Exclusive: Lindsay Ell Goes Behind the Scenes at Live in the Vineyard Goes Country

Lindsay Ell is giving PopCulture.com readers an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the recent Live in the Vineyard Goes Country event. The three-day festival, headlined by Carrie Underwood, featured performances by Ell, along with Old Dominion, Ashley McBryde, Jerrod Niemann, Maddie & Tae, and more.

"It's just been so wonderful to watch country music fuse with wine," Ell tells PopCulture.com. "And getting to play the shows in all of these beautiful vineyards. It's some of the coolest stages I've gotten to play at, and yet it's so relaxing. It's the perfect environment to sit down and listen."

Ell played "Criminal" during her set, her second single from her 2017 The Project album. The song, which became the first song by a female artist to hit No. 1 in the Canadian charts since 2008, is also having a big impact in the States as well.

"We have our first Top 20 on country radio, which we're super excited about," Ell says. "It's been amazing to see fans fall in love with 'Criminal' as a song, and to finally see them start singing along to it at shows. It's been cool to see it grow."

Written by Ell along with Fred Wilhelm and Chris Stevens, the song, which says, "I can't relax, I'm a tiger pacing in my cage / Cocked like a twelve gauge / Feeling like a teenage crush / You're the habit that I can never get enough of," was a personal look at Ell's own life.

"I think it's very honest," Ell says of the song's success. "I wrote it about exactly what was going on in my life at the time, and because fans have been able to share a bit in my story of my personal life and career over the past few years, I think they're able to connect with that. There's also being in the studio with Kristian Bush as producer.

"I feel like I finally was able to find my sound, and who I was, and who I am as an artist, which sometimes takes a minute," she continues. "Connecting all of those ducks and putting them in a row, and working with him over the past couple years, he's really been able to help me articulate that. And I think once it's right, it connects better."

Ell's The Continuum album, her take on John Mayer's 2006 Continuum record, will be released on Friday, May 25.