Exclusive Interview: 2018 is Lindsay Ell's Year

2018 is shaping up to be a big year for Lindsay Ell. The critically-acclaimed performer is watching as her current single, “Criminal,” has advanced into the Top-30 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart. She tells Music Update Central that it’s exciting for her to see her music gain acceptance from radio’s tastemakers. “It feels so surreal,” she says happily. “You don’t know how many times I have looked at the chart and dreamed of seeing my name in the Top 30. To see that happen, and have people believe in me and this record is incredible. It’s amazing to see fans get so excited about this music. I finally feel that I’ve made an album that is me. It’s so exciting to see it being so well-received.”

The single is the second from her current album The Project, which has appeared on many “Best Of” lists for 2017, including that of Billboard. Ell says she couldn’t have done it without her producer, Sugarland’s Kristian Bush. “I thank the Lord for him everyday. I feel like he has changed the way that I look at recording music. He’s just so smart, one of the nicest guys you would ever want to meet. He’s been the songwriter. He’s been the artist. He’s been the producer. So, he understands so many aspects of the industry, and I think he was able to guide me through the process. He was the perfect producer for me to work with on this record.”

The success of tracks such as “Criminal” and “Waiting On You” has been rewarding for Ell, particularly when her crowds sing the words back to her. It’s something she says she has wanted for a long time. “I feel like parts of this record have been sixteen years in the making. I’ve been playing guitar since I was eight, and show since I was ten. Music is just a part of me. It’s what I do, and what makes me happy. To finally have fans learning this music and singing it back to me is a high that I know I can’t get from anything else in life. It’s that feeling of knowing that you have found the right path.”

One of the standout cuts from The Project is the intoxicating “Champagne,” which name-checks Hollywood actress Jessica Biel. Of the making of that song she says “That’s one of the ones that we had the most fun recording in the studio. I remember walking into the writing room one day with Walker Hayes and Fred Wilhielm, and asked ‘Can we rhyme the words ‘Jessica Biel’ with the word ‘feel?’ And, Walker isn’t afraid of anything. It was so freeing. It was so much fun to write a song about how I feel that a woman wants to be treated. It’s a great moment on the record, and a song that I dedicate to all the girls in the crowds. It’s been amazing to see them fall in love with it. That was one of the first songs that they started to sing back to me. It’s one that we have in the set every night.”