Chris Housman has been having a stellar 2024 as his star has rapidly started to ascend.
The singer-songwriter released his debut album ‘Blueneck' back in May following viral success with the title track and the steamy ‘Guilty As Sin‘. He's been garnering plenty of attention in recent months and it looks like he's on a verge of a major breakout moment.
I caught up with Chris recently to talk about his success, discuss the reaction to his ‘Blueneck' album and to find out his plans for the rest of the year…
We bumped into each other at CMA Fest in June so it's great we're getting to have a proper chat now. How was CMA Fest for you this year?
It was so great. I saw you the day before my CMA Fest show. It was really fun… a really good turnout… it was awesome. Definitely one of my favorite shows yet.
CMA Fest is a lot of fun but it's so intense and full-on, even for us fans. What's it like for you as an artist?
It is definitely crazy and it's a whirlwind for sure. Last year was my first time playing it. I think it was a little more like chaotic feeling last year. This year was still chaotic feeling, but just a little bit less (laughs). I knew what I was getting into. There's so many artists and so many fans. It's really the only festival where you can pretty much see anyone you want from the entire genre. It's a pretty cool thing.
I first discovered you when I saw the ‘Guilty As Sin' video earlier this year, and that's when we connected. We had a really strong reaction to that song with our readers wondering why they hadn't heard of you before now. I feel like you've been getting that reaction a lot this year. What's that like for you?
It's one of my favourite things to hear but it's also almost frustrating sometimes (laughs). I always say, ‘better late than never'. I've been in Nashville for 16 years now but it's really good. I think a lot of times when people have something that looks like an overnight success, it's been a 10 year overnight success. I hope that's what's happening. I'm just glad it's being seen by some more people. It was nice to have that moment (with ‘Guilty As Sin') and then have an album following shortly after. It's all been really exciting.
I feel like things are really taking off for you this year. From the moment I first heard your music, I've seen you everywhere. ‘Guilty As Sin' even premiered in Times Square in New York. That must have been an incredible experience?
That was that was definitely a pinch me moment. I was like, ‘wait, is this real life? (laugh) Is that me on the Time Square screen?' That was awesome. To be honest, it was also stressful because there was a bunch of Mickey Mouse characters around asking for money and asking if I wanted to take a photo with them (laughs). I was like, ‘can we wait a second? That's me on the screen!' (laughs). You couldn't tell that from the edited video, we got a good edit. It really is wild. I had a viral moment with the ‘Blueneck' song a few years ago and I was like, ‘okay, things are finally happening, here we go' but I didn't have an album or much to really follow that with so I lost some steam. Maybe this time it's happening? I'm still bartending right now and it's a really humbling experience. I'm getting recognised at my work. That feels cool. It brings you right back down to earth. It's all really exciting stuff and I just hope it keeps going.
‘Blueneck', the album, is such a great album. It takes me back to the Country music of the 90s that I grew up on and love. Tell me a little bit about putting the record together…
Oh, my gosh, I love to hear that it reminds you of stuff in 90s because I truly wanted it to be an album of the stuff I grew up with and the stuff I wish I grew up with, with the story of ‘Guilty As Sin' and ‘Bible Belt'. It really was such a process, as I'm sure you noticed. ‘Long Story Long' was on there, which is the first song I put out at the end of 2019. It's been almost five years in the making and to me, it feels like it's been my whole life in the making. I've been working on (this) since I was seven. As an independent artist, it just really hard to pay for recordings and do all this stuff. Basically, you're running your own record label and I'm so glad I've got a team of people now to help. It's just a lot, but I'm really proud of it. I'm already writing for album number three right now (laughs) so I'm ready to keep going. I can't wait until someday people are like, ‘oh, album number three, wasn't as good as number two'. I want that moment (laughs).
Be careful what you wish for because that moment will inevitably come…
That's true. Yeah (laughs).
The songwriting and the stories on ‘Blueneck' are great and I wish I had something like this album when I was growing up as a closeted gay kid. For me though, this record is all about your voice. The riffs you put in there and your vocal deliver is very classic Country to me. How did you find your voice?
That has been a lifetime in the making. I started with fiddle when I was seven but then when I was nine-ish I really liked singing. I was in my family band and my twin brother was more the lead singer at first. I've always been really competitive (laughs) so I was like, ‘I'm gunning for his spot as the lead singer'. I would just practice all the time. I have a really diverse background. I was in a punk rock band in high school and I got national recognition for a classical solo I did in high school. I had a little bit of the training but most of it was self-learned and (just) listening to stuff. I used to listen to Stevie Wonder on repeat and try to mimic one of his little vocal runs that he would do for hours until I got it. I think a lot of my agony or longing is coming out in my voice now (laughs). Thank you so much, I really appreciate it. I'm always a sucker for a really good vocal, like Chris Stapleton, Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson or even outside of country. I just always love a really good vocal.
I'm exactly the same. It's a stereotype to say but I grew up with the divas. My family listened to Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Tina Turner, Toni Braxton, Celine Dion… those kinds of powerhouse singers. For me, a vocal can surpass everything else on a song…
Yeah, I feel like for me at least, that's the hook. It could be an incredible song but if the vocal isn't there, or you don't connect with it in some way, you're just like ‘oh, dang'.
You really are a man of many talents. You mentioned about playing the fiddle, and I saw you do that during CMA Fest. I also saw you playing upright bass for a CMT performance of ‘Guilty As Sin'….
Yeah I played a couple of songs for CMT Studio Sessions, and played upright bass for that. I had an office visit with CMT a couple months ago and thought that would be a cool opportunity to show off the upright bass a little bit because it was just acoustic in a conference room. I had my guitar player, producer and co-writer Jerry play guitar. That went really well and I think that maybe is why I got that studio session thing. My ultimate goal someday for a show, I would love to be able to be like ‘okay, now I'm playing fiddle on these two songs and now we're going over here and playing upright bass, and now I'm playing spoons for a little moment' or ‘there's a piano on this one'. I can't wait to incorporate that more. Adding the fiddle for CMA Fest was the first time I'd played fiddle in a show in a long time (laughs). It's fun and I can't wait to incorporate those other instruments more.
I feel like I should be asking is there anything that you can't do? It sounds like you're multi-skilled and multi-talented. I'm feeling all kinds of jealous right now…
Honestly, I would hardly consider myself an instrumentalist. I can fake it till I make it on several instruments but I'm not a master of any (laughs). There's not that much to be jealous of.
Is there any instrument you've picked up and not been able to gel with?
Trumpet. I've tried the trumpet and it's not for me (laughs). It just made my lips really swollen and I gave up on that pretty quickly.
I once bought a banjo thinking it'd be really simple to play and I don't think he's been out of the case more than about five times because it's very hard…
It's very hard. That's my most recent purchase. I haven't given it enough time to see if it's gonna work out between us or not.
Now that ‘Blueneck' is out there and fans are enjoying it, what feedback are you receiving? Have fans been letting you know their favourite songs?
Yeah, that's been a really fun experience. A couple of songs that I did not expect to see people commenting about, that I'm pleasantly surprised by, have been ‘The Dog' and ‘Can't Go Down That Road'. Those are two of the newer ones on the album. It's really cool to see because my more controversial songs have been the most successful up to this point; ‘Blueneck' and ‘Drag Queen' and those kinds of songs. At the end of the day, I'm just a country artist as well so it's cool that these less controversial ones are working as well and being appreciated. It's awesome. I love having a whole body of work for people to consume.
I have to say I love ‘The Dog' too. I don't know if it's because I'm a dog person but I keep getting drawn back to it. I still love ‘Guilty As Sin' too because that was my entry way into your music. To be honest, every song on the record is so good but it's those too I gravitate back to…
I think ‘The Dog' is probably the one I've listened to the most since the album came out. It's a true story, as most of the most of the songs on the album are. It's really cool. I'm also getting a lot of people saying, and this is my favorite comment, ‘oh, I didn't know I was a Country music fan until today' or ‘I guess I'm a Country music fan now'. Let's keep doing that! (laughs)
When are you planning to take your music international and get over here for some shows?
I don't know… ASAP. What are you doing tomorrow? (laughs). I'm hoping to do that. I was talking about this with one of my friends just the other day, the UK in my opinion, just seems to be more accepting of LGBTQ+ people. I just need to get over there. I just had a thing with CBS Sunday Morning a few days ago, and there are a lot of really great comments but so many comments like, ‘why does this have to be shoved in our faces?' America redneck comes out pretty easily. I would love to get over to the UK and string some shows together. It still blows my mind that y'all are even listening to my music across the pond. That's just so cool to me.
You've got a busy year ahead but is there anything else you're hoping to pack in before we reach the end of 2024?
I'm gonna try to expand this album. I spent so long making it, I definitely don't want to just immediately move on to the next thing, even though I'm very excited to put album number two and three and four out. I just put out the ‘High Hopes' music video, right before I hopped on this call with you. It's right up there in favourites. ‘Guilty As Sin' is more like (my) emotional personal favourite but this is the more like fun favourite. Everybody should go check that out. We're going to do a lot more music videos. I've got a really cool idea for ‘The Dog' and I've got a really cool one for ‘Laid Back'. We're going to finally do one for ‘Blueneck' because it's a big election year here. Closer to the fall, I'll maybe lean more into that ‘Blueneck' with all the political stuff going on. I'm just going to be visually expanding on this album. I also have a couple of feature duet songs with other artists coming out. There's one by a Country Christian drag queen artist, Flamey Grant, that is coming out soon. Some more exciting stuff coming for sure.
Are we going to get ‘Blueneck' on vinyl?
Yeah. It's probably going to be a couple of months. It turns out you have to do that months in advance. I'm really excited to do that and I hope people haven't forgotten about me by the time the vinyl is available. That's another ‘check that off the bucket list' for me to hold that in my hands. I'm really excited for that.
Chris Housman's album ‘Blueneck' is available now on all major digital platforms.
