Sat down with my buddy Chris Housman... yes, over FaceTime. Relax Karen - I'm taking social distancing seriously! Chris was one of the first artists on the UPstar. Music train. After I heard his debut single "Long Story Long" I knew he had a long future ahead of him in Country Music. Today, Chris dropped his new single "Tomorrow, Tonight" and I couldn't be more excited for him. He is quite humble, so I do my best to be his biggest cheerleader. Want to share some really BIG NEWS... Chris' new single is featured on Spotify's "New Music Nashville" playlist, as well as being featured on Spotify's "Hot Country" Instagram.
Get to Know Chris
Chris grew up in Hanston, Kansas - a small town of 200 people... yes, you heard that correctly. Honestly, that is smaller than my neighborhood! It's a crazy stat to put on his resumé. Chris went on to say that being from such a small town, there wasn't much to do and this was at the root of him discovering and finding his passion for music. He recalls a story of when he was 7 years old. Chris saw some friends of his parents playing music and one of the gentleman, Tom, played the fiddle. Chris thought it was bad ass and became very determined to learn to play himself. The journey began when Santa brought Chris a fiddle for Christmas. He taught himself how to play and that just sparked his love for music. He then picked up piano, began to sing and in a blink of an eye Chris plays 7 instruments... HE IS A MACHINE. Chris started the next chapter of his life going to Belmont University in Nashville, saying it was a new, fresh experience - leaving his hometown and seeing what else was out there.
Check out his BRAND NEW SINGLE "Tomorrow, Tonight"
Written by: Tommy Kratzert, Emily Kroll & Chris Housman,
Produced by: Tommy Kratzert & Matt Geroux
HOLY SHITTTTT!!! HE DOES IT AGAIN!!! After "Long Story Long", I was curious to see if Chris would match his debut single, where he put together such a masterpiece. But folks he has done it! The perfect "quarantune" jam... see what I did there. "Tomorrow, Tonight" isn't the song we wanted during quarantine... it's the song we all NEEDED. Fun, upbeat and catchy. Chris has the soothing, majestic voice that pulls you in and intertwines with clever lyrics. A must listen and a song that will put a smile on your face during this tough time.
Q & A With Chris Housman
Q:What artists have influenced you to focus on music and chase your dream in Nashville?
A: "Honestly, a lot of my musical influence has came from Motown. Artists like Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles and Sam Cook were the music I was listening to in my bedroom when I was younger. The amount of soul in their music is really what made me want to pursue music. And really, in the last few years, artists like Chris Janson, Luke Combs have been really inspirational. Those guys have kind of built success on their own and then had people follow them. It's not how it used to be, where you could just walk up and down music row and knock on doors. Now you have to really put in the work yourself and brand yourself. So seeing those guys being told "no" over and over and still come out on top is amazing."
Q: What does music mean to you, from your childhood all the way up until now?
A: "Since I was 7 years old, music has been my life. I've even tried other things - like I thought I had my dream job and tried the 9-5 thing, but every night I was going home and playing and writing songs. No matter what, music will always be a part of my life whether this works out or not. And I was just thinking to myself, like if I'm going to be doing music why not make something out of it. I don't know if I believe in "we all have a purpose", but if so, playing music is definitely mine."
Q: What Made you move move to Nashville?
A: "To be honest, I knew I was getting out of Kansas after high school and going to college. Coming to Nashville seemed like a smart way to be able to be both. When I moved to Nashville, it was intimidating as hell. Everyone around me was doing the same thing as I was, and chasing their dreams. It was like "wow... everyone does this". But I would have been more terrified just coming and pursing music right away. It was a nice way to ease me into everything.
Q: What is one cool thing people don't know about you?
A: "One thing most people don't know about me - this is my favorite fun fact right now -is that I am actually one of the top 5 whistlers in the world. So... I kind of jokingly entered a contest, an international musical whistling competition last year. I somehow made it into the top 20, then went to California for this contest and ended up finishing in the top 5". What happened was, I was on tour and in the car with this guy. I started whistling. He told me that I had to enter a contest because I would totally win. I was like "oh yeah, maybe they have that" so I entered and just went from there."
If you haven't already, head over to Apple Music and Spotify and stream Chris' debut single "Long Story Long"... you will be BLOWN AWAY. First time I heard this heater I knew in my gut that not only should this be on the radio, but this gentlemen is going to have a bright future in Music City.