Following the release of his new EP “Wild Card,” Michael Daughtry joined Aaron Keck on Live & Local earlier this month.
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Michael Daughtry has had an exciting year and a half. The release of “Wild Card” comes on the heels of last year’s single “Nothing Special,” which climbed the Billboard charts in 2023 – and earlier this year Daughtry was inducted into the Recording Academy.
“(So) I just got done with the whirlwind of voting for the Grammys,” he says. “This was my first round of that. I felt like an online freshman.”
The new EP – currently only available online, in a limited edition of 52 – consists of four songs, including lead single “Jungle Night.”
“I grew up in an era of listening to albums, (but) I’m also a short attention span person, like most of us,” Daughtry says with a laugh. “Let’s just get to the good stuff.”
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While Daughtry is currently trying to forgo Spotify and reward his loyal listeners, the full EP will eventually be available for online streaming – if only for one reason.
“There’s one song that just has to get out there,” he says. “It’s called ‘Sleep Sound.’ I’ve worked with several Grammy-nominated and Grammy-winning people on it. Dave Eggar did the string arrangement, (and) he was the guy behind Coldplay’s ‘Viva La Vida.’ He (only) works on about six songs a year, so I’m honored and blessed to have had him work on it.”
Daughtry’s currently focused on promoting the EP, but he also regularly plays live around central North Carolina – and he says those live performances can be memorable too, sometimes in unexpected ways.
“I had a guy at a gig (who) wanted to know if I could play ‘Living on a Prayer’ – and I do originals, but the way he asked it, I just picked up on a thing (and said) I want to play this for this guy,” he says. “He came up to me afterward and said, ‘I’m celebrating my anniversary, and I was thinking about my sister’ – we all have that experience, when you’re celebrating, sometimes you wish people were there – his sister had passed away a few years ago, and that was her favorite song, and he said ‘I just felt like I needed to hear that during this celebration.’ And I was like, did I do okay? And he said, ‘Dude, you nailed it…’
“As a musician and as an artist and as a human, that’s why I do what I do. If you’re an artist out there, and if you’re having tough times, just think about those people out there that you touch. It’s a special thing. So I’m just going to keep doing what I do.”
Michael Daughtry stopped by Live & Local to discuss the new EP and play three songs: “Jungle Night,” “Sleep Sound,” and “Showtime.” Listen:
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