Randy Houser Pours a Tall Glass of Country in His ‘Cadillac’

Randy Houser is preparing for the release of his sophomore album, ''They Call Me Cadillac,' which hits stores September 21. The Mississippi native is confident the disc offers something a little different from his previous effort, 'Anything Goes.'

"The main thing [about the new album] is that I like it!" Randy tells The Boot with a laugh. "The first album was more geared toward trying to write radio hits and stuff like that. This album was more written toward something I want to put in my record player. When you're listening to radio and hear the same 20 songs over and over and over, you want a break from it. Sometimes you don't want to hear something that sounds just like everything else on the radio. Eventually, if you hear the same sounds and the same musicians and the same mixes and all of that, it will start to sound like elevator music. It's just something that you hear all the time. Then it doesn't really catch your ear."

One thing Randy makes clear is that listeners can expect pure country music! "It's a country record. It's just exciting to be able to make music like that and how I want to do it and having a majority of the record be that. I think fans can really expect something different and something they haven't heard from me. That's exciting for me."

While the thought of the infamous "sophomore slump" has crossed his mind, Randy fees confident the music will speak for itself. "Who knows what will happen with the album. The sales might be a slump, but at the end of the day, I made a record that I like ... and it's hard to listen to myself. I think it if was somebody else I would listen to it. [laughs] I can honestly go out there and tell people to buy it."

The first single from 'They Call Me Cadillac' is the Conway Twitty-influenced, 'A Man Like Me.' "I wanted to put it on my last record, but I didn't have room. You think about songs and you play them for that long -- I played this one for years since we wrote it. I still hadn't got sick of it, so that's a true test to me. It's still fun to play every night. That's the way 'Boots On' is. 'A Man Like Me' is a song that kind of grows on you. I don't think it's going to kill everybody the first time, but you listen to it a couple of times, and it will get in you a little bit. That's what happened with me, but then once it did, I never got sick of it."

'A Man Like Me' hits radio on September 27, which has the singer excited to potentially score another hit single. "We need to get a song on the radio again -- a big song. But at the same time, there's more than one way to skin a cat. Radio is a big part of it, but I can't control radio. All I can do is put out good music."

On Randy's debut album, he had the honor of working with Vince Gill. When it came time to go back into the studio to begin work on 'They Call Me Cadillac,' Randy had one very specific voice in mind to join him on the song, 'Addicted.' "Lee Ann Womack was the only voice that I could hear singing this one little part," he says. "She was cool enough to come do it. It sounds so cool!"

Looking ahead to his third album and future collaborations, Randy says, "I'd love to work with Vince or Lee Ann again. "LeAnn Rimes is one of my other favorite singers. I love Reba [McEntire] a whole lot, too. I like country singers."

Randy likes country pickers, too, and says he'd love to someday team up with Keith Urban. "He is one of my absolute favorites and one of the people I think is a true artist who I have so much respect for. I know that it would be a crazy fit, but I think it could work as two songwriters."

'They Call Me Cadillac' will be in stores on September 21.