Love & Theft - "Whiskey On my Breath"

[Dustin J.]

You can stream L&T's new full length album here:

www.countryweekly.com/music/exclusive-listen-love-and-thefts-new-album-whiskey-my-breath

[Dustin J.]

Sorry for the double-post but... here's a FANTASTIC read about L&T and their life with RCA...

www.rollingstone.com/music/features/love-and-theft-drop-whiskey-come-clean-about-getting-dropped-by-rca-20150210

[sabre14]

Feb 10, 2015 16:31:40 GMT -5 Dustin J. said:

Sorry for the double-post but... here's a FANTASTIC read about L&T and their life with RCA...

www.rollingstone.com/music/features/love-and-theft-drop-whiskey-come-clean-about-getting-dropped-by-rca-20150210

Wow that's a great read.

I mean, I kind of already knew that stuff or at least had a feeling it went down like that but I like the fact that Stephen and Eric decided to share it with Rolling Stone. Gary Overton's lack of a good relationship with them is unfortunate and RCA was well documented going hard after Garth and Trisha and all the money that would have come along, though I don't think they knew at the time that Garth's first two singles would fail so hard at radio. The unreleased album being shelved has happened many, many times and it doesn't matter how many times it does happen - it's horribly unfortunate and has got to be hard for the artists who put all that time writing and recording the tracks. We were already talking about RCA and Sony shifting priorities away from them when "Night That You'll Never Forget" was charting and that certainly wasn't a surprise to hear.

I thought "Night That You'll Never Forget" was a solid choice for a lead single but I guess I was incorrect due to country radio not fully embracing it. The "bro" factor was alive and well in the Spring of 2014 when that was released but I don't believe that was the sole reason it failed. I don't like how Overton made it sound like saying that if Love and Theft were "bro" they would have gotten played, like it's a scapegoat to use in response to dropping them. Then again, we didn't hear from Overton himself so I always leave myself open-minded since one side didn't tell they're story. I will say without hesitation that waiting so unbelievably long to release "Runnin' Out Of Air" after "Angel Eyes" went recurrent was a mistake and doomed that single from the start.

RCA is not doing so hot in the radio department lately. Garth's first two singles failed at radio. Trisha can barely get played. Their new artist Josh Dorr is having a whale of a time getting going with "Save Your Breath" and Sara Evans' situation is self-explanatory. Luckily for them they still have Miranda, Jake and Chris on the roster.

I wish Stepehn and Eric nothing but the best and hopefully they can get back on track with a new label home shortly. Thanks for the link Dustin J.. :)

[carriekins]

What an illuminating read. Wow. Good for them. I wish them the best of luck. I was never a huge fan, but I certainly have a lot of respect for them.

[Deleted]

Whiskey On My Breath video:

m.youtube.com/watch?v=d2I11lUX0tw

[tsr]

Honestly, as a whole, I'm not feeling the album. But "Everybody Drives Drunk" is a masterpiece.

[sabre14]

I thought it was interesting that after Love and Theft played a live performance of "Everybody Drives Drunk" for The Highway in their "Nook", they said that they had wrote the song over a year ago but their old label didn't want to use it on an album - this was after the praise they got from the studio for the song. Another little subtle shot at RCA and Sony.

[wilbur]

yea their 2012 album was great and one of my favorites, but this album is just terrible, I can see why the label didn't care for it lol

[sabre14]

Feb 20, 2015 18:15:19 GMT -5 wilbur said:

yea their 2012 album was great and one of my favorites, but this album is just terrible, I can see why the label didn't care for it lol

This album wasn't meant for release for RCA Nashville. That album's rights is owned by RCA and Love and Theft can't use any song from that album that they made last year, for this one. Whiskey On My Breath is new music that they never recorded for RCA.

[Deleted]

Gonna copy the "grading the songs" method for this album

1. Can't Wait For The Weekend: C+
2. Anytime Anywhere: B-
3. Hangout Hungover: C+
4. Whiskey On My Breath: A+
5. Easy: B+
6. Tanlines: D+
7. Everybody Drives Drunk: A+
8. Can't Stop Smiling: C
9. Wrong Baby Wrong: A-
10. Like I Feel It: C-
11. Lets Get Drunk and Make Friends: A-

Overall: B or 6/10

[sabre14]

Sony Nashville CEO/Chairman Gary Overton responds to Love and Theft's details about being dropped from RCA. This comes from a Billboard edited article on Love and Theft.

Gary Overton -

"When we released Love and Theft (which wasn't a surprise to their managers, because we had been telling them for some time that we needed to have a hit and sell some records or we couldn't go forward), after three failed singles and minimal sales of their first album, we offered that they could buy the new unreleased music from us at our cost. What they had spent to record it. Not a dime more. We also offered to let them license all or some of the tracks from us whereby it would only cost them something if they were able to sell it. And we certainly would have let them shop these new sides to another label and the new label pay us back. We made the offer to their managers and never got a response."

"It might have been two months between "Angel Eyes" coming off the national charts and our follow-up single, "Runnin' Out of Air," entering the charts. When a single comes off the national charts, it is still being played in heavy rotation at many radio stations across the country. We wanted to give the first single time to recede on the airwaves before we began asking the radio programmers to start playing the new song. Nothing out of the ordinary about that."

"We loved Love and Theft's music and we still do. I don't know why, after we were able to get them their first and only No. 1 single, listeners didn't want to hear any more of their music. Our RCA promotion staff is one of the strongest and most successful teams in Country music. We released three more singles after the hit and could barely break the Top-40 on the airplay charts."

"I don't know why people didn't want to buy anything but that one single. The subsequent singles sold next to nothing. The first album has sold less than 100,000 units to date."

We spent more than a million dollars trying to break Love and Theft. Obviously we have to make that money back with at least a small profit or it's not a good business. They were making some great new music, but there was no excitement for them at radio or with the listeners. And if no one wants to hear it on the radio, and no one wants to buy it, we simply couldn't stay in business with them. And I got the nicest voicemail from Stephen afterwards saying he understands, he appreciates everything we did for them, etc. It meant a lot to me. So much so that I still have it on my phone"

Source

[Deleted]

I don't blame Gary Overton or Sony at all for letting Love and Theft go. As Overton said, they simply couldn't get any traction at radio, which meant not enough people were hearing the music...and that of course means very low sales.

I'm glad we got some insight, from the quotes from both the Love and Theft guys as well as Overton. But the whole situation was really not a surprise. It's a business, and that's how things work. An artist like Jerrod Niemann probably needs a hit with one of his next 2 singles or he might be in trouble (from a label contract standpoint). The Swon Brothers are probably already in hot water a little bit. If Josh Dorr and Steven Lee Olsen can't get hits, they'll most likely be let go.

It's the same over at UMG. Kip Moore was probably going to be in trouble, so I'm really glad that "I'm To Blame" has taken off so strongly. Kelleigh Bannen and Brothers Osborne are in desperate need of a hit. And then at Warner Bros., I actually think Gloriana could be in a bit of a bind. They can't seem to get any traction at radio or sell anything either (very similar situation to Love and Theft). Jana Kramer is another one who probably needs to score a hit with one of her next 2 singles. Over at BBR, Kristy Lee Cook most likely got dropped because radio just didn't take to her and her music.

I'm not saying that all of these artists are going to get dropped, but most of them will need to get a hit sometime fairly soon, otherwise their status with their labels will probably become questionable, simply because the labels aren't making money from them.

[sabre14]

After hearing from Overton (which I'm glad he gave his side) I completely understand why they dropped Love and Theft and I also wasn't surprised at all it happened. This is why the music business can be nasty. The artists who write, record and perform the music put so much hard work into it and devote so much time to honing their craft and making the best music they can - so getting dropped after recording most of an album is a hard pill to swallow. But if you're Gary Overton or really any other CEO of a label, it is still a bottom line business, just like anything else in the world these days. Even though I think some decisions aren't the right one's made by some executives and heads of labels, it's still a hard job. So many people rely on the success of his labels and keeping artists who aren't selling or accomplishing any sort of return is just not doable. They have so much to handle with their labels and sales are hugely important. It's just not cost effective to keep putting out singles for artists that radio and fans aren't responding to. 

The proof is right there with "Night That You'll Never Forget" and their last released album's sales. It was just a downhill spiral in terms of reaction and excitement from radio once "Angel Eyes" left the charts. Now, the one thing I disagree with Overton about is the waiting two months to release the follow up, "Runnin' Out Of Air". I understand the high recurrent play for "Angel Eyes" but that's still just far too long to wait and it couldn't have come at a worse time since late 2012 was so clogged up on the charts. Sometimes you just have to make the decision for radio and get the follow up out there.

All in all, I'm sad for Eric and Stephen but I too lean towards Overton on this one. I wish Love and Theft the best though.