Tullahoma-born country star Dustin Lynch got off to a great start this year, landing in territory that only a few other artists have seen.
His heart- pounding power duet, “Thinking ’Bout You” (featuring MacKenzie Porter), broke the five- week Number One mark on Billboard’s Country Airplay radio chart as 2022 began, adding Lynch to a short list of artists that’s gotten even shorter in the past few years. Also celebrating the tenth anniversary of his self-titled debut album, it’s a big step forward for a star who’s already enjoyed a steady drip of eight hits in eight years to date. But while Lynch’s career has so far been a slow burn—something close to sipping on his hometown’s George Dickel whiskey—it’s about to go into full “Party Mode.”
Following up “Thinking ’Bout You” with a cans-up new single, Lynch will launch into “Party Mode” on the same day his fifth album Blue in the Sky drops (February 11). But even though the track is everything it sounds like, Lynch says there’s more than meets the eye.
“Honestly, I’m a little scared of this release,” Lynch admits with a laugh. “Because if you look at the title, as a songwriter I go, ‘What? What is this gonna be?’ But then you get into it and it’s about this guy who is accepting that he’s been dumped, and he’s decided to be optimistic about what’s next. It just works; I don’t know why. It’s a magical little piece of music.”
That decision to embrace optimism is actually at the heart of the album, Lynch explains, with Blue in the Sky taking a character that fans have become familiar with towards a new chapter. His previous studio set was named after his Tennessee hometown, and with Number Ones like “Good Girl” and “Riding Roads,” Lynch presented a salt-of-the-earth guy who’s true to dude culture all over the nation’s rural expanse.
Hard working, proud of his grit, and living for those “sexy, nighttime, backroad with a girl” weekends—"we thrive in those moments and we live for that,” Lynch says—Blue in the Sky is still about that guy, but things are different now. For lots of reasons.
“Naming an album is always tough, and I kept coming back to the fact that this is a fun, optimistic, grateful kind of album,” Lynch says. “Not to give away what’s coming, but it’s like the words ‘blue in the sky.’ You can look up at the blue in the sky, or you can see the clouds, and after weathering the storms of these past couple of years without even realizing it, I think I gravitated to a more laid back, grateful lifestyle.
“Part of the writing cycle for this was coming out of a relationship, one that weathered the storm of the COVID years,” Lynch goes on. “You come to a crossroads in relationships—and in a lot of things in life—and you just choose the outlook of, ‘Man, that was a great chapter.’ It’s personal, for sure, and I’ve gotten better as a songwriter about being OK with opening up about my life.”
In fact, he’s gotten much better. After notching his first Number One as a writer with 2018’s “Good Girl,” then doing the same with both “Ridin’ Roads” and “Thinking ’Bout You,” Lynch says he’s gotten used to trusting his instincts. Although sometimes that can be a problem.
Much of his work has bounced around stylistically, from a debut single that had critics salivating over a “new traditionalist” approach (“Cowboys and Angels”) to the snap tracks and synth drops of “I’d Be Jealous Too.” But Lynch says he’s now a recovering genre jumper.
“Yeah, I’m scared of commitment,” he says with a laugh. “One thing that my producer Zach Crowell and I have talked about is kind of checking ourselves, pulling the reins back, and going, ‘OK, hold on, every hand we play doesn’t have to be completely different than the one before.’”
Blue in the Sky does feel more consistent, with several upbeat, fun-loving country jams that pair nicely alongside the singalong sunset rock of “Party Mode.” Tracks like “Tequila on a Boat” and “Huntin’ Land” (featuring Riley Green) keep the forever-young spirit out front, while that “sexy, nighttime, backroad with a girl” theme sticks around for tracks like “Tennessee Trouble.” Elsewhere, though, Lynch zeroes in on letting that guy from Tullahoma grow. On top of the smoldering attraction of “Thinking ’Bout You,” the set tells the well-traveled romantic saga of a modern-day cowboy, finding love at first sight in the urban jungle of L.A., seeing forever on a “Back Road TN,” and then watching it slip away with “Break It On a Beach.”
“Party Mode” is the natural next step in that story, and then Lynch brings it all around with a real “big-boy song,” the serene and swaying “Something That Makes You Smile.” “It’s a very important message to all of us,” Lynch says. “As the years go on and we get lost in our phones, comparing ourselves to other people’s lives, it’s like, ‘You gotta remember to live and exist in the moment in the physical world.’”
As Lynch comes off the biggest hit of his life, with an irresistible singalong of a single on the radio and some red-meat country storytelling on his album, that slow burn of Lynch’s career may finally be catching fire. This spring he’ll headline another tour (his first since the “Current Mood” run got nixed in March of 2020) and even admits to looking forward to awards season. There’s work to be done, but he’s in “Party Mode” indeed.
“I’m laser focused right now because it feels like ‘Thinking ’Bout You’ has set us up for the next level,” Lynch says. “For me, it’s once again tipping my hat to Nashville and going, ‘Hey, I’m here to play ball.’ We’ve had some pretty big performing songs, but now I’m ready to be included at the cool kids table.”