“Gotta Get To You” is Most Added Song This Week @ Country Radio
Nashville: When Blaine Larsen walked away from one of Nashville’s largest record labels, he wasn’t confused, but he was uncertain about where his kind of music fit into today’s country. But bolstered by the faith of his longtime manager Clint Higham, the then-20 year old traditionalist from the unlikely state of Washington dug in and started writing the songs that he wanted to be able to sing.
“In a way, it was crazy,” Larsen explains. “But Clint understood the kind of country music that I love and that I think people want to hear, so rather than compromise, he told me, ‘Go write what you believe in… and we’ll figure it out.’ And so that’s what I did. I started writing like crazy.”
It seems that the songs Blaine Larsen believed in are also the exact same kind of songs that George Strait wants to sing. So with Larsen’s “Chillin’,” his own single, due next week, the thoughtful young man finds himself the writer of this week’s Most Added Country Single: “Gotta Get To You.” The mid-tempo song about romance and attraction hits this week’s Country Charts at #48, easily besting all the other big releases this week.
“It’s funny,” admits the young man from the outskirts of Seattle who’d rather play Legion Halls than be part of the city’s legendary grunge/alternative/rock movement. “You know, I was wondering if there was even a place for me here, and I’m writing and trying to figure it out… and my dream was just to, you know, get on the charts in a meaningful way… and then suddenly the greatest country artist we have cuts one of my songs.
“If you ever need a sign or a show that you’re on the right track, I can’t thing of a better one,” he continues. “You know, if you’re writing songs that George Strait’ll look at, then you’re doing something right in my book. To me, that’s not something I’d even dare dream. George Strait? Nah, stuff like that doesn’t really happen – until it does, and even then…”
Coming by his country roots honest – Larsen has been playing Mason Lodges, Elks Clubs and American Legion Halls around where he grew up – the deep voiced 20-something is hardcore devotee of Merle Haggard, Conway Twitty, Don Williams, Vern Gosdin, Keith Whitley, George Jones and Strait. It is that kind of country that influences who he is and what he writes, and it gives his modern twist on the classics an authenticity that can’t be denied.
“People were always amazed that I could sing those songs,” says the once-14 year old going into bars to sing with his parents as chaperone. “But I think they’re real life songs, and if you look around and you see what it does to people, well, you can feel it.
“That’s something I think I try to bring forward, too. Sing about real life, the way people my age are living it – and I think Mr. Strait heard that, too. I mean, how do you tell someone how it feels to have George Strait sing one of your songs? I don’t think I’ve got words for it, really.”
With “Gotta Get To You” at #48, look for Larsen’s own kicked back “Chillin’” next week.
