NASHVILLE, TENN. – On June 21, Music City-born songbird Lauren Watkins drops the needle on The Heartbroken Record, her 17-song, full-length debut. Pre-add / pre-save here.
With her Big Loud Records / Songs & Daughters-released entrance, Watkins introduces herself the Nashville way – co-writing the entire project with a stable of the town’s finest pens, stringing together the pieces of a bootstraps story with songs that make an impact and a singular-yet-familiar sound.
Doused in the influence of outlaw giants like Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, modern mainstays Kacey Musgraves, Miranda Lambert, and album collaborator Sheryl Crow, and Y2K radio kings and queens like Brad Paisley, Sara Evans, and The Chicks, Watkins and diamond-certified producer Joey Moi capture a unique sonic blend that matches her unorthodox take on country, fusing old-school organic twang with a full-bodied 2000s thump and her delicate-but-dangerous undercurrent – all steeped in a rough-around-the-edges brand of femininity. Whether aching or anthemic, each track highlights the messy magic of love and loss; and with sharp, unexpected twists in perspective, she captures the million jagged facets of a broken heart.
“I didn’t want to just put an album out – I wanted it to be purposeful,” Watkins reflects. “It’s the past several years of my life, and that was just so much heartbreak and dramatic girl-feelings, but I think in a really deep and relatable way… and it just needs to get off my chest.”
“It’s exactly the space in country I thought was missing and wanted to fill,” she continues. “It’s sweet and warm, but also gritty and tough at the same time, and that’s my favorite thing. I love it.”
THE HEARTBROKEN RECORD TRACKLIST
1. Leavers Leave (Lauren Watkins, Lance Miller, Brad Warren, Brett Warren)
2. Mama, I Made It (Lauren Watkins, Rocky Block, Lauren Hungate)
3. Heartbroken Record (Lauren Watkins, Will Bundy, Caroline Watkins)
4. Sad Songs And You (Lauren Watkins, Lauren Hungate)
5. Set My Heart On Fire (feat. Sheryl Crow) (Lauren Watkins, Emily Landis, Summer Overstreet, Lydia Vaughan)
6. Stuck In My Ways (Lauren Watkins, Will Bundy, David Garcia, Emily Landis)
7. Gatlinburg (Lauren Watkins, Jessie Jo Dillon, Carter Faith, Lauren Hungate, Ashley Monroe, Caroline Watkins)
8. Anybody But You (Lauren Watkins, Rodney Clawson, Mark Holman, Ernest Keith Smith)
9. Settling Things (Lauren Watkins, Lauren Hungate, Luke Laird)
10. One Trick Pony (Lauren Watkins, Will Bundy, Lydia Vaughan, Caroline Watkins)
11. Fly On The Wall (feat. Jake Worthington) (Lauren Watkins, Andy Sheridan, Brad Warren, Brett Warren)
12. Shirley Temple (Lauren Watkins, Nicolle Galyon, Meg McRee)
13. Pretend You’re Coming Home (feat. Ashley Monroe) (Lauren Watkins, Ashley Monroe, Mark Trussell)
14. Jealous Of Jane (Lauren Watkins, Brad Warren, Brett Warren, Caroline Watkins)
15. Cowboys On Music Row (feat. Carter Faith) (Lauren Watkins, Jessie Jo Dillon, Carter Faith, Lauren Hungate, Ashley Monroe, Caroline Watkins)
16. Burn The Bridge (Lauren Watkins, Will Bundy, Emily Landis, Mark Trussell)
17. Too Much To Dream (Lauren Watkins, Forrest Finn, Nicolle Galyon)
All songs produced by Joey Moi
Today, Watkins begins unraveling the record with “Settling Things,” a soft-spoken portrait of small-town life with straight-to-the point lyricism that showcases “her ability to take a simple enough phrase and load it up with enough poignancy and depth to make you catch your breath” (Holler). Listen here, and watch the visualizer filmed at Patsy Cline’s ‘Dream Home’ in Nashville here.
“There were a lot of years where I was running away from doing this; but I ended up asking myself what the point of living through something is if I don’t share it with people? If I don’t share the things I’ve learned with the gifts I’ve been given?” Watkins adds. “At the end of the day, all I want is for people to hear this record and feel seen. I think that’s all any of us ever really needs.”
ABOUT LAUREN WATKINS
Drenched in authenticity and rife with barstool charm with an addictive, Tennessee limestone gravel in her voice, Nashville-born and bred songbird Lauren Watkins writes, breathes, and lives country music. The 24-year-old original grew up on the outskirts of Guitar Town, mesmerized by a jukebox rotation of country music, from outlaws like Willie Nelson and Sheryl Crow to chart-toppers Eric Church, Miranda Lambert, and Chris Stapleton. Moving back after four years at Ole Miss, Watkins’ unyielding, turn-on-a-dime lyricism quickly caught the attention of GRAMMY-nominated multi-hyphenate Nicolle Galyon, who signed her to publishing and recording contracts with Songs & Daughters / Big Loud Records almost instantly. Honing in on a sound that’s both reverent of the genre’s roots and in lockstep with where it’s headed next, she introduced her take on country music with a double shot debut: seven-song set Introducing: Lauren Watkins, and six-song sequence, Introducing: The Heartbreak, both out now, previewing her highly anticipated full-length debut, The Heartbroken Record, slated for release June 21. Watkins is on tour now opening stadiums for Morgan Wallen internationally, and has previously toured with ERNEST, Hailey Whitters, Conner Smith, Jameson Rodgers, Austin Snell, Lily Rose, and more.
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