Kane Brown Celebrates His 11th No. 1 Song, Talks Family and His Love for Nashville

Kane Brown launched his CMA Fest week on Tuesday with a celebration of his 11th No. 1 song, “I Can Feel It.”

BMI and ASCAP hosted the festive private event in BMI’s Music Row office.

Brown wrote “I Can Feel It” with Jaxson Free and Gabe Foust, a song that incorporates Phil Collins’ hit “In The Air Tonight.” “I Can Feel It” is the British rock singer’s first No. 1 on country radio.

While Collins wasn’t in attendance, Brown, Free and Foust lined up on the stage in front of more than 100 of their friends, family, and business associates to mark the song’s success. “I Can Feel It” was Foust’s first No. 1 song and Free’s second chart-topper.

“I just want to say everybody in this room has something to do with this,” Brown said.  “I just want to say thanks to everybody in the room. I love the fact that I got to be Jaxson’s first No. 1, and now I’m his second.  I get to be Gabe’s first No. 1.”

Brown said he treasures being part of writers’ first chart-toppers because he remembers the gratification of getting his first No. 1 song, and he gets to relive that moment over and over through them.

Kane Brown Loves Helping Other Songwriters Succeed

“I saw you tear up a couple times,” Brown told Foust. “I gave you a hug.”

Rusty Gaston, CEO of Sony Music Publishing, is Brown’s publisher. He said Brown was on tour in Toronto, Canada, and had one day off. Brown used that time to locate a studio where he, Free, and Foust could go write a song. “I Can Feel It” was the result.

“That is how you become a future Hall of Famer, how you become an Entertainer of the Year,” Gaston said. “That’s how you go above and beyond to make it work with every second you have. And that is what Kane Brown does. He deserves a huge round of applause because he is a special, special artist.”

Before the party, Brown said that having his own publishing company, Verse 2, adds another element of pride to No. 1 songs. Foust is a Verse 2 writer, and “I Can Feel It” is the company’s fourth No. 1 song.

“It’s just cool be able to get them their first No. 1 songs and be able to write and call them friends,” Brown explained. “Having my own publishing company now kind of puts a whole new perspective to this thing.”

Free and Foust theorize the song’s tempo and energy played into its success as well as that many people were familiar with Collins’ “In The Air Tonight.” The men said Brown did the hard part, which was singing it. And when they said anything Brown sang would be a hit, he called “bull” on the entire statement.

Kane Brown’s Daughters Kodi and Kingsley Helped Celebrate

“I think radio played a huge part for it, and I think it was just being an up-tempo in a moment where here wasn’t a lot of up-tempos coming out (helped its success,” Brown said. “I feel like if you ever have an up-tempo country song, because usually they’re very ballad-driven, it stands out to a lot of other things. Just being a familiar song already helped.”

Brown’s young daughters—Kodi and Kingsley—were at the party, which was another first for his family. He quipped from the stage that the youngsters were “paying no attention,” which drew laughs from the audience.

“It’s just so cool,” Brown said. “What’s good about Nashville’s like a family. We always see familiar faces, and everybody’s here to celebrate everybody. And I love that about this. I love everybody in here.”

Photo by Manny Carabel/Getty Images