It’s not an understatement to say 2023 was a massive year for Corey Kent.
The Oklahoma-born singer-songwriter not only bagged his first top five US Country airplay single with ‘Wild As Her’ – which has now gone platinum – but also released his debut major label album, ‘Blacktop’ and an acoustic follow-up, ‘23’. Now, after making his UK debut at C2C last March, he’s back on this side of the pond opening for Ashley McBryde on her The Devil I Know Tour.
Earlier this week I caught up with Corey to talk about his plans for the tour, memories of his last trip to the UK, his latest record and what the rest of the year holds.
Welcome back to the UK!
Thank you, thank you. It’s good to be back.
How have you been finding it so far?
Brief. We flew in this morning, we did not sleep on the plane which was a mistake. I have had an ungodly amount of caffeine and tobacco today. But we are pushing through and going to sleep well tonight.
You’re currently over here with Ashley McBryde on The Devil I Know Tour. Is there anything you’re particularly looking forward to about this trip?
Really just playing the clubs here in the UK. The last time I was here I played at C2C, and it was great exposure, it was a great experience. But all I heard about from other artists who have already been here was, “you gotta go play the clubs. You gotta see the fanbase in those settings”. So I’m really excited to see that. I just loved the attentiveness that the folks here had – how they were hanging on every word – and now I can’t wait to see it in a different setting, a little more intimate setting. And also just see Ashley do her thing, that’s gonna be exciting too. I know she has a great fanbase over here. And we get to take advantage of that and make some new fans so it’s gonna be fun.
Speaking of C2C – do you have any particular highlights of that trip from when you were here last?
Oh! I mean, as a fan of country music, it was my first time seeing Lainey Wilson perform. Since then we’ve become pretty good friends. It’s been a fun relationship to build. But really just seeing her entertain was awesome. And then to watch her go on and win an [CMA] Entertainer of the Year, I was just glad I got to see it and take it in before it had a label, ‘cause I got to form my own opinion of how great she was before somebody else told me how great she was. So it was really cool to see that, that was a highlight for me.
Another one was, you know, I came here and played solo acoustic, so some of Thomas Rhett’s band went out of their way to compliment my musicianship, of being able to do what I did, just me and a guitar. And I thought that was really cool because one, they didn’t know who I was really, two they definitely did not have to pay attention to an artist at my level on the small stage in between the two big sets that were going on. It was just a cool opportunity. And honestly, I met Thomas Rhett, it just took me flying halfway across the world to do it, ironically. But I got to meet a lot of artists and cross paths with them, whereas a lot of times we’re all touring so heavily in the States that we just don’t get that interaction. I live in Texas, so I don’t get that Nashville interaction that a lot of those artists get. So it was just great to connect with people and see their live shows.
Are there any songs you’re particularly looking forward to playing on this trip?
Yeah. I mean, one song I think will go over really well here, and I’ve been excited to play over here for a long time is called ‘Once Or Twice’. It’s the last song on the ‘Blacktop’ record. It’s kind of this dark, ominous, really lyrically deep song, and it goes over really well in a setting where the crowd is attentive. When they are actually listening to the lyrics, this song just strikes a chord with people. And I love playing it live and I don’t always get the opportunity to, because a lot of times my goal in a Texas or red dirt bar is to keep the energy as high as possible, and this song is more of an introspective song. So I’m looking forward to a setting where I can play some of the more introspective stuff.
Speaking of ‘Blacktop’, how have you found the response to that record has been from fans?
Man, I’ve found that people like Lainey Wilson, a lot of my peers really held that record in high regard. Like she really went out of her way to tell me how great she thought that record was. And obviously that is affirming, when your peers respect the art that you’re creating. That’s a really cool feeling. And not necessarily something that you strive for, but it’s a nice bonus.
And then in terms of fan reaction to it, we have just seen so many of the ‘deep cuts’ of the record be fan favourites, which means, I think the record was really well-rounded. And I think that it was extremely authentic, and we’re seeing that in the response of people. You know, ‘Wild As Her’ was our big hit off of that, and outside of that there really isn’t any one particular song that is just above everything else on that record. And that’s a really cool place to be, where a third of your crowd is raising their hand for one song and another third completely disagrees, they think the best song is something else. It just means that we put together a really well-rounded record.
I also wanted to ask you about the ‘23’ project that you put out at the end of last year – it feels weird saying ‘last year’…
Yeah, I know [laughs]. I’m not used to that.
Can you tell us a bit more about that?
Sure. This is the first project that I’ve ever done where I completely self-produced it. I didn’t hire a producer, I didn’t hire a band. I didn’t go to Nashville or LA or New York to record this. I went 30, 40 minutes down the road in Texas, right next to where I live, to a studio. We set up the mikes and I sat down, just me and my guitar and a wooden chair, and recorded a bunch of what I call misfit songs, that didn’t make my previous records but I believed in these songs and I thought they were great and my fans would like ‘em. I just sat down and played ‘em into a microphone and whatever happened, happened. There was no fixing it, it just was raw and real and human, and I felt like my fans would enjoy it.
And they deserve it. At the end of each year for the last three years I’ve put a project out for my true fans who have brought me this far, the ones that have been with me for a long time. And I felt that they deserved new music quicker than the typical album cycle allows me to put music out. And so it really was just for our original fans, the people that have brought us this far. Just a thank you to them and ‘here’s some songs we hope you enjoy, and here’s a unique way that I can present ‘em to you that shows a different side of me’.
Were there any songs from that project that were either particularly easy or particularly challenging in terms of the writing?
Oh, man. There’s a song at the end of the record called ‘Hits Like A Girl’ that is a really interesting song that a buddy and I wrote. My buddy Jack [Hummel] and I have written a lot of songs together. This one in particular, he threw out the title and I just remember going, “OK wait, stop talking. Don’t talk. I got it, I got it, I got it, just don’t talk”. And I just started writing, and his energy was the co-write. Like he, of course, threw out lines, but I just knew. I had such a vision. Once he said the words, once he said the hook, I was like, “I know what this song is supposed to be about and I know exactly how I wanna say this”. And so we crafted this song and it was almost effortless. It really just unfolded pretty quickly. And those are the kind that you live for. There’s a lot of songs where you really work them out, and then there are some songs where it just feels like they’re given to you. And that was one of those.
I also wanted to ask about ‘This Heart’ which is your next single coming out next Friday (26th January). What can you tell us about that?
Well, this song is one that we first kind of showed a portion of it to our fans in August of this past year. And I’ve been working on a lot of new music, this is one of the many songs I’ve got done, but this one in particular people just seem to gravitate towards it and have been demanding it for months on end now. And we’ve never had to navigate the same things that we’ve had to navigate on releases. We’ve had to keep in mind the radio, I’m touring a ton so it’s hard to find moments to go record. There’s just a lot of new things that we’re navigating as we’re growing exponentially fast that made getting this song out take longer than I’ve ever wanted it to. But now that we’re [a week] out I’m extremely excited. It’s definitely our most anticipated song ever. It’s definitely our most viral video we’ve ever had and it’s definitely our most pre-saved song. I don’t even know how many, but that’s what my team tells me, is a lot of people have cared enough to go pre-save this song. I think there’s a lot of interest and a ton of potential, and anybody who loved our hit ‘Wild As Her’, this is gonna be a great follow up to that.
With ‘23’, was there anything you learned from that that you’re going to take forward into the new music or any other future projects?
I think I learned how not to make a record [chuckles]. I say that because I self-produced this thing but it was almost on accident the way that it all unfolded. We set the mics up and I played the first song, and we got done with the song and I was talking with the engineer and I was like, “I think there’s one part I probably need to fix.” And he was like, “Yeah, you can’t do that. You can’t fix anything.” And I was like, “why not?” And he goes, “Well the way you mic’ed it, all of the microphones being in the same room, and this microphone that’s picking up your guitar is also picking up your voice, meaning you can’t change one without changing the other.”
And so I accidentally created an entire record of really extremely raw and real, one take, you just play the song, sing the song at the same time, whatever happens is what we’re gonna use. And so I jokingly say that, it ended up being magical. I love the raw and human record that we got to make because of that human error. But sometimes the best art comes from not overthinking things and people like me just having a simplistic approach to things.
I also wanted to ask you about working with Cory Asbury on ‘My Inheritance’ which came out at the end of 2023. How did that come about and what was it like working with him on that song?
Yeah, it was really cool, man. We’ve formed a friendship over the last couple of years. He moved to Tennessee and he started to reach out, and when he did I was like, “Hey man, I live in Texas but I’m up there all the time, I’m a big fan of your stuff.” And he was kind of contemplating a crossover into country music, and was asking my thoughts on that. We just kept the conversation open, just as friends. And a year or two later he sent me a link to his unreleased record and said, “Hey, I would love for you to sing on a song with me. Listen to the record and if one jumps out at you let me know.” And I heard that song and was like, “I can relate to this. And my fans will care about this. I can sing this in a way that’s authentic and my fans will believe”, and I think he sang it in a way that was authentic and his fans will believe, which is the perfect collaboration. So it ended up being a very natural, organic friendship and collaboration, and we had a blast. We poured some whiskey and hung out and recorded the vocals to it and had a great time together.
Is there a song from your career that you’re particularly proud of – either one that you’ve already released or one that’s not out yet?
I’d say if there’s an unreleased song that I’m really proud of that isn’t out yet, there’s a good proportion of our die-hard fans who actually know this already. It’s called Bixby, which is the name of my hometown. And we’ve played it at a handful of shows, and it caught on really quick. I think it’s just the transparency and the authenticity in that song is undeniable. Anybody that’s from Bixby will go, “yep, that’s about my town”. There’s just no way around it. The song embodies what the town is and what the town was. So I’m excited for my friends from my hometown and my family and all the people I grew up with to hear this ode to this great place that we’re from.
What does the rest of 2024 look like for you at the moment?
Yeah, so as soon as we get back from the UK we’ll be hitting the road with my good buddy Parker McCollum for the majority of the year. That’ll be like seven months I believe. We’re gonna get to play some iconic venues like Red Rocks that I’ve always dreamt of playing, thanks to Parker we’re gonna get some of those opportunities. And then after that, we have a ton of offers in for the fall headline tour that we’re planning. So we’ve gotta sit down and decide how much do we wanna be gone in the fall, how many shows do we wanna play and what markets do we wanna accept these offers in. We’ll put together a headline tour and go do it, then hopefully get a good break for the holidays.
And are there any plans to come back to the UK after this trip?
Well, absolutely. I mean that’s the whole reason that I’m here this time. It’s all part of a much bigger plan to continually invest in this area and build a fan base here. A lot of country artists fail to do that early on and they grow to regret it later. It’s something that the earlier in the career you can do I think the better. At least that’s the advice that I’ve been given and that’s why I’m here and that’s why I’m doing this. I want to do it as soon as possible so that I can come back over here on my own headline tour and really connect with my fan base over here. We’re building it now and it’s gonna be so fun to see what it grows into. I think this is a part of my big plan for the foreseeable future, is to consistently come play in the UK at the clubs.
Corey Kent’s latest record, ’23’, is out now on RCA Nashville/Sony Music Entertainment. His new single ‘This Heart’ will be released on Friday 26th January.
See Corey live in the UK and Ireland on The Devil I Know Tour (with Ashley McBryde and Harper O’Neill) this month:
19 January – O2 Academy, Bristol
20 January – Eventim Apollo, London
21 January – O2 Institute, Birmingham
23 January – Albert Hall, Manchester
24 January – Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow
25 January – Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow
27 January – Waterfront Hall, Belfast
28 January – 3Olympia Theatre, Dublin
