Interviewing Lewis Brice at this year’s Carolina Country Music Fest was unlike any other artist interview that I had ever taken part in previously. I met up with some of his crew, caught the end of his set and watched as he did a meet and greet with a line of very eager fans. Then I got to go backstage as we preceded to walk through a crowd to the RV where the interview was to take place. Along the way, several fans stopped him to asked for autographs and pictures and such, to which he happily obliged. I even held his beer while he signed a few things. So ladies, I like to think I helped make this happen for you in a very tiny way, lol. He sang along to Morgan Wallen’s “Up Down” [Wallen was on stage as we were walking to the RV] so I feel like I even got my own little impromptu concert.
Lewis Brice Interview: Can You Duet, Joey and Rory & Brotherly Love
EPR: So you had two performances here this year?
Lewis Brice: I did.
EPR: Are you going to do anymore? Or where are you going next?
Lewis Brice: I think I am done for today. So I had 2:30 on the stage right there – it was awesome. I had a great time. And then I had the Blue Moon Tent, which was fantastic. I mean, it was packed in there.
EPR: And you did meet and greets.
Lewis Brice: Yeah, meet and greets at that. And so, I’ve been rock and rolling all day, since I got here.
EPR: Are meet and greets typical at your shows?
Lewis Brice: Yeah, we are getting more and more. Now I guess I am doing a little better and better so people are requesting meet and greets so yeah we are doing meet and greets at shows and stuff like that.
EPR: That’s cool. A lot of people really love that you know? How many shows do you usually do a year?
Lewis Brice: Weekend Warrior, if that puts it in perspective – about 4 days a week. It comes out to about 180 to almost 200 something like that.
EPR: So where are you going next?
Lewis Brice: Well, I am finally finishing up CMA Fest this week and Carolina Country Music Fest. I fly back tomorrow, actually, and I have one more CMA Fest show. So I’ve had like 3 shows this week and then today and then tomorrow I have one more show, acoustic. When I get done with that, I am done for at least one day. Then I’m back on the road – I think I have a show in Ohio on the 21st, back in Nashville the 23rd. From there I am off to the races. I know I am playing Maine, I’m thinking I’ll be in Minneapolis, Oregon.
EPR: So you are from South Carolina, right?
Lewis Brice: Just 2 hours down the road from Myrtle Beach, right down Myrtle Beach Highway in Sumter, SC.
EPR: So this is kind of like your stomping grounds. Do you get to come back to South Carolina a lot?
Lewis Brice: More holidays now. We are so busy. I live in Nashville. I mean my favorite times to come back are Thanksgiving and Christmas. And then we go camping right here at North Myrtle Beach, around the Little River area. So, we actually made the Myrtle Beach News a couple of years ago, I think we did. It said “Loud Explosions In The North Myrtle Beach Little River Area That Nobody Can See!” We go on a camping trip every year, in the middle of the swamp and just have a good time.
EPR: Obviously having a really good time. [laughs]
Lewis Brice: Yeah, we make noise. [laughs]
EPR: So people who are on the outside who didn’t get invited get to know? That’s kind of messed up isn’t it? [laughs]
Lewis Brice: [laughs] Well, you know, that’s a very personal trip. It’s like 6 of us at the most. And we just sit in the woods for 3 days and that’s our 3 days to not worry about our cell phones or anything. It’s our 3 days a year off.
EPR: You need more than 3 days, but hey, 3 days is 3 days.
Lewis Brice: Awww, if I’m awake, I’m working.
EPR: Alright. Alright. So tell me about your partnership with the Disabled American Vets.
Lewis Brice: It’s really awesome. I met Mike – he got in a pretty bad spot. He couldn’t find a job, this, that and the other and I met him today for the first time. I talked to him a couple of days ago. And the service he gave, just what he did for our country. Now, he has his own organization, or he’s working with the organization. He’s just an inspiring person, you know? I can’t even imagine being in his position, when the bullets are flying at you. Somewhere else in the world where the people around you, they aren’t fans of you. It’s crazy what he put up with.
He’s just a good dude. I’ll hang out with him after the show today. I think he’s still around. I think he’s back in the room. I told him to come back a little later, we’ll have a couple of cold ones.
EPR: That sounds like a good day. So you were on “Can You Duet?”
Lewis Brice: I was. I moved to Nashville over 10 years ago. A couple of years in, I was able to go on a show called “Can You Duet?” through CMT. And we did well, I got the Top 8. It was a great, great experience, it really was. I learned a lot about the business, in the TV sense, I guess. A lot of it was like hurry up and wait, but the talented people I was fortunate enough to meet on that show, my buddies Brownell & Richey, Nick Brownell and Jeremiah Richey.
I met a couple other people – some of my favorite people I met on the season were Joey and Rory. They were on my season, God bless her soul. They were the sweetest people in the world and I was able to become friends with them. But everything that happened with her… their base on faith, it’s awesome. It’s an amazing, beautiful thing. Man, Rory, he’s just a great dude. Joey, she was a beautiful soul.
EPR: They seemed like they genuinely cared for each other.
Lewis Brice: 110,000%. When I met them, that’s exactly – you saw them, wherever you saw them, that’s exactly who they were. They were some of my favorite people. They loved each other, they loved life. They were just beautiful human beings. I think out of that season, I was just fortunate to meet them.
EPR: Yeah, and like 1000s of people try to get on that show.
Lewis Brice: I think they said the number was like 3 or 4 or 5,000 or something like that. I was able to make the Top 8, so…
EPR: Were you nervous? Was that a nerve wracking show for you?
Lewis Brice: It was kind of nerve wracking because there’s a differene between playing on TV and playing in front of an audience. In front of audiences, you can be a little more live and a little more loose, but on TV they hear every word and every inflection in your voice. Yeah, I was a little nervous. I don’t get nervous that often, but for that I did.
EPR: Do you have to sing differently [on TV]? I know you were talking about every inflection or whatever, but is it a different style entirely – how you use your voice?
Lewis Brice: You really have to hear your voice. It’s not really – you gotta sing how you are going to sing. I would have to learn a lot more about singing, like I would have to scream to sing I guess if I were trying to sing sing. But when you are in the studio or on TV and it’s right there, you hear everything, so it’s more singing than it is the former, I guess.
EPR: So, you and your brother [country singer Lee Brice] have both been able to make it in the music industry. Is it odd at family reunions and get togethers that so many people are doing well? Any fun rivalries?
Lewis Brice: Actually it’s really awesome. Honestly, it’s a cool thing. I mean, 2 brothers working it out in country music. So, it works out well. Him and I work very well together. We are best friends and he helped me produce my last album and I helped him produce the new album. I tell you, he’s a work horse. I’ve learned a lot from him and when we get together he believes in that music just as much as I believe in it. I’m very blessed to have a good brother like him. We’ve done a really good job to keep separate I guess.
EPR: So, you have made a lot of lists like, “New Country Artists To Know,” and “Ten Artists To Watch.” How do feel about that? On such big label magazines.
Lewis Brice: When it comes to musicians, Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone Magazine – when I woke up and I saw that I had that article in Rolling Stone Magazine, I was like “Geez, that’s crazy!” I was also in Billboard this past year. I’m going to try and prove them right. I’m going to keep on working and I have new music coming out.
Check out Lewis Brice’s tour dates here.
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