Lawrence able to use what he learned

• By JOHN WIRT
• Music writer
• Published: Oct 16, 2009

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Two weekends ago, country star Tracy Lawrence visited the United States military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It was a quick trip: early afternoon arrival; load-in, as they say in the concert business; sound check; an early show for military personnel stationed at Guantanamo; and then two hours of signing autographs at the PX. 

“I didn’t really get a chance to see much of anything,” Lawrence said shortly after his return to Nashville.

But the inevitable hustle-and-wait military experience that accompanied his Guantanamo show was worth it.

 “It was overwhelming,” Arkansas native Lawrence said. “There was a large group of kids there from Arkansas and a large group of kids from Texas. It seemed like that was a huge population on the base and they were all pressed up against the front of the stage. I mean, guys had their shirts off, whooping and hollering. A lot of them had been there since noon, sitting in lawn chairs, drinking beer, making a whole day of it.”

While his Guantanamo audience was over the top, Lawrence always sees much enthusiasm when he performs for military personnel, especially in Europe and other distant outposts.

“It’s like you’re bringing something from home to them, because they’re farther away from the U.S.,” he said. “They miss home, they miss their friends. One thing I hear so much is, ‘Man, it’s good to hear a Southern accent!’ They miss that, too.”

Lawrence played his first concerts for overseas military personnel in Kosovo. He’s since played military bases in England, Iceland and throughout the U.S. He plans to go to Iraq next year.

The singer — whose hits include “Can’t Break It To My Heart,” “If The World Had A Front Porch” and “Time Marches On” — once considered joining the military. Then two years into attendance at Southern Arkansas University, he was looking at his options. Lawrence ended up dropping out of college and joining a band in Louisiana. His 1990 move to Nashville led to a deal with Atlantic Records the following year.

Lawrence hit right out of the box with his album debut. Sticks and Stones produced four Top 10 country hits. The hits kept coming through the ’90s.

Following the Internet-sparked drop in music sales, Lawrence, like many recording artists, took the indie record label route. He released his past three albums — 2007’s For The Love, a Christmas CD that reappears each holiday season and this year’s Christian album, The Rock — through his own Rocky Comfort Records.

“It’s been the right thing for me,” he said. “But I had visions of grandeur that I was gonna break a couple of young artists. And then the economy bottomed out. We had financial backers in place but that whole thing fell through. We’re just now getting a lot of those pieces back in place.”

The release of his Christian album, something the singer wanted to do for years, was both rewarding and disappointing.  

“I felt like I was at the right place in my life that I could do it right,” he said. “It’s been received extremely well and the reviews have been really good. I hope that it’s touched some people, that it’s had the impact that I wanted it to have.”