Blog Tour: Caught Up in the Touch and Musical Inspiration

Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of interviewing author Laura Trentham for the blog tour for the first book in her Falcon Football series titled Slow and Steady Rush. I’m super excited to have her back here again on Good Books and Good Wine to discuss the second book in the series Caught Up In The Touch and the musician(s) who helps provide the soundtrack to her writing. Hint: If you love country music and football, this is a series you had better be checking out! Need more convincing? I guess I’ll have to let the author do the talking. Take it away, Laura…

Caught Up in the Touch and Musical Inspiration

Music plays an integral role in my creative process. The right music immediately channels me into my story. I don’t actually listen to music while I write—I prefer silence for that—but while I’m driving or cooking or (occasionally) cleaning I pop in earbuds or turn up the radio.

Sometimes I already have the characters or storyline in mind when I hear the perfect song. Sometimes a song will trigger an idea for a specific scene. Sometimes I hear a song and a brand-new story will emerge in the brief minutes I’m listening. I have a Regency romance sketched out based on Carly Rae Jepsen’s Call Me Maybe. Random, right?

I listen to about every genre of music—I’m crushing on Florence + The Machine’s new album at the moment—but for the Falcon Football Series, I fell back to my roots. Country music. I grew up in Tennessee and actually resisted country music for a long time. I am of the MTV generation. You know, when they actually played music and my friends and I would sit around for hours watching Madonna and Billy Idol and Dire Straits videos. Then, when I was in high school, Garth Brooks hit the scene and a new kind of country music was born. I bought the cassette tape(!) and listened to Friends in Low Places about a million times in the car—alone. I did eventually come out of the country music closet though.

The best kind of country music tells a story, invokes a visceral response, and transports you. Which is exactly my aim when I write a book! Only songwriters have to do it with a lot less words and time.

The most influencing song on Caught Up in the Touch was Speakers by Sam Hunt. I heard Sam Hunt’s five song demo album on Spotify last fall. Since then, he released an album that shot up the country music charts and is all over the radio. When I was writing Caught Up in the Touch, I had the acoustic demo-version of Speakers on repeat.

In the most basic sense it’s a song about getting it on outside in the back of a truck—because where else does a good country-boy get it on?—and it inspired a pivotal love scene in Caught Up in the Touch. But, the song is about more than sex just like any love scene I write is about more than fitting Tab A into Slot B. The lyrics are visceral and emotional, and he uses the melody to bring the song to the perfect…um, climax.

Here’s some samples of his lyrics…
“The moonlight’s tracing those treetops across your face.
There’s a feeling in your eyes the shadows can’t erase.
The cool wind that found us is breezing around us,
Following my fingers through your hair.”

Or how about when things are getting a little more intense…

“I’m tuned into you, something’s on your mind, ain’t it?
Go on and tell me, baby, don’t act you like can’t say it.
I know your body language; you ain’t got to translate it
Let it talk to me, ’til I can’t take it.”

Oh, you can take it Sam. We know. Did I mention he happens to be a 6’4” former college quarterback and is the inspiration for my former quarterback hero in Melting Into You, Falcon Football #3? I mean, how much more perfect can you get? Answer: You can’t! I present my evidence below…

 

I’m not sure if I sold you on my book or the awesomeness that is Sam Hunt, but I hope you’ll check us both out. If you’re interested in the music for the entire series, you can follow my Falcon Football Spotify playlist.

Thanks for having me, Allison!

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About the Author:
Laura Trentham is an award-winning author of contemporary and historical romance. She is a member of RWA, and has finaled multiple times in the Golden Heart competition. A chemical engineer by training and a lover of books by nature, she lives in South Carolina. Readers can find her on her website www.LauraTrentham.com, Twitter @LauraTrentham, or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/LauraTrenthamAuthor.

Jessica Montgomery has always lived by three simple rules: stay calm, stay professional, stay in control. Working tirelessly to make it into the executive ranks of her family’s business, her dream job of CFO is within reach–if she can convince one stubborn and sexy Alabama restaurateur to take her offer and manage Montgomery Industries flagship restaurant in Atlanta.

On the surface Logan Wilde is all good-old-boy charm and humor, but he can’t seem to outrun the hell-raising reputation of his high school years. Although he has thought about leaving his hometown in Falcon Alabama, he has grown to love the town, his restaurant, and his part-time gig coaching the football team.

Jessica estimates it will take a week tops to get Logan Wilde’s signature on her generous offer, but their first meeting is anything but professional. Logan shreds Jessica’s control and unleashes a passion she didn’t know existed even as a deeper connection between them takes root. When her family’s manipulations threaten to tear them apart, Jessica has to decide whether her dream is really the CFO job or the man who has unselfishly offered his love.

July 21st 2015 (St. Martin’s Press)

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