Dan Layus is driving through the Coachella Valley when he calls for an interview. He’s been listening to the Flying Burrito Brothers on his road trip through the California desert. "It feels right," he says about the music of the legendary West Coast band that featured country-rock pioneers Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman.
It’s a fitting soundtrack for Layus, 33, an artist who has switched and mixed genres in his own career. The singer-songwriter rose to fame in the mid-2000s as frontman of Augustana, a modern rock group that landed a hit with his self-penned "Boston." After the band broke up, he eventually transitioned into a first-rate Americana artist and is now fully embarked on a solo career. He performs at Lincoln Hall on Friday.
His solo debut "Dangerous Things" (Plated Records) was released in October and met with enthusiastic reviews. Recorded in Nashville, the album draws inspiration from classic and alternative country. Layus is an intimate singer, his voice weathered and confessional against the minimalist production of fiddle, pedal steel, acoustic guitar and piano. Sibling duo the Secret Sisters provide ethereal background vocals on a number of tracks.
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As a songwriter, Layus has a keen eye for the devastating detail. "Driveway" is a heartbroken whisper of a song that chronicles the end of a marriage. Sung from the man’s point of view, the song opens with a numb wife in the kitchen while her estranged husband sits in his truck in the driveway.
Layus drew inspiration for the song from a real life experience. One winter day when he was driving home from a songwriting session, he passed a friend’s house and saw his buddy sitting alone in his truck in the driveway. Layus slowed down and observed the scene as he drove past.
"I knew he was going through this pretty tumultuous divorce," he recalls. "I looked in the house through the window and saw his wife and kids inside. I just kept driving. It was an awful sight to see — not that divorce is bad, but that this particular instance was so difficult to the point that he had to sit in his truck in the driveway to get through the night."
The scene troubled Layus. He went home, pulled out a guitar and began playing a melody. Lyrics began to pour out. When he was three-quarters done, he hit an impasse and was unable to finish the idea. He retreated upstairs and played the number for his wife Nina. Though not a songwriter herself, she lent her husband a sympathetic ear.
"She was in bed sipping a drink and reading," he recalls. "We were both super sad about (the situation with my friend). Nina thought the song was great and that she knew how to wrap it up. She threw in some words. It was perfect. I was blown away. I thought, We just wrote our first song together! We’ve never done it since and we probably never will, but that’s about as good as it gets."
The couple has three children ages 5, 7 and 10. They recently celebrated their ninth wedding anniversary.
"Nina and I have built this incredible life together from the beginning," Layus says. "She was with me since before my first record with Augustana came out. We had moved in together and fallen deeply in love and we just never fell out."
Layus and his family relocated from Los Angeles to Nashville nearly four years ago.
"As much as we would’ve loved a place like New York, we thought Nashville was the most realistic destination for what I wanted to do," he says. "The city had the kind of music community I wanted to associate myself with. I wanted to be around folks who were riding down the same river as I am."
That river led him straight to older classic country. For years, Layus had been a fan of Americana legends Parsons Marsbahis and Emmylou Harris. He had also long been drawn to contemporary alt-country bands Wilco and the Jayhawks. But moving to Music City inspired him to dig deeper into older artists of the genre.
"I always liked the West Coast country of Buck Owens and Merle Haggard," he says. "But in Nashville, (I developed) a deeper appreciation of country from the 1950s, ’60s and 70s. I dove into a different place in traditional country. Artists like Don Gibson, George Jones and Loretta Lynn opened up a whole world for me. Tammy Wynette’s ‘I Don’t Wanna Play House’ is one of the greatest songs ever written. It’s unbelievable what great country music can do to the heart in just a couple minutes."
When it came time to make his solo album, the rootsy bent of his songs came naturally.
"I never sat down to intentionally write a country or country-influenced song," he says. "They were just happening. I went with it. I didn’t fight it. It felt like the right thing at the right time. I’ve never had more fun writing or recording music. It feels like home right now. We’ll see where it goes from here."
Layus has played the Grand Ole Opry twice. The historic weekly live country show and radio broadcast was established in the 1920s. Its most famous home was the Ryman Auditorium in downtown Nashville before the show moved to the Grand Ole Opry House at Opryland in 1974.
Layus has played both venues. His Opry debut was at Opryland. He wasn’t the only one thrilled to share the bill with the veteran country singer Connie Smith — his daughter is a big Smith fan and was excited to hear her idol sing in person.
His Ryman performance was during a special Opry New Year’s Eve show with the Americana band Old Crow Medicine Show. Given the historic nature of both venues, Layus admits he had the jitters before his appearances.
"I was nervous," he laughs. "I made sure to wear my best attempt at a suit. I wanted to look sharp and like I belonged. The Opry band is the best in the world at what they do. They are so quick and talented. They rehearse you. Then you watch the other artists perform and wait for your turn. You go up and it’s over in a flash."
Layus doesn’t take his success for granted. He’s grateful for a life in music and the loving relationships that surround him.
"I’m proud to have built a career in music and to have raised a family as a middle-class working musician," he says. "It’s something to be able to have four or five records out before I’m even in my mid-30s and to have seen the world playing my own original music. It feels absolutely incredible."
Chrissie Dickinson is a freelance writer.
onthetown@chicagotribune.com
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When: 9 p.m. Friday
Where: Lincoln Hall, 2424 N Lincoln Ave.
Tickets: $22-$25 (18+); 773-525-2501 or www.lincolnhallchicago.com
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