Larry Fleet‘s Earned It album is out. The Tennessee native co-wrote 12 of the 21 songs on the project, but who he is permeates through all of the tracks on the record, giving fans a deeper look at who Fleet is as an artist, songwriter and person.

“It’s 21 songs of life, where I’ve been and where I’m headed, and where I’m at right now,” Fleet tells Everything Nash. “And ‘Earned It’ kind of sounds like an arrogant, maybe cocky kind of title, but it isn’t. It’s true. I’ve worked really, really hard to get to where I’m at, and like my dad used to say growing up, ‘Nothing’s gonna be handed to you. You gotta earn it. You gotta work hard for everything to get.’

“And so that’s kind of where I’m at with it,” he adds. “I’ve just written a bunch of those songs and this time I actually had a bunch of songs, great songs that I didn’t write that got pitched to me. So I cut a few of those.”

Fleet’s rise to country music success is far from typical. The singer-songwriter was working a day job that he was good at, even if it didn’t fuel his passion for music. Still, it laid a solid groundwork for the artist he would become, one who knew how to work hard and appreciate every opportunity.

 

“I grew up in a blue-collar family, a very hardworking family,” Fleet shares. “We weren’t rich by any means. We weren’t well-off. We worked for everything we had, and worked hard for it, which made us that much more appreciative of the things that we have. But I’ve been playing music forever, and then I started writing songs in high school and into college.  I started playing shows in bars when I was 18, 19 years old … It was something I always loved, and I didn’t know I could make a living doing it.”

Fleet got his first publishing deal when he was 22, with a goal of being a songwriter, far more than being an artist.

“I just wanted to write the song,” Fleet explains.” So I always did that, but I always had to have a backup plan, which was my real job. It always revolved around some type of construction, whether it was concrete or paving, or whatever. I worked really hard doing that. And then I would play shows on the weekends and during the week and writing songs. It was always a passion. But after years of doing it and nothing ever happened, I said, ‘Okay, this is not meant to be.”

Fleet might have continued in that belief that he was not meant to have a career in the music industry, if not for a chance encounter with Jake Owen, which changed everything for him.

‘He helped me get into some rooms with different songwriters,” Fleet recalls. “I started writing songs a lot more, and writing good songs, and worked that way up. I would open some shows for him every now and then, and just really focused on the writing part of things. And then as, as things progressed,I started singing demos for people and I was writing songs. I was fully engulfed back into music. After I thought I was done; I thought it was over with, but here I come back and, and it worked this time.”

Worked indeed. Fleet maintains a busy touring schedule, both headlining his own shows and opening for artists like Morgan Wallen and Willie Nelson, among others. With Earned It, Fleet is grateful for the opportunity to show his fans another, more personal side of him, one he wasn’t able to fully share until now.

“A lot of this stuff is where I’m at, like things I take for granted, having a family and kids and everything,” Fleet acknowledges. “It’s just where I’m at. And I know there are a bunch of people exactly where I’m at, because I talk to them all the time. I see them at the shows, and I see them singing. They send me messages on social media all the time.

“So, it’s as much an album for them as it is for myself, but it’s something that I love to listen to,” he adds. “I’ve worked really hard, and it took some time. We worked hard at it and took our time with it, and tried to make it as best and cool as we could possibly make it.”

See a track list for Earned It below. Find music and tour dates at LarryFleet.com.

Earned It Track List:

1. Earned It (Larry Fleet, Connie Rae Harrington)
2. Lucky Dog (Zach Abend, Smith Ahnquist, Michael Hardy)
3. Ain’t Mad At Jesus (Larry Fleet, Josh Miller, Jake Mitchell)
4. 25-8 (Casey Beathard, Nicolette Hayford, Jim Wolf)
5. Things I Take For Granted (Larry Fleet, Rocky Block, Jordan Dozzi, Brett Tyler)
6. Lord Willing (Larry Fleet, Will Bundy, Brett Tyler)
7. Two Beer Plan (Larry Fleet, Thomas Archer, Ryan Beaver, Mark Holman)
8. Taking The Long Way (Larry Fleet, Will Bundy, Brett Tyler)
9. Something He’d Say (Larry Fleet, Josh Thompson, Jake Mitchell)
10. Beer Needs A Beer (Larry Fleet, Brett Tyler, Logan Wall)
11. There’s A Waylon (Steve Moakler, Joseph Patton, Logan Wall)
12. Angels Were Gone (Rodney Clawson, Jessie Jo Dillon, Joybeth Taylor)
13. Try Texas (Jake Mitchell, Larry Fleet, James McNair)
14. Tennessee On You (Rocky Block, John Byron, Jacob Durrett, Ashley Gorley)
15. Muddy Water (Larry Fleet, Jesse Frasure, Brett Tyler)
16. Devil Music (Jessie Jo Dillon, Neil Mason, Brett Tyler)
17. Layaway (Larry Fleet, Mark Trussell, Josh Miller)
18. Much To Talk About (Tommy Cecil, Jordan Dozzi, Craig Wiseman)
19. Grow (Rodney Clawson, Josh Miller, Dallas Wilson)
20. Daddy Don’t Drink (Larry Fleet, Derek Bahr, Luke Laird)
21. Young Buck (Andy Albert, John Byron, Devin Dawson, Jacob Durrett)