The UK has been one of Charlie Worsham’s biggest fanbases for a long time – and that feeling is definitely mutual.
The singer-songwriter has been a frequent visitor to UK shores throughout his career, most recently last spring when he supported Ward Thomas on their nationwide tour. Last month he was back here playing at C2C – where he made his UK live debut – following the release of his acclaimed ‘Compadres’ project in October 2023.
Whilst he was here, I caught up with Charlie to chat about the ongoing success of the project, his love of British audiences, his plans for new music, working with longtime collaborator Dierks Bentley on covering Tom Petty’s ‘American Girl’ and much more.
Welcome back to London! How have you been finding this trip?
Oh, it’s been so special. You know, I think the takeaway for me this time around, the two things, first of all, I got to really play with a rocking band. And I’ve only done that the smallest amount until now in the UK. It’s mostly been just me and my guitar. Which I love that too, but I am itching to get back and play more shows with a band here. And the crowds – I knew they’d be great, but we can get into a higher gear with the audience, with the band. The other great thing is I’ve got my family here with me on this trip. So we’re gonna stay in London for the next week and I’m gonna show ‘em all my favourite spots.
Is there anywhere you’re particularly looking forward to visiting whilst you’re here?
Oh, you know, over the years I’ve met the folks at Abbey Road. And they’ve been really kind to give me the opportunity to go in for a private tour. I got to do that with my parents a few years ago, which is really special and emotional just ‘cause my dad is the one who raised me on the Beatles. And so it was very emotional standing in those rooms with them. But then I will get to do that with my son, who won’t know the significance of it just yet, but years from now he will.
How have you found playing with the band? Is it giving you more energy or creativity, or opportunities to stretch?
Yeah, all of those things. The energy especially. And I have to say, I’ve been doing the gig with Dierks Bentley here the last couple of years, and that’s part of what has been so wonderful about getting back in with the band. I just came off of touring for a couple of weeks in the States with the band, and had not done that in the States either for some time. And my time with Dierks has really influenced and inspired me in the way that I envision a show going, like how I build a setlist. A lot of it has to do with just the pace of the show. I think before I played with Dierks I’d figure out what order I wanted to play the songs in and then just do that, but what Dierks is really good about is he thinks about the show like it’s a rollercoaster. And so it’s the transitions of the songs, it’s knowing what story you wanna tell with a particular song, and bringing the crowd up and then dropping it back down and then bringing it back up. So that’s the great thing about having a band.
I saw you earlier in the Saloon talking to Baylen Leonard and you were talking about people coming up on stage wanting to take selfies and things like that, so I thought I’d ask – what’s the weirdest thing that’s happened to you on stage?
[laughs] What’s the weirdest thing? Oh man… I don’t know. I mean, I’ve been asked the weirdest thing I’ve ever signed, which I think would be a diaper [laughs]. Although now I kind of get it, but it’s still a little weird [laughs]. That’s a good question. I mean, I don’t know that there’s ever been anything too crazy or weird. I know the craziest thing I ever attempted to do from the stage was I did crowd surf once. And fortunately it went well, nobody was injured, it was really fun. But yeah, I don’t know that there’s any particular crazy thing. I’ll have to think on that and come back to you. It’s probably something I did!
You’ve mentioned the tour a little bit already but how was it getting back out on the road, especially as a headliner?
It was so fun. We had my friend Jordyn Shellhart open the shows, and I love Jordyn so much. And I felt like I was seeing myself at that part of my career when I watched her set, and loved seeing her make new fans. The other thing too, we got in a van and all rode down the road together. I’ve been very fortunate to be on buses mostly for the last decade, and I forgot how fun the van can be. I mean it’s a slog. It’s long days. But you see the world go by, and it reconnected me with the country audience, because it’s exactly what fans – in America but also here – do to get to the show. I mean they’ll take the road trip, you know, and pay for that gas tank to get full. So it was a refreshing thing to be reminded of that experience.
Speaking of Jordyn, I know you recorded a version of ‘A Nice Thing To Do’ together – tell us a bit more about that…
Yeah, you know, what’s wild about that is I love Jordyn’s songs, and I was so thrilled when I got a message from her. I just thought she was sharing a new song of hers at first. I was like, “ooh, I get to hear a new Jordyn song!” And then she sent the text inviting me to be a part of it so of course I was an immediate yes. But when we were on tour I worked up the nerve to ask her if it’s about someone in particular in real life, and she did reveal who it’s about, and I know the person, and they’re a lovely person. And that’s the thing about songs. You take a little tiny thing and you weave it into a deeper truth and sometimes you have to bend the smaller truths to get to the bigger truth. I’m not gonna spill the beans, Jordyn your secret is safe with me. But it’s just really funny to hear that it’s somebody we both know and then just getting to sing the song every night on stage is magical.
You were saying before you’ve been coming over here for eight years so I wanted to ask you about that – was C2C your first time performing in the UK?
C2C was my first time, and this particular trip kicked off the way my first experience in the UK did, with the songwriters series on Thursday night. And I have to tell you, the first couple of rounds, when I stepped up to the mike to sing, I kind of got emotional and I was struggling through the first verse of those songs. Just because it brought back so many memories and so much gratitude. In a word, it’s gratitude for what I’ve been able to experience thanks to the love of the fans here. And I forgot how magical C2C is. You know, I’ve been coming all these years but I haven’t really had the chance to fully immerse myself in C2C since that first trip. Just walking from one thing to the other in the concourse and bumping into people and saying hey. I’m not a guy that often gets recognised. Which I’m cool with. I love playing music and I want more and more success and I get that being famous is a part of that, but I’m not somebody that can’t go grocery shopping in a given city. But I feel famous here at C2C, but it’s a lovely version of it. Even actually last year when I was here opening for Ward Thomas, randomly I was on the Tube and got recognised on the Tube and I thought, “oh my God this is wild!”
You’re pretty much an honorary Brit now – you drink tea, you’re over here all the time… I feel like you should just move over here at this point!
I mean, don’t put it past me! Somewhere in the UK or nearby, you know, I love Ireland too. And my wife and I talk a lot – it’s funny, we did a big trip before we knew we wanted to start a family, and we chose to go to Ireland and Amsterdam. It was right before COVID so I’m really glad we took the trip. But we were in Galway, and the people were saying “oh yeah, John Prine has a house here”. And ever since then we’ve been talking about “well maybe we’ll get a flat in London, or maybe we’ll get a place up in York or a cottage in Ireland in our old age”. I could see myself… I mean I love Nashville and I kind of have to be there, because playing on records and writing songs you kind of have to be there. But I could see me, grey-haired me, once the kids are raised, like “y’all come visit, we’ll get you a ticket every year” and just go play in the pub every weekend. Sounds like a good life.
Last time we spoke was just before ‘Compadres’ came out. How have you found the response has been to the project?
It’s really been overwhelming. I mean, obviously having such big names in country who I get to call my friends who are all so kind to be on this project with me and be a part of my story, after being a part of theirs, playing on their records and stuff. I knew people would at least give it a shot seeing those names. But it’s been a sustained momentum. And every day I wake up and I’ll see something on socials or I’ll open Spotify and see how many people are listening. It’s been very humbling, and I’m very grateful. But I genuinely love those songs, and I loved getting to sing my favourite Patty Loveless song with Lainey Wilson. So I hope to do it again. I hope that throughout my life I’m making Compadres projects between albums. I already have the next one picked out.
Can you tell us anything about that yet? Or is it all still secret?
The first calls I’m gonna make are to John and TJ, Brothers Osborne, and to Ashley McBryde. Those are my first two. And I have the songs picked out and everything. Maybe Eric Church too. Oddly enough the Eric Church one, as much of a rocker as he is, the song I have in mind is very stripped down and slow and lonesome. But he does lonesome good though.
You’ve also worked with Dierks on his version of ‘American Girl’ for the Tom Petty tribute record that’s coming out soon. How was that?
You know, it’s funny, I can brag twice now that I’ve worked on something that Dolly Parton’s on. The first one was the song she sings on Leslie Jordan, God rest his soul, his gospel project. And I didn’t meet her, I still haven’t met her. But twice now I’ve backed her up in the studio, and the second time was on this Petty project for her version of ‘Southern Accents’. And I still haven’t heard her voice on it. I know it’s going to be epic. I’ve seen the track listing, it’s all my best friends. I’m playing on the song with Cadillac Three and BRELAND as well, I think it’s ‘Free Fallin’’.
And yeah, you know, with Dierks – gosh we just shot the music video for that. That was really fun. It’s funny, whenever we see each other, Dierks and the band guys, this time of year, we’re all just, “uhhhh, how soon is tour?!” Just ‘cause we don’t see each other that much this time of year, so it’s been a great excuse to bump into everybody. ‘Cause everything with those guys is an inside joke and it makes me itch to get back on the road for the summer tour.
Is there a song you’re particularly proud of from your career?
Oh absolutely. There are several. You know, one that continues – it was never a single, it was before people did focus tracks, but it was never really a song that we gave special attention to but people still talk about, ‘Mississippi In July’. I have such fond memories of writing that song with my friends, with Ryan Tyndall. And particularly the second verse, which is a part of the song people talk about often, writing that with him in a hotel room in Key West, Florida, during the songwriter festival down there.
Oh man, you know, just the other night, I was gonna do a new song for my last round at the songwriter round and people started hollering out “Lawn Chair!” and I was like, “I’m not gonna get off this stage without doing Lawn Chair”. And it was kind of my first viral moment, being at C2C with ‘Lawn Chair’. So it’s really cool to feel that love for songs. Especially as they get older.
And that’s what I love about ‘Compadres’, with ‘How I Learned To Pray’, is I never saw that coming. It’s the highest streaming song I’ve ever had, just because we dusted it off ten years later. So hopefully more of that down the road. Actually I would turn it over to all of your readers to submit, let’s say on the next ‘Compadres’, like I did on the first ‘Compadres’, if I pick an old song of mine from an old record, what song would they like to hear, and who would they like to hear me sing it with? I’d be really curious to know.
Oh now I need to think about what my answer to that would be…
I would love to know [chuckles].
I read an article that was talking about football and connecting it with Taylor Swift and when you were touring with her years ago, and it mentioned that Kristen [Charlie’s wife] has been trying to get you into football and teach you the rules. So how’s that going? And have you got a team yet?
Yeah, oh, you know, she has taught me a lot, and we watch college football because she’s a second generation Penn State alum. And so I know a little more about it, but it’s been a minute since I’ve watched a game so I might need her to give me a refresher course. But I guess I’m a Lindy Lions [the fictional team from Ashley McBryde’s ‘Lindeville’ album which Charlie played on] fan now. But I love the Tennessee Titans, and there’s a Tennessee Titan, DeAndre, I can’t remember his last name [Hopkins]. But he’s gonna be in the Football Hall of Fame, legendary player. But word on the street is he’s looking for a guitar teacher. And I wanna be like, “dude, let’s trade. I’ll teach you guitar and then you be my physical trainer/football coach. Teach me the way”.
You’ll be up in the VIP box at Nissan Stadium next season…
Yeah, just broing down with the Titans [laughs].
Have you made it to Bao yet whilst you’ve been here? Because I saw you posted on Instagram that was your favourite sandwich and you were trying to recreate the recipe…
Yeah! You know what, I actually have, and I can now say I’ve been to all Bao locations. We got here the day before to adjust, and I got to take Gabe [Charlie’s son] out. And it was the easiest thing to get from here on the Jubilee line over to Borough Market, which I had actually not spent time in Borough Market before. It’s great. And I walked round the corner and there’s Bao, and I’m like, “hey Gabe, you wanna try some Taiwanese fried chicken?” [laughs] And he loved it. And I loved it. It was great. But we still haven’t had the proper, bring Kristen along and Gabe and have everything. But that’ll happen in a few days.
And how’s the ten minute guitar challenge [which Charlie has been posting on his social media] going?
You know what, I’m a few weeks behind. I have the next one on my phone, and after C2C I’ll upload it and stuff. But the best thing about that, even if I don’t get it 100 per cent, like anything that inspires me to play more, I’m a fan of that. And that’s the whole purpose of that for me. You learn pretty quickly that ten minutes is a long time when you’re just playing guitar, and not singing or doing songs or anything. It’s been good for me. It’s keeping my chops up.
What does the rest of the year look like for you?
Well, you know, spring and fall are kind of record making season in Nashville, while everybody’s off the road still. So I’ve got some fun sessions coming up in the spring that I’m really excited about, I can’t wait to tell people about. But that includes a couple of days in the studio for my own record. And I’ll be working with Jaren Johnston, and we actually got John Osborne to be our band leader. Because I love John, he’s an old friend, we actually did an overdub recently together and I was reminded, being in the room and playing a guitar solo together, “oh yeah, he’s kind of like the older brother I never had”. He makes me play differently and I want that for my record. So I was like, “John, will you be the band leader?” and he was like, “Yeah”.
So that’s gonna be big fun. Then a big summer with Dierks. We’re gonna play Bridgestone, we’re gonna play Red Rocks, and I think as soon as his tour wraps I’m gonna be back on the road. We don’t have the details yet but I wanna hit the States again, do another tour and I wanna get back to the UK and hopefully with a band this time.
I was going to ask if you had plans to come back…
We’re working on it. I just signed with UTA for booking and they have an office in London, and a couple of the folks at the London office were at my show at the Saloon, and immediately were like, “alright, how do we make this happen?” So, yeah.
Charlie Worsham’s latest project, ‘Compadres’, is out now on Warner Music Nashville.
