The C2C Sit Down with Caleb Lee Hutchinson
Whilst Cowboys from the Big D are world renowned, during C2C: Country to Country in Berlin, we hung out with a cowboy from a different Dallas. Caleb Lee Hutchinson hails from the small town of Dallas in the state of Georgia and heading for the festival in both Berlin and London coincides with his first trip across the pond where he is showcasing new music that is on the way along with tracks from his stunning “Southern Galactic” record. Amidst the Berlin sunshine, we got to meet Caleb and look ahead to heading to the UK where he is definitely an act that you don’t want to miss at C2C London.
Thank you for taking the time man. I just caught your set a little earlier, I think that's my favourite stage here, I just like the vibe and I love that you were on stage with a beer! What have been your first impressions of C2C to here in Berlin?
“Well, you know this is my first time ever being in Europe period. So, the first day I got to experience the jet lag that everybody talks about and I'm still kind of recovering from that and a lot of coffee has gone into my system. It’s beautiful here, everyone that I've met that has been to Berlin has said how cool the city it is. It's really, really beautiful, strangely, I think, just because I had never been over here, I kind of pictured it more different, but I'm like, oh, it's kind of the same, you know, everything sort of works the same.”
Yeah, I like it too. It’s my second time here and like a lot of European cities, the architecture is a lot older than you guys see in the States but I just think the people are really nice in Germany and the food too. I really enjoyed the set and loved when you mixed a little Rod Stewart into “Silverado” because I thought that was cool and I wasn’t expecting that. In terms of your music influence, you said on stage that you have been recording some new stuff down in San Antonio where your sound is more that Texas style of country rather than the overly polished Nashville type thing, but growing up what did you listen to? Have you always wanted to sing country?
“Yeah, I grew up in definitely a country dominant household. My father was very much into like the 60’s and 70‘s Outlaw movement country. He's kind of a past 1985 or so, there's no good country music kind of guy and then my mom is more of a 90s country purist so I grew up with a lot of really cool country music. Although my mom, you're wearing her favourite bands shirt, Guns N’ Roses. She loved Guns N’ Roses, Bon Jovi and then my uncle introduced me to a tonne of rock music, like the Stones and Beatles. So originally, I think the first time I was ever filmed singing, I was singing an Aerosmith song and I kind of was just sort of waiting for the voice to drop, so I could sing the country song. Then yeah, round about puberty I figured out, I'm going to have to do country.”
Thank you for taking the time man. I just caught your set a little earlier, I think that's my favourite stage here, I just like the vibe and I love that you were on stage with a beer! What have been your first impressions of C2C to here in Berlin?
“Well, you know this is my first time ever being in Europe period. So, the first day I got to experience the jet lag that everybody talks about and I'm still kind of recovering from that and a lot of coffee has gone into my system. It’s beautiful here, everyone that I've met that has been to Berlin has said how cool the city it is. It's really, really beautiful, strangely, I think, just because I had never been over here, I kind of pictured it more different, but I'm like, oh, it's kind of the same, you know, everything sort of works the same.”
Yeah, I like it too. It’s my second time here and like a lot of European cities, the architecture is a lot older than you guys see in the States but I just think the people are really nice in Germany and the food too. I really enjoyed the set and loved when you mixed a little Rod Stewart into “Silverado” because I thought that was cool and I wasn’t expecting that. In terms of your music influence, you said on stage that you have been recording some new stuff down in San Antonio where your sound is more that Texas style of country rather than the overly polished Nashville type thing, but growing up what did you listen to? Have you always wanted to sing country?
“Yeah, I grew up in definitely a country dominant household. My father was very much into like the 60’s and 70‘s Outlaw movement country. He's kind of a past 1985 or so, there's no good country music kind of guy and then my mom is more of a 90s country purist so I grew up with a lot of really cool country music. Although my mom, you're wearing her favourite bands shirt, Guns N’ Roses. She loved Guns N’ Roses, Bon Jovi and then my uncle introduced me to a tonne of rock music, like the Stones and Beatles. So originally, I think the first time I was ever filmed singing, I was singing an Aerosmith song and I kind of was just sort of waiting for the voice to drop, so I could sing the country song. Then yeah, round about puberty I figured out, I'm going to have to do country.”
In the truest sense, you are a real life Dallas Cowboy just not that Dallas.
“Yeah, from the Little D rather than the Big D.”
The Cowboys are my team and a source of constant misery for me, so we will keep away from that but on another Texas theme, you mentioned on stage earlier that you have been recording down in San Antonio so what is the plan with putting some of it out through 2025 as “Southern Galactic” came out over a year ago now. Are we looking at something extended or working towards the DSP’s with a flow of singles with something to come later?
“We're definitely gonna drop some singles, some of those will probably be stand alone, but we're looking to roll out an album this year. It's probably a little more old school and it may not even be the smartest thing depending on how you want to think about it, but I just love albums. I love having like a body of work from start to finish and as a listener I’ve always enjoyed when an album takes you on a journey. I guess it’s fighting for our attention spans if you want to do a full length record and yeah, I’m working with the Titanic Sinclair who did my past record and it hate it when people sound too positive about things because I assume it's fake, but it is like truly a dream come true to get to work with the people that I do.”
One of these new songs which I heard you play earlier was “Long Line of Losers”, which I liked and had a cool introduction but to be able to put it out there into the world, tell us the story that goes with that one.
“Anyone who thinks I’m funny, hasn’t met my father because he is far funnier than I. I’m 26 now, been in Nashville since I was 19 and as you know, you go like, man, when am I going to have the mansion and all this stuff? When's it going to take off and I get to live the fantasy? A few years ago, I think it was during COVID, I was talking to my dad and just like, what am I doing? You know, I'm 21, I can't even do the thing I'm doing anymore, like, what if it all goes wrong? Honestly, I expected some like, oh, what if it all goes right kind of stuff but he goes, buddy, you come from a long line of losers! It is true. My father is the first person in the family to make it through school and everything so, it's nice to be reminded of the low expectations.”
The way that I first became aware of your name which is the same way that a lot of people that will know who are was through Idol. Looking back through the whole experience, what do you feel you learnt most from it and also I guess it almost has a stigma attached to that once you've gone through that, it's the same with like people that do TikTok now. It's like you are a TikTok artist and it's a label attached to you and I guess it's kind of a similar label to you are a talent show contestant. Do you kind of feel that's something you've ever needed to shake and also what do you feel you gained from the whole process?
“Yeah, great questions. I think initially I felt more of a pressure, like coming off that show, being so young and, I’ve got to do it now or I'll end up being on where they now list and I felt all that pressure. What I kind of found was operating from that kind of headspace isn't a good place for me to make anything good and it's been a lesson I've kind of learned gradually over the years, but I think where I'm at now from all that has just been that my focus is so much just not worrying about what anyone thinks. Like I hope people like our music, but I'm just trying to write stuff that excites me and make music that makes me want to get out of bed in the morning and play for people. I find that the more I do that the better I seem to feel and it seems like people like the direction. Idol was a great experience, looking back on it, you know, I just think, wow, that was impressive, I can't believe that kid got up there and did that, I don't know if I could do it now that I’m older and know how scary the world is. I think the biggest thing was I was fortunate when I did that show that I'd already been playing gigs since I was 12 and had some experience of being in front of people and having people not like me and all that kind of stuff. When you're on a show like that, you're exposed to the world and everyone says whatever they want without consequence, when you're young, it can kind of mess with you. A lot of people had a hard time when the Internet started to do its thing. It just taught me that like A that doesn't matter and B it's not as real, like I've never had people come up to me in person and say any of the things that I've read online. So yeah, overall, it showed me what in this whole industry isn't important, you know?”
Back to your set, you dropped your Post Malone cover in. You cut that with another guy from GA, Kristian Bush from Sugarland producing the album which that song sat on. How was working with Kristian back then and what did you learn from him to build into what you are doing now?
“Well, that was that was my first time being in a real recording studio with awards and plaques on the wall so, that part of it was a little intimidating, but it was also cool. His studio is an hour and a half away from when I grew up and that was right after idol too so, I just went back to living with my parents. I think the biggest thing there was just Kristian’s humility and willingness to let me speak up and you know, at that time I probably didn't say anything because I was so like, you're the guy, you know. What a sweet, sweet guy, a creative genius. I remember sitting there just thinking this is stupid that I'm here, this is crazy, it doesn't make any sense.”
“Yeah, from the Little D rather than the Big D.”
The Cowboys are my team and a source of constant misery for me, so we will keep away from that but on another Texas theme, you mentioned on stage earlier that you have been recording down in San Antonio so what is the plan with putting some of it out through 2025 as “Southern Galactic” came out over a year ago now. Are we looking at something extended or working towards the DSP’s with a flow of singles with something to come later?
“We're definitely gonna drop some singles, some of those will probably be stand alone, but we're looking to roll out an album this year. It's probably a little more old school and it may not even be the smartest thing depending on how you want to think about it, but I just love albums. I love having like a body of work from start to finish and as a listener I’ve always enjoyed when an album takes you on a journey. I guess it’s fighting for our attention spans if you want to do a full length record and yeah, I’m working with the Titanic Sinclair who did my past record and it hate it when people sound too positive about things because I assume it's fake, but it is like truly a dream come true to get to work with the people that I do.”
One of these new songs which I heard you play earlier was “Long Line of Losers”, which I liked and had a cool introduction but to be able to put it out there into the world, tell us the story that goes with that one.
“Anyone who thinks I’m funny, hasn’t met my father because he is far funnier than I. I’m 26 now, been in Nashville since I was 19 and as you know, you go like, man, when am I going to have the mansion and all this stuff? When's it going to take off and I get to live the fantasy? A few years ago, I think it was during COVID, I was talking to my dad and just like, what am I doing? You know, I'm 21, I can't even do the thing I'm doing anymore, like, what if it all goes wrong? Honestly, I expected some like, oh, what if it all goes right kind of stuff but he goes, buddy, you come from a long line of losers! It is true. My father is the first person in the family to make it through school and everything so, it's nice to be reminded of the low expectations.”
The way that I first became aware of your name which is the same way that a lot of people that will know who are was through Idol. Looking back through the whole experience, what do you feel you learnt most from it and also I guess it almost has a stigma attached to that once you've gone through that, it's the same with like people that do TikTok now. It's like you are a TikTok artist and it's a label attached to you and I guess it's kind of a similar label to you are a talent show contestant. Do you kind of feel that's something you've ever needed to shake and also what do you feel you gained from the whole process?
“Yeah, great questions. I think initially I felt more of a pressure, like coming off that show, being so young and, I’ve got to do it now or I'll end up being on where they now list and I felt all that pressure. What I kind of found was operating from that kind of headspace isn't a good place for me to make anything good and it's been a lesson I've kind of learned gradually over the years, but I think where I'm at now from all that has just been that my focus is so much just not worrying about what anyone thinks. Like I hope people like our music, but I'm just trying to write stuff that excites me and make music that makes me want to get out of bed in the morning and play for people. I find that the more I do that the better I seem to feel and it seems like people like the direction. Idol was a great experience, looking back on it, you know, I just think, wow, that was impressive, I can't believe that kid got up there and did that, I don't know if I could do it now that I’m older and know how scary the world is. I think the biggest thing was I was fortunate when I did that show that I'd already been playing gigs since I was 12 and had some experience of being in front of people and having people not like me and all that kind of stuff. When you're on a show like that, you're exposed to the world and everyone says whatever they want without consequence, when you're young, it can kind of mess with you. A lot of people had a hard time when the Internet started to do its thing. It just taught me that like A that doesn't matter and B it's not as real, like I've never had people come up to me in person and say any of the things that I've read online. So yeah, overall, it showed me what in this whole industry isn't important, you know?”
Back to your set, you dropped your Post Malone cover in. You cut that with another guy from GA, Kristian Bush from Sugarland producing the album which that song sat on. How was working with Kristian back then and what did you learn from him to build into what you are doing now?
“Well, that was that was my first time being in a real recording studio with awards and plaques on the wall so, that part of it was a little intimidating, but it was also cool. His studio is an hour and a half away from when I grew up and that was right after idol too so, I just went back to living with my parents. I think the biggest thing there was just Kristian’s humility and willingness to let me speak up and you know, at that time I probably didn't say anything because I was so like, you're the guy, you know. What a sweet, sweet guy, a creative genius. I remember sitting there just thinking this is stupid that I'm here, this is crazy, it doesn't make any sense.”
Now you have been writing and cutting more things, especially as you have worked with Titanic before, does it get easier to be able to push back if maybe his idea isn’t what you are thinking or do you still just trust the process of thinking he knows what he is doing?
“I think I've been really fortunate working with Titanic because he and I think a lot alike. I've worked with him quite a bit at this point and I don't think there's ever been a point where we argued or had friction on any musical choice. Like it seemed like he or I would make a thing and the other person would just go, yeah, of course, that's it so, I'm really, really fortunate to work with that guy and be his friend.”
Hopefully, this trip goes really well and you will want to come back and if you do come back and do get to bring a band over how does your live show kind alter from an acoustic, telling more of the stories type set to a full band show? Is it a lot rockier and really full on?
“Yeah, “Southern Galactic” specifically has a lot of rock, electronic and funk elements so I love getting to play those songs with the band. Max who played guitar with me today, he's been playing bass for me and he's been absolutely tearing up all the funky licks. Whether it's just solo acoustic or with the band, at this point in my life, my goal is for me to have as much fun as possible and I find that typically people like to watch somebody have fun, it might make them have a better time. Yeah, with the band, especially with the guys that I play with, they're all dear friends with mine and it's different, but it's the same, you know, and I don't really have a preference between the two. I love doing both and you will get to see them both in London because I will have a full band for my show on The Big Entrance stage.”
Caleb Lee Hutchinson will play at C2C: Country to Country in London with performances on Friday March 14th at 14:00 on The Wayside Stage and on the Big Entrance Stage at 16:00. Full festival details and last minute ticket information for London are available on the WEBSITE or socials (INSTAGRAM TWITTER FACEBOOK) whilst you can find more information on the Berlin event on their WEBSITE or can relive all of this year’s activity on their INSTAGRAM & FACEBOOK.
The latest album “Southern Galactic” from Caleb Lee Hutchinson is out now and available HERE. To keep up to date with all that Caleb is up to, you can check out his WEBSITE and socials to follow along on INSTAGRAM FACEBOOK & X.
“I think I've been really fortunate working with Titanic because he and I think a lot alike. I've worked with him quite a bit at this point and I don't think there's ever been a point where we argued or had friction on any musical choice. Like it seemed like he or I would make a thing and the other person would just go, yeah, of course, that's it so, I'm really, really fortunate to work with that guy and be his friend.”
Hopefully, this trip goes really well and you will want to come back and if you do come back and do get to bring a band over how does your live show kind alter from an acoustic, telling more of the stories type set to a full band show? Is it a lot rockier and really full on?
“Yeah, “Southern Galactic” specifically has a lot of rock, electronic and funk elements so I love getting to play those songs with the band. Max who played guitar with me today, he's been playing bass for me and he's been absolutely tearing up all the funky licks. Whether it's just solo acoustic or with the band, at this point in my life, my goal is for me to have as much fun as possible and I find that typically people like to watch somebody have fun, it might make them have a better time. Yeah, with the band, especially with the guys that I play with, they're all dear friends with mine and it's different, but it's the same, you know, and I don't really have a preference between the two. I love doing both and you will get to see them both in London because I will have a full band for my show on The Big Entrance stage.”
Caleb Lee Hutchinson will play at C2C: Country to Country in London with performances on Friday March 14th at 14:00 on The Wayside Stage and on the Big Entrance Stage at 16:00. Full festival details and last minute ticket information for London are available on the WEBSITE or socials (INSTAGRAM TWITTER FACEBOOK) whilst you can find more information on the Berlin event on their WEBSITE or can relive all of this year’s activity on their INSTAGRAM & FACEBOOK.
The latest album “Southern Galactic” from Caleb Lee Hutchinson is out now and available HERE. To keep up to date with all that Caleb is up to, you can check out his WEBSITE and socials to follow along on INSTAGRAM FACEBOOK & X.
