Sam Riggs talks LJT, touring and a new album

Riggs+%28left%29+performed+an+exclusive+acoustic+set+for+Tarleton+students+in+January.

Riggs (left) performed an exclusive acoustic set for Tarleton students in January.

Country singer Sam Riggs is quickly taking the nation by storm. Having been recognized by both Study Breaks and Texas Music Pickers as Entertainer of the Year, Riggs and his band have been touring all year with various artists. Recently, Rolling Stone Country featured Riggs in their ‘5 Minutes in Texas’ section.

Riggs also has a new album coming out this year, and will be participating in the Larry Joe Taylor music festival in Stephenville later this spring.

JTAC News chatted with Riggs on Thursday to find out what he’s been up to since we saw him last month. Met with his usual upbeat charm, even via telephone, Riggs talked songwriting, his new album and life on the road.

So what have you been up to since we saw you last?

Touring my ass off [laughs]. I’ve been writing quite a bit for the new record, too, and just doing the thing.

What can fans expect from this new album?

Some of the old, and a lot of the new. It’ll be a Sam Riggs album, so to speak, but it’ll definitely have some new stuff. I would say the rockin’ songs are gonna rock harder, and the darker songs are gonna be darker.

You were recently recognized by Rolling Stone Country – tell us about that.

Yeah, that piece came out this week. I guess they’d been looking at me for a little while, and then I put out a teaser video for “Secondhand Smoke”, and they got very excited and called Brandy [Reed, of RPR Media] and said they wanted to do a piece. They have a section called ‘5 Minutes in Texas’ and they featured me in that.

So when does your next big tour start up?

We pretty much tour all the time. The last couple of weeks I’ve had some days off. My drummer’s getting married this year so the bachelor party is next Saturday. But I’m basically gone 75% month.

With you being married, how does that work? Does your wife travel with you?

Natalie is a filmmaker and photographer, so she’s got her own shit to run while I’m gone. You find a way to make it work – you’ve gotta be present when you’re home and when you’re gone. We do text a little bit, but for the most part, she knows I’m out there hustling all day and all night, and she’s busy, too. So we kind of just let each other do our thing.

What else is going on in the next few months?

We’re pretty busy week next week, all things considered. We start out in Tomball [Texas] on Wednesday, then we’ll be at the Bat Bar in Austin on Thursday, and then we play in San Marcos on Friday. This summer is gonna be crazy. We’re going on a couple tours and just released a bunch of new tour dates, including some wtith Zane Williams & Mike Ryan. I’ll be back here for LJT, too.

I’ll be doing a couple of shows with Cody Johnson later this spring in Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota and a couple of other places, too.

Sounds like you’re busy.

I feel busy, and lucky. It’s a blast – the best job on earth – but it’ll work you to the bone. You just gotta find a way to balance.

To read about Riggs in Rolling Stone Country, visit http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/5-minutes-in-texas-with-sam-riggs-20150220