The C2C Sit Down with Priscilla Block
The UK audience had their first meeting with Priscilla Block at C2C: Country to Country in 2022 as part of the CMA presented Introducing Nashville series and it is more than fair to say that she made a big first impression. The North Carolina native first gained attention off the back “Just About Over You” going viral in 2020 on TikTok which would not just go on to become her first radio single but also be classified as platinum following signing her record deal with Mercury Nashville who she would release her 2022 full-length debut album “Welcome To The Block Party” with.
After a second UK appearance in the summer of 2022 at The Long Road festival and her first headline shows over here of her own, 2024 brought about a return to the C2C stage and more music being released leading up to her sophomore album, starting with her latest track “Good On You” (listen HERE).
It’s great to see you and great that you are back.
“I am so happy to be back, we have had a blast.”
This is the third trip over here now, so I guess we are doing something right to make you keep wanting to come back.
“It’s just been so awesome, the fans are amazing here. Even doing C2C the other night in London, a bunch of people are on the front row with their safety vests on and I’m thinking this is fricking awesome.”
I think for me, this weekend has been the best showcase of the UK audience I have been a part of, where they are so respectful and attentive with new or deeper songs but really went hard and gave the energy back when they needed to. The festival keeps growing, even since you came here two years ago, we’ve talked about the crowd but have you genuinely felt the growth numbers and all of that stuff too?
“Oh yeah, I realised it when we played the other night. It’s crazy to see familiar faces that I saw and met the first time. I remember people saying I talked to you and I said this to you, I remember exactly when that happened so where the other night felt like we were making a lot of new fans but there are also a lot of fans who keep coming back which is good because I’m glad I haven’t sacred all of you guys away yet.”
After a second UK appearance in the summer of 2022 at The Long Road festival and her first headline shows over here of her own, 2024 brought about a return to the C2C stage and more music being released leading up to her sophomore album, starting with her latest track “Good On You” (listen HERE).
It’s great to see you and great that you are back.
“I am so happy to be back, we have had a blast.”
This is the third trip over here now, so I guess we are doing something right to make you keep wanting to come back.
“It’s just been so awesome, the fans are amazing here. Even doing C2C the other night in London, a bunch of people are on the front row with their safety vests on and I’m thinking this is fricking awesome.”
I think for me, this weekend has been the best showcase of the UK audience I have been a part of, where they are so respectful and attentive with new or deeper songs but really went hard and gave the energy back when they needed to. The festival keeps growing, even since you came here two years ago, we’ve talked about the crowd but have you genuinely felt the growth numbers and all of that stuff too?
“Oh yeah, I realised it when we played the other night. It’s crazy to see familiar faces that I saw and met the first time. I remember people saying I talked to you and I said this to you, I remember exactly when that happened so where the other night felt like we were making a lot of new fans but there are also a lot of fans who keep coming back which is good because I’m glad I haven’t sacred all of you guys away yet.”
The fans here are definitely loyal, I know a few people that went to ALL of your headline shows that you did when you were last here for The Long Road. People that come here early and genuinely do keep trying to come back is really appreciated as the fans can be on the journey with you, then the music discovery here is so organic I would say that people listen to what they want to listen to rather than what they are told to listen to.
“Yeah out here it feels cool that they do showcase and spotlight new artists which doesn’t happen all the time on radio back at home.”
Looking at music from you, it’s been a little while since we had something extended from you but you put out a new song last month so, is there something bigger and exciting on the horizon?
“Yes, I am currently working on my second album, it’s almost done and there has been a lot that has happened in the three years since putting out my first album so, there is a big story that I want to tell through this next record.”
Ooh that’s exciting to tease us with. You are really big with your socials and seem like you really enjoy how you can be creative with it, for a lot of people TikTok marketing and content through Reels feels like a love / hate relationship where you need to do it because that’s the way that things are now but there is the danger of it becoming central and more important than the art itself. When you put one track at a time or a lot of content this way, it doesn’t really paint the picture of what you are trying to say like an album does. Is this new album is all new songs you have written since “Welcome To The Block Party” and you way of telling people who you are and what you have to say right now?
“It’s kind of where we’ve been and I haven’t put out a lot of love music, so you know there might me some love songs or something but like I said it’s showing what has happened in the past three years. I feel like the fans are ready for an album which I’m excited about and I’m putting out videos for every song. The “Good On You” video has just come out and when you watch it, you’re going to see flashbacks to “Hey, Jack” so all of these videos are going to tell a story that I’m really excited for the fans to pull apart, digest and try to figure out what the end story is.”
“Yeah out here it feels cool that they do showcase and spotlight new artists which doesn’t happen all the time on radio back at home.”
Looking at music from you, it’s been a little while since we had something extended from you but you put out a new song last month so, is there something bigger and exciting on the horizon?
“Yes, I am currently working on my second album, it’s almost done and there has been a lot that has happened in the three years since putting out my first album so, there is a big story that I want to tell through this next record.”
Ooh that’s exciting to tease us with. You are really big with your socials and seem like you really enjoy how you can be creative with it, for a lot of people TikTok marketing and content through Reels feels like a love / hate relationship where you need to do it because that’s the way that things are now but there is the danger of it becoming central and more important than the art itself. When you put one track at a time or a lot of content this way, it doesn’t really paint the picture of what you are trying to say like an album does. Is this new album is all new songs you have written since “Welcome To The Block Party” and you way of telling people who you are and what you have to say right now?
“It’s kind of where we’ve been and I haven’t put out a lot of love music, so you know there might me some love songs or something but like I said it’s showing what has happened in the past three years. I feel like the fans are ready for an album which I’m excited about and I’m putting out videos for every song. The “Good On You” video has just come out and when you watch it, you’re going to see flashbacks to “Hey, Jack” so all of these videos are going to tell a story that I’m really excited for the fans to pull apart, digest and try to figure out what the end story is.”
Is it important for you to be able to put songs off the project before the full album comes so you can give more of them their moment and do things with the video because if you only share one or two then drop another twelve at the same time as the record, they are all using the same window and hitting playlists on the same day so some of them could get lost.
“I think it’s important and especially in today’s age where people’s attention spans aren’t what they used to be. You obviously want to give fans a lot of new songs instead of just a couple but I do think you can get more life out of songs if you release some before the album, then when the album comes out it’s not twelve new songs for people to digest. Rather than putting it all out as one single project I would rather break it up into ten or whatever.”
That’s what you’ve done with “Good On You” and all of the things you are doing around it, it’s not just here’s the song, here’s the artwork and then the video will come after. You are playing around with the vanilla ain’t me lyric saying how ice cream sales have gone down and all that shit.
“Ha-ha heck yeah, I love that. I want each song to feel like its own because each song is its own thing and it was its own time of life, I want each song to have its moment and its own little campaign behind it like you said, the vanilla ain’t me where we can do merch for people and a video with it so I’m going to try and give every song it’s deserved attention.”
That’s the other thing with sharing the snippets on TikTok in that it allows you to find out what the fans actually are digging and what is getting the better reactions.
“Yeah, there are songs that I wrote for myself and that I will always love but at the end of the day you need to put out music that your fans are going to love and sometimes songs raise their hand that you might not even have thought about but it is what people want to hear. I feel I owe it to the fans to give them those songs.”
Now that you have done C2C twice, played The Long Road and did a little tour around that festival, is setting out a window to get back over here around festival season back at home, releasing the new record and the radio tour in the States that will go with the release, a big part of your planning where coming here is really important?
“Oh yeah, there’s a lot of planning that goes into it all but I want to get back here as soon as I can and I’m hoping that after this album I can go further and do a world tour.”
I think the other thing about when you have been over, yes the first time was in the round with Tiera (Kennedy) and Morgan (Wade) so it was acoustic but since then, you have brought your band here early and it’s your guys from home rather than having some local players, which a lot of people don’t do straight away. You can definitely tell from watching you guys on stage and all of your posts on socials that you guys are super tight on and off stage.
“I mean they are my family, I see them more than I see my actual family and we all live together for the majority of the year so it’s cool that they get to experience this too. They have their Instagram account called the Block Party Band (you can find them HERE) and they are loving it. We all are really close, I think we are as close as it actually gets.”
How long have you all been together and set with your crew and team now?
“A couple of us have been together since day one. My road manager, my guitar player was the first person that ever recorded me in Nashville and helped me produce my last album so I’ve known him since the beginning, then Sarah Jones who plays guitar for me has been on this ride since the beginning and we lived together, I mean it’s been a journey for all of us. My old drummer Joe actually flew out here and came to the shows and he’s not in the band anymore, he just like works his normal corporate job but he is still forever a part of the Block Party Band so he was like you guys are heading to the UK so I’m coming out with you. It’s cool because you see these fans recognise Joe and we are such a family, which I could not do what I do without everyone in my team.”
“I think it’s important and especially in today’s age where people’s attention spans aren’t what they used to be. You obviously want to give fans a lot of new songs instead of just a couple but I do think you can get more life out of songs if you release some before the album, then when the album comes out it’s not twelve new songs for people to digest. Rather than putting it all out as one single project I would rather break it up into ten or whatever.”
That’s what you’ve done with “Good On You” and all of the things you are doing around it, it’s not just here’s the song, here’s the artwork and then the video will come after. You are playing around with the vanilla ain’t me lyric saying how ice cream sales have gone down and all that shit.
“Ha-ha heck yeah, I love that. I want each song to feel like its own because each song is its own thing and it was its own time of life, I want each song to have its moment and its own little campaign behind it like you said, the vanilla ain’t me where we can do merch for people and a video with it so I’m going to try and give every song it’s deserved attention.”
That’s the other thing with sharing the snippets on TikTok in that it allows you to find out what the fans actually are digging and what is getting the better reactions.
“Yeah, there are songs that I wrote for myself and that I will always love but at the end of the day you need to put out music that your fans are going to love and sometimes songs raise their hand that you might not even have thought about but it is what people want to hear. I feel I owe it to the fans to give them those songs.”
Now that you have done C2C twice, played The Long Road and did a little tour around that festival, is setting out a window to get back over here around festival season back at home, releasing the new record and the radio tour in the States that will go with the release, a big part of your planning where coming here is really important?
“Oh yeah, there’s a lot of planning that goes into it all but I want to get back here as soon as I can and I’m hoping that after this album I can go further and do a world tour.”
I think the other thing about when you have been over, yes the first time was in the round with Tiera (Kennedy) and Morgan (Wade) so it was acoustic but since then, you have brought your band here early and it’s your guys from home rather than having some local players, which a lot of people don’t do straight away. You can definitely tell from watching you guys on stage and all of your posts on socials that you guys are super tight on and off stage.
“I mean they are my family, I see them more than I see my actual family and we all live together for the majority of the year so it’s cool that they get to experience this too. They have their Instagram account called the Block Party Band (you can find them HERE) and they are loving it. We all are really close, I think we are as close as it actually gets.”
How long have you all been together and set with your crew and team now?
“A couple of us have been together since day one. My road manager, my guitar player was the first person that ever recorded me in Nashville and helped me produce my last album so I’ve known him since the beginning, then Sarah Jones who plays guitar for me has been on this ride since the beginning and we lived together, I mean it’s been a journey for all of us. My old drummer Joe actually flew out here and came to the shows and he’s not in the band anymore, he just like works his normal corporate job but he is still forever a part of the Block Party Band so he was like you guys are heading to the UK so I’m coming out with you. It’s cool because you see these fans recognise Joe and we are such a family, which I could not do what I do without everyone in my team.”
Then you all have managed to make it over here which is a long way from Raleigh.
“Oh yeah, were definitely a long way from North Carolina.”
For sure and your about to go even further away, so enjoy Australia. Thank you for your time, we managed to avoid each other on the last two trips but I knew you would be fun to hang with and this has been really cool.
The new single “Good On You” from Priscilla Block is out now via Mercury Nashville / Snakefarm Records in the UK and is available HERE. You can find details for all of her upcoming North American shows by checking out her WEBSITE or you can be the first to be in the know about any news of further forthcoming new releases along with what Priscilla is up to by following along on INSTAGRAM TIKTOK TWITTER & FACEBOOK.
C2C: Country to Country will return in 2025 for three days of festivities in Berlin over the weekend of March 7th to 9th which you will be able to find further detail on their WEBSITE and on INSTAGRAM & FACEBOOK where you will also be able to relive highlights from this year’s event.
The event will then roll back into London, Glasgow and Belfast the following weekend between March 14th and 16th which you can keep a look out for all forthcoming details at the event WEBSITE or socials (INSTAGRAM TWITTER FACEBOOK) with line-up details expected to be announced later in the year.
“Oh yeah, were definitely a long way from North Carolina.”
For sure and your about to go even further away, so enjoy Australia. Thank you for your time, we managed to avoid each other on the last two trips but I knew you would be fun to hang with and this has been really cool.
The new single “Good On You” from Priscilla Block is out now via Mercury Nashville / Snakefarm Records in the UK and is available HERE. You can find details for all of her upcoming North American shows by checking out her WEBSITE or you can be the first to be in the know about any news of further forthcoming new releases along with what Priscilla is up to by following along on INSTAGRAM TIKTOK TWITTER & FACEBOOK.
C2C: Country to Country will return in 2025 for three days of festivities in Berlin over the weekend of March 7th to 9th which you will be able to find further detail on their WEBSITE and on INSTAGRAM & FACEBOOK where you will also be able to relive highlights from this year’s event.
The event will then roll back into London, Glasgow and Belfast the following weekend between March 14th and 16th which you can keep a look out for all forthcoming details at the event WEBSITE or socials (INSTAGRAM TWITTER FACEBOOK) with line-up details expected to be announced later in the year.