Fast rising Country-Rock star Adam Rutledge has recently released his new record ‘Runway’ . and is currently being mentored and managed by Phil Vassar.
While his music video for current single “Love Kickin’ In” recently premiered on CMT.com, and he has been featured on Today in Nashville, Taste of Country, Sounds Like Nashville and more.
Here we speak exclusively to Adam Rutledge to discuss his new music, working with Phil Vasser, future plans and more:
You’re currently being managed by Phil Vassar, how did that come about?
My mom and Jeff Smith (Phil Vassar’s guitar player) went to high school together (Amherst High School – Amherst County, VA). My dad played in bands with Jeff when I was very young…in fact there’s a picture somewhere of Jeff holding me as a newborn baby. When I started writing and recording, I sent Jeff a few songs to sing background vocals on. He recorded those background vocals at Phil’s home studio, and at some point Phil poked his head in, liked what he heard, and invited me to Nashville for a meeting.
Your new record Runway is out now can you tell us a little about the inspiration behind it?
The inspiration behind the title is that I felt like this record was the “taking off” point in my career. The runway/airplane theme also tied into the first single “Love Kickin’ In.” We kicked around a few different titles for the record, but in the end “Runway” just felt right to me. As far as the record a whole, each song had a different inspiration. “July” was written in the dead of winter and is about missing a week at the beach with my beautiful wife. “Love Kickin’ In” is a song about how good love feels, how good it feels to fall in love, to be in love, all the fun stuff. Just a good uptempo, windows down, open road kinda tune. “Hard To Be Happy For You” has such an honest lyric. Who hasn’t experienced a breakup and then heard that the other person is doing well and has moved on? No matter how much you want whats best for them it’s still hard to hear. The record ends with a fun playful song I wrote about my wife called “Curls.” She has naturally beautiful straight hair, but this one particular night we were about to go out and she walked into the living room with these curls in her hair. It just knocked me out. She looked so beautiful that I just had to write a song about it. So, there’s a lot of different inspiration behind the songs on this record, but my wife seems to be a common theme!
How would you describe your sound to new listeners?
Edgy, powerful, country/rock…I grew up listening to bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd and KISS, so my style is very rock ‘n’ roll oriented. I was always attracted to guitar-heavy songs and bands. That’s one of the things that I loved about Keith Urban and Jason Aldean. The guitars are very prominent on their records. Ultimately, those guys are what drew me to country music.
What do you hope fans take from your music?
I just hope that it’s the soundtrack to their lives. I hope when they listen to it that it takes them back to a memory. I hope they make some new memories listening to it. I hope it’s whatever they need in their life. One of the things that I love most about music is that it’s interpretive and it’s personal. What a song means to one person may mean something totally different to another.
Can we expect a tour from you soon?
YES! We’re working on that as we speak!
Who are your all time musical heroes?
Lynyrd Skynyrd, KISS (Ace Frehley, Paul Stanley), SLASH (Guns N’ Roses), Keith Urban and Warren Haynes (Gov’t Mule, Allman Brothers).
What else can we expect from you this year?
Lots of touring and maybe a new music video or two. I’ll also be writing the next record. It’s gonna be a GREAT year!
What are your long term career goals?
I want to continue to grow my fanbase. I want to see ticket sales continue to grow. Ultimately, that’s what matters to me…that I can go out and sell tickets. That means that people like the music and want to come see us play it live. If I’m selling tickets, then everything else is good too. I want to headline a show at my hometown Civic Center…the place where I’ve seen all my heroes play. The place where my dad took me to see my first concert.
Make sure you follow Adam Rutledge on Twitter @iamadamrutledge to keep up to date with all his latest music and tour news!
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