Interview: Chris Lane on Why He Waited a Year-and-a-Half For His New Single, ‘If I Die Before You’

In a world of rapidly deteriorating attention spans and the constant bombardment of glossy yet fleeting content, country music has stood out for being a genre associated patience, with its lyrics often promoting a slower, more peaceful pace of life.

When speaking to Chris Lane about his new single, ‘If I Die Before You’, it's safe to say the old adage that ‘Good things come to those who wait’ could not be more relevant.

In the second half of the 2010s, Chris Lane emerged as one of the poster-boys for the genre's new wave of so-called ‘Boyfriend Country’, which saw the introduction of sweeter, settled-down narratives, replacing the party-heavy, bikini-obsessed ‘Bro-Country’.

Although boasting a plethora of chart-toppers, one of the North Carolina singer-songwriter's most widely renowned hits remains the heartwarming proposal anthem, ‘Big, Big Plans’. In 2019, it was endearingly accompanied by a video of Chris Lane bringing the lyrics to life by asking for the hand of his now-wife, Lauren.

Ever since this pivotal moment, Chris Lane has made a habit of letting fans into key milestones in his relationship with Lauren. In 2021, for instance, he released the tear-jerking ‘Ain't Even Met You Yet’, a tribute to the love he felt for his first child, Dutton, before he was born. The next year, the couple had their second son, Baker. Chris’ new song is a heartfelt message to both his children and Lauren, offering listeners the third instalment in this series of deeply personal singles, ‘If I Die Before You’.

“It definitely feels that way”, Chris Lane muses, “It's a nice follow-up to ‘Big, Big Plans’ and ‘Ain't Even Met You Yet’. It feels like that next story for me and where I'm at. I hate when Lauren says this, but she says it all the time - ‘You know if something were to ever happen to me, make sure the boys know how much I love them’. I'm like, ‘Please don't ever say that again. I don't even want to think about something like that ever happening’. But after you get married and have kids, a lot of people do have that conversation. I think that's what drew me to this song. Not many songs in this life have ever pulled on my heart strings in that way, but this is one of them. I'm not a super emotional guy, in fact, I don't love slow songs in general. But this was one of the exceptions I had to make. I felt like this was a life-changing song, and I'm forever grateful I get to be the artist to record it”.

His gratitude at getting to deliver ‘If I Die Before You’ - which finds a husband making sure his family fully understands his love for them, in case of the worst eventuality - is partly due to the fact that the song was out of Chris Lane's grasp for 18 months.

Chris Lane reveals, “I've written about 99% of the songs on my new project, but this one got pitched to me, and at the time, a bigger artist was recording the song. It has been quite a journey to find its way back to me. I prayed a lot that it would eventually find its home with me, and a year and a half later, it happened. I'm incredibly grateful to the songwriters for giving me a chance to record this song. From the very first moment I heard it, I loved everything about it. I related to it in a big way, and I'm hoping and praying that my fans relate to it in a huge way as well”.

The ‘I Don't Know About You’ hitmaker expands, “I feel like songs always find their way to the right people. It was one of those songs I just couldn't stop thinking about. I'd never heard anything like this. It's so sweet, but also such a heavy thought...It feels like one of those songs that could be a career changing song and moment for me”.

‘If I Die Before You’ captures the warmth and rose-tinted portrayal of family life that Chris Lane has become synonymous with over the years, with the ‘For Her’ crooner's pensive vocals oozing gravitas and charisma as he steadies himself and addresses his wife.

In the accompanying music video for ‘If I Die Before You’, we get sepia-tinged vignettes of Chris Lane spending time with Lauren, Dutton and Baker against a backdrop of rural idyll. Chris’ willingness to allow fans in on his personal life could have become a double-edged sword, with social media followers often demanding an all-access pass to artists. It's a balance that the Lane family have so far navigated nimbly.

“I feel like we've done a good job of letting fans in on exactly what we want them to be in on, while also keeping a lot of moments private”, Chris Lane reflects, “But I feel like for us, and for me personally, my fans have not only gotten to know me, but they definitely know my wife, and now they know my kids. I don't want to shut them out of that. We've always let people in, and I would be doing myself a disservice to not continue to do that. You know, I was worried when we were shooting the ‘If I Die Before You’ music video, if the kids would cooperate, as you only get a couple of times to get the right shots. But they were having a ball out there with all the animals. The sweet thing is, when they see themselves in the video, they want to keep watching the same parts over and over again. It's very fun. I don't feel like we could have had a video without them being in it. This song feels very personal to me, so I felt like it was important to just make it real life. The only way to do that is to have Lauren and the boys in it”.

Although he didn't write ‘If I Die Before You’, and the song deals with a hypothetical scenario, there's a really striking ‘meta’ quality to this song and video. Should anything - Heaven forbid - happen to Chris Lane, the track and accompanying visuals would in reality serve as an eternal reminder of his love for his wife and children.

“I was thinking about that yesterday, when I was mowing the yard”, Chris Lane recalls, “It will be very nice and sweet to be able to show them this song. Dutton enjoys watching the video already, even though he's only three years old, and he loves watching the video of ‘Ain't Even Met You Yet’, how he was in Mommy's belly and then he was born. I feel like they'll have that moment to look back on forever”.

Unlike some country artists, Chris Lane’s status as a family man is not a PR angle, it's simply his day-to-day reality, as was demonstrated by Chris’ decision to step away from the spotlight following the birth of his first child. He hasn't released a full-length album since his celebrated 2018 project, Laps Around The Sun.

He returned with bang by dropping the Top 30 single, ‘Find Another Bar’, on his 2023 EP, From Where I'm Sippin’. If we see the release of that five-song project as a hint at a page-turn, the arrival ‘If I Die Before You’ is the definitive start of a vibrant new chapter. In 2025, Chris fills one of the most coveted support slots in the genre on Rascal Flatts’ Life is a Highway Reunion tour, as well as sharing his first album in five years.

It's clear why Chris Lane is so excited about this track, and should it blossom into the “career-changing” song he hopes, it wouldn't be the first one to take over Music City after years spent on hold for another artist. Luke Combs’ soaring smash, ‘Where the Wild Things Are’, epitomises this, being initially declined by Eric Church.

Despite the infectious belief Chris Lane holds in ‘If I Die Before You’ as a hit-in-waiting, you can't help but feel this isn't the key measure of this song's value. Chris has breathed life into a stirring, evocative rumination on love's ability to outlast death, one that might've otherwise spent another few years languishing on a Nashville hard-drive.

As well as offering a love letter to his family, Chris Lane provides listeners with an exquisite, inspiring gift that will bring much comfort - and maybe even a few tears - upon its release.

In addition, Chris Lane spoke to Holler about more new music on the horizon, heading out on the road in 2025 with Rascal Flatts, his dream collaboration and more:

“‘If I Die Before You’ is the start of a new wave. I'm working on six more right now. I've been working on my songwriting, man, taking a little time off the road - I'm still out there touring, but not as much as I was, just so I could be at home with the boys a bit more while they're so young. It's allowed me to write tons of songs that I'm so thankful for, because I would have never had any of them, had it not been for taking a little time off and focusing on my writing. Early in my career, I spent so much time out on the road with Florida Georgia Line, Brad Paisley and Rascal Flatts, that I didn't get to write as much as I'm writing right now. I have to say I'm most proud of the project I'm working on - and hopefully finishing very shortly - to get out early next year. I know every artist says it about the next thing they have coming out, but I truly do feel with all of my heart that these are the best 12, 13, 14 or 15 songs - whatever number it ends up being - that I've ever had”.

“It's country music - you've got to have some heartbreak songs in there! I felt like we wrote ‘Find Another Bar’ in a different way. At the time when I was writing it, and when we decided to put it out, I wanted to show people a different side of me. Obviously, I've been through heartbreak before, so it's something I can easily relate to and write about - it's just not always been the main topic of songs that I've put out. So I wanted to do something a little bit different, and there'll be more of that on this record, but I don't want to shy away from what's given me the most success. There's definitely going to be songs about love, family and some lifestyle songs...I try to write as many uptempo songs as possible, because that's how I want my shows to be. I think about that a lot when I'm sitting down to write the next batch of songs, and I feel like I've really accomplished that across the board. It's a little bit of anything and everything”.

“I'm so excited. I toured with those guys back in 2017, and was supposed to tour with them again in 2020, when COVID hit. I was gonna be direct support, and obviously that tour didn't happen, which really hurt. I am incredibly grateful and thankful that they asked me to be a part of their 25th anniversary run next year. Lauren Alaina is a part of it as well. I know the Flatts guys really well, I know Lauren really well. It's going to be such a fun tour, and I'm really looking forward to it”.

“That's the next one up that I'll be recording in the studio. Just from the demo, it got such a great reaction when I put it out there [on socials], and I feel like it's a no-brainer. Knowing everything I know about that song and being a songwriter on it, it feels like a special one. It's an uptempo love song, which is hard to do. It reminds me a lot of a Tim McGraw-style song. I really love everything about that one”.

“No doubt about it. Even some of these new songs I'm recording, I'm thinking about putting female artists on the songs, and I haven't put it out of my mind to maybe find someone where I love what they're doing in pop, or an up-and-coming artist that's really getting it going right now, to jump on a song with...I love collaborations. I think in the country world, we were a little behind compared to Hip Hop. I feel like with Hip Hop artists - all they do is collaborate with each other! It seems there are always two or three artists on each song, and I think that makes it fun. I'm glad that country is gravitating towards that a little bit more. Obviously, not every single song calls for that, but collaborations are a lot of fun to do”.

“I would say Kenny Chesney. I grew up a massive Kenny Chesney fan. I could say Rascal Flatts as well, I absolutely love those guys. You never know, maybe touring together this time around, we could get a collab going. But I would say Kenny - I've just been a lifelong fan. As an entertainer, I love what he does on stage, and I try to mimic my shows after what he does. A collaboration with him would be at the top of my list”.

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