Chris Janson has a new album Wild Horses out today, he stopped by The Bobby Bones Show to share some stories from the record.
Janson's wife Kelly asked him to go write a song like "Fix A Drink" or "Good Vibes," but Janson admitted it's the most challenging thing to write a song like that, that makes you feel good. He told his co-writers in the room that was his goal. They decided to write "Me & A Beer," which is a song for the everyday working class hero. Janson was inspired by the people in his crowds at shows out there enjoying their beers and time off from work, that's where the song was inspired by. His favorite song on the new record is "Hunting Season," inspired by some of his friends in Florida. He goes hunting and fishing with a father and his two sons down there. Last September, Janson got a call from one of them that their family member passed away and asked Janson to sing a song at the funeral. As the dad and Janson walked up to the graveside together, the dad said "this is going to be my hardest hunting season." Janson took the title away from that moment, even though he wasn't looking for a song at all. That next week, he was in a songwriting session and pitched the title. Jamey Johnson ended up collaborating on the song with Janson, who is one of Janson's favorite artists.
Janson's wife Kelly had quite a few moments on this new record. They just celebrated 15 years together on July 4th. When they got married, Janson was on radio tour and they were so busy doing stuff so Janson told her not to worry about changing her last name. And then, she never changed it and still gets mistaken as Kelly Roland from Destiny's Child. She's on the track "The Broken," and she co-wrote the title track Wild Horses.
Beyond his new album, Janson is truly living up the dad life. His two bonus kids are doing great, one works in HR and the other works in medical. His daughter Georgia wants to be a model, while their son Jesse likes to get on stage and sing with Janson. However, he has many aspirations outside of being a singer, he also wants to be a bull rider, hunting/fishing guide, or a boxer. Janson says the most important thing to him is investing in his kids' lives, so that way when they're older they remember a normal life outside of all the touring and musical things. Janson or his wife have not missed a single carpool line, his wife takes their daughter and he takes their son. While Janson loves Nashville and their home in Florida, he's also a big fan of New York City, Bel Air in Los Angeles, and Montana for the hunting and fishing. He admits if given the chance, they would move to one of those cities. Janson's early love of fishing came from his grandmother, who would sit up on the banks and fish with him often. He's taken that passion for fishing into an activity he does with his own kids today.
Before Janson was a country music star, he was spending his time playing in honky tonks in downtown Nashville, like Tootsies. When he got to Broadway, Janson says he was already a hustler, he came from playing venues in Southern Missouri. He learned how to hustle tips and speak to patrons like he's known them forever, then would play them whatever they wanted to hear. One night, he got $500 as a single tip and shared it's always the "old business dudes." During one of his nights playing at Tootsies, Janson made $5,000 in tips and it was by far his biggest earnings at the honky tonks. Now, Janson believes that if you have the luxury of having hit songs, you should absolutely be playing them at your shows. It's not only what the fans want to hear, but it's a great privilege to have them.
Jason has also been looking after his health in the last year. June 1st marked 1 year of him having no caffeine or sodas. He got bloated really bad, and was being picked on by his co-workers for having a dad bod. He also didn't feel really great, so he went to his GI doc who told him he needed to quit drinking Mountain Dew that day or he was going to die. Janson was consuming 24 Mt. Dew a day, easily and he had developed a leaky gut. After quitting, Janson shared that his complexion came back and he got all of his teeth fixed up after getting 9 root canals. Although, he said he sleeps worse now than he did when he was consuming all of those cans. Adding that he will never go back to those days, he wants to focus on living as long as he can.