Bio
Chuck Allen Floyd
Chuck Allen Floyd has lived many lives. Songwriter, guitarist, cowboy, lawyer, frontman – each phase no less significant or influential than the last. His songs reflect the full gamut of each experience, creating an honest look at the life of a man who could’ve just as easily spent his days in a courtroom instead of on a stage. Chuck’s path to the Texas Country music scene took him through Nashville, Amarillo, and Nashville (again), finally returning him home to Oklahoma where he stands poised to take his place among the Country Music elite.
Chuck’s career as a songwriter in Clint Black’s Blacktop Music Group allowed him to hone his skill of crafting songs that connect with a larger audience. Texas favorite James Lann recorded 5 of Chuck’s compositions on his current album, including the title cut, “Honky Tonk Kung Fu” (co-written with Lann) and the #1 hit “The Talent Requires.” Chuck’s songs have also been recorded by 2006 ACM Vocal Group Of The Year nominee Carolina Rain (”How It Should Be”), Trey Hensley & Janie Fricke (”Lisa On The Line”), Australian sensation Liam Brew (”Today I’d Take A River”) and others. His song “Borrowed Wings” won first place in the 2009 Billboard World Song Contest, and he was recently honored as Billboard’s 2010 winner for his song ‘Wishing He Was You’- a back-to-back feat that has never been accomplished. He was also named 2009 Co-writer Of The Year by the New Hampshire Country Music Association for his collaboration with Tony Matrumalo on ‘You Got Lucky.’ Floyd and Matrumalo went on to win the North American Country Music Association’s Co-Writers Of The Year Award for the same song. Chuck’s songs continue to be recorded by country music artists around the world.
Success as a professional songwriter is a mountaintop that few writers ever see. However, in 2008, Chuck’s first love of performing live led him to return to Oklahoma and to touring. Three songs from his first offering, “Tonight An Angel Fell,” charted in the Top 50 on The Texas Music Chart: “Living Like Rockstars (in a Honky Tonk Band)”- #31, “Good Morning Houston”- #17, and “The Right Girl”- #3.
Floyd’s second album, “Good On The Inside,” showcases the full arsenal of Chuck’s songwriting sensibilities, as well as virtuosic performances by his backing band, The Liars Club. Hopeful, funny, dark, insightful, driving – this seminal sophomore album encompasses the full gamut of emotions experienced by barflies and wandering souls alike, and further cements Chuck Allen Floyd’s status as a first-rate singer and songwriter.
Chuck Endorses and Plays:
LARIVEE GUITARS
ELIXIR STRINGS
WHAT THE CRITICS ARE SAYING:
Recommendation: Good On the Inside – Chuck Allen Floyd
There are no epiphanies in the world of Chuck Allen Floyd. There is no sudden spiritual or physical healing, no salvation through the love of a good woman, no grand promises of a better tomorrow. That’s not to say that Good On the Inside, his follow-up to 2008′s Tonight An Angel Fell, is devoid of grace and mercy. However, Floyd’s appreciation of life and its pleasures (and pain) is a bit more hard-won.
That concept mirrors Floyd’s own personal journey. When a three-year stint in Nashville failed to yield desired results, he set his guitar aside and enrolled in law school. It was only after passing the bar and beginning to practice law that he discovered he couldn’t leave his passion behind. The prodigal son returned to music, eventually landing a songwriting deal with Clint Black’s Blacktop Music Group. Now playing predominantly in Oklahoma and Texas with his band the Liars Club and contributing cuts to other artists’ records, he has never looked back.
Good On the Inside isn’t a dour record. It’s actually quite a bit of fun without being mind-numbing. Floyd and the Liars Club (Jon Knudson, Bart Weilburg, Thomas Young, and Justin Morris) deliver country-rock packed with plenty of hooks and manage to make it all seem effortless. Vocally, Floyd channels enough impishness and tenderness to charm his way into unsuspecting hearts.
The title track, a nod to regaining emotional peace of mind, manages to be uplifting without veering headfirst into schmaltzy territory. Stressing self-empowerment, Floyd sings “I didn’t see a blinding light on some Damascus road/Didn’t shake a demon that was eating at my soul.” The song helps establish the tone of the record, which discusses weathering personal and professional storms and emerging (most of the time) with dignity intact.
Refreshingly, Floyd clearly isn’t looking for anyone to save him from his tortured soul. When love blooms it’s rooted in flaws and forgiveness (“She Loves Me Anyway”) or based on passion meeting compassion (“Friendship on Fire”). Even portraits of heartbreak such as “What Are Fools For” center more on mutual respect and hope for a renewed relationship than dependency.
Two of the album’s highlights revolve around unanswered prayers. The striking story song “Nothing But Hard Times” potently chronicles a protagonist vainly trying to ward off ill health, mounting bills, and economic ruin. Anguished, he admits “When I pray/ I pray the Lord will finally cut me down/When I dream/I dream of shovels striking at the ground.” In desperation he makes a move that literally brings the flames of hell to his heels.
Alternately, “Hey God” is a cheeky take on not always getting the things that you want. Slightly irreverent and fueled by virtuoso performances from the Liars Club, it’s a stand-out that should get audiences singing along.
However, in the stripped down closer “All This Love”, Floyd proves equally adept at quieter moments. Accompanied only by sparse guitar, he sings haltingly of loneliness that threatens to consume him even under the most ordinary circumstances. While ”Good On the Inside” acknowledged that “the mirror doesn’t show” the positive changes, anyone who’s ever suffered a broken heart will easily recognize himself in the details of “All This Love.”
Good On the Inside certainly leans more toward Top 40 material (the album includes a cover of Eddie Rabbitt’s smash “Drivin’ My Life Away”) than some of the other recommendations on the blog, but I was pleasantly surprised to enjoy the album as much as I did. I have some questions about the sequencing of the album (in particular following “Good On the Inside” with “Nothing But Hard Times”) and could have done without the inclusion of “I Love You Drunk” but those are relatively minor qualms. At the very least, with a first place win in last year’s Billboard World Song Contest (for his composition “Borrowed Wings“) in the country category under his belt and songs from his debut in rotation on the Texas charts , it’ll be worth watching Floyd as he continues to build a following.
Oklahoma singer-songwriter Chuck Allen Floyd wins country division of Billboard World Music Contest
Norman-based country singer-songwriter Chuck Allen Floyd won first place in the country division of the 17th Annual Billboard World Music Contest over the weekend.
His winning song is titled “Wishing He Was You.”
This marks the second year in a row that one of Floyd’s songs has won the contest’s country genre, according to a news release.
For hear the song or get more information, go to www.chuckallenfloyd.com or http://www.myspace.com/chuckallenfloyd. If you like what you hear, he has a new album called “Good on the Inside” for sale on his Web site.
For a full list of Billboard World Music Contest winners, click here.
Congratulations to this great Oklahoma musical talent on his big win.
-BAM
QUOTABLE QUOTES:
The term “Country Music” covers a lot of ground these days.
But if you’re looking for that feeling of sitting on the porch looking out over the ranch;
or driving down a long, straight Texas highway, watching the cows go by…
this is your soundtrack. It doesn’t get more Country than Chuck Floyd.
Great for the car or the bar!
~ Clint Black ~
Powerful and soulful are the first two adjectives that come to mind when I think of Chuck Allen Floyd.
Both as a singer and as a songwriter, Chuck possesses everything it takes to be a major force
in this tough business. You can’t deny it… his voice and his songs are truly like a breath of fresh
air with conviction in every word he sings or writes. There’s no mistaking that I’m a Chuck Allen Floyd fan!
~ Billy Yates ~
