Chris Janson Signs With Warner Music Nashville Again, Admits Leaving Was a Mistake
Chris Janson re-signed with Warner Music Nashville, the label he once left behind, and he’s not afraid to admit it: walking away might not have been his brightest idea. …
Chris Janson re-signed with Warner Music Nashville, the label he once left behind, and he’s not afraid to admit it: walking away might not have been his brightest idea.
Chris Janson is Part of Warner Music Nashville’s Roster of Talents Again
In a recent podcast appearance, Janson shared that there were some skeptics about his decision to return to Warner Music Nashville. He recalled, “Everyone around me, and I mean everyone, said, 'That's not going to happen. There's no way.' I mean, how could that happen?” In April, he re-signed with his first label and released his sixth studio album, Wild Horses.
The “Til A Woman Comes Along” singer said of his decision, “I just follow my heart. I just didn't feel right where I was. For no other reason, I just didn't feel right in my heart about it. If I don't feel right in my heart about stuff, I just don't do it anymore.”
Creative Differences
Janson alluded that he’s had creative differences with his previous label partner, Big Machine Label Group. When he was creating his latest album, Wild Horses, he wrote, recorded, and produced all 15 tracks at his cabin studio in Tennessee: “[I] set up a little studio shop, smoked cigars, and just did it the old school way.”
When he’s done, he reached out to Warner Nashville's Co-President, Cris Lacy, whom he worked with closely when he first joined the label in 2015: “I just said, 'Hey, look, I feel like I made a mistake leaving. I'm not in a place where I really have to have it ... but I just want to make music over here again.'”
Fortunately, the label was not only willing to sign him again, but Lacy also agreed to let him bring his Harpeth 60 Records imprint, which gives him creative control. Janson said, “How many times do you hear of an artist leaving a major record label and then going back to that major record label three years later and also saying, 'Oh by the way, I'd like to have my own imprint so I can keep creative control?’”
The singer-songwriter also shared that he named his album Wild Horses because “it’s sort of, in so many ways, a middle finger to the person at my last record label who told me that they didn't hear it, it didn't sound like a hit."
