INTERVIEW // DIANE KING discusses her brand new single “Love Like This”

Amplify Music Magazine, August 2025

Nashville-based singer-songwriter Diane King makes music that sparkles and shines. It’s engaging, warm, and full of plenty of twang and grit and gorgeous harmonies. Her forthcoming album, SKY, due out in September, is packed with song after song of must-listen singing and songwriting. On her new single, “Love Like This,” King tells the tale of go-the-distance love. It’s a wonderful summertime audio treat, and we can’t get enough of it. We sat down with King recently to chat about “Love Like This” and what’s coming next.

Hi, Diane! You have a terrific new song that just came out in August called “Love Like This.” What’s the scoop on this song? And what inspired you to write it?

Funny enough… this is the one song I’ve written that I have no recall of the inspiration or writing it! And, I promise, tequila was not involved. LOL!

It’s a stand-out track. What do you hope its message is to listeners? And what did writing it bring to you?

I want this song to celebrate all kinds of love, not just romantic. It could be love between a parent and child, friends, love for pets – so that’s how we did the video, to include all kinds of special loves!I really enjoy this song. It’s fun to play and sing, AND it’s fun to watch the listener and audience respond. It always brings along smiles and dancing and singing. It makes me happy to sing it, and it’s obvious by their reactions, that it makes the listeners happy, too!

What kind of a vibe were you going for on this song when you recorded it?

Up-tempo, happy, and celebratory!

Do you think you ended up with a song that sounds like you expected it to sound?

Oh yes, absolutely. The funny thing is, it wasn’t even a song I originally picked to be on the project. We were well into the project, and I felt we needed to swap out a slow song for an up-tempo. So, I went to my song catalog and picked out “Love Like This.”

Who joined you in the studio for this one?

The superstars on this song are Aaron Currie on electric guitars and Wanda Vick on dobro! Aaron plays for Wynonna Judd, but he was home for a few days, and we were able to snag him for a session. He absolutely nailed it with his electric guitars. He captured the vibe and energy and partnered perfectly with my acoustic guitar and its groove. Then,we brought in Wanda Vick, who has played on so much of my stuff, past and present, and she’s now in the Grand Ol’ Opry staff band where she plays fiddle, mandolin, dobro, and banjo. She absolutely added the sparkle to the song with her dobro. She played exactly what I was hearing, and I couldn’t love it more! The other incredible players are Lynn Williams on drums, Steve Mackey on bass, my co-producer Stephan Oberhoff on organ, and me on acoustic guitar and harmony vocals.

Your music and lyrics work so well together. Was this a music-first or a lyrics-first song for you? Which way do you tend to write in general, music or lyrics first?

My usual flow of writing is… song title, along with the idea/message of the song, then music, then lyrics. I’m MUCH more prolific in music than lyrics. But my lyrics are so important… I work on those in great detail and craft, doing lots of polishing, until I know they’re finished.

Your last single, “Dangerous” was the first single from your forthcoming album. What made you pick these songs as the first two singles from the album?

As you’re recording the project, you start to hear the standouts, the ones you know people will want to hear as singles. “Dangerous” and “Love Like This” are both up-tempos, and, during the recording, they rose to the top as the first two singles. There are other songs on the project that are absolute gems, the kind of songs that you’re going to want to be still and listen. These two are “turn it up loud and sing along!”

You’ve been living in Nashville for a bit. How do you think your time in such a music-centric city impacts the music you make?

I would say it’s impacted me most as a songwriter. I really wasn’t that aware of songwriting before I moved to Nashville. Once I arrived and was exposed to writing, I realized that’s who I am, a songwriter, and it’s my greatest musical talent. Then, being discovered as a writer by the legendary Harlan Howard at the Bluebird Café took my writing to a whole new level. Harlan mentored me and taught me the craft of songwriting. There could not be a better teacher! Being in Nashville among fellow writers and artists is phenomenal. It’s amazing to be a part of a network of such talented folks.

What can fans look forward to next from you?

The release of the full project, SKY, is September 19th! I’m so excited about that! I’ll be doing a release party that evening in Nashville, which is a live performance with my full band. We’ll be performing all the songs on the album. After the release of the SKY project in September, we’ll turn our attention toward getting out to do live shows!

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