Brian Lorente and his band, the Usual Suspects, open for country star Tyler Farr on Thursday night. (Podcast, video)
Looking to Hit the Next Level: Country singer Brian Lorente (Photo/Anna Sink)
On the surface, growing up at the gateway to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, singing in the church choir at age 5, embracing “The Sound of Music” and getting recruited to play basketball at Olivet College might not sound like typical ingredients for a robust career in country music.
Support our coverage of
West Michigan's music scene
But Lansing’s Brian Lorente – who didn’t even start playing country music until college – has parlayed his background into that and more, emerging as one of the state’s most popular and promising country acts with his band, the Usual Suspects.
Brian Lorente and the Usual Suspects
“Country music is just a feel-good genre. It just kind of fits with us here in Michigan,” Lorente offers, acknowledging the especially strong West Michigan market for country artists. “We focus a lot of our attention and energy back over here. It’s just relatable music to the working man and blue-collar workers out there.”
Lorente released his first album, “Six Strings and a Dream,” in 2004 before he even had a band. But he quickly rounded up musicians shortly thereafter, releasing a second album, “2:45,” in 2010. The current lineup – guitarist Kurt Stone, guitarist Buddy Sebastian, bassist Bill Molitor and drummer Gator – has played together for about three years.
The singer currently is collaborating with Nashville songwriters on a third recording – aiming for “a real memorable package” of five or six songs – which he hopes to release next spring, just before the busy summer festival season erupts.
Official Sponsor of the Local Spins Artist Spotlight
“With the next stuff, you’ve got to take the bar you’ve got with ‘2:45’ and you’ve gotta go above it. We’re good writers, but there are amazing writers in Nashville, down there every day, 24 hours a day writing that stuff,” Lorente says of incorporating material from other artists.
On Wednesday, Lorente (pronounced lor-en-tay) stopped by the studios of News Talk 1340 AM (WJRW) with guitarist Kurt Stone to chat with me and perform an acoustic rendition of one of his most popular original songs, “Stay With Me Tonight,” on Local Spins Live. Check out a podcast of the show here, with a video of his performance below.
Along with performing for 65,000-plus people at the wildly popular B-93 Birthday Bash (which attracts top artists and fervent country fans in Allegan County every summer), Lorente and his band have shared stages over the years with a host of well-known country stars. including Gretchen Wilson, Luke Bryan, Lee Brice, Keith Anderson, Uncle Kracker, Thomas Rhett and Tyler Farr.
Lorente with guitarist Kurt Stone on Local Spins Live.
They’ve managed to find the spotlight by striving be “one of the most entertaining, high-energy bands out there,” Lorente says. “We really want to be sure when we’re done doing a show everybody knows they were entertained and they had a good time and got their money’s worth.”
On Thursday night, the band will open for Farr a second time, playing The Intersection along with The Chris Lane Band. Tickets to the 8 p.m. show are $18 at the door. The band has arranged for a four-camera video shoot of its Intersection performance.
After playing “every little Podunk town possible with a stage” last summer, Lorente and his bandmates plan to up the ante by performing at bigger festivals in 2014 after releasing their next studio project, which has generated a fair amount of pent-up demand among fans.
“Everyone’s begging us to get new material out,” concedes Lorente. “There’s that urgency to get it out there, but we want to make sure it’s right and it’s good.”
For more about the band and full schedule of upcoming shows, visit the official website at brianlorente.com.
Email John Sinkevics at jsinkevics@gmail.com.
Copyright 2013, Spins on Music
