Lakeview Takes Fans on a Rock-Inspired Country Ride on ‘Slow Road to Stardom’

Suppose Lakeview’s Jesse Denaro and Luke Healy weren’t making potential country hits. In this case, they would be listening to SiriusXM’s The Highway early in the morning before digging in-ground pools in posh Nashville estates.

Weekend warriors turned Music Row favorites, the suburban Pittsburgh ensemble’s rise to growing country acclaim is a story that, when told in the spotlight, doesn’t accurately frame their rise.

That growth now encompasses her 18-track debut album released in September.

‘Dying Breed’

This self-titled album includes songs like “Dying Breed,” a heavy rock anthem that hits country and rock newcomers over the head while shoving a thought down their throats to consider.

They sing: You talk to the old and in with the new / It used to be cool to get your boots dirty / And bust your ass just to save enough / To buy that rusty truck / Now it’s pay the rent using daddy’s card / You rock your Carhartt like I’ve worked so hard / Guess I’m old school, a stubborn old fool stuck in a rut / Still trying to get back to the way I was.

His rise to country prominence doesn’t involve songwriter visits to the Bluebird Cafe or the Live Oak bar and restaurant. Imagine a hodgepodge of Chinese restaurants, church basements and VFW halls.

The fans at these shows? They include a fair share of construction workers, emergency room nurses, ride-sharing drivers and waitresses who wear Wranglers, cowboy boots and hats or love Metallica shirts, black skinny jeans and face tattoos.

In terms of where their shows have taken them, they’re a week away from headlining a sold-out Exit/In. It’s a lot different than playing for three people in a chicken coop in Little Rock, Arkansas.

“So many shows filled with so many industry executives who have seen and analyzed everything makes Nashville shows difficult,” says Denaro candidly as the pair chats with The Tennessean.

“To make Exit/In feel like the Reverb Lounge in Omaha, Nebraska in April – upbeat singalongs and fun times. That was the goal.”

Reverb is a corner bar turned premier concert venue, often headlined by artists who, in the Nashville market, typically open shows at the Ryman Auditorium and Bridgestone Arena on Lower Broadway.

‘Many long nights followed by early mornings’

Denaro is aware that there are more fans of the country’s mainstream rise for whom spending $40 for two tickets and $100 for a night on the town in Omaha is more affordable than spending somewhere between $1,000 and $5,000 for one night in the center of a major American city with a plethora of country and pop-crossovers topping the charts.

“In Nashville (and other bigger cities), they don’t like you until they love you,” says Healy. “We are comfortable when fans are willing to value a band over time.”

Building a fan base this way is something else entirely.

“Lots of long nights followed by early mornings,” says Healy.

Like Denaro, the performer’s story is that of being a day laborer who became a moonlight singer and who extracted songs from insomnia in the middle of the night.

Denaro points more directly to Lakeview’s single “Home Team” and quotes the following:

This is for the good ol’ boys who are knee-deep in that concrete / Working 60 hours because he’s saving up for a diamond ring / This is for that single mom who’s working a double shift / Cleaning a plate so she can fill that one to feed your children.

“We share the same lives as the fan base we represent,” he says. “Those experiences they have of kicking ass end up in our songs because we know all about it. Our songs can seem full of clichés sometimes, but you know, sometimes those clichés are…true.”

‘What remains of the center… is a gift from God to others’

Healy notes that his status disregards elitist country and rock critics. However, for fans who value the sound of a song and its direct application to their lives over biases related to stereotypes, the space between the harsh and honest truths that are the foundation of both genres benefits Lakeview’s growth.

Namely, the track “Bad Day To Be a Beer” includes the following:

I’ve got a thunder cloud that always seems to follow me / When I’m late my keys are playing hide and seek / No, I’m not the type to ask for sympathy / But it always seems like I’m in the middle / The bill that hasn’t been paid yet Either my truck broke down / Waiting for a paycheck or my girl leaving town / Haven’t seen my luck in a while / But I think she’s coming back.

“People can smell inauthenticity,” says Denaro. “If you fake it, no one will believe it.”

It adds a direct line from Lynyrd Skynyrd to Jason Aldean and Brantley Gilbert as bands who delved into grunge and metal-laden grooves to sustain their careers.

“What remains of the center for some fans is a godsend for others.”

The ‘slow burn to stardom’ continues

While their history will always make them sound like a post-punk band for whom Warped Tour would be a highlight, Lakeview has plenty of country highlights ahead of them.

Next year, you can easily find them plying their trade on country festival stages and the Grand Ole Opry. This is after closing out 2024 by accepting a request from Breaking Benjamin’s Ben Burley to join the band’s tour (alongside Staind and Daughtry) to amphitheaters across America. Additionally, they are following up a successful European debut at 2023’s C2C festival with a UK tour to close out 2024. An already sold-out show in London is included among these dates.

As much as they enjoy giving interviews amid their developing fame, they are looking forward to playing their upcoming dates.

“We don’t want to get distracted right now,” says Denaro. “Playing live music and meeting all the fans is how we will maintain our slow path to stardom.”

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville’s Lakeview mixes country and rock on self-titled debut album