Since he arrived on the scene with his debut single ‘Yours’ back in 2015, Russell Dickerson has become one of the biggest stars in country.
Known for his entertaining and energetic stage performances, he’s had four consecutive number one songs on the US Country Airplay charts and released two studio albums, most recently 2020’s ‘Southern Symphony’. Now, after a winning performance at C2C earlier this year, he was back in the UK earlier this month for his sold out All Yours, All Night Tour, and has announced that his third self-titled album will be released on 4th November.
Whilst he was here, I caught up with Russell before his show at London’s Electric Ballroom to talk about the new record, lead single ‘I Wonder’, his love for UK audiences – and whether he’d ever go on Dancing With The Stars…
Welcome back to the UK!
Oh man. So glad to be here.
How have you found the trip so far? I saw on Instagram that you went to Paris first…
Yeah, we went to Paris, that was amazing, and then last night was amazing in Bristol. First of all the weather. Surprisingly gorgeous! But no, the weather’s been amazing, the people – I was walking around with Remington [Russell’s son] yesterday and got to meet some fans that were coming to the show. Some came from Germany, like, 700 miles away. So it’s been cool.
This is your fifth trip to the UK now I think…
Something like that, yeah.
What is it that keeps you coming back over here?
Oh.. [turns to his manager] Grace? No, honestly, just the fans’ dedication. They keep showing up, so we keep coming back. I mean we loved C2C, we got to do that on the arenas with Miranda this year and that was epic. And yeah, as long as people keep showing up we’ll keep coming back.
Is there anything that’s particularly surprised you about audiences here – like how they react to particular songs or anything like that?
Yeah, I mean, I feel like last night the fans responded to newer songs way more than ‘Yours’… I mean, ‘Blue Tacoma’ they did. But in America, ‘Yours’ and ‘Love You Liked I Used To’ are huge songs there, and so immediately when we start playin’ ’em everybody starts getting excited. But this was… yeah, it’s different, like different songs. But at the same time, like album cuts over here, people get way more excited for than they do over there. So it’s more of an even keel, like.
And actually there’s two types of crowds here. There’s like the very respectful, ingesting, listening kind of crowd and then there’s like the soccer stadium, drunk chants crowd. Both are my favourite, but I lean more towards the soccer stadium crowd.
Are there any songs you’re particularly enjoying playing live at the moment?
Yeah, there’s one, it’s called ‘Big Wheels’. That one’s awesome. I love playing that live.
Your new album is coming out on Friday – can you tell us a bit more about that?
Yeah, we’ve released ‘I Wonder’ and ‘Big Wheels’ and then on November 4th the album drops. So it’s 15 songs, and it’s amazing. Honestly I think it’s something for everybody, because I have such a wide span of musical influence. Like, from Red Hot Chilli Peppers to Garth Brooks to Blink 182, it’s so wide. And yeah, I feel like there’s something for everybody on this album.
And in my entire career I’ve only released, like, almost 20 songs, just over 20 songs. And this album’s almost gonna double that overnight. So just to have the repertoire of that many songs, it’ll go from roughly 20 to 35 overnight. So I’m super pumped about that.
You co-wrote all the songs on this album as well. Were there any that were particularly easy to write or that were particularly challenging in terms of the writing?
Ummm… let’s see. Easy, probably ‘God Gave Me A Girl’. That one happened pretty fast, and turned out great. ‘I Wonder’ took… we started that song probably at least a year and a half before we ever looked at it again. And then I had it in one of my voice memos and I kept listening to it. I was like, “there’s something with this song”. So we got back together and finished it. I love how it turned out.
I wanted to ask you about ‘I Wonder’ as the lead single from this record. Can you tell us about that song and how it came about?
Yeah. It started off actually called ‘Wonder Years’, and that was what we were trying to write the hook as. But then as we got it into we were like, “I think it’s just ‘I Wonder'”. But it’s just a line by line, as we were writing it I was like, “I’m just gonna tell our breakup story that me and my wife had in college, or right after college”. It’s just really like, broke up with her, started driving away and knew that something didn’t feel right. And you can feel that in the song. Like immediately from the downbeat, this tension, like just the whole song. And it’s like growing in the tension of the whole song too. But yeah, just kind of an autobiographical journey of that day of breaking up with her.
You’ve touched on that variety of influences and one thing which stands out about this record is the range of sounds and styles on it. Was that something that was important to this project?
Yes, but I think it was more subconscious than like, “OK, I need a song for these people or those people”. I just picked songs that I just couldn’t stop listening to. And that’s why I did 15, I was like, “I’m gonna do as many as I can”. And like, “what are the songs that I’ve listened to on my demos over and over and over again?”.
It’s seven years now since you released ‘Yours’. How do you think the way you’ve approached your music has evolved over that time?
A lot. A lot less caring what people think. And more so, like, what do I wanna sing? What do I wanna say? What do I want my music to sound like? Instead of, how can I make a song that X amount of people wanna listen to, millions of people wanna listen to? I’ve just kind of done away with that and it’s, “what do I wanna listen to?”. I have to trust my instinct of creating music.
You also became a dad not long before your last album came out. How has parenthood impacted on your music as well?
Yeah, I mean the whole record is… I wouldn’t say strictly chronological, but at least the starting song is called ‘Blame It On Being Young’. That’s about being 16 and all the dumb stuff we used to do. And then it ends, the record ends with ‘Just Like Your Mama’, which is pretty much current day. And just talks about becoming a dad and how I hope he grows up to be as strong and amazing as she is. And so, yeah, that’s just kind of been the journey of becoming a dad, really. There will be many more songs but this was just the one that really stood out to me.
You’ve also got a couple of collaborations on there – ‘She Likes It’ and ‘I Remember’. How did those come about?
Yeah, the collaborations all just kind of happened really naturally. There hasn’t been this big striving, “we need this or we need that”. I heard Jake Scott’s music and I texted our mutual friend. He came to town and ‘She Likes It’ was the second song we wrote together. And I was like, “well I could just put this out, but what about your fans too? Why wouldn’t we both put this out?” So that one happened super naturally.
Cheat Codes, that song… I wasn’t a part of writing the first round of it. They sent it to me and they were like, “hey, you should finish this and put your tweak or your message, whatever you wanna say in here”. And that’s when we came up with the Third Eye Blind and the do-do-do line and everything. So, yeah, then we just sent it to Cheat Codes. That was the only person we sent it to. And they were like, “boom, yes, love it”. And now it’s all over pop radio. It’s a beautiful thing.
Is there anyone you’d still like to work with?
Oh my gosh. You name it. Who was I just listening to? Julia Michaels, love her. Astrid S. Who else? I’m a big pop… like, Zara Larsson, stuff like. But I mean, gosh. Ty Dolla Sign, Usher, more of an R’n’B vibe. Post Malone, The Weeknd…
How long have we got?!
Exactly!
I also wanted to ask you about your ‘This Is Russ’ series on YouTube. What was it that led you to do that?
My buddy actually. He used to tour with us, and he was showing me different vlogs and I just saw how intimate the view is, if you just bring a camera with you and just kind of give people a behind the scenes look, and I was like, “we should do that”. So I just started doing it and I just wanted to give ’em a view of everything except the stage. Like what goes on, waking up at 5am to catch a flight here and go there and how much… not just how tired and crazy busy we always are, but just to give ’em… honestly now it’s just for Remington, basically [laughs].
Is being able to have that connection with the audience something that’s particularly important for you?
Yeah, absolutely. Totally. Yeah.
What song do you wish you’d written?
Ooh. Hmmm. I might say… ‘Man In The Mirror’, Michael Jackson. That one is just such a universal, not defined by an era song, you know? Timeless.
We mentioned your dancing before we started so this is a bit of a two in one question – do you have a signature dance move?
Michael Jackson too! [laughs] The kick and the ‘whoo!’.
And would you ever go on a show like ‘Dancing With The Stars’ or something like that at some point?
Um… I don’t know. I would perform on ‘Dancing With The Stars’. But I don’t know about that. Although I love to dance.
Russell Dickerson’s new self-titled album is out on 4th November 2022 on Thirty Tigers. His latest single ‘Blame It On Being Young’ is out now.
