Country singer Kane Brown addresses love and racism
Editor’s note: This story originally appeared on the website of Nashville newspaper The Tennessean (www.tennessean.com) on June 7, opening day of CMA Fest. The duet “What Ifs” by Kane Brown and Lauren Alaina is scheduled to be part of “CMA Fest,” an ABC television special of highlights from the festival airing Wednesday night at 8.
Kane Brown brought a lot of classic country to the CMA Music Festival on Thursday when he performed at Nissan Stadium: sincere love songs, a shout-out to the military and a powerhouse duet.
But Brown also touched on some issues that don’t always bubble to the surface on contemporary country radio.
Introducing the autobiographical song “Learning,” Brown, who is biracial, mentioned his “rough childhood” growing up poor and suffering abuse from his stepfather. And he touched on race, noting “there’s a lot of racism out there.”
He evoked the military as evidence that everyone was equal.
“They’re fighting overseas. It doesn’t matter if you’re black, white, red, yellow, blue,” he said. “Everybody’s got each other’s backs.”
Then he launched into the song, which recounted his experience “getting looked down on just because of your skin.” It also included lyrics about his “detective” grandmother protecting him from an abusive stepfather.
The song brought a welcome, fresh perspective to the evening. Brown conf idently walked every inch of the twotiered stage, although he acknowledged his nerves.
“I was so nervous,” he said. “This is my biggest stage I’ve ever played.”
Back stage, Brown said Thursday marked his first visit to Nissan Stadium ever.
“I was working at Target and FedEx before this happened,” he said. “I’ve never even been in the stadium for a football game.”
Brown might be relatively new, but his back catalog is loaded with hits, and he delivered all of them during his set. The receptive crowd sang along to long swaths of his latest No. 1, “Heaven.”
His first No. 1, “What Ifs,” delivered an added jolt of star power, bringing Kane’s friend and fellow hit-maker Lauren Alaina to the stage for sky-scraping vocals.
Adam Tamburin writes for The Tennessean in Nashville.