Ben Gallaher‘s Country in the House album is out. The record includes his single, “Lovin’ You Gets In The Way,” written by Jason Aldean, along with Neil Thrasher and Lee Miller. The song is one of only two that Gallaher didn’t help write for his new record, but he knew right away that he wanted to include it on his 15-track project.
“Neil Thrasher, one of the co-producers and co-writers of this song played this song, and I fell in love with it,” Gallaher tells Everything Nash. “This was a couple of years ago. I fell in love with that song. I was like, ‘Dude, I gotta cut that song one day.’ And he was like, ‘I don’t know if you’re gonna be able to,’ ’cause Aldean was a writer on it. I was always such a huge Alean fan anyway, so I was like, ‘That’s pretty awesome.’
“A couple of years go by, and it just worked out,” he continues. “It still wasn’t cut yet. I always loved it, and I wanted Neil and his cousin [Patrick Thrasher] to produce it. That was the first time me and Neil got to work together on the production side. I’m thankful for the opportunity to bring that song to life.”
Country in the House was released in February. The Pennsylvania native is so grateful for the finished product, which was the result of a lot of hard work and hours in the studio, making sure all of the tracks were perfect for Gallaher, and his loyal fans.
“It’s a little surreal,” Gallaher acknowledges. “It’s like you work so hard on something for a long time, and you see the evolution of songs. They start from an idea on your phone, and then they go from jotting down some lyrics to then a work tape with a finished song, to then a demo. Then you play them live, then you record the master, and that’s a long span. So you get to see all this and then finally it’s out into the world. Then you see people reacting to it and making videos on TikTok using the songs. It’s crazy that it’s connecting with people all over the place right away.”
For Gallaher, the most challenging aspect of creating Country in the House wasn’t having enough songs — it was picking from the hundreds of songs he already had to choose which ones made it onto the finished product.
“The hardest part about making the record was narrowing down the songs, ’cause you get attached to them,” Gallaher concedes. “I’ve been playing these songs live, some of them for a couple of years. We put a lot of work into this record, not only writing the songs, and then we cut a couple of outside songs, but I played all of the lead guitar on it. And for me, I’ve always looked at a guitar solo or a guitar riff as an extension of the lyric.
“There are no words of course, but it can still stir up emotion,” he adds. “And I love that that’s another whole process of writing some of the guitar parts, and I love digging in there in the studio, and trying to marry the lyric and the melody, and the feel of the guitar solo, and the tone.”
Country in the House also includes “Still a Few Cowboys Left,” “Country Boy” and “Every Small Town,” among others. Find music and tour dates at BenGallaher.com.
