Some 15 years into his career as a country singer-songwriter, Russell Dickerson says he aims to remain humble. The title of his latest album, Famous Back Home, suggests as much.
“I think my journey has been different in how gradual it has been,” he says via phone from his home just outside of Nashville. He performs at 8 p.m. on Friday, May 29, at Jacobs Pavilion. “There have just been small moments when it blows up, and I go, ‘Oh my God, what is happening?’ It’s never been this one moment, and you’re super-famous, and then, you go away. It’s been this nice, slow gradual thing. It’s frustrating at times, but as I look back, I’m grateful for how God has paced it all out, and we’ve taken this whole thing step-by-step and brick-by-brick.”
Dickerson says a bit of self-reflection led to the title track on Famous Back Home; many of the album’s songs that chronicle his day-to-day life.
“I feel like when I’m writing a record, I just follow my heart and my life and what’s going on right now,” he says. “That’s where the title came from. It’s like we are famous when we go out on the road with all the lights and the shows. But are you famous back home? That’s what matters. It’s just Dad Life. I write about Dad Life all the time. When it’s time to package the album together, I go with the songs I listened to over and over.”
Dickerson and Co. recorded with Josh Kerr (Keith Urban, Camila Cabello, Brett Eldredge, Abby Anderson) in his studio right off Music Row. As a bonus, Dickerson recorded “Bones” and “Happen to Me” in rocker Peter Frampton’s studio.
“His studio was really sick,” says Dickerson when asked about the experience. “I remember parking his car back in the day when I worked valet at Hermitage Hotel. It was a full circle moment.”
The rousing album single, “Dust,” effectively references the David Lee Murphy tune “Dust on the Bottle.” Because Dickerson had made some radio appearances with Murphy, the Murphy song was fresh on his mind.
“We were writing the song, and it was okay,” he says. “I picked up a guitar and started singing, ‘Dust on the Bottle shotgun in my old hand-me-down ’98 red Silverado.’ I remember chasing the idea of a summer breakup song, and it felt magical.”
“Happen to Me,” another album highlight, references the Cyndi Lauper hit “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.”
“I had the title ‘I don’t know what happened to her, but she is about to happen to me,’” says Dickerson. “We started writing the story about how I didn’t know who broke up with who. I wondered, ‘What song is she absolutely screaming at the top of her lungs on the dancefloor without a care in the world as she’s drinking tequila and High Noon?’ We created that chorus around that situation. When she was on the dancefloor, she was singing, ‘Girls just wanna have fun.’ From that point on, we were like, ‘Holy cow!’ We didn’t how good it would be.”
Vince Gill lends vocals to “Never Leave,” a beautiful ballad that showcases Gill’s softer side.
“I think his vocals are so magical,” says Dickerson, adding that his wife came up with the idea of having Gill on the tune.
Throughout the album, Dickerson shows off his ability to shred on electric guitar. He learned to play the instrument at age 15 and was instantly hooked.
“Watching my buddy play ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ on a guitar sounded so sick,” he says. “I wanted to learn how to do that. I learned from my friends and got a chord chart from Walmart that I stuck on the back of my door and learned the chords from that.”
As his career started to take off in Nashville, a town known for producing country music superstars, Dickerson says he made a conscious decision to pursue his craft and not cater to the crowds that party at the clubs that line Broadway.
“I think one of the better choices I made as an artist was to always play original music,” he says. “I throw a cover in, but I never did the Broadway thing. First of all, I had class in the morning. It’s the artistry of it and the songwriting and the craft and not just playing ‘Pour Some Sugar on Me’ to a bunch of drunk people. That did not sound fun to me.”
Famous Back Home emphasizes the rock side of Dickerson’s sound, and Dickerson says the live show will rock hard too.
“It’s so good,” he says when asked about the current production. “My social media guy sent me a video of tour rehearsals. It was so funny. I thought, ‘Can we afford this?’ It’s the most massive production we have ever had. I’m so jacked to see it all come together. I’m also doubling down on the Russellmania vibe, and it’s great to see people latch onto that.”
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