One listen to Chris Janson’s newest album, The Outlaw Side Of Me, and you’ll hear exactly why the Missouri native was born to be a Country star. You’ll also hear a couple of superstar guests.
LISTEN NOW: Chris Janson joins Katie Neal for the Superstar Power Hour
While Janson’s talents surely shine bright with his unmatched energy, Country vocals and Harmonica skills, he also pulled in some big-time stars to help him elevate the album.
Alongside vocal appearances from Brantley Gilbert and Darius Rucker on the project, Chris also welcomed not one, but two musical icons, Slash and Dolly Parton, to help him out on the track, “21 Forever.” So how did he land such incredible star power on one song?
“Just ask,” he said of his approach to getting Parton and Slash on the tune. “When we wrote ’21 Forever’ we actually wrote it in kind of reverse,” he explained of the tune that come together by riffing into his phone. “I always envisioned Dolly being on it and I always envisioned Slash being on it because it reminded me it was very reminiscent of ‘November Rain’ to me by Guns N’ Roses.”
“I asked Julian [Raymond] my producer, ‘Could you reach out to Dolly? Could you reach out to Slash?’ Let’s connect the dots.’ And they both said ‘Yes.’”
Janson elaborated saying both superstars sent back an immediate ‘yes’ and even remained humble asking Janson for his feedback.
“They could’ve sang ‘Tic-Tac-Toe and Hokey Pokey and I would’ve been cool. I’d love it,” he laughed. “They’re pros and they just crushed it. They totally crushed it.”
The result is 1/14th of Janson’s The Outlaw Side of Me album, which he says is his most freeing project to date.
“I wanted to make an album, finally, that is just what I do live.” Chris expressed. “There’s a sense of freedom to it that has not been with my previous two albums.”
“The sense of freedom came from being totally the artist and not trying to wear all the hats,” he shared, explaining he handed the producer reins to Julian Raymond for this project.
Being able to focus solely on being an artist in the studio and on stage has helped Janson reach a new level of happiness in his career. Additionally, it allows for more time with family, especially his son Jesse who’s quickly making a name for himself as he joins Chris on stage and has big dreams of following in his Dad’s footsteps.
“He came up to me at the Opry about a year ago and said he wanted to sing with me,” Janson said of his son’s first request to sing Country music. “I said, ‘OK, when?’ And he said, ‘Now.’”
Making it clear he’s never pushed music on his children, Chris continued, “He made his debut singing on the Opry, crushed it. We sang, ‘The Real Bass Pro’ together because we’re real Bass Pro guys and yeah — he’s good.”
Hear more about Chris’ new album, the stories it tells and the career he’d have if he wasn’t a Country artist by checking out his full conversation with Katie Neal on the Superstar Power Hour above.
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