Artist Spotlights- Aaron Lines

http://www.aaronlines.com

PB -   How did you get into the Music Business?  What was your big break?

AL -   I got into the music business basically by making recordings of my songs in a friends basement studio and sending them out to as many people in the music business as I could. A few record execs and producers heard them and liked them enough to want to hear more. My big break came when one of those execs...a guy named John Rader ( Arista Records) asked me to come to Los Angeles and write songs with some friends of his.

PB -   Is this something you've always wanted to do, or did it take you by surprise?

AL -   I started out wanting to be in the NHL. I didn't start playing music til I was almost 13...and even then it was a hobby. No one was musical in my immediate family so I really didn't think about making a living doing it...until i was 16 and i really got the bug for writing songs and recording. After that..it was all I did and thought about.

PB -   Are you a goal oriented person? Are you a control freak?

AL -   Yes, i'm a goal oriented person. I like to set a goal and do my best to reach it. it gives you something to strive for. But these days I try not to be too hard on myself and enjoy life...I don't fret too much about goals that don't come to fruition right away.

PB -   What music/artists do you like to listen to?

AL -   I like to listen to Bryan Adams, Gavin Degraw, Paul Brandt ( and I'm not just saying that )...The Eagles, Jackson Browne, John Mellencamp, Springsteen..people like that.

PB - What's your favorite website?

AL -   I don't have a favorite website....well I "google" everything so i guess that

PB - Talk about your current album/projects...  OR if there's not a current project... What are your album/career plans?

AL -   My current album is called "Waitin On the Wonderful" I've released 4 songs off of it so far...Waitin on the wonderful, it takes a man, The Lights of My Hometown, 20 Years Late. I am in the process of writing for a new record that will hopefully be out by January.

PB -  Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?

AL -   10 years from now I see myself still playing music and writing songs. I'll probably do it on a less intense level than I do it now...but I look forward to writing and recording for the rest of my life. Even when I'm 80 and only my wife wants to hear me (that is if she doesn't turn her hearing aid off).

PB -  Where do you see yourself tomorrow?

AL -   Tomorrow..I see myself writing a song in Nashville with a friend of mine. Same as the next day. Ahh life is rough.

PB -  Are you a pet person?  Do you have any pets?  Any pet stories?

AL -   Yep..I'm a pet person. My wife and I have a dog named Luke. he's a Golden Retriever/ Golden Lab cross. He's 9 months old and pretty much runs our house and or lives. He's the best thing we've ever bought.

PB - Do you care to share your religious beliefs?  What's your life philosophy?

AL -  I'm not and have never been a religious guy. Just never grew up that way. I'm pretty spiritual though.

PB -  What's your favorite food?

AL -   My favorite food is my Mom's pepper steak (although I don't eat much Red meat anymore so I don't have it as much) and my wife's homemade pizza. My wife and i are kind of health nuts so we cook a lot at the house (I should say she cooks a lot and I try to help in any way possible)

PB -  Please add any other interesting comment, tidbit, sound-bite or mantra here.

AL - I'm a huge Edmonton Oilers fan......and I enjoy investing in Real Estate

Here is Aaron's Biography

Aaron Lines is almost too good to be true. The 27-year old Canadian country star has a heart as wide-open as the plains of the working class North Canadian town where he grew up ? and a dream that?s even bigger than the sky above it. But even more importantly, the soft-spoken guitarist remains true to the basic blue collar values that forged his formative years ? and have defined what many might call a Cinderella ride through the ranks of the music business.

?I grew up in a close family? We weren?t rich, but we weren?t poor,? explains the shy young man who had a #1 record on his hometown radio station while still in high school. ?You know, we had problems like any other family, so I?m really similar to a lot of people out there. It?s kind of why I feel like if a song is relatable to me, it?s most likely gonna be something a lot of other people are gonna relate to.?

?There?s a song called ?The Lights of My Hometown? that goes back to me growing up a regular kid. I mean, I lived in a town that I loved, but was too small for the dreams I was dreaming. You leave thinking the world has a lot more to offer than your hometown, only to realize years down the road that no matter where you grow up, you will never be able to recreate the innocence and feeling of ?home? anywhere else in the world. No matter who you are, or where that little town is, that?s something we all have in common.?

And it?s those commonalities that set Lines apart. Where so many aspiring artists can?t get enough distance from where they came from, Aaron Lines thinks it?s the very thing that binds him to every other music lover hoping to find definition in the way their life is actually lived rather than a two-dimensional Hallmark reality.

To that end comes Waitin? On The Wonderful, an album that celebrates the smallest moments in the name of lives lived in the right now and to the fullest, and for Aaron, that is the making of music. ?I mean, I?m pretty basic, a little shy and very hard-working? Just like most guys my age, I guess.?

?My hometown is 30,000 people. It?s remote, but it?s an oil town, so it?s developed. There?s definitely a mill mentality: not a lot of people leave. It?s a lot of long hours, shift work. Even my Dad, who?s a dentist worked hard, because that?s what people do up there.?



In the hours between working hard and raising one?s family, there?s values and experiences and joy. There are also character-defining occurrences that a lot of people would miss. But Aaron Lines isn?t that kind of people. From the book-ending truths that open and close ?Waiting On The Wonderful? ? the title track with its ?wooo-ooooo-ooooh?s punctuating a chorus that sweeps one up in the desire for a love that sets everything in a sparkling glow and the recognition of :?If I Could Do It All Again? that pivots on the notion that it IS the way one views the commonest things that create that arc of wonder.

The theme of the title track helps to reflect the process of making this record. "We took some extra time to make this record." said Lines" We kept pulling back to make sure we had made the record we wanted to make...not just settling for a good record, but going the extra mile to make sure we created something we all felt was great...It took some patience but I think we got there"

Whether it?s the life-changing ?It Takes A Man,? where a boy-on-the-brink-of-adulthood faces the reality of unplanned parenthood, the all-you-need-to-feel-the-fire of ?Dance To The Radio? or the better-late-than-never-gratitude-and-recognition of ?20 Years Late,? Lines inhabits these songs with the ease that comes from being fully present every note and syllable ? whether he?s personally been there or not.

?It wasn?t ?til I moved away that I really realized what a wonderful person my Mom is,? explains the young man . ?It took not seeing her for months at a time and a lot of growing up to get it, but that?s what it takes I think. In life you learn as you go.?

Still like many 20-somethings, Lines desire to make his own mark on the world can be heard all over Waitin? On The Wonderful. Working with break-out songwriter/producers Chris Lindsey and Troy Verges, the triumvirate has set about carving a sound that merges the sparkle of innocence with the earthy instrumentation that is indicative of the heartland?s simplicity. Echoes of John Mellencamp and Jackson Browne, even washes of Springsteen?s ragged details co-exist against nuances of Randy Travis, Earl Thomas Conley and Alabama.

?For me, writing music is a good way to say what?s on my mind. It?s less vulnerable in a way, less embarrassing, less exposing to the idea of seeing someone?s reaction. The thing about it, though, is you need to be ready? especially if you?ve got something you?re burning to say? even if it?s just what some people might think is just a small moment that nobody?d ever bother with or notice.?

Small moments and big emotions are what drive Aaron. For example, ??American Way? was stemmed from a conversation I had with my two co-writers about the differences between where I grew up in Canada and Nashville ? and it?s really all the same. We all work hard to try to get ahead, and end up falling into a routine of working all week just to make it to Saturday night. It?s a way of life, and it?s what makes North American culture what it is.?

Lines knew on his second date that his wife was the one. ?When I?m around her it feels as if nothing else really matters. I not only fell in love with her, she also gave me the feeling..... If it all fell apart, I?d still have her? and I?d be okay.? And from there, he found ?I Wanna Be That Man?.

?It was written for my wedding,? Lines says. ?I was hoping the song would be on this record, but it wasn?t the reason I wrote it. I wanted to give my wife something that would last forever, something we could look back on and listen to years down the road and remember?I?ve learned over the last few years that that?s all that matters: writing a song for the right reasons.?

Certainly having a real live inspiration in his life was a pivotal reality for Lines. ?I think songs are always better when there?s a real person attached to them. You know exactly what you?re trying to explain, how it feels, what you?re hoping for.?

Aaron Lines embodies a sweetness that makes him immediately engaging. ?I feel like I?m a decent guy? I like to have fun, I believe in treating people right and was raised to respect others. I?ve learned a lot over the years that goes right back into the songwriting: I know I write my best when the songs are just ripped straight from the inside of me. You can have all kinds of clever hooks and interesting wordplay, but for me, that?s not where I?m my truest.?

?I write best when it?s conversational, just sounding like talking to somebody. Whether it?s ?Seeing Things,? which is about how my wife effects me, or the desperation of ?Lovers On The Run,? which came from seeing the way a lot of young people get lost in that attraction. I know those things ? and their mark on me is what makes those songs feel so real for me.?

?I know,? he admits, laughing, ?Everybody talks about being real. It?s almost like a bad joke that?s been told so much, real has stopped existing. That?s why I don?t reach beyond what I know, what I?ve seen or believe. Real is too important to create or pretend. It is what it is. I am what I am ? and I?d like to think, that?s more than enough.?

Listening to Aaron Lines talk and experiencing the songs on his second project, it?s obvious he?s anything but Waitin? On The Wonderful. Right here, right now, wonder is all around the young man..... with his heart on his sleeve, his truth in his songs and the glory of living a dream within his reach.