Photo: Trea Allen
Kameron Marlowe guides listeners on a years-long journey throughout the 16 tracks on his sophomore album. Keepin’ The Lights On covers vast ground with songs about love, loss, growth and more. The long-awaited project arrived on Friday (May 31).
“When you sit back and think about your life what are the moments that come to mind?” Marlowe wondered as he announced Keepin’ The Lights On earlier this year. He added later in his announcement: “Never in a million years did I think a small town boy from Kannapolis, North Carolina would be singing every night and people would actually care enough to listen but they do. We all need someone to lean on and every single day I thank God for this life because heaven knows it ain’t easy keepin’ them ends tied but hey we’re keepin’ the lights on.”
Marlowe caught up with iHeartCountry earlier this month, embracing the events and the buzz of energy ahead of the 59th ACM Awards on May 16 at the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas. He was “running around like crazy,” catching up with fellow singer-songwriters from Nashville, including Ashley Cooke. The pair chatted with iHeartCountry at a Lone River Blackberry Ranch Water event days before Country Music’s Party of the Year. Marlowe also took the stage at an ACM Country Kickoff concert, along with Chayce Beckham, Megan Moroney, Dylan Scott, Nate Smith, Tigirlily Gold and others in the lineup.
Photo: Virisa Yong/BFA.com
“I am so proud of this album and how natural it felt piecing it all together,” Marlowe said in a statement of his sophomore album, produced by Dann Huff and including credits from Kendell Marvel, Dallas Wilson, Mitchell Tenpenny, Wyatt McCubbin and others. “Getting more honest and sharing things I battle with was something I had to really find courage to feel comfortable doing, but seeing the way my fans relate to my music made it all worthwhile. Keepin’ The Lights On is an ode to my dad’s commitment to providing for my family and the life lessons he taught along the way.”
1. “911” (Wyatt McCubbin/John Pierce/Micah Wilshire)
2. “Nothin' Slowin' Us Down” (Kameron Marlowe/Mitchell Tenpenny/Rob Williford/Dallas Wilson)
3. “On My Way Out” (Michael Hardy/Ben Johnson/Hunter Phelps/Taylor Phillips/Bobby Pinson)
4. “Never Really Know” (Kameron Marlowe/James McNair)
5. “Tennessee Don't Mind” (Charles Kelley/Daniel Tashian)
6. “Leaning On You” (Kameron Marlowe/Erik Dylan/Wyatt McCubbin/Taylor Phillips)
7. “I Can Run” (Tucker Beathard/Oscar Charles Gnaedig/Ben Roberts)
8. “High Hopes” (Josh Osborne/Trevor Rosen/Brad Tursi)
9. “One That I Don't Call” (Wyatt McCubbin/James McNair/John Pierce)
10. “Lock Me Up” (Ben Johnson/Jordan Minton/Hunter Phelps/Taylor Phillips)
11. “Will It Be There in the Morning” (Kameron Marlowe/Mitchell Tenpenny/Dallas Wilson)
12. “Quit You” (Kameron Marlowe/James McNair/John Pierce)
13. “Smaller” (Erik Dylan/Wyatt McCubbin)
14. “Strangers (with Ella Langley)” (Kameron Marlowe/Ella Langley/Will Bundy/Chase McGill)
15. “Broke Down in a Truck” (Taylor Baynum/Nathan Justis/David Micheal/Colby Williford)
16. “Keepin' the Lights On” (Kameron Marlowe/Kendell Marvel/Phil O'Donnell)
Marlowe said Keepin’ The Lights On is “very different from my last project,” We Were Cowboys, which released in 2022. “I feel like there’s a maturity to it. I learned a lot about myself over the past few years. I learned a lot about writing songs, and I really kind of took that and ran with it for this project, the life that I’ve lived in the past few years: getting engaged, and there’s a lot of love and a lot of loss. …This record really means the world to me. It’s got a lot of life … There’s a lot of songs for everybody on this record. So, hopefully it finds the right people.”
Marlowe popped the question to his fiancée, Meagan, last year. Since then, he said he’s been “writing a lot more love songs,” as he looks ahead to the couple’s wedding day. “There’s a lot of songs that are very personal to me on it [the new album], and it’s a lot about my life over the past few years.
“This has been a long time (in the) making,” Marlowe told iHeartCountry on the ACM Awards carpet. “I really wanted to be selective in the songs I put on this record and be very intentional about them …When I first started writing (music) in my bedroom, I knew that I loved to write, and I would just pick up my guitar – I had no idea what I was doing – but I was trying my best, and I think I just found that passion and love for it over time, and then once I moved to Nashville, and got in the songwriter community is when it all kind of clicked for me, and I was like, this is what I feel like I’m meant to do.”