FRANKLIN, Ky. (Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024) — Love and Theft, which performs Friday, Sept. 13 at The Mint Event Center, is the pop country duo of Stephen Barker Liles and Eric Gunderson, known for taking turns singing lead and their harmonies. They actually started as a trio with Brian Bandas in 2006, making their chart debut in early 2009 when the single “Runaway” reached the top 10 on Billboard Hot Country Songs. The album “World Wide Open” was released later that year. After Bandas left in 2011, Love and Theft released its first No. 1 single, “Angel Eyes,” which appeared on their second album, called “Love and Theft.” The duo released a third album, which carries the name of their hit “Whiskey on My Breath,” in 2015.
In 2008, Love and Theft was the opening act on Taylor Swift’s Fearless Tour. Love and Theft first played at the Grand Ole Opry in 2009. By Liles’ count, they’ve played at country music’s greatest stage 67 times.
Jennie Rees, publicity director for Kentucky Downs and The Mint, recently interviewed Liles in advance of Love and Theft’s performance at The Mint Event Center.
What is the source of the name Love and Theft?
“When we were looking for a band name, we went through artists that we like, and we went through some Bob Dylan albums, and Bob Dylan has an album called Love and Theft. So we named our band after a Bob Dylan album.”
At one point you were working at Blockbuster Video.
“And Eric was doing tile… We have video from the first time we met in a studio. We have like 50 hours of footage that someday I’ll get someone to edit. We just had producers and people around us just filming everything we were doing, because they knew it was going to be something special.”
How would you describe your music, what kind of genre?
“I used to say country-pop. But a lot of these country artists now are more pop than us. I guess country-pop is the best way to describe it.”
How have you evolved?
“When we started our band, the one thing Eric and I had in common is that the Eagles are our favorite band. But they’re a little more classic rock. But if the Eagles came out today, they’d be a country band, right? We’ve evolved, but I kind of think we’ve stayed true to ourselves over the years. A lot of things have changed around us, but we’ve kind of stayed the same. We obviously tried to stay active with what sounds good on the radio. But we haven’t changed too many things really.”
After Brian left, you were on a new label in 2011, and you came out with Angel Eyes. How big was that for you?
“Angel Eyes was huge. We were on RCA Records, I want to say. We were on a radio tour, and they wanted this other song (as the single) that we don’t even play. We didn’t write it. (The label was saying) ‘This is the single.’ We’re meeting all these radio people, and they’re like, ‘Why isn’t it Angel Eyes?’ We’re like, ‘We don’t know because we don’t get to pick. But we want it to be Angel Eyes.’ We begged them to change the single, and halfway through the radio tour we got a call. I actually started crying when we got the call that they had changed it. Because I knew that was the song that was going to start our career as a duo. It was the biggest song we ever had.”
You lost an album after leaving a label because it was going to cost you too much to produce those songs. Meanwhile, Reba McEntire records “Going Out Like That,” which would have been on the album. What was that experience like?
“We weren’t able to do it, because we left the label. So it wasn’t our recording any more. If you leave the label, they keep all the songs they paid for and the recordings. You can have re-recording rights in something like 10 years.”
Did you make any money off that song?
“No.”
What did you think about Reba recording it?
“It was pretty sweet. It wasn’t as cool as Martina (McBride) recording my song ‘Wrong Baby Wrong.’ That was cool because it was like my first big cut, and it was a big hit for her.”
Do you ever think “what if that was us?”
“It’s a huge honor. We’ve had Darius Rucker and Sawyer Brown and Reba and Martina record some of our songs. I can write more songs. It takes a certain song for me to not give it away. I wasn’t super tied to any of those emotionally. Whiskey on My Breath, there was no way I was going to let someone else do my song. That’s really close to our heart, and our second-biggest song.”
You came back with the self-released Whiskey on My Breath. If you read the video comments, it seems like that song really connected with a lot of fans who had battled addiction.
“Yes, we had so many testimonials of people where that song changed their life, or helped their brother get sober. It’s been used at churches, like rehab facilities, and that’s my favorite song to play every night.”
I understand you were the inspiration for Taylor Swift’s song, “Hey Stephen.” How did that come about?
“We were on Lyric Street Records. We hadn’t put any music out, but we had our album finished. I want to say Blake McDaniel at CAA (Creative Artists Agency) played her our music when they were looking for an opening act, and then she checked out our band and it was like, ‘I want to bring them out.’ The label is freaking out because we’re all about to start playing all these arenas. That’s when we recorded our ‘Live in Savannah’ album, because we were literally on the road with her and that was at a Taylor Swift show. We became really close. We went with her at midnight to WalMart to buy the album. I knew she’d written a song about me, because we talked a lot. She said, ‘Hey, I wrote a song about you.’ I was like, ‘That’s weird. I wrote a song about you.’
“The only song I have out under my name currently is called ‘Try to Make It Anyway.’ It’s a song I wrote about her, at the same time. Neither of us knew each other had written a song about the other.”
What can we expect at your performance at The Mint?
“It will be very high energy. We tell lots of stories and we’ll have lots of harmonies. We like to mix up some covers. We’ll play ‘Fishing in the Dark,’ because we have the same producer. We’ll play a Tom Petty song. We might play a Johnny Cash song. We normally play ‘Dust on the Bottle.’ But we only do like four covers because there’s so many of our own songs.”
Do you get together when you write?
“I have to be in the same room when I write with someone. A lot of people during Covid were like, ‘Let’s do a Zoom write.’ It’s not the same vibe. Then you might have internet problems and you’re like, ‘What’d you say? What’d you say?’ There’s a different energy in the room when you’re with someone and you both have guitars.”
Do you like the meet and greets?
“Oh yes. It’s one of my favorite things. For example, Taylor Swift and Garth Brooks. They both have the record for signing and meeting the most people at CMA Fest. I think Taylor signed for 13 hours straight, and Garth Brooks did like 10 hours. There’s a phrase, ‘A million fans, a million hands.’ When we signed up for every Taylor Swift and Tim McGraw shows on that tour, we’d sign and go out to the merch stands and meet people, take pictures. (Fans) never forget that.”
How old are you?
“I just turned 40 and Eric turns 40 in December. Here’s some fun facts about Love and Theft. We were born in the same year. Our moms were born on the same day in the same year. Both of our first jobs were at Chick-fil-A in totally different towns. My dad is a preacher, and his dad was the music minister at his church.”
How has that impacted your music?
“I think a lot. Just a song like Whiskey on My Breath. Also the fact that we both believe in Jesus and love the Lord, we have the same mindset. We were raised in similar backgrounds. We love people, because that’s what Jesus taught us to do. We love making new friends, we love meet and greets. And we have the same vision and look at the world the same, too.”