Breland released his debut album Cross Country last week and he stopped by the Bobby Bones Show for the first time to share all about it.
Coming from parents who are gospel singers, Breland believes a lot of his vocal stylings were passed down to him from them. Adding that a lot of his vocal choices were influenced by some of the things his parents were doing as singers and when they were singing in the house. Although Breland grew up singing in church, he thought his sister was better than him. It took him some time to grow into his voice, and he was a shy kid so he didn't enjoy performing in front of an audience right away. He's always had talent, but until about 12-years-old, only people close to his family knew about his talents. At this point in his career, Breland finally feels like he's getting some confidence with performing.
On his debut album Cross Country, Breland has several collaborations with country artists. Ingrid Andress, Lady A, Keith Urban, Thomas Rhett, and Mickey Guyton all make special appearances on the project. He admitted something to Bobby Bones about all of his collaborations. If he sends a song to an artist, and they don't want to be on it or can't be on it, then he will not put out the song ever. He reiterated that when talking about "Praise The Lord" with Rhett. Breland sent the song through some channels to get it to Rhett, and thankfully he said yes. However, Breland said if he wouldn't have agreed to do it, then he would have never released the song. Breland has a special relationship with Urban. When they first wrote together, Urban had reached out to Breland, which made it a little less nerve-wracking because Breland felt there was a mutual level of respect when it came to creativity. So Breland walked into their first writing session together and did what he usually does. The two of them always agree on melody and chords for a project, but they get to it in different ways. Urban will play a guitar lick before singing it, whereas Breland will sing the song before playing it. The result is that every song they do together sounds very different. Also on Cross Country is a song called "Natural," which was inspired by Breland's love for Shania Twain. He's always been a big Twain fan and with this song, he wanted to show some love to the women he loves in country music. His song "For What It's Worth" was his take on a breakup song. He's had a few breakups in his life, and this song was about him looking at those past relationships more maturely.
At this point in Breland's career, he is very intentional about two things. He wants to spend his time around good people, and focus on his gratitude meaning being grateful for all the good and the bad. He believes it's easy to be grateful for things when you're getting good news, but harder to be grateful in spite of all the bad news. The show also addressed when Raymundo saw Breland at Chick-fil-A getting his own food. Breland said he will definitely be getting his own food for many years to come. Adding a story about the time Urban played with him at a local venue in town, he showed up and walked right in by himself. He plans to be that same way throughout his career.