Daughtry comes to this town

by Nikki M. Mascali
Weekender Editor

Many musicians go their whole lives without ever making it onto the Billboard charts. Daughtry’s 2006 self-titled first CD debuted at No. 2 and quickly moved to No. 1.

“It was a pretty substantial feat because most of the time when you debut, that’s your highest point and it only goes down from there,” frontman Chris Daughtry recently told the Weekender.

The former “American Idol” season five contestant and his band — Josh Steely, Joey Barnes, Brian Craddock and Josh Paul — released their sophomore album “Leave This Town” in July. This one debuted in Billboard’s top slot.

“Which kind of made us nervous and made us say, ‘Well, maybe it’s only downhill from here ,’” Daughtry said with a laugh.

Daughtry has had much success in its short existence. Not only did it have the best-selling album of 2007 and the fastest-selling debut rock album in Soundscan history, “Daughtry” also received four Grammy nominations in 2008 and won three American Music Awards. What could possibly be next for the band that will perform at the Wachovia Arena in Wilkes-Barre Twp. Monday, Nov. 16?

“Aside from this tour, we’re going to see where this album takes us,” Daughtry said. “We’d love to see Grammys in the future. All that stuff is great, but more than anything, I guess we want to see the record carry us the next two years like the first one did.”

For some of “Leave This Town’s” tracks, Daughtry worked with Richard Marx, Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger, Lifehouse’s Jason Wade and country star Vince Gill. The result is a CD with catchy choruses and meaningful lyrics wrapped up in chugging, crunchy guitars.

“The Vince Gill thing was kind of prompted by Richard Marx, actually,” Daughtry explained. “He was in the studio with me cutting vocals on a song. I let him hear it to get his opinion of it, and he said, ‘Vince Gill would sound great on this.’ So he called him up, and the rest is history.”

Gill sang and played lead and rhythm guitars on “Tennessee Line,” a tune with a definite country tinge. Could a full country album be far behind?

“It’s not something I want to do,” Daughtry replied. “I certainly have a love and appreciation for it, but I don’t see us as Daughtry doing a country record. There’s certainly a time those influences show up in the music.”

While sometimes using co-writers, Daughtry constantly writes many songs for his band and other artists.

“There’s never a moment where we’re not coming up with something; well, maybe there is a moment,” he said, laughing, “but there’s always a guitar around just in case.

“I do write with other artists as well for their projects, so I’m always trying to make sure I don’t miss an opportunity. If something hits me that may not fit for us, it may work for someone else.”

During the season six results shows of “American Idol,” the song “Home” from “Daughtry” was played whenever a contestant was eliminated from the competition, and Daughtry’s music has been covered by several contestants, something the singer/guitarist will never get sick of.

“It’s always extremely flattering whether they do a good job with it or not or whether I think it was good,” he said. “It’s just flattering that people like our songs enough to attempt them.

“There’s YouTube videos for days of covers of our tunes. I never thought that I would go on YouTube and see people playing my songs. It’s really cool, and it’s definitely one of the best forms of flattery.”

When asked his thoughts are on the departure of erratic “Idol” judge Paula Abdul and her replacement Ellen DeGeneres, Daughtry paused for a moment.

“People are going to miss (Paula), obviously,” he began. “But I certainly think Ellen will bring something to the table that’s not necessarily been there before. From a fan of music like she is, I think her opinion is going to matter, in some ways, the most, because it’s coming, more or less, from your everyday person that buys records.”

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Daughtry w/ Theory of a Deadman and Cavo, Monday, Nov. 15, 7:30 p.m. at Wachovia Arena (255 Highland Park Blvd., Wilkes-Barre Twp.). Tickets: $29.50-$39.50, at Ticketmaster.com, Ticketmaster outlets, charge-by-phone 800.745.3000 or arena box office. Info: www.daughtryofficial.com