For Nashville singer-songwriter Lauren Watkins, honesty has always been at the center of her music. Her latest album, If I’m Being Honest, takes that idea even further.
Released September 25th via Big Loud Records/Songs & Daughters, If I’m Being Honest is Watkins’ third album and features 12 songs that explore relationships, heartbreak, growing older and the everyday moments that often inspire the best stories. Produced by Will Bundy, with co-production from Joey Moi on select tracks, the album includes previously released songs such as “Convenient” and “Better Love Next Time.”
The Nashville native says the album allowed her to expand beyond strictly autobiographical songwriting and observe the people and places around her. Much of that inspiration came while Watkins was traveling the country on tour, watching the landscape pass by from the back of a van and imagining the stories happening inside the homes and towns she passed.
Watkins is also taking the new music on the road, including her first-ever hometown headline show at Nashville’s Exit/In on October 8.
The Travel Addict caught up with Watkins last week to talk about If I’m Being Honest, road trips, Nashville favorites, BUC-EE’S snacks, travel mishaps and the places that have inspired her songwriting.
What can fans expect from If I’m Being Honest?
I think it’s definitely very true to me and the sound and brand that I feel like I’ve built over the past several years, but it’s also very fresh and there’s definitely some new sounds on it. I’m really excited about that because I really tried to let myself be creative and not overly stay in one lane. But the sweet spot of that for me is also being true to myself and what I love.
I didn’t shy away from the good, bad and the ugly. And it’s also not, which I think this is new territory for me, it’s not only my story. A lot of it is my observations about people and life around me. That was a really fun challenge as a songwriter because I’ve written so much that’s introspective and about myself, but I let myself just kind of look around and write things that I saw too. So you’ll notice that a lot on the record.
“Convenient” is such a relatable song. What’s the story behind it?
Thank you so much. I love that song too. That was probably one of the earliest songs written for the album that could have made it onto a previous record, and I just felt like saving it for the right project. It just fits so perfectly onto this one.
The story is literally the feeling of running into your ex in the bar. I remember when I was in college, I went to Ole Miss, and it was a really small college-town community. Every time you go to the bar, you would know everyone in there. It was inevitable you would run into an ex or two every single night going out.
Anytime I would run into somebody that I wasn’t supposed to see, I would act like I was not excited about it. I would be like, “Oh my gosh, we have to leave. They’re here.” But deep down I was really happy and excited about seeing them. I thought everybody relates to that. I think that’s something that we all just do and we don’t say it out loud. So I just decided I would say it out loud and write a song about it.
“Better Love Next Time” talks about luck and lucky objects. Do you have a lucky charm?
Honestly, no, I really don’t. With that song, we really wanted to just make it super relatable. There’s nothing I love more than figuring out what the hook is and then trying to make every single lyric point to that.
I will say I have a couple pairs of boots that, no matter how beat up or ripped apart they get, I’ll never get rid of them. There’s just something about it that I feel like I can’t live without. Especially with playing shows, I feel like if I don’t have a pair of boots on, the show is not going to be the same. I can’t move the same. I don’t feel the same. So maybe it’s the boots.
How does travel influence your songwriting?
A lot of this album was inspired literally driving around the country on tour. That is the reality of where I spent most of my time over these past couple of years writing these songs. “Main Street” is a song on the album, and I literally thought of it while driving around random little nowhere towns, probably in the Midwest or the Southeast, just anywhere we were in the country.
I would look out the window, and I can’t tell you how many Main Streets we drove down. There’s one in every single city, I’m convinced. I would see these little houses, and you just kind of get bored when you’re in the back of a van all day. So I would look out the window and see these houses, and I would just make up stories about what I thought was going on in that house, good or bad.
It eventually came to the idea of “Main Street,” so that was largely inspired by place.
What’s your perfect road trip?
There’s two different kinds of road trips. There’s the road trips that are for me and my husband, and then there’s the road trips that are for me and my girlfriends. Both are equally fun, but they’re completely different.
When I was in college, I would drive down to the beach from Mississippi to Florida with all my college roommates. We would just play whatever pop playlist somebody had going, and I have so many good memories from that.
My husband and I road trip a good bit, mostly to go back to his hometown, which is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. He’s from the East Tennessee, Appalachia, sort of Southeast or southwest Virginia area, and it’s gorgeous. We just play all kinds of music. We either demo songs to each other, play each other what we’ve been writing lately or show each other new stuff. Or we just listen to the radio, and it’s so fun.
And we always stop at Buc-ee’s, of course, at the halfway point.
What’s your go-to Buc-ee’s snack?
I have tried to switch this up so many times, but I’m such a creature of habit. I get a chicken salad croissant, a coffee and a bag of buffalo chips. And then sometimes we’ll get those chocolate-covered espresso beans. God forbid I start wandering around in there because I’ll just spend $100. They have everything.
What’s on your travel bucket list?
I feel blessed. I’ve gotten to go so many places just from touring. We just got to see Mount Rushmore a couple of weeks ago, which was insane. That’s just kind of touring life. You get to see places super quick and then you’re gone.
My really only bucket list at this point is I would love to say that I’ve been to all 50 states. I’m almost there.
What’s your craziest travel story?
When I first started touring, I was very, very early touring. I don’t even know if you could call it touring. I was basically just traveling around playing some shows that I was booking myself. I had no team, no manager and no band even. I was just playing with people whenever I would find guys that were free, and they would be my band for that weekend.
I remember we were playing in Oxford, Mississippi. We showed up to the gig, having driven all day, and they had told us there was going to be a drum set there for my drummer. There were no drums to be found. We’re standing there with all of our gear thinking, “What are we going to do? We’re supposed to play a show in an hour. We don’t have drums.”
I had just graduated from Ole Miss, so I thought, “You know what? I’m just going to have to use my connects here and figure out what to do.” I found out about a band playing a frat party down the street. I had met one of the guys maybe one time. We didn’t know each other. I tried to get ahold of him to see if we could borrow his drum kit after they played, but I couldn’t get him because he was on stage.
Ultimately, I sent my sister to wait side stage until they were done and beg him to let me borrow the drums because my show was starting in about 20 minutes. They let me borrow their drums. That was a big lesson learned: Always triple-check that you have your backline.
What’s one Nashville experience you think everyone should have?
I think you have to go to Broadway at least once. I’m not saying you have to go every weekend, but I think that’s a big part of the Nashville experience. You have to at least go try it and see what it’s all about.
What does your perfect day in Nashville look like?
Probably waking up and drinking coffee with my husband. I’d probably go get a coffee at Dose. There’s a few of them, but I feel like the one in East Nashville is probably the better one.
Then I’d probably go walk around the Green Hills Mall. Maybe go get an afternoon glass of wine at Barcelona on Music Row, and I’d probably eat dinner there too. And then I’d go home early. A day when I have nowhere to go is the best news ever.
Rapid Fire Questions:
Beach or mountain vacation?
Beach. Beach all the way.
Hotel or Airbnb?
Airbnb.
Window or aisle?
Aisle for sure. I need to be able to get out if I need to. I’m very claustrophobic.
Sunrise or sunset?
Both. I want to say both. Lately I’m more of a sunset person though.
Boots or flip-flops?
Oh my gosh. My two favorite shoes. I’m literally always either wearing boots or flip-flops. It’s one or the other, but I would say I’m wearing boots more often.
Dive bar or fancy dinner?
I could go either way. The best, I think, is if you go to a fancy dinner and then you go to a dive bar after.
What’s one food you could eat every day?
One food I do eat every single day is beef. My husband comes from a cattle farm family, and so we constantly have a stocked freezer. Whether I like it or not, I’m going to be eating red meat every day. Thankfully, it’s my favorite.
Where would you like to get stranded?
I wouldn’t mind being stranded in either Orange Beach or Oxford, Mississippi.
You performed at Country Splash Cabo this year. What was a highlight?
One of the highlights was just the scenery. It was so beautiful. I’ve only been to Mexico one other time, and where we were was just absolutely gorgeous. Playing a show with that backdrop was awesome.