LOCASH: 'We just want to make music that people can relate to and that touches their hearts.'

Preston Brust of LOCASH (formerly LoCash Cowboys) gave Music & Lyrics an exclusive interview.

Brust talked with founder and editor Erin Grigson about music and his journey in getting where he is today.

Right out of the gate, Brust said something that made the rest of his words even more genuine:

"We just want to make music that people can relate to and that touches their hearts."

Isn't that the coolest thing an artist could say? That they just want to make a difference in their audiences' lives?

He went on to explain how he and partner Chris Lucas try to fulfill that dream.

"We have a song called, 'Best Seat in the House,' from back in the day - a couple years ago - that people still come up to us and say it's their favorite song because they lost someone special in their lives and that song helps them remember that they've still got the best seat  in the house and they're still with them."

As the LoCash Cowboys, the duo released both "Best Seat in the House" and "Keep In Mind," which Brust said is also one of those songs he hopes touch hearts.

"Songs like 'Keep In Mind' are about the relationship of parents and their kids or just someone that you love that goes away and they've always got a spot in your heart and they've always got a spot back home with you."

He also mentioned the duo's newest single, "I Love This Life," which made it to No. 1 on Sirius the HIghway on July 11, 2015.

"And our song right now, 'I Love This Life,' our current single, is all about no negativity, just all the things that you love in your life and I think in the end, I hope we're remembered for those kinds of messages as well as just being fun and being great entertainers on stage."

He stressed, though, that LOCASH takes their music and their performances serious, but they can have fun, too.

"We take it real serious. We want to go out there and have a great show every single night and help people forget about their problems for a few hours, just get up there and have a good time. I think that would be a really great legacy in this entertainment business for us."

What a great legacy indeed.

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He went on discuss why LOCASH and their music is so unique. The pair of musicians is great, but couldn't be more different when it comes to their musical backgrounds.

"We come from two different backgrounds. Chris was secular music with all kinda of 80s rock and Frank Sinatra and Chris, he knows I call him the human jukebox because he's the king of karaoke. He knows every word to every song ever. And then on the other side, I have the gospel. My dad is the preacher for the Church of Christ, so I grew up in the church with a hymnal in my hand everyday. So it's like I have all the gospel stuff and he's got all the secular and together we've got just about everything. It's crazy."

It is crazy... Crazy awesome! 

Brust's great uncle wrote "I'll Fly Away," a well-known Christian song, which, Preston realized while talking to Erin, is a bit ironic considering that "You Gonna Fly," (a song that Brust co-wrote for Keith Urban) was his first No. 1 hit.

"My great uncle wrote 'I'll Fly Away,' the gospel song and I think I grew up always just you know, appreciating that song so much because it was part of our family history, and I just loved that song. And it's kindof ironic that our first No. 1 was 'You Gonna Fly,' - 'I'll Fly Away,' it's kinda funny now I've stopped to think about it. It's a great parallel there."

Yes. Yes it is.

Preston said his biggest influence as far as songwriting is Baby Face, who is from close to the area Brust grew up in.

"The ways that [Baby Face] captured just every aspect of love... I think he's one of the greatest songwriters of all time."

From discussing his influences, he moves to talking about his favorite songs he'd helped write.

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"I have a song on Scotty McCreary's album called, 'The Dash.' And I wrote it with Kyle Jacobs and I think that song says a lot. It's about the most important thing on a tombstone is not the year you were born or the year you died; it's the dash in between, what did you do with that dash? I also love 'Best Seat in the House,' as far as LOCASH. I think 'Best Seat in the House,' and 'I Love This Life,' are two of the most... I mean 'I Love This Life,' is kindof simple in that it's just a laundry list of things we love. But man, sometimes simple is the best because you forget about those little things and you take them for granted, so I really love 'I Love This Life' and I really love 'Best Seat in the House,' so I have a few that kindof hang in there at the top."

Then Brust got really serious about the music business.

"This music business can be really tough on you and there's a lot of highs and there's a lot of lows and there's probably more lows than highs in the music business, but I think that the way we've learned to ride the waves when it's good and not get too low when it's bad and just kinda hang in the middle and kinda at the medium and keep writing songs and keep just putting good music together throughout all of it. And I don't know, I think that's probably the most proud I am of everything."

Did I mention the duo has written not one but TWO chart-topping songs? They wrote "You Gonna Fly" for Keith Urban and "Truck Yeah" for Tim McGraw. Still, that is not what Brust said they are most proud of.

"You know, I could sit here and say number one songs and top 10 songs and things like that and I'm very very proud of those things, but I think the biggest thing that I'm proud of so far is our resilience and our just never giving up attitude."

Stay tuned to Music & Lyrics for more from that awesome interview!