Feel-good country duo LOCASH is coming to Boston's House of Blues on June 13. Following Boston correspondent Samantha Davidson sat down with Chris Lucas and Preston Brust ahead of their show to chat about their new album, the love they have for their community, and what fans can look forward to this Friday.

Note: Questions and answers have been edited for clarity and brevity

Following Boston: We're so excited about your performance at the House of Blues in Boston this Friday. The show kicks off your summer on the road, where you'll be stopping all across the country and hopping on some stops with The Beach Boys, too. What can fans expect from these live shows, from the atmosphere to the setlist?

Chris Lucas: One of our favorite cities to play is Boston, and I'm not just saying that because we're talking to Boston. No, I'm dead serious. There have always been great country music fans up there. We've had a very good relationship with the city. It's fun to be at. We love going over to Fenway too. Expect a good party, and we'll bring some energy to y'all.

Preston Brust: I totally agree. Like Chris said, Boston has been one of our biggest markets for many years, and the House of Blues is one of our favorite venues. The radio stations there are so supportive and just always had our backs. Having the energy of the Red Sox and the Yankees across the street and then everybody coming out of the game and then pouring over to our show, that's going to be electric. We've got some surprises.
I heard that the Patriots cheerleaders are trying to come over and hang out and meet some folks. Who knows who else? New Kids On The Block might show up. Who knows?

FB: Your song "Hometown Home" spent two weeks in a row at number one on Country radio. I read that you wrote it virtually during the pandemic. How does it feel to finally be out on the road performing not only this song but the entire album in a room with your fans where you can see the impact?

PB: It's crazy, Samantha. I mean, when we wrote this song, it was 2021, and there was no sign of shows coming back anytime soon. We were jumping on Zoom, praying that we would be able to get these songs out and perform them live. So you're right. It's amazing to see it come full circle. We write these songs, concerts come back, and then we start our own record label. "Hometown Home" goes to the top, and here we are. Coming to Boston and listening to everybody sign it back to us is a full-circle moment. "Wrong Hearts" is our new single, and that was written in 2020, so another pandemic song. We wrote some of our best songs sitting around waiting for the world to open back up. So this is fun.

FB: Your new album, Bet The Farm, is a passionate celebration of community, resilience, and joy. I read that you started your own record label, Galaxy Label Group, to have the opportunity to create with a more hands-on approach. How did your ability to take the reigns influence this album's songwriting and creative process.

CL: We wrote it a long time ago, hoping that someday we would have our own label. No offense to the label that we were on; there's just too much going on.
There are a lot of artists they have to worry about. We've always been hands-on anyway. It's really our career, so to put it in someone else's hands is very hard to do. They're going to go home to sleep at night no matter what, and we're not. We're always thinking about it. We had to do something about it, so we opened up our own label. We picked an unbelievable team around us. We've been in this industry for over 20 years and know who the people are that we want on our team, so we picked an all-star team to push our stuff. We can worry about us. With that said, we have now started looking at other artists, given the success we're having on the label, to help guide a new artist. So we're going to be there for them. It's getting really exciting.

FB: I can see that with the way you've brought all your music and art to life, it'll help catapult other artists when you start bringing them on. Along those lines, you've created this wonderful community of people who enjoy your music. What are your tips and tricks? What do you think is the secret sauce that has made it resonate with all of these people?

PB: I think just keeping it real. We've always been fun guys and try to relate to the crowds as we grow. They just want real songs, you know?
As long as we continue to try to deliver genuine messages through our music, I think people will attach to that, and it'll pull on their heartstrings. Whether it's a fun song, a sad song, or a love song, as long as it's just not contrived and fake. There's just nobody that hustles more than me and Chris. We should be on The Amazing Race, actually. So, I think that if somebody has real music and a hustle, it's going to happen.

FB: You've had a lot of exciting milestone moments where you've been able to celebrate and look back on your accomplishments, like visiting Live with Kelly & Mark recently, where you received a Billboard plaque. Are there any I-made-it-moments that stick out in your head?

CL: Fortunately, there has been a good amount. I would say one of my favorite things that we've ever done was taking The Beach Boys to the Opry. I'll never forget that day; it was sold-out standing room only. It was unbelievable. It was electric in there. A lot of stuff with The Beach Boys. I mean, we did a whole tour with Kane Brown, and that was amazing. He's become a really good friend of ours now, and there's a lot of things like that. Obviously, going platinum on a song. That's the first time we've ever had a two-week number one. And now we're on our own label, so there are a lot of great things happening. We're working along with the MLB. We have a lot of friends who are in sports because I grew up playing sports, and Preston had some sports, too. We always find that passion and a lot of these actors and these sports figures listen to country music. I'll be on the phone with Rob Gronkowski, and you don't even really think about who he is. He's just a buddy. And it's pretty fun to see all that. We're blessed.

FB: I love that. Really pulling on the Boston heartstrings with Gronkowski there. The album title, Bet the Farm, and the overall idea of investing in your dreams is also a great representation of your musical journey. What message do you hope that fans take away from all of your music, live shows, and the way that you're moving through the industry?

PB: We take ourselves seriously. We take our music seriously, but not too seriously. We're just a couple of dudes.

CL: It's just real, man. We're not trying to to save the world. Well, maybe we are, we don't know. It's one of those things. We just like to relate. We want them to relate to it. I remember how music affected me, and Preston remembers. You know, he's a preacher's kid, and the stuff that he listened to growing up made us the men we are. We want to be positive role models for our children and for other people's kids—someone to look up to and have fun. A lot of our songs are positive, and when somebody's going through something, I want them to put on LOCASH for three minutes to make them smile.

FB: I love that. It's inspiring to encourage people to live authentically and balance that work with play.

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