Photo courtesy of B! Noticed Public Relations

I feel like it was just yesterday that I spoke with Dallas Remington, but it was actually back in February for the all-virtual CRS (Country Radio Seminar). Time sure flies when you’re stuck doing nothing, but things changed rather quickly and here in Nashville life is getting back to normal, at least as far as live music goes. Tourists are converging on our fair city again and people that do music for a living are able to breathe again. The machine is up and running and here at Think Country we couldn’t be happier. Busy is good. I was glad to chat with Dallas Remington again because this time she had a boat load of good news.

She has a new single ready to drop digitally May 26th. It’s called “Princess,” but don’t let that sweet, demure title fool you. This ain’t a “sit around the castle grounds sipping tea and nibbling on crumpets” little ditty. This is more of a “park it ’round the bonfire and shoot whatever came off the low shelf” musical cherry bomb. Blast that volume or get the Hell outta the way! This is some good stuff right here. Remington, along with co-writers Bridgette Tatum and Nancy Deckant may have scored a king’s ransom when they penned “Princess.” One-hundred percent undeniable.

While I was doing interview prep at the completely normal hour of 1:30 AM last night, Facebook stories were auto-playing on my laptop. What do you know? For once, Big Brother helped me out, because there, like a beacon in the night, came my opening for the interview. Dallas Remington’s story popped on. It was actually a TikTok video shared to Facebook, and she was in tears, thanking WSM Radio for playing her new song, “Princess,” and for having her as this weeks Artist Spotlight. Well, that checked one thing off my list and that’s pretty much just where we started off when we got on the phone. Watch Dallas Remington’s TikTok video HERE.

Patti McClintic: Hey Dallas!

Dallas Remington: Hey Patti, how are you?

Patti McClintic: I’m good, how about you? You’ve got a lot of great things happening, I know that. I saw your Facebook story!

Dallas Remington: Yeah… I know… (laughs)

Patti McClintic: Whoa! Girl, I was gonna cry with you!

Dallas Remington: I’m so sorry (she had no reason to apologize). This morning I was doin’ my makeup, which was a very bad decision because I started cryin’ again, ugh.

Patti McClintic: Congratulations!

Dallas Remington: Thank you so much, thank you. Yeah, it’s crazy because I’ve had so many singles before, but like, I’ve heard it in the studio (the new single “Princess”) as we’re doin’ interviews, but I’ve never been in the car driving around and heard myself come on the radio, and it was literally the coolest experience I think I’ve ever had.

Patti McClintic: I can’t even imagine. If you had three words to describe what that feels like, what would they be?

Dallas Remington: Oh, gosh, three? Insane. (Laughing) Amazing. I don’t know, they’re all gonna be the same. How do you say the greatest moment of my life in one word? (Laughing again)

Patti McClintic: Mind blowing, I don’t know.

Dallas Remington: Yeah, mind blowing, yeah. Especially it being WSM of all the stations on the planet. It’s the home of the Grand Ole Opry. It’s the longest-running country music show in history, and they’re playin’ my music.

Patti McClintic: That is like the greatest honor in the universe for a country artist.

Dallas Remington: I know. I was like, “Oh, my God!” I was like, “Alright, okay, well, the next step is to make that Opry debut someday.” (Laughing heartily) It’s like, “Where do we go from here?” (More laughs)

Patti McClintic: It’s comin’.

Dallas Remington: I hope so.

Patti McClintic: It is, and when you do, I’m gonna be there.

Dallas Remington: We’ve got a whole long list of people that are gonna be there. We’re just gonna have to buy out the Opry. (Laughing)

Patti McClintic: Well, I will be there. Let me tell you, I really wanted to be at that single preview party at 3rd & Lindsley, but I had something else going on that morning, so I couldn’t go. When I first saw the name of the song was “Princess” I thought, “Oh, some cute little princess song.” Then I saw Bridgette Tatum’s name on it, and then I went, “Hmmm…”

Dallas Remington: (Laughing hard) All of a sudden it loses all it’s “cutesy-ness” right? You automatically know it’s gonna go hard if her name’s attached to it.

Patti McClintic: Oh yeah. Bridgette Tatum? Yeah. Bridgette drove her truck through a hardcore metal gate just so she could get out of a parking spot downtown once. She doesn’t mess around. (Laughing) (Bridgette Tatum told me that story herself, no hearsay around these parts.) So, yeah, after that I couldn’t wait to hear it, and that song is an ass kicker!

Dallas Remington: (Laughing) Thank you!

Photo courtesy of Dallas Remington

Patti McClintic: I haven’t played it yet for my husband, but I’m going to right after I get done talking to you. I was telling him about it this morning. I told him, “I gotta play you this song. Wait until you hear it, you’re gonna die.” It’s just a rock your face off kind of a song.

Dallas Remington: (Still laughing) Thank you!

Patti McClintic: I love it. So, tell me about this song. I did read that it was inspired by Bridgette’s Instagram post. True?

Dallas Remington: Yeah. So, we were gettin’ together with Bridgette to write the day after the Royal Wedding back in 2018 (Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, May 19, 2018). Bridgette had put something on Instagram that “You ain’t a princess until you marry a prince,” and I was like, “Ooh, I love that. We could get all sassy with that,” you know? So, we literally went to write with her the next day. So, we were writin’ with her and I was like, “I know it’s pretty weird, but I was stalkin’ you on Instagram and you said this and I think we could do somethin’ with it.” She goes, “Oh, honey I’m way ahead of ya!” So, she goes, “What about this feel?” Then she started playin’ that riff. That riff that we have literally held on to and built the track around that riff, and it was just like, “Yes!”

Dallas Remington: I think it was one of the quickest songs that I’ve ever been a part of. I think we wrote it in an hour and a half and I added it to my set literally the next day.

Patti McClintic: It’s so badass. Every part of it.

Dallas Remington: Thank you!

Patti McClintic: Put me in that writers’ room for that hour and a half, I want to be there. One of my favorite lines in that song, and you know, I was trying to write some of ’em down and grab ’em in my head, but you’re such a master at delivering those lines so quick, and I just couldn’t get ’em all, but I loved the “88 Soybean Queen” line!

Dallas Remington: (Laughs) That seems to be everybody’s favorite.

Patti McClintic: Who came up with that? That’s so funny.

Dallas Remington: Oh, we were sittin’ there, you know, it’s been three years now, it was literally three years ago last week that we wrote the song. We were sittin’ there tryin’ to think of something that we could compare her (the song’s main character) to. You know, something like, “It don’t count that your mama might have been the County Fair Queen.” Close to where I’m from we have a Soybean Festival. Then we found out that everyone around the world has a soybean festival apparently – around the country at least.

Dallas Remington: I can’t remember who specifically said it, but I think we just had the Soybean Festival like, the weekend before around here, so I was like, “What about Soybean Queen?” That was it, we just went with it. We were like, “Yeah! It don’t count that your mama was the ’88 Soybean Queen,” and it’s so funny because that’s been everyone’s favorite line. Out of all the lines, that’s the one that sticks in everybody’s mind. We have people comin’ up to us sayin’, “I want a t-shirt that says that line on it,” or “I want merch. I want everything with that.” I’m like, “Okay, that’s cool,” but everywhere we go though it’s so funny because they’re like, “How do you know about the Soybean Queen?” I’m like, “Because they had a Soybean Festival near me.” They’re like, “We have a Soybean Festival!” So, it’s crazy that all around the country everyone has a Soybean Queen. So, I was glad that was able to be related to everybody.” (Laughing)

Patti McClintic: I’m obsessed with ball caps and I’d love an “88 Soybean Queen” ball cap with your name stitched on there somewhere.

Dallas Remington: That would be awesome! We’re tryin’ to come up with some stuff, some different kinda merch things because everything we’ve branded has been pink, so we’re tryin’ to figure out things that guys and girls can wear that’s not all pink. You know, guys don’t wanna wear tiaras and stuff like that, so we gotta figure it out, but that’s a good idea, “88 Soybean King,” I wrote that down.

Patti McClintic: Yeah, you could go with that kinda olive green color. I don’t know what color soybeans are, but I like that color and it’s definitely not all girly. Another thing I love about this track is the instrumentation. It’s really cool, I hear a lot of fiddle, a ton of fiddle.

Dallas Remington: Thank you, that’s Jenee Fleenor. She killed it. Everybody knows who she is. She is so good and we actually filmed a video for this song. We haven’t had a release date for it yet, but Jenee came out and played fiddle and I got to hang out with her for a full day, and I was like, “I just love you. You’re my favorite person now.” So, my producer, Eric Torres, this is my third single that he produced, and we’ve done three pretty different-sounding singles for me, all in the same vein, but different things we needed, different sounds we wanted. He just blows my mind every time when he’ll send me the track back.

Photo courtesy of Jenee Fleenor on Facebook

Dallas Remington: The funny thing about this one is we had actually cut it two years ago, and about last December I went over there and I was talkin’ to him and I was like, “Don’t get mad at me, but do you think we might be able to make this a little more “In your face?” I asked him, “Like, maybe recut it?” He was like, “I’ll tell you, I was thinkin’ that same thing,” and my mama had been thinkin’ that same thing. So, we went in from December until March and we recut a bunch of stuff, and originally we didn’t have Jenee on there at all. We didn’t have any fiddle. I said, “Why don’t we just try a fiddle?” He said, “I think that’d be cool,” and he sent it over to Jenee and she sent her parts back, and the next thing you know he’s like, “Okay, Jenee’s comin’ over to track her fiddle parts and we’ve got a new guitar part, we’ve got all this stuff and we’re good to go!” He sent me a new track in, like, a week, and you know, the track we had was already great, but it went from great to amazing in a week.

Patti McClintic: I can’t even imagine that song without the fiddle! It’s just all over the place. It’s like fireworks goin’ off in there.

Dallas Remington: (Laughs in agreement) I know! I know! That’s the thing, I was tellin’ him (Producer Eric Torres) about it yesterday. I was tellin’ him about the people who had heard the older one. I told them we were thinkin’, “Oh, you know, if we took some of the guitar parts out and replaced ’em with fiddle…” They were like, “Oh, that’d be cool.” I was like, “No. Dude, it was amazing. Just wait. You have to hear it.” Because not everybody’s heard the track yet, obviously. So, then I got it back and it had the fiddle added to it, and the new guitar parts, and we redid the drums and made them a little more muddy and in your face, if that’s a combination you can do? Muddy, but still in your face? (Laughs)

Dallas Remington: I redid the vocals as well, because I tracked the original vocals when I was 19, so I was like, “You know, we’ll probably redo the vocals,” but he re-sent the track to me, new track with the old vocals, and even then I was like, “Oh, my gosh, we’re just on another planet with this song.” So, then we went in and redid the vocals and, oh, my gosh! I have listened to this track more than any of my other songs, before it’s even come out. I just have fun listening to this one and jammin’ to it. I hope the whole world does too. I drive around all the time blasting it because it’s just so much fun, it’s so in-your-face. It’s sassy, you can scream along with it, it’s just beyond my wildest dreams. I’m so proud to have all the musicians on the team that we had on it.

Patti McClintic: Who all played on it? I’m dying to know, because these musicians deserve a shout out.

Dallas Remington: I know Phil Lawson did the drums, I do know that one off the top of my head. He’s been around forever and played for everybody. Bass was Danny Faillo. Acoustic and electric guitars were Justin Ostrander. Keys were Dave Dorn and Jenee Fleenor on Fiddle.

Patti McClintic: My mom up in New York, is a big Jenee Fleenor fan. Now I can officially tell her that I know somebody who knows Jenee Fleenor. She watches a lot of RFD-TV and Jenee is on so many of those shows. My parents watch a bunch of those shows, some they watch over and over. They love that channel. Jenee is so talented.

Dallas Remington: Yes she is. It’s funny because back in March I was in Oklahoma doing my first gig of the year, my first travel dates of the year. I was ridin’ in a truck with another artist and his fiddle player on the way to a gig, and he said, “Y’all know who sings this song?” I said, “Well, yes, it’s a Terri Clark song,” and the fiddle player went, “Yeah, because that’s Jenee Fleenor playin’ that fiddle.” Oh, my gosh. It was so weird, because I had literally just sent a text to Jenee. I was like, “You’re not gonna believe who I literally just texted,” ’cause she was fangirlin’ all over Jenee already. She’s like, “Who?” I’m like, “Jenee Fleenor,” and she’s like, “I hate you, but I love you so much now!”

Patti McClintic: Wow.

Dallas Remington: She said, “If I come to Nashville, will you please introduce me to Jenee?” (Laughs) I said, “I’ll try.”

Patti McClintic: If my mom comes to Nashville, I’ll have to hit you up so you can introduce my mom to Jenee. My mom fangirls over a lot of people she sees on RFD-TV.

Dallas Remington: Well, it’s a good channel to watch.

Patti McClintic: Oh, it is. Alright, “Princess” is so “Miranda-esque.” If I were an A&R person and you came in and played me that song, I’d probably be thinking, “You know what? I think maybe we need this girl.” When I say that to you, what goes through your mind?

Dallas Remington: That’d be amazing. I’ve been in Nashville for 10 years, so we’re waitin’ for that A&R person to say they need me, because we’ve been lookin’ for ’em for a long time.

Patti McClintic: Yeah, I think this is the song Dallas. This is the song. This is so the song.

Dallas Remington: Thank you, thank you so much.

Patti McClintic: Hey, I’m no A&R person, but if I was and I heard it, I’d say, “Hell, yeah,” and we all know a “Princess,” or maybe a hundred, you know?

Dallas Remington: Or a few, yeah.

Patti McClintic: Or go downtown and you can find them. They’re everywhere. Let me ask you this, who’s your favorite princess, either real or fictional, and why?

Dallas Remington: Like a Disney princess or something?

Patti McClintic: Yeah, any princess, sure.

Dallas Remington: Okay, well my mom and I were actually talking about this the other day. My favorite princess wasn’t actually a princess, it was Mulan. You know, I was on that female empowerment train way before, back when I was growin’ up, and I just loved the animated version of the movie and I love the new version. I love a strong woman that can defend herself, that’ll do what she can to defend herself and her family, so I’ve just always really related to Mulan. I’ve always loved that movie, played it on repeat, and I’m not the biggest musical fan, but I will sing that soundtrack to that movie from start to finish. Love the entire soundtrack, love the movie, characters, all of it. I’ve always just related to her because she is so strong and independent. That’s what I’ve always been and I know I’ve been a handful to my mama and my daddy, thanks to Mulan probably. (Laughs)

Patti McClintic: I love that movie too, and that soundtrack. Where are you going to be on the road next? Where are you headed?

Dallas Remington: We are, in just a couple weeks, headed out to Montana. I’m gonna be playin’ the Red Lodge Songwriter Festival.

Patti McClintic: Jealous, jealous, jealous. If you need someone to go, maybe just to carry your hat…

Dallas Remington: (Laughing) It’s always such a fun trip. We got to go last year to Bozeman during quarantine, and that was our one trip of the year. We drove out there and it took us four days to drive out there. So, this time, we’re flyin’, and we’ll be there in a grand total of six hours, and it’ll be a lot easier (laughing). We’re pretty excited. I get to play the festival June 24th through June 26th, so I’ll be playin’ out there Thursday through Saturday. Then we’re gonna go on a white water raftin’ trip while we’re out there. Then we’re gonna go to Yellowstone for a day and go down to Jackson Hole, which is my favorite place on the face of the planet, and then we fly back.

(I mentioned that I was pretty sure we were free near the end of June just in case she needed any extra company. I even checked with my husband and he confirmed we were available to help out if needed.)

Dallas Remington: Y’all should come, it’ll be fun, there’s gonna be a bunch of hit songwriters. It’s a “business expense.” (Laughing again)

Patti McClintic: You do need someone to carry that hat because you don’t want it damaged.

Dallas Remington: That’s true. Actually the pink hat that I wore in the picture for this single, and all that stuff I’ve been wearing all this time, I bought it in the little town of Red Lodge the last time we were out there.

Patti McClintic: Come on, really?

Dallas Remington: Yeah, fun fact. So, we might be comin’ home with another one knowin’ us, because it’s my favorite little store, it’s called Paris Montana. It’s right there in Red Lodge and she has some of the coolest clothes, coolest hats. We did like, six different outfits for this photo shoot, but I think there’s something from Paris Montana in three of the outfits.

Patti McClintic: How’s the crowd reaction been to “Princess” if you’ve played it live?

Dallas Remington: So, we added this one to the live set literally the day after we wrote the song. We’ve played it everywhere, from the Houston Rodeo to Red Lodge, Montana to everywhere, and it’s always a crowd favorite, which is always a good sign right off the bat. You know, I remember right after we wrote it, I was out in Gatlinburg playin’ the Smoky Mountains Songwriters Festival, and I had a line of like, 20 people waitin’ to meet me, and every single one of ’em picked up my CD and said, “Is that ‘Princess’ song on here?” I was like, “Well, no, but will you buy the CD anyway?” They were like, “Yeah, but tell us when you get the ‘Princess’ song, because we want that one on a CD too.” So, that was the coolest thing, and every show has been like that since. We’ve even had industry meetings where I’ve played ’em songs from my last CD, and then I’ll play “Princess” at the end. Then I’ll say, “Hey, you know, we’re workin’ on this one right now.” Then they’re like, “Let us know when you have the recording of that.”

Photo courtesy of Dallas Remington

Patti McClintic: See? I’m not an A&R person, but maybe I missed my calling.

Dallas Remington: Yep, you called it.

Patti McClintic: Okay, we’re almost out of time. Let’s do this to round out the last couple minutes. I’m gonna give you the name of a famous princess and you tell me if she could survive Nashville. Then tell me why or why not. Easy, right?

Dallas Remington: Okay.

Patti McClintic: Snow White.

Dallas Remington: No, because you ain’t got time to sleep.

Patti McClintic: (Laughing) That was so good! That was quick!

Patti McClintic: Mulan.

Dallas Remington: Yeah, she definitely could. She’d be the girl that you’d wanna stay outta her way because she’s your competition.

Patti McClintic: She’s Bridgette Tatum.

Dallas Remington: Yeah! She’s the Bridgette Tatum of Nashville. Let the girl do her thing.

Patti McClintic: Princess Diana.

Dallas Remington: I think so, because everyone loved her. You know, she was “The People’s Princess.” That’s a big thing that helps in Nashville is having a personality that people love. You know, that goes a long way, with talent as well, but being someone that everyone loves, and loves to hang out with, and wants to talk to, if you have that type of personality you go a long way in this town.

Patti McClintic: You are so good at this!

Dallas Remington: Thank you.

Patti McClintic: I just made this dumb game up and you are so good at it! I need to invite you to a party!

Patti McClintic: Princess Leia.

Dallas Remington: Oh yeah. She’s gonna be hangin’ with me, I love her. Once again, I think she’s one of those where you just get out of her way because you can’t tell her no. If you tell her no, she’s gonna show you how she can do it and she’s gonna show you three other ways she can do it as well.

Patti McClintic: Finally, Elsa from Frozen.

Dallas Remington: Well, I think so, but she’d have to control that temper.

Patti McClintic: Yeah, but if she doesn’t like you, she’ll just freeze you.

Dallas Remington: Freeze you, right, and she’s got the voice for it, good Lord!

Patti McClintic: That’s true. She’d be the one to worry about, singing over everyone else. Well, that’s it, we made it with four minutes left to spare. Go grab a coffee or something.

Dallas Remington: I have to run to Kroger.

Patti McClintic: Alright then, you go to Kroger, I’m getting coffee. It was great talking to you. I’m going to go play that song for my husband and jam out and dance. Hope to see you soon!

Dallas Remington: Thanks so much, hope to see you too!

It may not count if your mama was the ’61 Baroness of Brussel Sprouts. Your daddy may have called his trench digging business Moat King, but face facts, a trench is not a moat, your pop’s not royalty, and you sure ain’t no princess. Live your best commoner life like the rest of us and go get Dallas Remington’s single, “Princess,” because it’s one hot commodity for any old peasant to have a blast with. Of course, the folks behind the castle walls might just be rockin’ out to it too. In fact, they should be. If you talk to them, make sure they’re in the loop. It drops May 26th on all the usual digital platforms. After you hear it, jump on Dallas Remington’s social media sites and let her know what you think. I’m sure she’ll be happy to hear your thoughts, and be sure to tell her Think Country sent you!

For more information on Dallas Remington, visit her website at dallasremington.com

Also follow Dallas on her socials: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | TikTok

Photo courtesy of Dallas Remington

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*Featured photo courtesy of B! Noticed Public Relations