For episode 32 of the podcast, we spoke to singer-songwriter Russell Dickerson, ahead of his UK tour, about the story behind his hit single, ‘Yours,’ the choice of his latest single, ‘Blue Tacoma,’ and writing the album with his college buddies.
Hey Russell, thanks so much for taking the time to speak with me.
No problem.
I know you are really excited for trip number three over here to the UK. How have your experiences been over here? Do you notice a big difference between the US and the UK fans?
Oh yeah, I mean I was not expecting for these amazing fans, even to really know who I was and know my songs, but they knew the deep album cuts which means a lot to me, because I write every song. I wrote every song on my album and so for them to really dig deep into my music means a lot to me and that blew me away when I first came over. It was really a special moment.
Has it been important to you to garner that international presence rather than just being a US-focused artist?
Absolutely, that’s kind of always been the journey – to take this career as far, and as big and wide as you can. I mean, it helps that the UK is amazing, with amazing fans and great people, which makes it so much fun to come over there and play.
And obviously the past few years have just been amazing for you and your career, has there been a turning point, when it just clicked and you thought it’s all coming together?
I mean there’s been little moments, when we shot the music video for Yours, that was such a breakthrough for us, because that’s when we took that video to Sirius XM, then from XM to Spotify, and the numbers on Spotify, you know, were bigger than songs on the radio, and all of these moments kind of snowballed into where we are now, which is kind of crazy.
There’s also been quite a big evolution in your sound, from your tracks before the album, to the one you’ve got now, which is just full of energy. Was that something that was really important to you, introducing yourself with this really upbeat energetic personality?
Yeah, anyone who knows me really well can testify to the depth that this album is true to who I am. It’s bright and upbeat. I’m not the guy who’s going to sit around and mope and moan, I’m going to be the life of the party and make sure everyone’s pumped up and happy to be alive.
Absolutely, and I love the fact that it is kind of that representation of where you are at now in your life. Was that a conscious thing that you fought for when you were making the record – making sure that it was something you could look at and think ‘this accurately sums up where I am at in my life right now, it’s a proper story of me’?
Yeah – and that’s the point. I was always kind of nervous of that. You know, when I make my first record, I want to make sure it’s real and authentic and it kind of happened without me trying to put on this creative, album of ‘me.’ It just kind of happened and that’s what I love about it. I wrote ‘Yours,’ within less than a year after we got married, and just being in that honeymoon life, and just being broke and in love – and still in love now. That’s where I was at, and the last song on the album is called ‘Twentysomething’ and that really sums up where we were at too.
And you wrote most of the album with two of your friends from college, was that really important to have people working with you who have known you through the years, so you don’t need to come in and explain yourself and your story, because they know you from the inside out?
Yeah it was, I mean first of all, we just love hanging out together, because we were friends before we had even written a song together, so that was a big part of it, and they know my story better than I can explain in a three-hour writing session. I mean the second song we ever wrote together was ‘Yours’ and so, I just thought ‘these are my people’ and we just kept writing and writing. I love that we get to have all these firsts together, you know our first single – for all of us that was our first number one – and first number one party and all of that stuff and that’s really, really something to celebrate.
And did you know when you were writing Yours that it was going to be as big as it is, did you get that sort of feeling that, this is it?
Yeah, you hope every song you write is going to be big, but when we wrote ‘Yours,’ I knew. I mean I didn’t know how big it was going to be, but I just felt something different. I felt excited. I felt inspired. It gives you chills when you write a good song like that, and there was that different feeling and we just looked into it over and over, and I just couldn’t stop. Everyone around me just knew and confirmed that feeling of ‘yeah this is a massive song.’
And you wrote it in 2014, so then there was a little bit of time before it was released, was there this feeling of impatience to get it out now?
Oh it was the worst. We even took it to other labels and they still passed, they couldn’t hear it, and I was like ‘OK maybe these guys are just closing their ears or something,’ and so I was just freaking, I know this song is huge… and so that’s when we shot the music video. We just thought ‘OK, we’re going to do this on our own.’ We shot the music video and, like I said, that was just the jump start of it. So yeah, I got very impatient because I knew how special this song was.
The success of Yours has come up a bit later, but do you feel a bit glad that you had those years of struggling together to put the music out? Like in a sense that you’ve got the music now that you really want to put out?
Oh yeah 100%, I wouldn’t trade it for a quick ride any day, it’s like that’s the fun part, the fun part is the work – you know working your tail off, those are the memories that you make along the way. Everyone kind of pushes towards this plush, pampered life, I mean not to make it philosophical but I love the grind. I love working hard, so I wouldn’t trade that at all.
Do you have a favourite song from the record, that you’re really excited about, that just gives you that buzz?
Yeah, so at the moment we kick off the show with Twentysomething and I just love it, it’s one of my favourites. It’s a story song, and it’s really special to me and really true to my life, so to hear the crowd… I love playing that song for sure, it’s got the big Os and I get to play a big guitar solo, so that’s one of my favourites to play.
And apart from obviously coming to the UK, what’s left for 2018 for you, are you already thinking about the next project, or is it just hit the road as much as you can?
Yeah I just try and keep the songwriting wheels turning, and keep writing and writing and writing better songs. I know Thomas Rhett and Tyler and I just take advice from them. They’ve already recorded their next record but they just keep writing and keep beating those songs, and writing better songs and better songs, and that’s how it works…
Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with me, and we can’t wait to hear you over here in the UK!
Oh my gosh, I can’t wait to come over there it’s going to be so much fun!
Listen to the full interview with Russell on the podcast here.
Full UK tour dates:
21st Oct – Birmingham Symphony Hall (w/ Darius Rucker)
22nd Oct – Glasgow Royal Concert Hall (w/ Darius Rucker)
23rd Oct – Gateshead The Sage (w/ Darius Rucker)
25th Oct – Bristol O2 Academy (w/ Darius Rucker)
26th Oct – Manchester Albert Hall (w/ Darius Rucker)
27th Oct – London Borderline (headline)
28th Oct – London Royal Albert Hall (w/ Darius Rucker)