Everything Cole Swindell Does Is for the Fans
“Country music fans are the best and I think as long as I get to do this, they're going to be a huge, huge part of everything I do," Swindell shares.
Before becoming a star in his own right, Cole Swindell earned a name for himself as one of Nashville’s top songwriters, penning hits for Luke Bryan, Thomas Rhett, Florida Georgia Line and more before his debut single “Chillin’ It” even dropped. Swindell is honoring a handful of these songs, and the fans that made them hits, with his new Down Home Sessions IV EP featuring Bryan’s “Roller Coaster” and “Beer in the Headlights,” Rhett’s “Get Me Some of That,” “This is How We Roll” from FGL and “Outta My Head” by Craig Campbell.
In the fourth installment of the Down Home Sessions series, Swindell presents the songs in the stripped down, acoustic fashion they were created in. “All these songs, they got my name out there and got me here to where I am,” Swindell tells Sounds Like Nashville and other media. “So to put my spin, for the fans to hear my version of these songs, I think is going to be a cool deal.”
“I think the whole sound of this is something that’s special about it. It’s just a cool sound,” he adds of doing stripped down versions of the songs. “I think that the fans, they haven’t seen a whole lot of that, and for me to be able to record the songs like that, put my own spin on it, I just hope that it does showcase the vocal and just the acoustic part of these songs because when songs are made, they don’t sound like they do when they’re on the radio, it’s way more stripped down.”
While the “Flatliner” singer enjoyed the process of bringing the hits back to their roots, he says he appreciates how other artists add their own touch to his creations and relate to them in a personal way.
“I want them to put their spin on it,” he shares. “The fact that they can relate to it is cool to me that they believe in the song enough because now I certainly know what it feels like on the other side to hear a song that you believe in that you’re like ‘man I could’ve written this’ and I think that’s why they have recorded them.”
The fast-rising star is set to take these five songs, and several of his other hits, out on the road on the 2018 Down Home Tour. Much like Down Home Sessions IV, the tour will offer an acoustic look at his hit tracks and make for a more intimate setting between Swindell and his passionate fans. “It’ll just be a whole different experience I think because the Down Home Tour is all for the fans,” he describes, saying he wants to give fans a new show since so many of them travel all over the country to see him live. “I just want it to be one-on-one, me and them, and that’s what this one’s going to be about.”
One element of Swindell’s career that’s been a mainstay is his enthusiastic fanbase, many of whom have been with him since the beginning. It’s their support that inspires Swindell to maintain a close relationship with them whether during a show or on social media. “I try to let them know I’m just like them – life ain’t all what it seems sometimes and I’ve been able to kind of show it through my songs,” he explains of his interactions with fans, saying they particularly react to the emotional “You Should Be Here.”
“The people that come though meet-and-greet, the stories I hear are just heartbreaking and it’s helped me just as much as it’s helped them,” he continues. “Country music fans are the best and I think as long as I get to do this, they’re going to be a huge, huge part of everything I do.”
Down Home Sessions IV is available now. The 2018 Down Home Tour begins on Jan. 11 in Athens, Ga. and concludes on Jan. 27.
