» Chattin’ Illinois with Brett Eldredge

We recently had a chance to sit down and chat with Brett Eldredge, about his album that actually drops TODAY! September 11th. You can grab it here. I had a chance to chat with Brett awhile back when he played in Detroit at a radio gig. But this time around it was a bit more of a chance to go a little deeper with Brett and discuss the the new album and touring with Darius Rucker! Enjoy! And hey… WE LOVE YOUR FEEDBACK! Don’t be shy.

Corey: So, your debut album came out almost two years ago. You had 3 number 1 singles on that album. You’re working on a new one Illinois drops in Early September. Let’s start off with the old album and what you did there, and how you kinda came together with the new one.

Brett: Yeah…I was..ahhh…working on your first album, I can’t tell you how many songs I wrote for that album. I probably wrote, oh man, every song I ever wrote was to go towards that album, and other albums. I probably wrote 300 songs or whatever, and so had to narrow that down to 12. And as soon as we released the ‘Bring You Back’ album, I already started writing for this album. Cause I knew it would come around, and next thing you know, here it is, it’s time to release an album. I don’t want to be caught with my pants down.(laughs), so I wanna be ready to go, I’ve been writing for this album like crazy. And I think this is something, well, I’ve never felt better in the studio than I have right now. And the music that’s coming out is just something special. ‘Lose my mind’ is the first song off of it, and it’s just…it’s rising faster than any of my songs, times 10, I mean it’s great.

Brett Eldredge chats with Sound Check backstage at a recent show

Corey: It’s a good video too.

Brett: Yeah, that was a fun one to shoot.

Corey: I bet it was

Brett: Yeah, a lot of my videos are fun to shoot, but that was a fun one. In many ways. But you know ‘Lose My Mind’ is just raising up the chart really quick, and I’ve just been fortunate, and it’s kind of a preview of what’s to come on this album. There’s a lot of, you know soulful stuff on this, and I got to reach into my soulful side a little bit more on Illinois, and do some more things that I really wanted to grow with, and still stay with some of the stories I don’t think I had from the first album. Just kinda grow with it, and I got great feelings for it, and I think the fans have really been reacting well to the stuff, and I’ve been playing some of it live too.

Corey: So, with writing this one, how did you approach it differently than what you approached the first one, the songwriting?

Brett: Well there’s even a couple of songs, well at least one song for sure, I wrote before that one even came out. It’s always the main thing, to focus on the best songs, the great songs, those are the ones that win in the end. So most of them, I’ve just been growing with what I’ve been listening to out there, and just growing as a songwriter. And really focussing on my vocal, and get my vocal out front, ‘cause I love to sing. That’s why, I grew up listening to big singers, and I want to be a big singer, I want that voice to come across and grab ya through the speakers and pull ya in close and say, ‘Listen to Me!’. Ya know?

Corey: You’ve got a great voice.

Brett: Thank you man.

Corey: So it’s a great reason to be a big singer, I think you’ve got the vocal chords to do it. The three #1 Singles off your first album, you’ve got to be surprised as an artist.

Brett: Yeah.

Corey: And go WOW, 3 #1s…

Brett: Yeah. It’s really crazy to even think about it, and hear you talk about it. It’s like, it’s really hard to get a number one song. It’s really hard to get ONE #1 song, then all of a sudden, here we go, remember we got another one. Next thing you know, the next one keeps climbin’, climbin, climbin, next thing you know we got all this momentum, people know me for more than just one song, they know me for two, then all of a sudden, ‘Mean to Me’ hits and it raises up the charts, and it’s just like, it’s a dream come true. It’s what you fight for all those years when no one cares about any of your songs or, you know, some of those die hard fans show up, and they tell a couple friends, and all of a sudden they tell some more friends. Then you know, people start comin’ around, and all of a sudden, you’ve got a fan base. You’ve got people that, that know, hey, that’s Brett Eldridge on the radio. I know that voice. And that’s what you want, you want people to turn the radio on and go, I know that, that’s a Brett Eldridge song. I know that guy. And I knew once I had that second hit, I knew, ahhh, I never have to have that feeling of one hit wonder, or whatever. It’s like, that pressure off the belt, it felt great and now we’re off to the races, and I don’t want to stop any time soon.

Corey: So the first time you and I actually met, it was in Detroit, last February. It was the NASH FM party with Terri Clark and everybody, and you had a great set there.

Brett: Ya, the show with the truck up to the stage, I remember that.

Corey: Yeah, that was cool. It was a great night of music. But I think we just kind of briefly talked, it wasn’t anything in depth, but at that time you were still kind of like, WOW, this is pretty crazy you know.

Brett: I’m still kinda like WOW. This is pretty crazy.

Corey & Brett – Photo: Trish Cassling

Corey: Yeah, but you’ve now landed yourself in front of Darius Rucker, you know, great gig. You’ve got a great group of guys behind you as well, with ah a thousand horses, and Brothers Osbourne. How has the tour been?

Brett: It’s a very musical tour you know. These bands are insane on the this tour. I mean, for one, it sounds crazy, but everyone just likes to have fun. Which is good in that we’re all kinda big personalities, so it’s always a good time backstage, and on stage on this tour. You know I respect and love every different band on this tour’s music, and as people. So when you have that, there’s no work to feel involved. And that’s what I try to strive for every time I go out here. It’s like, hey man, if I’m gonna be doing this, travelling the world, not really having a home base (the road is my home), I wanna make sure I’m having fun. Every single day. And that’s why I usually go on adventures everywhere I go. Do different things.

Brett Eldredge – Molson Ampitheatre – Toronto – June 6 – Photo: Corey Kelly

Corey: See stuff while you’re here

Brett: Yeah, like after we’re done this interview, I’m gonna go run around town a little bit.

Corey: Right on, Well I’ll finish it up pretty quick

Brett: No, no man, I’m not saying that (laughs)

Corey: What was it like to finally get to play CMA Fest at LP Field?

Brett: Yeah, well, I’ve been asking my manager for years. Is it time for LP yet, is it time for LP yet. He’d say, man couldn’t get you on this year. And to be honest, it wasn’t quite time for me yet, until this year. This was the year, the big breakout year. It’s like, now it makes sense. And to be able to go up there, just knowing when I started out I had some, first time I ever went there, I was up in the cheap seats, up in the crowd as a fan. And to kinda go on that kind of a journey, is such a trip, such a crazy feeling, to know you’re up there singin’ for all those people, and I kinda look out there and see my face looking back, like I was just a kid with dreams. I’m still just a kid with dreams looking out into a crowd saying I wanna do this for a long long time.

Corey: I know you played the day before as well in a smaller venue. It’s like switching gears.

Brett: Yeah, my fan party that’s more intimate. So that’s always cool. And I love to do that ‘cause my fans are very hard core, very passionate. That’s what I love, that’s what I live for, is passion. And so, yeah, we did a real broken down kinda acoustic thing. Then played the big venue and rock and roll. And I like it, I like it that way.

Corey: So writing sessions…you write a lot of the music yourself, and collaborate with people. Is there someone you could say right now, you just really want to work with? Someone you could just walk in and throw a bunch of ideas at each other? (This Conversation happened just before Thomas and Brett announced their collaboration)

Brett: I really like Thomas Rhett’s music, and think he’s a great artist, and we kind of came up together. We’ve always talked about makin’, writin’ some songs, stuff like that and collaborating. And so, you know, maybe one day, he and I will start writin’ some songs together. It’s just that it’s hard because we’re always out there playing these shows to get to together with your buddies that are artists. There’s a lot of songwriters, I can go back to Nashville and write with, but we’re all usually on the road, and not always in the same place, and on different tours. It’s hard you know. I like Thomas, and I’d like to get together with Keith Urban and write with him, since I used to tour with him. I need to get that set up. I need to hit up old Keith and say, hey will you please write a song with me.

Corey: So social media plays a pretty big role today as an artist, and you’re pretty active, with some of your late night twitter chats you’ve had every now and then. Maybe you could touch on how that has helped in your career.

Brett: Mmmhmm. I’m very active on social media. Probably more than most, just cause I love feeling like everyone’s along for the ride with me. That’s how I got here, so I carry everyone along with me, because I couldn’t have got here without them. So when I’m getting on an airplane at 5 in the morning, I’m sayin’, hey is anybody up out there? I know my fans are saying, hey, I’m already on my second shift, stuff like that. It’s really cool to be connected like that. Now I’m really into the snapchat thing. That’s gotten really big for me. I just post on my story the most random things. I posted from stage last night in front of thousands and thousands of people. I actually posted right there on stage. You know just instant stuff like that is really fun. Share the journey, share the experience. You know, it’s just, it’s a lot of fun.

Corey: A thousand horses periscoped last night.

Brett: I saw them!

Corey: You guys were back stage, and you were just going on it.

Brett: I haven’t got periscope yet, because I use so many, I’m very big on Instagram too. I post to that, and I post on Twitter, so I’m just like aww man another one. But I’m sure I’ll probably end up getting into it.

Corey: Craziest thing you’ve done for music?

Brett: Craziest thing you do for music is to try it! Just to be crazy enough to go after it, and chase it, because there’s so many people trying to do it. It’s a beautiful thing too because you can make your own road. You can get the right people behind ya, and go after it. But it is a hard, hard thing to do. Sitting here now, sitting here talking about all this success, it’s crazy to me, because you know, I’m still the same ole me. I just never gave up, and you gotta treat it like it can be taken away from you any day. I’m very fortunate to have a job, but in the end, just going after it is a feat in itself. Saying alright, now, I’m not going to go sit a desk, or, get behind a cubicle, or, go work on the farm like a lot of my friends are growing up to do. Most have a base job to go to so and can maybe possibly make no money making music at the start. Get tips, and live off tips, and whatever you can get. And that’s a dedication, and there’s nothing like it. When it finally connects, even the smallest things. I remember winning a talent show in my hometown, I still got that trophy at my house. Someday, I’m gonna put it next to my CMA, new artist of the year trophy. Just to remind myself, everything has it’s different levels, but everything’s important. So even though no one knows about that talent show in Agri County Illinois when I was a kid, that point mattered for something.

Corey: Well, it got you to here.

Brett: It got me to here.

Brett Eldredge – Photo: Trish Cassling

Corey: Last question, favourite Canadian artist? You do a lot of couch sessions, and I tweeted out last night for ya to cover Summer of ‘69, Bryan Adams….as a joke!

Brett: I would say, ummm, you talking about country artist?

Corey: Anyone

Brett: I’m originally a huge Rat Pack fan, and I grew up on Sinatra, so when I heard about Buble, you know, doing his thing. Modern twists on standards and stuff, I always loved Buble. Neil Young. Brett Kissel’s from up here isn’t he?

Corey: He is yeah

Brett: He’s a great kid. I met him, we might even be label mates?

Corey: Yes you are

Brett: I really like what he does, and I’m really supportive of what he does as well. So you know, I covered the whole board there! I think there’s some great music coming out of here, and I think that it’s great to be able to come up here and play. And it’s not too far from home.

Corey: Well, we’d love to see you up here for a full cross Canada tour

Brett: Let’s do it!

Corey: You’ve got enough great songs that you could do it.

Brett: I’ve been trying to come up here as much as possible, cause I love it. I’d love to go all the way across and travel. I tell you what, I came here in January with Keith Urban, 2 years ago, and it was so cold. It was the coldest experience of my life. It was so foreign. I mean we were in Winterpeg at one point, I mean WINTERpeg. It was insane. But it was cool. I mean, I grew up in Illinois, so I’ve experienced cold, but that was like, it’s sooo friggin’ cold outside, but this arena is sold out. And that’s why I was like, I wanna come play Canada all the time. I don’t care if it’s colder than the surface of Mars. ‘Cause I think that’s how cold it was in Winnipeg that night.

Corey: It gets cold. Anyway, thanks again for doing this.

Brett: Hey man, anytime, great talking to you again.

Corey Kelly / @CoreyKelly76