Larry Fleet is a Tennessee-born singer-songwriter who draws on a wide range of influences from genres such as Country, Soul and Gospel.
He released his debut album “Workin Hard” in 2019 and he followed that up in 2021 with ‘Stack of Records' and 2023's ‘Earned It'. Now exploring the next phase of his career as an independent artist after parting ways with Big Loud, Fleet looks set to soar.
Next month Fleet is back in the UK and Ireland for a string of dates, including a performance at The Long Road Festival. He recently released his EP ‘Somewhere In The South' so I jumped on a call with him to find out more about it, discuss all the projects he's working on, and find out if a techno album is in his future…
Greetings from the UK. We're looking forward to having you back…
We've been to the UK a couple of times now. We sold out London last time, which was mind blowing to me. Just an old country boy from Tennessee. I never thought I would ever get on an airplane and fly across the ocean and do anything like that. To do that and then people actually show up and love what you're doing is really cool. It got me excited for sure.
You played Scala last time you were here didn't you?
Yeah, it was fun except for the load in, 'cause there's no elevator, so you have to carry all your equipment up all those stairs but we had a crew that helped out so that made it a lot better. We rolled in that morning at 10 or 11 o'clock and, there were already people on the sidewalk waiting for me, and I didn't play till 9 o'clock at night. We see that here too (but as) it's a different country., you never really know how it's gonna turn out. We were very welcomed and me and the guys love it so we're coming back. It's like in my plan every year to keep growing and become a thing there.
You're here in August for some dates and for The Long Road Festival aren't you? How are you feeling about being back in the UK?
I'm pumped up. I want to grow the whole European thing. Everywhere we went, people showed up, they knew the words and the songs, and they were very friendly, kind people. They love what we were doing so that's where I wanna be. I'm excited about it. When The Long Road Festival offer came in that was really cool to see. It worked out really well. I'm bringing my friend Brent from the band Everette, he's gonna be opening up a lot of shows for me. They got him on the Long Road Festival too later on that night. I'll play my set then I'm gonna hang out and watch him, and might just get up there and play with him too. I think he's in the tent or something, doing some kind of songwriting thing or something. It's exciting.
Could you have imagined, when you started out on this journey of making music, releasing music, being an artist that you'd be coming to the UK and getting the kind of reaction that you're getting?
No. Here's why; I never flew on an airplane until I was like 24 years old or something. I don't like heights. I don't like airplanes. People were like ‘what if you have to go to Europe one day or you have to go to England or whatever?' and I'm like, ‘nah, I just won't go. I'm not gonna get on an airplane and fly over the ocean'. For me to do that was a huge thing. I was excited to do it. I've, never been to another country and nobody in my family had ever left Tennessee, so it was a big deal.
To go (to the UK) and see everybody sing all the words to the songs… When I went over with Morgan Wallen, that helped out big time, 'cause the first time I went, we played The O2. I sang ‘ Where I Find God' with him and that became a big moment. We had no idea that when we would go back over there we went back with Morgan and did a whole tour, direct support with him. Everywhere we went, we gained a lot of, fans because there's a bunch of people there to see Morgan and it just so happens they get to see me. It was a very cool thing to do and it was cool for Morgan to take me with him. I think the crowd just reacted right. They understood what I was doing and they appreciated it, and it was very cool. It's something I'm proud of and I'm looking forward to the next few years, just seeing what we can do and making going to Europe a plan every single year. Hopefully I'll be headlining The O2 one day. That's a goal.
What an incredible way to experience the UK with Morgan. His fans are so passionate. Are you starting to see some of his fans becoming fans of you? Has that given you a jumpstart here?
Oh yeah, a hundred percent. I think if I would've started without him we would've had some fans, because we see it on all the streaming stuff. We can look at the data behind that kind of thing, and you can see where people are listening and where they're at. (We see) comments online from people all the time so we know that we have a fan base there. But going with Morgan, you're walking into an arena that held 20,000 people. What opportunity are you gonna have other than that to walk in and play for 20,000 people? The good thing when we went on that night we were the first of three acts on that show and I just showed up pretty much acoustic.
I knew Morgan – we've toured a lot and we're friends – so I know what his show is. Bailey Zimmerman was on it that first night, so I knew what his show was gonna be and I thought I'm just gonna do something way different. I show up with an acoustic guitar and my guitar player had an acoustic, and my bass player played an acoustic ukulele bass and my drummer just did brushes and stuff. We did an acoustic show, which stood out and I think people noticed that was different. My plan worked. I could tell stories and make it more of a songwriter storytelling thing. We're good at that kind of thing. That's how I started. Out of 20,000 people or whatever, my goal was always to get 10% of those people to at least listen to me and be like, ‘you know what? I like this guy. I'm gonna go check him out'. That's at least 2000 tickets I can sell. When I decided I was going to headline a show in London, we put it on sale and it sold out in two weeks. We're on the good path here.
It worked out. To see how passionate the fans were was a breath of fresh air, I love playing here (in the US) too, and we play all the time, but sometimes it's more about drinking beer and it's a summertime party and people listen to you. Some people don't. Then you go over (to the UK) and you can really see people engage with you and that's cool. It makes you feel good, like maybe what you're writing and singing is actually affecting somebody. That's a really cool place to be and a good feeling. I miss that sometimes.
You mentioned about the passion of the UK fans and seeing them kinda tune up at the venues. Are there any of the differences between the UK fans and the audiences you play in the States?
Yeah, it's different anywhere you go. We were out on in California this past weekend and it's a little different out there than if you go to Kansas and then Kansas is gonna be different than if you go to New York City. London and Dublin, Ireland are completely different crowds. I noticed a rowdy kind of almost more American type crowd in Dublin and then I noticed in London, I would tell a story and it was silent. You could hear a pin drop. For some artists that makes them nervous. They don't like that but I love it because for me, if I can tell a story and I'm talking to a crowd and it gets quiet like they're listening to me. I can have control over that room and I can take the show where I want to take it, and I know that they're on the ride with me. That was a big difference that I noticed, they were very respectful and so they listened to my stories. They were engaged with me. They were on the ride with me all night long. Towards the end of it, I would get rowdy and I'd play some songs and I remember this one guy, he may have had a little too much to drink probably, he took his shirt off and gets on his buddy's shoulders and is his shirt around. This is in London. I was like, ‘okay, we're back home'.
I'm very thankful that I have a fan base (that spans all ages). We'll see kids in the United States, at seven years old or whatever. They'll be at the show with their parents and then their grandparents are there. It's almost like a Willie Nelson show; you're gonna see little kids to 80, 90-year-old men and women out there. We have a huge audience of a very wide range, and that for me is a really cool thing. If you come to my shows in the United States, it's similar to London because we have a respectful crowd, but they do get a little more rowdy and it's fine. Last time I was in London, I just played songs that nobody's ever heard because I just wrote 'em. That was a cool thing for them. It's a cool thing for me to try 'em out.
I wanna take my family with me now and I wanna show them. My kids are a little young to really appreciate everything yet, but I think they will one day. I wanna make sure we spend quite a bit of time over there.
You recently released your EP ‘Somewhere In The South'. What was it about these four songs that made you want to package them together and release them?
‘Somewhere in the South', I wrote that two or three years ago. I always loved that song. Most of those songs I had written a few years ago and they didn't make the cut. I was with Big Loud Records and we were doing something different but I always loved those songs. Once I had split with them, I was like, ‘I'm just gonna do exactly what I want to do. I have nobody to persuade me in a certain way or nothing like that'. I have piles and piles of songs that I've written that are so good and I just want make sure they get out to the world. I split with Big Loud towards the end of the year, and I went in and recorded a bunch of stuff in December and January. I can do what I want, I can afford to cut a record, I can do all the stuff and I got people to work with. Part of my goal is just to put good music out the way I want to do it and produce it how I want to do it. I wanted four different type of songs to showcase (what I can do)
I get put in a box a lot, and that's the way it goes. People need to (label you) that you are traditional country or whatever. I am traditional country, but I'm also very soulful and bluesy, and I have a strong R&B side. I have a Southern Rock side. I have a lot of different things that I love and I like to do, and I write that way, and I play that way. I sing that way. I wanted to showcase different sides of me. ‘ Hard Work and Holy Water' came out first, and that's a newer song that I ended up naming my tour after. That (song) is exactly where I'm at in life; I work really hard and the grace of God – that has got me to where I'm at. ‘ A Lotta Women' , my wife always loved the song 'cause it's about her. It is more of a southern rock kind of song, but it has soul to it. It has falsettos and stuff like that , that you don't really hear me do a lot. I wanted to put that out and that song has been killing it. People love that.
‘Like You Used To' is a song that I wrote years ago, like in 2018 or something. Me and Ernest, he's with Big Loud too, we wrote it early on before we had anything going on, and it was a cool song. It sounded like an old Jackson 5 kind of song to. It's very soulful R&B, which I love. It's a sad song. It's about heartbreak and why can't we, find the love that we used to have, but it sounds so happy. I thought it was clever and I liked it so I put it out.
‘Somewhere in the South' is how I grew up. That is the quintessential Southern song but what I've found going to other countries, and all over my own country, is everybody lives like that too. It doesn't matter if you're in Minnesota, you can still relate to ‘Somewhere in the South'.
I thought It was a good eclectic group of songs that' s not gonna be exactly what you might think it might be. This four song EP was to open up the doors a little bit so I can have a little more freedom (in terms of) style and creativity. I like a lot of different things, so I was wanting to get myself outta that traditional country box, which I don't get me wrong, I love it but I wanna be able to do what I wanna do when I wanna do it.
I personally prefer to listen to an artist who isn't afraid to try something different and push boundaries. There's nothing worse than listening to a 12-track album from an artist where every song sounds the same. I want variety and growth with every album or release. Is it freeing now that you're not with a label, to be able to do what you want musically?
I'm the same way. I get so aggravated when somebody puts out a record and I love their record before, and I'm like, ‘cool, what are they gonna come up with now?' and then they put it out and I'm like, ‘golly, that sounds exactly like everything you've ever done'. Now don't get me wrong, you don't wanna stray too far from what got you there. I got some friends that whatever they put out, it worked and and then they do something off the wall that doesn't make any sense for 'em. People don't get it and you can lose the crowd a little bit. But at the same time, if that's what they feel like they need to do to get out whatever's inside of them, who cares? Let 'em do whatever they wanna try, they'll come back and they always do, but I think you can get, pigeonholed exactly by the industry.
I talked to somebody at in radio the other day and he was like, ‘I heard Like You Used To and that's a smash, man'. That's a great song'. I told my manager one day, everybody's gonna pick their favorite song that they like on here. If I think it's a cool song or whatever and I put it out and it flops, then my people are not into that, but like at least I put it out and I tried it and we know now. On the flip side of that, you can put it out and it could be the biggest thing you've ever done. I'm known for putting out singer- songwriter, storytelling and powerful lyrics that I'm proud of. People say a lot' Where I Found God' has changed their life, and it changed mine too. ‘ A Life Worth Living' and ‘Heart On My Sleeve', all these songs that are very either spiritual or family oriented. I have a wife and two kids, and that is what I write about. That's what I care about more than anything in the world and there's so many people that are just like me and they relate to my music. I'm their favorite artist because they live what I'm singing about and I'm living it too. Every now and then, it's fun to try new things and just because I change up the style a touch doesn't mean I have to change the lyrics that much. You can still write a song that is saying a lot, that sounds fun or sounds happy, or sounds sad, or whatever, it's just experimenting a little bit. I don't want it to sound exactly like (my other records) I want to try something new.
I'm my own guy now. I'm not with anybody. I have the freedom to try things and that's exactly what I'm doing. Me and my band went in and just cut a bunch of songs. I've got a whole pile of songs that we're mixing and we're, fixing to master and all that stuff right now. Every one of those is a little bit different too. You have some of my regular stuff, but then you, ave R&B and bluesy stuff… some of that baby making music, is what we like to say. We have a little bit of everything. I don't think you're gonna hear, a rap album coming from me. That's not something that I'm passionate about or nothing like that so that's not really probably gonna happen. But who knows? I'm not gonna get into a bunch of, techno music. What you hear from me is gonna sound different, but it's gonna make sense.
I do want to hear a techno Larry Fleet album now that you've said it. I can't even conceive what that would sound like…
Me either (laughs). Who knows? It might be hit. Maybe I'll work on one and i'll send it to you. I don't know what it would be about yet, but family stuff and techno, yeah, it's a sexy show. I think it could work.
I'm here for it to be honest…
OK, I'll get to work on it and send it to you. We'll see what happens.
Are we going to be hearing this music you've been recording any time soon?
Since we split with Big Loud which by the way was great for both of us. They were making moves and it's been great for me, and they were a great label to be with. I have nothing but good things to say 'cause they helped me get to this point in my career where I'm at so that I'm self-sustainable now. Since we parted ways, there's been plenty of labels that are. sniffing around and, trying to try to have meetings, which makes me feel loved. It's nice to feel wanted. I've got different little irons in the fires and I'm wanting to put out a couple of songs at least. I don't know if we'll get one for August but probably more realistic would be like September and October. I'm actually working on a Christmas song. I've been wanting to put a Christmas song out for years and it just never worked out so I'm trying to do that. I'm a big Christmas music fan and I love it. It makes me happy. I'm gonna try to get that done so we can get it out for November. As far as dropping a full album, i've got enough material but it takes a while when you're touring as much as I do. I'm trying to self- produce this just to see what I can do and have some fun with it. It takes me a little bit longer because I'm having to be more hands on than just going in to sing it and we're done, and somebody else polishes it up. Now it's on me, it takes a little longer. I won't put anything out until I'm super proud of it. It's gotta be right and I'm picky. I'm working on a bunch of stuff and hopefully we'll have at least a couple of singles out before the end of the year, and then maybe at the start of the year drop a full record.
I've got a few projects that I'm working on and me and a buddy of mine, we've been talking about doing a gospel project because that's a big influence of mine. Instead of just putting out classic gospel songs, I'm trying to write 'em. I wanna write my own gospel album and it takes a minute to write those. I've got another thing that I'm wanting to work on too, that's a little more rock almost. I've had a lot of songs on TV and different movies and things like that so I'm trying to write more of a cinematic kind of album, which is more of a concept thing. I can do these things now. It's nothing like you would've heard from me ever and so it's a very experimental kind of thing.
Larry Fleet's EP ‘Somewhere In The South' is out now. He will be in the UK and Ireland for headline shows and The Long Road Festival in August. Find out more and get tickets at https://www.larryfleet.com/#shows.
