UCN Interview – Lucas Hoge: “If it’s not for the fans, we don’t have a job.”

12 years ago Liv Carter Comments Off on UCN Interview – Lucas Hoge: “If it’s not for the fans, we don’t have a job.”
Photo: Lucas Hoge

Country singer-songwriter Lucas Hoge has been writing some very inspirational material including the new song, ‘How Was I to Know,’ inspired by a brave lady dealing with a terminal illness. Hoge’s songs are carefully considered to house a deeper meaning, so during CMA Fest I caught up with him to chat about .

UCN: How has CMA Fest been for you so far?
Lucas Hoge: It’s been great so far! I always love it, you know, and the thing about it is that you get to get down and dirty with the fans, which I love. They really, truly love country music, and they know your songs, and they listen to records…and they still buy records! *smiles*

UCN: In country, the connection between the artists and the fans is so tight. And I saw why yesterday. Tracy Lawrence finished up at the Riverfront stage, and then stayed until every last fan who wanted an autograph got one.
LH: That’s awesome. And that’s what it’s all about! Because if it’s not for the fans, we don’t have a job. We can make music all day long, but if there’s nobody to buy it and listen to it, we don’t have a career.

UCN: How and why does someone from Hubble, NE make the decision to come to Nashville?
LH: I’d been playing in tons of different bands in the Midwest, KS, OK,… I was touring around everywhere and dong well, but I got to the point where I said I don’t want to wake up one day and say “what if?” when I’m 50 years old. So, we had a concert in my home town, raised about $2500 and I packed up my truck. Now it’s come full circle; I’ll be headlining one of the biggest shows in the Midwest, Country Stampede. I’m very proud to be where I am from.

UCN: That will be fun! The people whose reaction was one of ‘Yeah, whatever’ when you left, is there anything in you that wants to say ‘Well, I did it’? Not in a mean way, mind, but just to show them that you should believe and chase your dreams.
LH: Exactly. There will always be skeptical people out there you know, and people who maybe didn’t fulfill their dreams. When you can come home and talk to them and say “I’m glad I followed my dream!”, not, like you say, in a derogatory way, but to show them that dreams are still alive.

UCN: When you write, what part of you is in your songs?
LH: I would say the biggest part is my heart, because I’ve got…I don’t know, I’m trying to phrase it, it’s just in my songs. I think I phrase it better in my songs than trying to talk about it. *smiles* I go off a lot off heartfelt moments; I like singing the ballads. The rock stuff is fun, but I’m all about trying to get in people’s mind and making them think about what they’re listening to, and maybe transporting them into a situation that maybe they haven’t thought about in a while, and maybe they need to. That’s kind of what I try to write from.

UCN: It’s easier to express yourself in a song than talking, you say. Is that generally true for any emotion, or are there just certain things you find yourself blocking off in a conversation but in a song you can do it?
LH: Absolutely. I think anybody is guarded at some point in their life. Maybe they don’t want to talk about it or they just don’t know how to express it. If you put it in a song, it might not be the exact same experience which the person you’re talking to has encountered but they can transport their heart and their mind into it and go ‘yes, I see where you’re coming from, and I relate to it this way.’ I love doing that.

UCN: And I love having that done to me. *smiles* There’s a song Big Kenny and Eric Paslay wrote called ‘Less than Whole,’ which showed up in my life exactly when I needed to hear that message. It made me cry the first time I heard it on Big Kenny’s record. What kind of songs do that to you?
LH: I’m a huge Skip Ewing fan. I love his writing and I love him as a singer as well. He’s got a song called ‘Sliver of a Moon,’ and it transports you in a time where you want to be with your significant other and just hang, you know. It’s got that cool hang-time type of feel. It’s got lines like ‘sliver of a moon/corner of a star/little piece of nowhere/ that helps me find you in my heart.’ I mean, nobody writes like that anymore, and they should; more people need to write like that.

UCN: Do you know where your own inspiration comes from?
LH: Absolutely. One of my favorite songs, it’s literally taken my 15 years to write it. It’s an idea that was born when I lost a good friend of mine in High School. Back in a small town, that stuff just doesn’t happen, you know. We’re at his funeral and the church is packed, they even had to set up tents outside. And I thought about who would be there when it’s my turn to be said goodbye to. Am I going to live my life the right way where people are actually going to come and bid me farewell? That idea stuck in my head since then, but only 2 weeks ago, it was finally born; it was time to be written.

UCN: The new song, ‘How Was I to Know,’ was written off a poem, right?
LH: Yes, it was so inspiring! I wrote it never intending anyone else to hear it except for Natalie and her family. Natalie is passing from ALS disease. I was very honored to be asked to be part of the song. We wrote it and sent it off to her, never thinking anyone else would hear it. They sent it off to their local radio station and it became the most requested song ever. I get calls and e-mails from people saying it’s touched their lives in so many ways. One heavy one in particular, is from a woman who came up to me at a show and said ‘Lucas, I want you to know that I was about to kill myself’. She heard this song and it changed her life. Those moments just humble you so much. And then you start thinking, maybe I’m supposed to do this not for glitz and glamor and stardom, but maybe just to help a few people along the way.

UCN: Wow, that’s amazing. Thanks so much for your time.
LH: Thank you!

 

Liv Carter

Liv Carter

Liv is a career coach for creatives, and the people who work with them.
She holds several certificates from Berklee College of Music, and a certificate in Positive Psychology from UC Berkeley.
Her main influences are coffee, cats, and Alexander Hamilton.
Liv Carter

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