NEW ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: Christian Kane

By Bob Doerschuk
© 2011 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.
Before getting into the often raucous heart of The House Rules, jump ahead to the last track, one of only two not written or co-written by Christian Kane. If his cover of Tracy Chapman’s heartbreaking masterpiece “Fast Car” is all you heard from this album released on Outlaw Saints in partnership with Bigger Picture Group, you’d know that Kane possesses depth as a lyric interpreter that stands him apart from many of his peers.
It’s important to understand that from the top, because it lets us hear more clearly that on the riff-slamming single and title track (written by Kane and Blair Daly), the banjo-studded swagger of “Callin’ All Country Women” (Kane, Jerrod Niemann and Jimmie Lee Sloas), and the steel sweetened rocker “American Made” (Kane, Wayd Battle and Steven Carlson), his connection to the material is unusually insightful. As a singer, Kane knows how to bring each of these songs to life, whether an intimate narrative or a call to party fast and hard.
Produced by Kane, Bob Ezrin and Sloas, The House Rules combines the rough, raw edge that comes from being born in Dallas and raised in Oklahoma, with the sophistication Kane picked up after moving to Los Angeles and landing the lead role of Ryan “Flyboy” Legget in the MGM syndicated television series “Fame L.A.” He appeared in other TV productions as well and stars today in his fourth season as tough guy Eliot Spencer on TNT’s “Leverage.” But over time more of his energy went to KANE, a band he founded with Carlson. After they’d built a following in Hollywood clubs and a spot on local Country radio playlists, Kane and Carlson cast their lot entirely with music and moved to L.A.
With his good looks, stage and camera charisma and genuine Country feel, Kane has already gone far and is well positioned to go much further still.
IN HIS OWN WORDS
SONG YOU’D LOVE TO COVER“‘The Rooster,’ by Alice in Chains.”
DREAM DUET PARTNER “Pink.”
FAVORITE MODE OF TRANSPORTATION “My ’67 Bronco.”
FAVORITE FOOD ON THE ROAD
“I’m a sucker for Taco Bell.”
LUCKY CHARM
“My momma.”
PET PEEVE
“People that abuse authority ’cause they got beat up in high school.”
On the Web: www.ChristianKane.com