By Brent Thompson

A Nashvillian by way of Georgia, Ben Chapman wears a lot of hats these days – singer/songwriter, recording artist, touring musician, host (more on that later) and, most importantly, husband and father. Last year, Chapman and his wife, fellow Americana artist Meg McRee, welcomed a son, George. On May 22, Chapman will release Feet On Fire, the follow-up album to his acclaimed 2024 release Downbeat. Anderson East, a renowned artist in his own right and the producer of Downbeat, handled the production duties again on Chapman’s new album. On Wednesday, May 27, Chapman will perform at WORKPLAY. Recently, he spoke with us by phone from his Nashville home.

Southern Stages: Ben, thanks for your time. We are really enjoying Feet On Fire. Are the album’s songs newer compositions, older ones or a mixture of both?

Ben Chapman: To give a backstory on the record, 2025 was a crazy year for us. We found out on January 3 that Meg was pregnant with our son, George, and it was a little unexpected. I was already writing for Feet On Fire, so six songs were written before that time period and the rest of the record was written after that period. It was a pretty chaotic time, but a beautiful time – anxious and excited all mixed into one. Some of the songs like “Sweetheart (Ain’t It Hard)” – the song that ends the record – I’ve had that song for probably four years. I knew it was going to live on a record, I just didn’t know what record. We got to the final day of recording the record and I said, “I’ve got this song that I think that would fit on here.” I played it for Anderson and he said, “that’s got to go on there.” When I do a track listing, I like to make it cinematic and make it like a movie and end it with something I would say is the credit roll, and I feel like it’s a perfect way to sum up the record with “Sweetheart.”

Southern Stages: Do your songs continue to get tweaked even while you are in the studio recording them?

Chapman: Lord, yes. I am the king of tweaking songs and trying to get them perfect up until that final moment that it goes to tape. Anderson’s great about saying, “What if we change this word?” or “What if we change this chord?” and making these very musical moments in each song that weren’t there before. It just adds so much to each song when he does something like that.

Southern Stages: How did you an Anderson first meet?

Chapman: I think it started out through songwriting. I’ve always been an Anderson East fan, so it’s a dream come true to work with him. With Downbeat – the record I released in 2024 – I was thinking of doing it ion Texas with a guy named Beau Bedford, who is another great producer. Anderson said, “I just built a studio in my backyard – maybe you should come here and we try to work something out” and I’m so glad that I took him up on it. I was blown away by his production style and it just kind of worked out. It came together in that typical “not trying” fashion – you’re not looking for anything and it just hits you in the face, which the best things always do. Working with Anderson is definitely an example of that.

Southern Stages: You host an ongoing live series called Peach Jam. If you will, tell us more about it.

Chapman: We started that in 2021. It’s not like a jam where everybody brings their own instruments and we don’t know what song we are going to play – it’s more put together. I pick the guests and most of them are people I write songs with or people that I’ve gotten cuts with – they come up and do a song of their choice and my band backs them. It’s really turned into something that I never thought it would. We started it at The Basement in Nashville, which holds about 150 people. In the past two years, we’ve moved it to Basement East because it just keeps growing. It is my thing, but it belongs to the community and that’s how I always look at it. It’s authentic and it’s real and it’s really cool to see how much it’s grown.

Southern Stages: How often do you host Peach Jam?

Chapman: We do it quarterly. For the first year, we did it monthly and that nearly killed us because we were on the road and we came home and had to learn five or six songs in two or three days. We moved it to quarterly and that seems to be the sweet spot.

Southern Stages: Do you write with Meg often?

Chapman: Yes. On Feet On Fire, I wrote six songs with her. On the project she just cut, I think I’ve got five or six of the songs. We collaborate on everything and we write a lot together for other artists, too. We are at the same publishing company here in Nashville – it’s a family affair for sure.

Southern Stages: Aside from the collaborations with Meg, how would you describe your writing process?

Chapman: It’s a constantly evolving art. I always try to write a better song than I did yesterday – that’s my process. I like to get ideas on the road. I drive the band because I’ve got OCD and a control problem, so I have to drive everywhere [laughs] and I get a lot of ideas driving late at night. Sometimes you finish [a song] by yourself, but the best songwriters in the world are here in Nashville and I like to get help. I love the family part of it – It’s fun to write with other people.

Southern Stages: Some artists say – thanks to Spotify, iTunes, satellite radio and other modern outlets – that this is a great time to be an artist as music is so accessible. Others say – for that same reason – that the current climate is oversaturated, making it difficult to be found among the crowd. How do you feel about the current state of the industry?

Chapman: There are two sides to that coin. I would agree with the people who say it’s harder to be found now, but I feel like it’s the best time to be making the music I’m making. It’s not that mainstream and it’s not going to be on commercial country radio. I wouldn’t consider my music country – it’s just American music and it’s a melting pot of all types of genres. I would say that we are at the best time to be found as an independent artist. From what I see, people respect independent artists these days and artists are getting out of their record deals. Sturgill Simpson and Tyler Childers – that’s the in-crowd now. When that stuff does great it helps artists like me, Brent Cobb, Adam Hood, my wife Meg, Taylor Hunnicutt and all these people that are in our class.

On Wednesday, May 27, Ben Chapman will perform at WORKPLAY. Advance tickets to the 8 p.m. all-ages show are $20 and can be purchased at www.workplay.com.