Love Changes Everything (Aaron Lines/Chris Farren)
We wrote this a few years ago. We were talking about a single mother we both knew, a mutual friend, who we had both happened to talk to that day. That sort of started it out. We wanted it to be an upbeat, fun, positive song with a very strong lyric. It’s one of those songs that people can sing along to pretty quickly. We thought that making it a sing along was the best way to get the message across. The first verse is a reference to Big Brothers/Big Sisters, and I have started working with them in my hometown. My brother did so much for me growing up, he had such an impact on me that I want to help other kids who aren’t as lucky as I was. Overall, I just hope that this song might inspire people who hear it in some way.
I Will Be There (Billy Austin/Greg Barnhill)
I have always been a fan of Greg Barnhill, and I love his voice, but he didn’t sing this demo. When Joe [Galante] and Renee [Bell] played it for me, it was very acoustic, and though I liked the song, it just didn’t feel right for me. They suggested we go into the studio with it and see what happened. Once I heard it with the band, they gave it the edge I wanted, and it became an all new song for me, it brought new meaning to the song. I really love this one.
Close (Chris Farren/Wayne Hector/Steve Mac)
My producer, Chris, went to London on a writing trip. It was pretty early on in our working relationship, but when he got back, he told me he had written a song for me. I loved it the minute I heard it. I had just moved to Nashville and my girlfriend was back home in Canada. I was really missing her and missing my family and home. I think it totally captures all the feelings that go along with a long-distance relationship.
Living Out Loud (Aaron Lines/Chris Farren/Michael Dulaney)
I had only been in Nashville a matter of months, and I got hooked up with another songwriter I really didn’t know that well. We were both pretty new at the time, and our careers were pretty much in the same place, just starting out, trying to make something happen. We started talking and we found out we had that in common, and also, not wanting to give up and settle for jobs we didn’t love back home. This song is about just giving it your all and going for it. I can’t write a song unless it is something that has actually happened to me or something I’m going through, and that’s how this came about.
Turn It Up (I Like The Sound of That) (Aaron Lines/Chris Farren/Ashley Gorley)
The idea was sort of how everything is better when you fall in love, even the worst things, things that normally really bug you. The extreme of that is the line “I like the sound of the alarm clock ringing because it means I get to spend another day with you.” An alarm is the worst sound in the world to me, but when you’re in love, everything is great. You look at everything in a different way. I hope this song makes people feel good and brings a smile to their face.
You Can’t Hide Beautiful (Michael Dulaney/Jason Sellers)
Renee heard the song first and she loved it. When she played it for me, it just hit me right away. It was one of those things, it was exactly what I was feeling about my girlfriend and something I always wanted to say to her. It’s a song that I wished I had written and is what I’ve always wanted to say but never found quite the right words as a songwriter. I’m really glad Jason and Michael did and that I got the chance to record it. When Renee heard it she loved what the song said, and when I heard it, so did I. So I knew it had an appeal to both males and females. We released it as the first single and right away we started getting emails and letters about it from guys saying “This is just what I wanted to say to my girlfriend or my wife.” I wish I had written this song, but they hands down nailed it.
I Can’t Live Without Your Love (Aaron Lines/Chris Farren/Troy Verges)
Troy was my roommate at the time we wrote this song. We were sitting watching TV one night and something came on that made us start talking about the girls we were dating at the time. We were both sort of the verge of breaking up and it was a hard time for both of us. Guys don’t usually talk about that kind of stuff with each other, so being songwriters, we decided to write a song instead. It’s about being in that space, and thinking that I can live without anything, but I don’t know if I can live without your love.
Knock On Wood (Aaron Lines/Joel Feeney)
I wrote this with a Canadian friend of mine. I had just met my girlfriend. It was going really well and I didn’t want to mess anything up so I found myself doing all this superstitious stuff to make sure it kept going good. I had never been superstitious in my life. Even when I was playing hockey, I didn’t do those things before a game that lots of guys do. But she changed all that. I told Joel about it and so we decided to write about it. We just wrote about what was going on in my life.
Old Days New (Aaron Lines/Chris Farren/Gary Burr)
Gary Burr has always been one of my favorite writers. I found out I was gonna have the chance to write with him and I was so excited. I didn’t want to walk in with nothing so I was trying to come up with song ideas for a few weeks before our writing session. I came up with this and had the first verse and part of the chorus when we met. I played it for him and he started laughing at me. He said, “You want to write about the old days?” I was 21 at the time. But I was feeling like an adult for the first time really, I had left home and was on my own, and was thinking about how good I had it back then, when I lived at home, and didn’t even know it. That’s something anyone who has left home feels I think, no matter how new it is, or how long it’s been. I wanted a song about old times that everyone could relate to, no matter how old or young they are. I really love the way it turned out, and am glad that even though I was young he decided to write this song with me.
She Called Me Kansas (Aaron Lines/Michael Dulaney/Michael Gerald Lunn)
We were talking about summer love, telling stories about summer loves we had had; everybody had one, whether you meet someone on vacation, or maybe someone comes to your town on their vacation, or you take a summer job where you meet someone you work with. It happens to everyone it seems. It’s really intense and happy, because you’re not together long enough for things to go bad! And it’s not like you break up, summer just ends and it’s over, you live in different places, and it’s not possible. So you can look back on it without any negative feelings. Michael Dulaney started talking about a family summer vacation where he met this girl, and she actually called him Kansas. So that’s how this song was born.
You Get The Picture (Aaron Lines/Chris Farren/Michael Dulaney)
We wanted to write something fun, something that would not necessarily be a single, or a radio song, but would be on the album to let people see a different side of me. So we set out to do something a little whacky. It’s about one of those nights, where you had a whole lot of fun, even though you may not particularly remember the details.
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