INTERVIEW: Tebey on Collaborating with Una Healy and His New Record

Tebey has fast been rising through the ranks of the country scene and is now making his mark on the UK landscape. Now, hot off the heels of his recent collaboration with Una Healy, Tebey is back in the UK, performing at Buckle and Boots and Nashville Meets London. Here, we interview Tebey about his recent releases. 

 

Hey, how does it feel to finally be back in the UK and playing gigs again?

So good, I really miss the UK when I’m not here. It was really hard being away for 18 months. It’s just a second home, I don’t know why I feel so comfortable here. I just really like the vibe – Canada has a similar vibe, UK meets The States.

You must be so ready to go and play out again. The Good Ones was such a phenomenal record, can you talk a bit about how the experience of the past year impacted on its creation?

It was hard to make a record during a pandemic, of course, we started making it, probably well before the last time I was over here for C2C.

It just feels so good to come back and have Una Healy on the new single, which is giving us a lot more eyes on the music. I feel that having her on ‘Song of the Summer’ and getting fans on the radio is kind of helping me jump the queue a little bit.

You’ve grafted for enough years in the industry to earn that.

I mean Canada is different, because I’m at a completely different level in Canada. I said the first time I came over here as an artist that I’m in for the long haul. That’s something that I think a lot of artists from the States or Canada just don’t want to put in the time, because you really have to put in the time to have success here.

It’s all about putting in that face time, not just having a nod to UK releases but actually coming over consistently to tour here.

Absolutely, because there’s not a ton of Country radio, so it just becomes so much more difficult to build the fan base. From what I’ve seen, even from The Shires to Ward Thomas, you have to really just consistently play everywhere and you know, you do a tour and you play for 100 people then the next time you play for 400.

It’s about making those consistent little steps.

Absolutely. It’s a grind, but I’m determined to be able to become one of the upper echelon country artists in the UK. I mean,  if I can get to a place even close to where The Shires are as a foreigner, I’m winning all day long.

I definitely think that this track and collaboration has elevated that. How did that partnership come about? Was that something you’d always thought that you were going to have to do – have a female on that song?

The song was just written as a song for my record, you start working and I love working with other artists and people. It’s awesome, it’s one of the best parts of my job and I’ve been a fan of Una’s for a long time. Funnily enough, I didn’t realise this but when she was in The Saturday’s, I didn’t realise until she told me that a song that I wrote and had a big hit with back in like 2013 or something on the Pixie Lott record All About Tonight, we went number one in the UK and number two was The Saturdays. It still stings. We kept them out of the number one spot.

It was just one of those things where I wanted to work with someone different outside of the genre, and preferably even someone in the UK, because, it would just open up my fanbase and it does the same thing for back home. I had my management reach out to her management, a complete cold call, we were just relying on the strength of the song that she would love it and she did. Next thing you know, we’re doing a recording session, where she’s in Dublin and I was in Nashville. It was just crazy.

It must be crazy that you’ve done this release together, you’ve recorded the track and music video, but you’ve never actually met. 

I’d love to hop on a hop on flight to Dublin. I’ve never been to Ireland.

Going back to The Good Ones, every track on that record could be a single. How was the process of actually picking  the singles when you’ve had so many strong songs? 

I feel like I know once the record is done with which singles are going to be there, everything that we’ve put out so far has been what I planned, except ‘Shotgun Rider’ that we didn’t put out in the UK. I just thought that it’s a bit of a stretch for the UK audience. It’s interesting the music that the Brits tend to gravitate towards. I feel like their natural reaction is to be toward a champion or being more of a fan of the singer-songwriter (the Tenille Townes kind of sound).

It shows the importance for you of the UK market that you have that strategic approach of selecting songs.

I mean, until I have enough success here in the UK where I’m given a little bit of leeway. It’s hard to come out the gate sounding quite progressive especially in the UK, because I don’t feel like the UK is used to the progressive type of country.

I think it either goes to the really pop-country side or the singer-songwriter side.

I mean, for me, it’s just about changing the stigma with what they think country music is, I think that’s 90% of the battle. There seems to be a stigma or a preconception about what country music is in the UK. I think that, as you know, streaming has grown, the streaming for country music has grown, it’s done wonders for opening up the market to a lower level country artists, not just the Eric Churches. I’m truly in it for the long haul. I mean, I’m willing to do a 10 day quarantine to be here.

If anyone needs proof of your dedication, it’s there.

I want the UK fans to know, I appreciate the support.

So what is the plan for the rest of the year, do you have plans for further releases or collaborations?

I’m not really sure. Things are getting a little bit back to normal, especially in Canada, where the majority of my touring is. I am going on a headline tour across Canada in February and March. We’re just finalising that – it’ll be like 1,000 to 1,500 venues. Then, we’re hopefully coming back over in February for a mini tour, growing the fan base and touring.

We love to hear that. Well, congratulations on this record and the single, I can’t wait to watch your career blow up over here.

I hope so.