James Dupré knows how to make a play on words and a play on heartstrings, particularly in the most atypical football season in history. In his latest single “Home and Away,” the title track of his album due out this week, he evokes Friday night high school football in a small Southern town. The video, obviously pre-Covid, shows sparse seating only in the visiting team’s stands. These days Dupré ’s fans can identify more with the song’s persona—stuck at home nursing a heartbreak and maybe a little bourbon and ice.
The Louisiana native grew up in the kind of Southern small town his song and video evoke, and while he’s been living in Nashville for going on ten years now, he says when his wife mentions going home, “I know she’s talking about Louisiana.”
Before making the break to pursue a music career, Dupré worked for six years as a paramedic but considered it a temporary job, “while I honed my songwriting and worked up the nerve to move to Nashville.” He says the music bug big him early. When he heard Vince Gill and noticed his voice, he thought, “I want to sound just like him” and studied everything Gill did with his voice. In recent years, he did the same thing with Randy Travis, which paid off in a big way in 2019 when, after Travis’s stroke, he decided he wanted to take the band back on the road. He asked Dupré, whom he had gotten to know when the two met on a set of an independent movie back in 2013.
Dupré recognized he had some vocal talent but needed the courage to move forward. While at the University of Louisiana’s Monroe, studying meteorology, he started playing guitar and joined a band. At first, he says, he suffered from stage fright, but since he wasn’t the band’s front guy, he was able to get his feet wet. Then when he had a few performances under his belt, he thought, “Oh yeah, I can totally do this” and starting singing lead a little more.
While Dupré gained major national attention on The Voice, earning a four-chair turn in the blind auditions, he had an earlier break when his Youtube videos got the attention of Ellen Degeneres, who invited him to play on her show. At the time, he says, the Youtube platform seemed a great stepping stone. The big stars were using it.
Now, he notes, “It’s not just a stepping stone; it pretty much is everything now.” He adds, “I’ve really never been as thankful for social media and the internet as right now.”
The Voice experience added to his fan base and his stage presence. While his selection of Adam instead of Blake as his coach surprised his audience, he says he took the advice given to the contestants before the blind auditions and listened to what each coach had to say before making his decision. He realized Adam was so persistent about beating Blake with a country performer.
“Every country singer picks Blake. I didn’t want to be known as a cliché picking Blake automatically. And I’m also glad I picked Adam because I got to work with the mentor for Adam’s team, John Fogerty, which was cool,” says Dupré.
Dupré says one of the best parts about competing on The Voice was the genuine camaraderie between the contestants. He has kept up with several of those singers with whom he developed relationships. He also learned some things about performing.
“Up until then I was basically just standing up on stage singing songs with my guitar and I didn’t move around a lot–sort of like George Strait’s style,” he says. “But I had to learn a little choreography, and that got me out of my comfort zone a little bit, which was exactly what I wanted.” He also said the team pushed them all to be better, stronger singers.
The chance to perform last year with Randy Travis’s tour was another great opportunity to grow as a performer.
Dupré says, “We developed a friendship through the years and even after his stroke, we did some charity shows and other events together. Last summer Mary called me and said, ‘We were tossing around this idea. Randy’s itching to get back out on the road. We want to get his touring band together, and we’d like for you to be the front guy, singing these songs,’ and I immediately said yes.” He admits that at first he was concerned: “What did I just agree to? I’ve got to stand up there and sing these incredible songs in front of Randy’s fans and do them justice; otherwise, they’re going to kill me.”
He decided not to try to sound like Travis. “I don’t think anyone can,” he said, “so I decided I’m going to sound like me and do my best with these songs.”
The tour started right after Dupré ’s baby daughter was born, so she and his wife joined them on the tour, which wrapped up with a show at the Ryman Auditorium in November.
During the quarantine, Dupré says he may have been less productive than if he had been out on the road, but, he says, “I do sort of have an excuse. I have a one year old at home, so I have basically been a stay-at-home dad this year. I love pulling out the guitar with her. She gets very excited. I try to incorporate my music into my fathering these days.”
He also spent time working on final touches for his album in the works. “Home and Away” will be the title track of the recording set for release on October 9. Dupré co-wrote eleven of the twelve tracks. Someone close to him said this sounds like a more mature album. “It’s basically a theme of lost love with a pocket of love songs. Overall, it more of an easy listening, mid-tempo kind of vibe. There aren’t a lot of beer-drinking party song on it at all—not that I’m opposed to those songs,” he joked.
His interest in writing goes back to short stories he wrote back in high school. He admits he likes to be clever with word play, but when songwriting, he sometimes just likes to say, “Let’s just write and fun song and not think too hard about it. That’s what’s great about co-writing. If I go too deep with the lyrics, I like to write with people who pull me in and help me make things polished.”
For his ideal show, he says, “I love a good full band show with a lot of energy, but I also want to pack in a good thirty-minute solo acoustic set in the middle where people can really listen to the music and soak it in and then finish it up with some more energy. I think Eric Church does that the best these days.”
While the music scene in Nashville isn’t back to full tilt, Dupré has participated in a few writers’ nights lately, as well as an outdoor concert in Southern Indiana. He says he hopes to do a few more of those “until things get back to normal.” James Dupré s fans hope that happens soon.
