Kane Brown

Social media has been such a defining factor and game changer for so many artists this decade. Where it took some years to build large followings can now take only a matter of days – hours even. Kane Brown is a perfect example of just how much the internet can influence a budding career and in turn change your life, practically overnight. The 22-year-old singer/songwriter and Georgia native is one of country music’s newest voices, and had a loyal and devoted following of millions before he was even signed. “I grew up listening to Shania Twain, Sugarland, George Strait,” Kane said about why he chose to go into country music. “That was my passion because that was all I knew. I just felt like this was my path.” During his junior and wenior years of high school Kane’s goal was to audition for The Voice, hoping to be on Blake Shelton’s team, but never made it. He also auditioned for The X Factor and American Idol following the success of friend Lauren Alaina, who he went to school with. He secured a place on The X Factor but decided to not continue with the show when they wanted to put him in a boy band – so he took matters into his own hands. “I started posting covers to Facebook and it took a couple years, but eventually a breakthrough happened overnight. I got a huge following. A month later it happened again where I broke even bigger and that’s where I got my first million followers… I was posting covers every day. Sometimes I’d post two or three a day,” he says. These covers included songs by the likes of Alan Jackson and Brantley Gilbert, with his cover of George Strait’s “Check Yes or No” amassing over 7 million views.

In 2014, with the help of a Kickstarter campaign Kane recorded his first EP, a six-track set entitled Closer, and self released it on June 2, 2015. The EP reached #7 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums and #40 on the Billboard 200. That’s when the labels began to take notice. But when they came forward looking to sign him he honestly thought it was a joke, especially seeing as how labels before had denied him. “At first I thought it was fake, that I was getting ‘Punk’d’ or something,” he laughs. But he soon found that these offers were indeed legitimate and it only fueled him further. “After that I was just anxious to get signed,” he said. “I’m a very impatient person. I was just trying to make it come faster.” Kane signed with Sony Music

52Nashville under the RCA Nashville division on January 27 of this year and re-released “Use To Love You Sober,” a single he’d self-released in October, as his first single under the label. He released his first EP under the label, Chapter 1, on March 18th, debuting at #9 on the Billboard 200 and #3 on the Top Country charts.

This summer he’s been opening for country mega stars Florida Georgia Line on their Dig Your Roots tour and Kane’s the first to admit that performing on such a larger scale has been a challenge. “We’re still learning. Our set is not even close to perfect. We’re still trying to add lights and pretty much just work on all of our performances because my whole band is use to bar performances so they don’t really have to move much,” he says, “They’re used to doing hour-long sets now having to go to FGL and do a 20-minute set and still make an impact. It’s such a bigger arena to try and give a show to the people who are all the way in the back. That’s one of the things I’m working on too, because you can’t really see anybody back there but you have to act like you do.” But smaller sets also do have their advantages. “Honestly, I feel like a smaller set, 20 or 30 minutes, I like those the most because I get to pick my most fast-paced songs, the most in your face, and jam out,” he says, “But 60 to 75 minutes, I’m so laid back that it drains me and I feel like I can’t always stay 100% energetic.” Tour mates Florida Georgia Line have even offered to give him some pointers about how to work larger audiences. “They dance a lot,” he laughs. “So I’m trying to do that more and interact with the crowd. BK [Brian Kelley] never turns his back to the crowd and I think that’s something that’s important. They’re still going to teach me a lot. Tyler [Hubbard] messaged me the other day and sent me a video and said ‘I’m watching your live show. It’s good, but there are a lot of things you can improve on. So maybe when-

ever we go back out together I can tell you.’ I’m excited and interested to see what he’s got to say.”

Aside from the Florida Georgia Line tour, which runs through November, he’s also headlining his own dates and working diligently on his upcoming debut album, which is set for release on October 21st. “I’ve been working on the songs since December, since I moved [to Nashville]. I’ve had a pretty strong list but then I started writing better songs than what I had. It really just depends on how many better songs I write before the actual cut date for the album, to see if I can out-write any of the other songs,” he said. “But it’s cool because we have a bunch of different ones. I don’t feel like the album sounds generic. I have song called ‘Illusions’ that has a reggae feel. Not your ordinary country song. I’ve got old school country songs but then I have newer country, so it’s going to be a mix of a bunch of different stuff. I’m excited.” In a year of many new firsts and “dream-come-true” moments was getting to work on a song called “There Goes My Everything” with his favorite country artist, Chris Young, for his EP, Chapter 1. “That’s my favorite artist, and to just have him in a room with me wanting to write a song it was just amazing. When he sung it back to me I felt like a little girl,” Kane laughs. “He’s just a great writer all around. It was just an awesome experience. Our process it really the same. He comes up with lyrics a lot faster than I do. He’s good with coming up with melodies, and with him just being a great singer you’re not in a room with somebody who has a melody but they can’t sing it. We have another song we the other day called ‘Set The Night On Fire’.” He’s also collaborated with friend Lauren Alaina on a few songs but isn’t sure when or if they’ll see the light of day. “We have two songs together, but we don’t know if they’re going to be released yet. I think they’re great songs, they’re just not very country. So if we did release them they’d probably be on pop radio. She might put one of them on her record though, so we’ll see,” he says

It’s clear that right now Kane is having the time of his life, and it’s all been on his terms. He turned a Facebook following into a major music career and he didn’t have to sell himself out to do it. He’s stayed true to himself as an artist, performer but most importantly, a person. He is at such a pivotal time in his career. He’s accomplished so much in less than a year, but he knows there’s still much more left to do – and he’s ready for the challenge.

Words by TAYLOR DOUGHERTY | Photos by CATHERINE POWELL