BRELAND may have only made his first trip to the UK less than two years ago, but since then it’s seemed impossible to keep him away.
After opening up for Russell Dickerson on his tour here last autumn and hosting this year’s C2C Festival in London alongside the legendary Bob Harris, now he’s back on this side of the pond for his first ever UK headline tour – which is already selling out fast – as well as supporting Shania Twain on her nationwide Queen Of Me tour.
Ahead of his set at The Long Road Festival recently, I spoke to BRELAND about his love for UK crowds, his brand new single ‘Cowboy Don’t’, what to expect from his shows over here, recording ‘Natural’ in Simlish, his plans for new music and more.
Welcome to the festival!
Yeah, it’s good to be here.
How have you found it so far?
It’s been good. We just got in, honestly, like a couple of hours ago, so I haven’t had a chance to walk around much. We just went straight into interviews. But I see the vibe of this is obviously a lot different than, say, C2C, just based on it’s outdoors, people are camping here, going back and forth, and then obviously you’ve got more Americana vibes musically, which is cool. I mean I’m still gonna do what I do but it’s cool to see that.
So the last time you were here was for C2C where you were hosting the festival – how was that experience?
Yeah, it was cool. I’ve had a couple of hosting opportunities in the radio world – I had a show over at Apple for a little while and then was doing some stuff with Amazon. I’ve never done a live event like this, so it was fun. I had a chance to learn from and share the stage with Bob Harris, who obviously is kind of the godfather of UK country broacasting. It was a lot of fun, and it was cool to be able to wear a different hat and show the fans a slightly different side of me. I’ve obviously come out here now and played a couple of times, but it’s different being able to come out on stage and introduce acts and crack certain jokes or whatever. So I had a really good time doing that. I think it’s nice to be able to come out here and just actually play the show, and looking forward to watching some of my friends and peers that are playing alongside.
You’ve just released your new single ‘Cowboy Don’t’ – tell us a bit about that…
Yeah, ‘Cowboy Don’t’ is a really fun tune. I just had this idea, a lot of times I get messages from people who are like, “this isn’t country music!” or whatever else, so I was like, “OK, how can I explain to them what I’m doing?” And so I said, “you know what, let me package this like a traditional 90s country song”. It’s definitely the furthest traditional production I’ve ever really gone on any of my songs, but obviously then the lyric is saying the opposite, right? [laughs] So it’s kind of accomplishing multiple things at once. I think it’s just a fun little song. It’s one that we’ve been playing live for the last few months and audiences really seem to enjoy it. And it’s just an uptempo record, it’s a celebration of all the differences that make us who we are, saying “I like doing things that a cowboy don’t”. Very, very catchy tune.
You’re also just about to head out on your first UK headline tour and then opening for Shania Twain here as well. What can people coming to see you at those shows expect?
Yeah, so it’s two tours kind of packed into one long trip. They can expect on the Extra Mile Tour which is my headline run, just some great stories, a lot of great energy. I’ve got Avery Anna coming with me on that tour, she’s a rising star in country music and I really love what she does. I actually met her in the UK at C2C 2022, and so I have a lot of respect for her and what it is that she does. But they can expect from us more of what they have expected. I’ve had a chance to play some much bigger crowds, being on tour with some other artists, and I feel like it’s definitely taught me a lot about how to engage larger crowds. So I think people will see some growth hopefully from the last time they saw me out here to this time.
But then obviously we’ll be out here with Shania Twain as well on her Queen Of Me tour, which we did a domestic run with her in the States. That was a lot of fun and I was really pumped to be added to these UK shows with her as well. So from that you can expect all the classic hits from her and me introducing a lot of these crowds to what it is that I do for the first time.
It’s been almost a year now since you released your debut album ‘Cross Country’. How has the response been like to that?
Yeah, we’re coming up on a year. I really love this project, and so we’re actually doing a deluxe version with six new songs. ‘Cowboy Don’t’ is one of them. And that’s kind of an anniversary project. So that’ll be coming out while I’m out here in the UK… Sorry, I can hear Rissi [Palmer, host of Colour Me Country] on stage! [laughs] But yeah, it’s a lot of fun. The new songs that we have I think will be a nice addition to help us really close that chapter and start thinking about album number two.
But just watching people learn some of the music from this album, and some of the songs that aren’t even singles that we’ve been playing live now because they’ve become fan favourites, like ‘County Line’ or ‘Thick’ or some of these songs that are just kind of bops that people have started to discover after the fact. It’s a lot of fun to see people continue to discover it. And even as we put out new music and close the chapter of ‘Cross Country’ as an album, it’ll always be a formative part of my career and a project that I have a lot of respect for.
How do you feel the way you’re approaching your music now has evolved since you made the record?
I think playing some shows and getting in front of different crowds internationally has kind of shown me more of what my audiences want from me. And I’m thinking more about the live show when I’m writing. Like, “how is this gonna scan live?” And if a song isn’t gonna make sense live I’m probably not as interested in putting it out. I think I’m growing still as a writer and as a storyteller, starting to get more comfortable being more vulnerable on some of these songs.
And so I think a couple of the songs on this ‘Cross Country’ deluxe, ‘The Extra Mile’, including the actual song ‘The Extra Mile’ which is the title track obviously of this new batch of songs, are some of the more emotional songs that I’ve put out, that really come from real places. I’ve experienced a lot in the last year. From breakups to I lost my grandma very recently, I had lost a friend of mine, and just kind of being able to write from real experiences more often is something that I’m feeling more comfortable doing. Since putting out ‘Cross Country’ I think fans can expect to see more growth. Not just in terms of how the songs are being written, but what’s being said.
I saw that you recorded a version of ‘Natural’ in Simlish for one of The Sims 4 expansions – what’s it like to record your song in a completely different, fictional language?
[laughs] Yeah! Well I’ll tell you what it’s done, it’s made it extra difficult for me to play it live now because I have all these fake lyrics and gibberish words in my head when I’m trying to do the actual song. So I always have this moment right before I start singing on that song where I’m terrified that I’m going to start singing [sings in Simlish, laughs] and all those gibberish words.
But that was a fun experience. I’ve never had a song in a video game in that way. I thought they were just gonna put it through some programme to change what I was saying. I didn’t realise that I was going to be coming in and actually singing these things totally differently. So [laughs] it was fun. It was not what I expected, but it’s cool to see that song be able to have a new life with an audience of people that might not even really be country music fans, they’re just fans of ‘The Sims’, you know?
You also had a BRELAND and Friends show at the Ryman auditorium a few months back. How was that?
It was great. You know, we brought out a bunch of great artists. I think with BRELAND and Friends, it’s one of those events now that is a part of my brand [chuckles]. We’ve done it in the UK a couple of times. But I love it because it’s just a real testament to the relationships that I have and have been able to form over the last couple of years. It’s a charitable event, we raise money for a charity in Nashville. And I just think any time you can play in a venue like the Ryman which has such a rich musical history, it’s really special. And so people who are thinking about making a trip out to the US and trying to time it up with some concerts, try to do it around BRELAND and Friends. It’s a great time.
What’s the next six to 12 months looking like for you? You’ve got the deluxe edition of ‘Cross Country’ and touring – is that going to be the main focus?
Yeah, I mean, after this UK run I’ll get back to the States. We have a couple of shows in October and November, but really for the most part I’m just trying to lock into the studio and create songs about all of these things that I’ve experienced and start making some new stuff. ‘Cause album number two is right around the corner. Well not really right around the corner, but I have to write it [laughs] So I’m looking forward to being able to create some new music.
I know it’s very early days but can you give us any hints about what direction that new record might go in? Will it be a similar sound to ‘Cross Country’?
Ah man, I really don’t know. I have to start making it to know what it would sound like. But I think people can expect some more of the same in terms of it’s gonna have some country elements and some non-country elements blended together. But I gotta figure out a sonic direction and what I want it to sound like which will take a little time to figure out.
See BRELAND on tour in the UK and Ireland this September:
Friday 8 September – Thekla, Bristol
Saturday 9 September – Electric Ballroom, London
Sunday 10 September – Gorilla, Manchester
Tuesday 12 September – St Luke’s, Glasgow
Wednesday 13 September – Empire Music Hall, Belfast
Thursday 14 September – OVO Hydro, Glasgow (with Shania Twain)
Saturday 16 September – The O2, London (with Shania Twain)
Sunday 17 September – The O2, London (with Shania Twain)
Tuesday 19 September – 3Arena, Dublin (with Shania Twain)
Wednesday 20 September – 3Arena, Dublin (with Shania Twain)
Friday 22 September – OVO Hydro, Glasgow (with Shania Twain)
Saturday 23 September – OVO Hydro, Glasgow (with Shania Twain)
Monday 25 September – AO Arena, Manchester (with Shania Twain)
Tuesday 26 September – Utilita Arena, Birmingham (with Shania Twain)
Thursday 28 September – First Direct Arena, Leeds (with Shania Twain)
