s done, I’m hesitant to do that because then I can’t change anything, but it should be out in August, and we’re excited to finally have that music out, and I’m pumped, I feel like I’ve become a better singer and a better songwriter over the years, and I’m ready to showcase some new music.”
In a world of ever changing musical styles, and transitioning throughout an artists career, Lynch feels that the fans do not need to worry, they will resonate towards this album. “There’s going to be a little bit of everything, but the fans should expect a very sexy album.” After a few laughs, he went into detail. “There’s a lot of feel good loving going on in this album. I don’t know why, I just take a couple pages out of my life from the last few years and these are the songs that rose to the top, we always have a live show in mind when recording an album, so it seems like every song is going to go great in our live show, so that is what’s exciting to me, one of these days we’ll get to debut these songs live, and I hope the crowd moves like I think they’re going to move to it.”
Tortuga is one of the biggest music festivals in the country, and that can be intimidating to a first timer, especially with the last time slot on the main stage before headliner Chris Stapleton, but Lynch was as calm, and displayed as much poise as any of the seasoned veterans. “I’ve never been to Tortuga, this is my first time, I’ve seen pictures and videos of years past, and I’ve heard other artists talk about it, and it has lived up to all the hype. The crowd is insane, there’s way more people than I thought would be here, and to be on a beach with clear blue water is an amazing thing to be a part of, it’s the best office in the world I have to say, it’s definitely not work.” These massive crowds are nothing new for Lynch, after spending the past couple of years playing sold out amphitheaters and stadiums around the United States with some of the biggest names in country music. “We toured with Florida Georgia Line and Luke Bryan, they were some of my favorite music and shows that I’ve ever seen or heard, so I learned a lot from them, I’ve come a long way performing with them over the past two years, Tyler, BK, and Luke have taught me how to do a show, their shows are so high octane, and I love that, it get’s everybody up and dancing, so I feel a lot more comfortable in my shoes, and the goal is to get to their level, headlining stadiums, and I think you are who you surround yourself with, and surrounding myself with those guys is nothing but a good thing.” Lynch went on to dominate the attendance record breaking crowd later that afternoon, and it seems that he is well on his way to achieving the same statuses as the company he keeps.
Main Photo Credit: Ford Fairchild