BY LELEY HASTINGS
Since relocating to Nashville from Knoxville eight years ago, multi-instrumentalist Greylan James has already established himself as an in demand songwriter. Earning cuts from notable artists including Kenny Chesney, Chris Young and Darius Rucker, the Tennessee native is now signed to Big Machine Records and stepping into the spotlight as an artist. I’m confident his name is one we will be hearing a lot more in the future, and it was great to get the opportunity to chat to this rising star ahead of his appearances at London’s C2C Festival.
LH Welcome to London …. via C2C in Netherlands and Germany I see! Is this your first time playing overseas?
GJ This is my first time ever BEING overseas! I’m so excited! Getting a passport was a bit of a disaster….I ordered one 6 months ago and it never arrived! So two weeks ago I had to drive 6 and a half hours to Arkansas, got the passport in 15 minutes then had to drive back! But I’m here now and it’s worth it!
LH And then your guitar got stuck in Atlanta I gather?
GJ Oh my gosh it did, you did your homework! And I unfortunately still don’t have my guitar here with me. We have no idea where it’s at!
LH So I’ve been looking at your schedule for the C2C weekend here in London, you’re playing a writer’s round and two intimate acoustic sets, all very different from playing massive venues stateside as you have been doing out on the road with artists such as Scotty McCreery and Old Dominion. Does this type of variety help keep things fresh for you as an artist?
GJ It absolutely does. It’s a good mixture, the acoustic stuff highlights the intimacy of music and I get to talk to people after the shows, see how they’ve been liking the music and get to hear what the songs mean to them. Obviously the bigger stuff is great too, it’s probably the party of someone’s week/month/year and we get to be there and we definitely try to bring that to those shows. The combination is always exciting, I just love getting to play music!
LH I guess whenever you play a writers round you have to perform your version of Jordan Davis’ “Next Thing You Know”, your first number one as a writer? Did you know you were on to something special as soon as you wrote it?
GJ That’s right! But no, absolutely we didn’t know. That day Jordan Davis came in and said “right guys, we’ve got one slot for the album left and it needs to be an uptempo song we can start our shows with“. And then we started writing that song which is obviously the exact opposite. So we got the write in, it was an emotional process but we thought it would never come out as we didn’t write what Jordan needed although it was a great song. Then two weeks later the song went out …. the fastest we’ve ever seen a song get written and put out ….. the fans just really showed us what a song can do if it’s written well and from the heart. That song was a blessing and it reminded me to write songs that people can live their lives to.
LH You’re still really young …. I could probably be your great grandmother … but you’re already achieved so much. You’re a multi instrumentalist, you produce, an incredible songwriter and performer ….. but I gather it all started when you were five and got your first guitar from your grandfather ?
GJ It really did! I think they bought it for me as a toy, but I saw it as a vessel for my entire life and it never shifted. I remember that day, I really do, I remember thinking “this is it! I want to be a Country music star” and told them that on the first day of school when they asked what you want to be when you grow up. It just never wavered since then. My Grandfather was a big part of it, I wrote a song that I’ve put out that’s dedicated to him ….. without him I’d definitely not be doing this.
LH And did your family support you, or did they think you needed a back-up plan ?
GJ They went all in! They drove me to every little show, to karaoke cafes to sing my little heart out. My parents sacrificed a lot for me to get to Nashville, and even my little brother was standing side stage singing along with me. I had the BEST support system.
LH They must be so proud of you! Do they still come out to shows?
GJ They hate they couldn’t be here, they’d have loved to be, but as soon as we get back we’re going down to Key West to play some shows with Old Dominion and every single member of my family and extended family is going to be there. It’ll be a wild time!
LH They used to call you the “Little Brad Paisley“ I gather, and now you’re both here playing C2C, a full circle moment!
GJ Yes they did, and absolutely! I was side stage in Germany watching Brad play, he was one of my biggest inspirations growing up. I remember, I was not good at guitar and I was harassing my bass player at the time .… asking how I could get better …. and he gave me a Brad Paisley instrumental album and I just learned it from front to back and that changed my life as far as instrumentation goes. It was a crazy thing to watch him play the same stage we had just been on.
LH And talking of full circle moments, you’re now signed to Big Machine Label (congratulations!) and you actually wrote to Scott Borchetta when you were twelve asking for advice about your career path I understand?
GJ The head of my label, yeah! Obviously a legend especially in country music. When I was growing up I was opening shows for big artists such as The Band Perry, playing little festivals around East Tennessee, and any time I got to talk to them it was “Scott Borchetta changed my life” and so I thought “I have to figure out who this guy is!”. So I looked him up on my Dad’s computer, got an address and I wrote this massive letter …. way too big a resume for as little as I was …. and I guess he finally got the letter 15 years later and finally decided to sign me! Definitely a full circle thing that little Greylan would be pumped up about.
LH You’ve mentioned that your Grandfather inspired your single “Young Man”, it’s such a stunning tribute to someone who played such a major role in your career, can you tell me a bit more about the write and what the song means to you? Unfortunately he didn’t live to hear it did he?
GJ No he didn’t but I think he’s at every show looking down. Every time I sing that song I feel something different and I get to see the crowds react in a different way, he’s definitely got his hand in it. I knew I wanted to write a song for my Grandfather to honour him, and I just reflected a lot and thought about how he always called me and my brother “young man” while we were growing up and when he’d sit down and give us a story. And after he passed away I sat down with two of my favourite writing partners Josh Miller and Jacob Davis who were really close to their Grandfathers too, it was a really emotional writing session. That was definitely one of those days we walked away and thought we had something special. So when the label was asking what songs we wanted to put out first that was definitely at the top of the list. I’m really proud of that one.
LH Talking about songwriting, you had a couple of publishing deals before getting signed as an artist I understand. So I assume you were writing in Nashville with some really established names before you were a “known” ….. was that intimidating at the time?
GJ Yes, absolutely! It was scary as hell! When I got there I’d only really been writing songs by myself in my bedroom at my parents house or at my girlfriend’s. Getting to Nashville I thought I was going to be a big fish in a small pond again, but that was not the case, I was tiny! The songs I was writing weren’t up to par for Nashville, so I I definitely had to go through it and I wasn’t always writing with people who were established either. A lot had two jobs, like working in restaurants or playing with other bands, so I kind of had to figure out how to write great songs with people who were all learning together how to do that! It was hard …. I lost those first two publishing deals which basically means I was fired twice, I had my back against the wall and just sat down with a couple of my favourite records and knew I had to figure things out if I wanted to do this.
LH What were those records?
GJ Old Dominion’s “Meat and Candy” ….. that’s the first time instead of listening to an album I just read the lyrics ….. and I remember exactly where I was, I was eating Wendy’s (a fast food chain as you may know) because I was broke, sitting there looking at the lyrics and thinking “I see what they’ve doing! How they’re writing these songs” and I swear to God that day changed my life, everything just clicked .
(LH I didn’t get to find out the second record …. a question for another time!)
LH And do you have a bucket-list co-writer?
GJ Oh gosh, I’ve gotten to write with a lot of my bucket-list country songwriters already, Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne, Ashley Gorely, but I’d say at this point I’m trying to write with big stars like maybe Dua Lipa ….
LH Oh people outside of the country spectrum
GJ Yes I’d love to do that, absolutely!
LH So, looking ahead you have a busy touring schedule, but what are the plans for putting out new music , are you maybe working towards an EP or album?
GJ Right now we’re still trying to build, coming from a songwriter thing I’ve got a ton of songs I’m excited to dig into and go into the studio and record. I’ve been putting out singles so far, looking at social media and seeing what reacts, what my fans want to hear from me. Taking it day by day. But definitely by the end of the year I’d say we’ll have a body of work out , I’m excited to get to that point!
LH Will you play any new songs for us here at C2C?
GJ Oh yes! There’s a brand new song I’ve started playing out just this last week, “Truck Stop”, and the reaction has been crazy so I’m carrying it overseas.
LH And have you had any inspiration for new songs while you’ve been over here?
GJ I’ve definitely written down a few titles! And there’s some stories I’ll be writing songs about. I’ll be reliving them in my head while we’re writing songs …. especially about going to the pub which is something we’ve definitely been doing since we got here.
LH So you’ve had a bit of downtime to do tourist stuff?
GJ Yeah, yesterday we did everything …. Buckingham Palace, The Shard, we wore ourselves out! It’s a dream come true, I watched “The Crown” before I came over, I loved it and I was like heck yeah, I need to see Buckingham Palace! My Mom was pumped for me too!
LH Ha I’ve not seen The Crown! Hopefully your Mom will get to come over next time ….. which leads me to my final question, are you looking to coming back and doing maybe some fuller sets, a headline tour even?
GJ Absolutely and that’s why I’m trying to crush these shows. I definitely want to come back, I love how these people consume country music, they really love the lyrics which is what I’m doing as a songwriter, I just love writing songs that are more like art and that’s how is seems people perceive country music here .
LH That’s great to hear ! Thanks so much for your time and have a blast this weekend!
More artist information here https://www.greylanjames.com/about/
