COREY KENT RELEASES NEW STUDIO ALBUM, “BLACKTOP” (AUDIO & VIDEO)
“So Wild As Her, that song is completely 180’d my life first off, I mean, took me- when I started recording the song, I was working at a pavement company it’s what kind of shifted everything back to music full time for me. So obviously it holds a special place in my heart and I knew when we first got the master back after we went and recorded this song, my whole team was like this is special and it was at that moment when everybody that I trusted their opinion was going, this is something, that I felt like we might be onto something really cool. And you know we put it out into the world and it organically, the fans spoke and, and made this a gold record and then took it to radio and made it a platinum record and now it’s climbing the charts just I mean, I would be lying to you if I said I I could have guessed what would happen but I also had a really good feeling based on you know, everybody around me having this consensus of this could be great.“
“So Long Story Short is a song that I wrote with my friend Lydia Vaughn. It was actually our first time ever writing together and it was a title that I’d had for a while. And you know, Lydia is just so great at taking those- taking a really solid idea and putting these little details into it that make it feel super personal. And so immediately this song went from like a really cool idea to something that actually did start to feel personal, which is what you hope for in songwriting. You want to bring the truth of your own life into this thing. So really what this is, is it’s a to me it’s a song about the first love that that you had that you really thought was going to be forever. And when it starts to kind of unravel right in front of you, this is the response to things not quite working out the way that you you had seen them going in your mind and the frustration and all the all the feelings that come along with that. That’s what the Long Story Short is about.“
“Something’s Gonna Kill Me is one of my favorite songs on this record because I think that it is the thing that challenges the typical mindset of the country fan. And that I feel like a lot of people want to be able to put a country artist in a box and go, I know exactly what that guy is all about. And for me, this is a song about taking risks. It’s a song about defying what, what the status quo is, like, everything comes with a risk, and you got to figure out what risks you’re willing to take for your own enjoyment. For me, I love riding motorcycles, smoking a cigar on my back porch with my friends. And you know, those those things very well could be the death of me, but they also bring me a lot of life. And those are things that I am willing to risk for the enjoyment and so everybody has those things in their life that might not make sense to the next person. But you got to figure out what those are for you.“
“Man Of The House is easily the heaviest song I’ve ever written. It’s a song that’s very personal to me, you know, my mom and I went through a lot when I was growing up, and we came out very close because of it. And I was very intentional about how I wrote this song too. It was only is the only song I’ve ever had to step out of the writers room multiple times to just regather myself, because I do feel like sometimes songs are just given to you. And that’s how this song felt. The lines were just falling out and they were hitting me it was like, it was me being able to put to words, something that I felt for a long time, but I never sat down to really process or articulate and I wanted it to be a really relatable song too. So we didn’t mention, you know, the situation of the dad. All we just mentioned was the absence that that meant, you know, if you lost your dad in a war, then you could relate to the song, if your dad- if you never met your dad, you can relate to this, if you grew up, you know, if your parents split when you were young, and you only saw your dad every other weekend, you can relate to this. It’s really about the way that you feel as a kid as it pertains to your mother. And so, man of the house is a song that I never anticipated to have the response that it did, but it’s just a real song by a real dude about his real life and other people saying, Hey, I feel that way too.“
“So Gone As You honestly made this record because I felt like we needed a little firepower. And I heard this song, it was written by some friends. And one of the guys on my team sent it to me like at the last minute, I mean, we were going into the studio that day I heard this song and was like, that is the there’s one slot left on this record. And I had a song that I had written that fit that slot, but I didn’t feel like it was the perfect fit. And this song when I heard it, I was like that is the perfect fit. Best song wins. It’s going to make my record, we went in and cut it and I’m super happy we did.”
“BiC Flame is probably the most autobiographical song like if I was going to show somebody one song to explain who I am in a nutshell, it would be big flame. And really the heart of this song is making peace with who you are and being unapologetic about it. It’s like you know what? Call me an old soul, call me old fashioned. If that’s not cool, so be it. I’m gonna do my thing. The world can go do its thing. I like what I like. I love what I love. And it doesn’t have to be the same as what what yours is.”
“So Call It A Night was a song that my friend Ryan Hurd sent me. I have a ton of respect for that guy. I’ve been a fan for a long time. And so I think maybe whenever he sends me songs, there’s a little added excitement that comes along with it. And he goes, man, I actually cut this song, but I never released it. I think it deserves to see the light of day and I think that maybe the reason I didn’t cut it is because you were meant to cut it. And those are heavy words coming from somebody that you look up to a lot. And as soon as I like I had that mentality, clicked play on the song, and just was like, Yeah, it feels like I was meant to deliver this to the world and it fit perfectly on this record. And it’s as simple as that.“
“How You Know You Made It is obviously a heartfelt song. It’s a song that I wrote as I moved from Nashville to Texas. And things just started shifting and you know, the world shut down and I had to go to work for a pavement company and music was kind of taken out of my life for a little bit. It made me reassess the things in life that really mattered to me, and the kind of life that I wanted to build and the people who are important to me and how I wanted to spend my time, and it made me realize that I spend so much time chasing, quote, unquote, the dream. That I didn’t realize that I had the dream right there in front of me the whole time. I just had to open my eyes and be grateful for it and acknowledge what I’d already been given. And so this is just a realization about how good life already was if I would just stop and smell the roses.“
“So Hood Of That Car to me is just like this all-American young love song is super energetic. I envision like an old muscle car. It takes me back to like, you know, John Cougar Mellencamp vibes. And I just, it’s nostalgic for me. I love that like all-American rock and roll country feel. And a lot of times it’s about how the song feels. That makes it so relatable. And for me, that’s why the song made the record is it just felt like something that could make other people remember a moment in their life and go straight back to that moment.“
“Once Or Twice is definitely a darker, more ominous song. I wrote this song really, Yellowstone had just come out and all of my friends were like, dude, you’ve got to go watch this show because we feel like what’s happening in the show is really similar to what’s going on with your family ranch out in Oklahoma. And we have my grandfather’s got a place 1000s of acres, generations, it’s been in the family and there’s a casino going in, like right next to our ranch. And so everybody’s like, you got to watch the show, you won’t believe what’s going on. And as soon as I watched it, I was like, man, I wonder. I wonder what’s going through my grandfather’s mind. I wonder what’s going through John Duttons mind right like and that’s really where this idea was, was birthed was me kind of taking on a different persona and inserting myself into that situation and going how would I feel about it? And you know, coincidentally, I think it’s actually really relatable in everyday life. It’s, it’s kind of open ended open to interpretation. And some of my favorite songs are kind of like, insert your own story. They’re just vague enough that you can apply it all over but they’re just specific enough that it feels personal.“