KANE BROWN: DOING WHAT MATTERS

It’s less than four hours before Kane Brown takes the stage at Fenway Park, but it feels like just another day as a crew from ESPN wraps an interview. A print journalist slides into a booth for a Q&A while a group of VIPs gathers close by for a meet-and-greet.

Never mind that Brown is about to become the first Black artist to singlehandedly headline the storied Boston baseball stadium. Having picked up a 2023 Academy of Country Music Entertainer of the Year nomination, the 29-year-old who was the first country artist to tour―let alone sell out―all the NBA arenas seems almost nonchalant about the history being made.

With a tough start to life, including an incarcerated father and multiple moves, the young man who got Facebook famous in 2016 singing country covers, then the original “Used to Love You Sober,” has built a career out of connecting with people through a deep, rich voice that conveys life beyond the words he sings.

More than the seven Country radio #1s, two billion Pandora streams and multiple platinum certifications, he’s one of country’s most bankable artists. Even his duets with Nelly, Khalid and Swae Lee, Marshmello and blackbear, as well as country stars Brooks & Dunn, Chris Young and former classmate Lauren Alaina, transcend the standard Nashville pairings, which can be driven more by market share than heart. Even “Thank God for You,” his first duet with his wife, Katelyn, hit #1. He’s grateful for a stable home, a wife and family, and one of country’s most diverse audiences.

Fenway.

I’ve been playing baseball since I was three. This is cool.

You seem so chill.

I’m trying to take it like just another show. I think it’s easier that way.

Did you know you’re the first Black artist to headline Fenway solo?

No.

Really?

Maybe. You know, I try not to think about it.

JAY-Z co-headlined with Justin Timberlake, but you’re a country act.

It’s not something I really think about.

Do you think you’re a country artist?

I grew up in the most country place you could be. My lifestyle was country. My mom’s a crazy redneck, so it’s what I’ve always been around.

It feels like country’s opening up. You’re part of that.

It’s more broad, for sure. This is the biggest time country’s had in years. Morgan [Wallen] and Luke [Combs] are killing it. More people are listening, coming to shows, than ever.

Did your friends like country?

When I was growing up, nah. A lot of the songs were really sad stories. My friends wanted songs to listen to at parties; they wanted fun songs, not sad songs.

Genres?

I don’t focus on them anymore. I just do Kane Brown. When you’re in this long enough, you stop trying to fight.

Against what?

Mainly myself. Reading different things on the Internet, what gets in your head. It takes time, but now I really just focus on my fans, the people who’re listening. That’s what matters.

And it’s working?

We definitely have the music where it should be. When you’re doing shows, like this one tonight, it’s very much about the live set. We’ve taken all the ballads out, put “Used to Love You Sober” back in, half of two others… “Heaven,” of course. It’s funny; I’ve got a slow ballad, a really heartfelt, well-written song I love. I don’t know if it’ll even get put in my live show.

You’ve gone from social-media phenomenon to one of country’s biggest hard-ticket sellers. When you started, you’d never played with a band―and now you’re headlining stadiums.

Well, our production’s come a long way. We have lasers, pyro… fireworks tonight. There’s a lot of movement onstage. Being a competitor, I’m trying to outdo myself every time I go up there. I want to bring as much energy as I can to the fans. Live, really, is all energy-based. Every time I’m onstage, I’m pumping that crowd up more and more. You’re running around, trying to find the moment you can take them over the edge. It’s fun seeing people go there. When we play “Bury Me in Georgia,” our eyes light up ’cause the band and I know we’re gonna rock. Wherever we go, people get wrapped up in that. Then “Lose It” into “Ain’t Life Grand”―it transports you if we do it right.

You’ve successfully brought hip-hop and hard rock to Randy Travis-style country, but it’s fluid. That idea of rocking the crowd, the way the songs move, it builds.

That’s the creativity of [producer/guitarist] Dann Huff. Every time we’re in the studio, we’re both thinking up all these ideas we want to try. So when you’re talking about solos, we’re aware of that when we’re recording. We have these huge band jams onstage, so the songs are built to set that up.

Dan’s hair-metal days in Giant―he understands. Does your band fall into that hard rock place?

My lead guitarist and bass player do. They get to those places in the songs and just go.

People leaving rock for country started with Garth Brooks. Your live show, which puts these songs into another gear, feeds that.

They do. When you’re onstage, you want to rock people. You want to move them. It’s part of it, especially in places this big.

Is that hard on you? Is it hard to be settling down, with a beautiful wife and daughter, and do this?

It is getting a little more difficult to write uptempo party songs. Right now, I’m in the moment, just being about the shows.

This is such a big night. From here, what do you dream of?

I’m not dreaming or chasing anything right now. I’m used to that next thing, because when you start out, you need to grow. But now I’m trying to live day by day, to just be in the moment.

I’ve always been really hard on myself. Being able to just accept where I am, it makes me more stable. And the things that have happened since that shift? The Entertainer of the Year nomination, the biggest show I’ve ever played here at Fenway… I’m just doing the work, seeing what happens.

Katelyn just had her first #1 single with “Thank God for You,” from your Different Man album. It was the fourth single, but it really connected.

I think a lot of people who’ve been blessed to find that person who’s so perfect feel that song. Katelyn’s a great singer, but she’s also a great mom, a great wife, a great friend.

Are you more excited for her?

It feels equal, really. I told her it was her first #1, but not her last. And I listened to a lot of songs, looking for that right one. But I felt like it was my first all over again, living through her. You forget those feelings, and they all come back. We just had the #1 party. Her mom was on the side, videoing the whole thing. It’s special.

You’ve accomplished so much, broken a lot of ground, but you don’t really call much attention to it.

I don’t know. I’m doing the work, challenging myself to do new things, to try stuff. I’d rather put my energy there. The rest of it? It’ll come when it comes. I look out and see the people responding, so I know how I’m doing. That’s what matters.