LAX

Album: American Love (2016)
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Songfacts®:

  • Jake Owen wrote this R&B-influenced song about a guy with a girlfriend who lives in LA; his cowriters on the track were Nathan Chapman and Andrew Dorff. Unlike many of the women portrayed in country music, this one is taking the lead in the relationship, introducing her guy to Jackson Browne and driving him around in her convertible. Owen told Billboard magazine:

    "I did date a girl out there in LA for a little while, and it was inspiring to me because she represented California in a way. She had that free-spirit attitude, and she'd say, 'Hey, let's go do this. I wanna show you this. I wanna show you that.' I think that it's a cool story. It's a way of writing it from a totally different perspective of allowing her to take the wheel.

    And that's probably my favorite song on the record, not just because of the lyrics. I love steel guitar. I've always wanted to keep it on my records, although the times have changed a lot and you don't hear that much steel guitar so much on records anymore. But on this song in particular, it doesn't sound so honky-tonk as much as it sounds almost like '70s country, kind of Gram Parsons. I wanted that feeling of just driving through Laurel Canyon, like you would think of an old Eagles song with the convertible and the wind blowing through your hair."
  • Jake Owen wrote the tune with his songwriting buddies after thinking about all the qualities of Los Angeles and all the times he went out there. He explained to Radio.com: "I used Los Angeles almost as a metaphor for this imaginary woman that I made up."

    "The song itself kinda takes the ride of, unlike a lot of other country songs right now, where the woman takes the wheel and she says, 'You come with me. I'm gonna show you around. I'm gonna show you this; I'm gonna do that,'" he added. "And I think that's really appealing and attractive sometimes, not only for a woman to take the reins and go, but the song, I think it's really appealing for people to hear that difference of a storyline."

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