The C2C Sit Down with Drew Baldridge
Congratulations on your sets the past few weekends, and I was lucky enough to see you in Berlin last week too.
No way!
Now, first off, in Berlin my partner came to the meet and greet, had a photo with you and because you were so nice, she went and bought your hat!
No way! That was super sweet of her, my goodness. Okay, well, I owe her a signature on the hat now for sure.
Next time you come over, you need to do a garden concert for her as you have a new fan!
That's what y'all call backyards here.
Yeah. So, you gotta come and do a backyard concert in Guildford
You know, yeah, that's a deal.
How have you kind of found the two weeks?
Man, it's been amazing. You know, I didn't know what to expect. I know that I've had people been messaging me for the last few years saying you've got to get to Europe, you've got to get over to the UK and see what it's like. I just didn't know if we could. Country to country was perfect timing because we get to do a lot and be in front of a lot of people. It really makes a lot of sense. But, man, singing She's Somebody's Daughter and singing Tough People and hearing them sing back and knowing our music is connecting on the other side of the world. You know, for me, I started writing songs when I was 17 for just the girl down the street! I’d never dreamed that our songs would go 4,500 miles away and have an impact. As a songwriter, that's all I dreamed of and wanted in life is to write songs that really mean something, that resonate, that people have to have in their lives, that they play for a moment when they're struggling, that they play for a moment when they miss somebody. It's amazing to know that there's people that I just did a meet and greet with here in the UK that are coming up and said, hey, I just lost my dad, but I listen to your song to make me cope with that; or, hey, I'm battling cancer, but I listen to Tough People to know I can get through it. I just didn't know that our songs were doing that over here. For me, it makes me want to come back so much more.
Well, you say you want to come back. I took a photo of the queue to get into your last set aout two minutes into it. The queue is snaking back and forth out the front of the Indigo and the security is already doing one in – one out.
Holy smokes.
So you've got no choice now but to come back so everyone who was stuck outside can see you!
Yeah, and it's been fun to be over here. It's just me and a guitar. It's just me and an acoustic. It's been cool to see people over here really respect the story and allowing me to just be with a guitar and not be like, where's the band? Why is it not loud? I think next time I come over I really want to bring some players. I could bring my full band and make it make sense where I'm not losing a bunch of money to get here. But to bring my guys and really put on a full band show, I would love that. That would be my next step to get back over here and do another tour. I don't know when that is. Our agent was already talking last night as soon as we got off stage. She's like, we've got to find a way to get you back over here. This is insane.
And that was only from two songs last night on the Spotlight Stage.
Yeah, and I can only play two songs. I was like, I'm in. I really want to come over here. I want to grow it. I want to play as much as possible and tour Europe. I've really come to love it here. I love the UK. I love that you guys make me feel like I belong. I was really worried that I was going to come over and be like the red-headed stepchild. Not accepted. I appreciate you guys making me feel like I'm welcome.
No way!
Now, first off, in Berlin my partner came to the meet and greet, had a photo with you and because you were so nice, she went and bought your hat!
No way! That was super sweet of her, my goodness. Okay, well, I owe her a signature on the hat now for sure.
Next time you come over, you need to do a garden concert for her as you have a new fan!
That's what y'all call backyards here.
Yeah. So, you gotta come and do a backyard concert in Guildford
You know, yeah, that's a deal.
How have you kind of found the two weeks?
Man, it's been amazing. You know, I didn't know what to expect. I know that I've had people been messaging me for the last few years saying you've got to get to Europe, you've got to get over to the UK and see what it's like. I just didn't know if we could. Country to country was perfect timing because we get to do a lot and be in front of a lot of people. It really makes a lot of sense. But, man, singing She's Somebody's Daughter and singing Tough People and hearing them sing back and knowing our music is connecting on the other side of the world. You know, for me, I started writing songs when I was 17 for just the girl down the street! I’d never dreamed that our songs would go 4,500 miles away and have an impact. As a songwriter, that's all I dreamed of and wanted in life is to write songs that really mean something, that resonate, that people have to have in their lives, that they play for a moment when they're struggling, that they play for a moment when they miss somebody. It's amazing to know that there's people that I just did a meet and greet with here in the UK that are coming up and said, hey, I just lost my dad, but I listen to your song to make me cope with that; or, hey, I'm battling cancer, but I listen to Tough People to know I can get through it. I just didn't know that our songs were doing that over here. For me, it makes me want to come back so much more.
Well, you say you want to come back. I took a photo of the queue to get into your last set aout two minutes into it. The queue is snaking back and forth out the front of the Indigo and the security is already doing one in – one out.
Holy smokes.
So you've got no choice now but to come back so everyone who was stuck outside can see you!
Yeah, and it's been fun to be over here. It's just me and a guitar. It's just me and an acoustic. It's been cool to see people over here really respect the story and allowing me to just be with a guitar and not be like, where's the band? Why is it not loud? I think next time I come over I really want to bring some players. I could bring my full band and make it make sense where I'm not losing a bunch of money to get here. But to bring my guys and really put on a full band show, I would love that. That would be my next step to get back over here and do another tour. I don't know when that is. Our agent was already talking last night as soon as we got off stage. She's like, we've got to find a way to get you back over here. This is insane.
And that was only from two songs last night on the Spotlight Stage.
Yeah, and I can only play two songs. I was like, I'm in. I really want to come over here. I want to grow it. I want to play as much as possible and tour Europe. I've really come to love it here. I love the UK. I love that you guys make me feel like I belong. I was really worried that I was going to come over and be like the red-headed stepchild. Not accepted. I appreciate you guys making me feel like I'm welcome.
Even on this trip you're obviously taking in Germany. And you then had kind of a couple of dates with Chase Beckham, didn't you?
Yeah, yeah we played Sweden and we got to go to the Netherlands too. We played Rotterdam. We played Scotland, Glasgow. Then we're going, tomorrow we leave to go do our own headline shows in Belfast and Dublin.
That's really cool to kind of get those two shows there as headlines.
Yeah, just me and a guitar. We got a couple hundred tickets sold and we'll go and see what we can do to grow those markets as well.
Do you like it being just you and the guitar on these first visits? Especially because it kind of takes it back to when you wrote these songs. Some of these you wrote years ago.
Yeah, if you know my story for everybody out there, from 2020 to 2024, I didn't have a record deal. I didn't have a manager. I didn't have a booking agent. I lost all that. I almost gave up. The way that I kept going was by playing people's backyards, and by backyards, I mean gardens. I've still got one to do in England! So literally what I would do, this takes me back to those backyards. Every year I'd do over about a hundred of them and I would just go out. There was a time where I did 20 backyards in 19 days. I did two backyards in one day in the same town. Me and a van and my tour manager, we just drove all over the country from New York to California and just played people's backyards that messaged me on Instagram. It ended up being one of the coolest tours ever. But without that backyard, I wouldn't have been so comfortable with just me and a guitar. Now I feel like when I sit down and I'm up there and I'm in front of thousands of people or if I'm in front of two people, I've gotten confidence in just me and a guitar. I know how to talk. I'm very blessed that I've seen what worked in a backyard and what didn't work. That's what it takes me back to. This trip has really taken me back to being in backyards with people, sitting around a campfire, and just playing country music. That's probably how country music started. You're just you and a guitar telling your stories, where that song came from, people talking about, hey, I met people and heard their stories, and then I put those in my songs. It took me back to that.
When you were getting requests for these backyard gardens, were you having to look on a map at where some of these places were? Because I'm sure there had been lots of towns you had never even heard of.
Oh yeah, I mean I would look at the state. Sometimes they would just send the town and I'd be like, what freaking state are you in? I don't know this town. It turned out really cool because I called it the Baldrige and Bonfire Tour. I made t-shirts, so they had their own town on it, their own little town. Instead of saying New York City, it would say like Albany. That never gets a name on the back of the t-shirt. So that was what was fun is they had their own t-shirt, their own town, their own small-town merch, and they got to have a show like that. Especially coming out of COVID, it was so hard for venues to put on shows. There was no way to do social distancing. But it was like, hey, if you're outside and you're in somebody's backyard, it's been eight, ten months afterwards, people were ready to go out. There was no shows happening. It was like, I'll come, I'll play in your backyard, I'm ready to go.
You've obviously teased some new music this week.
Yes, I have.
So what is the song name? Is it just called Rebels?
It's called Rebels. So, we're really hoping to get that one out over the course of the next few months. We're in the studio working on it, we've got a version of it. We don't know if we'll love it, so we're working on another version, cutting multiple times. We have lots of new music that I'm really excited about. I wanted to play so much of it. They're like, Drew, you just can't play new songs. You've got to play the songs that people know. I was like, yeah, but in the last two years, I've only put out one song! Our last record was 2022, and we've only put out Tough People since then because we worked on Daughters so long to go number one in the States. Well, it just kept coming back.
It just kept coming up. You couldn't get rid of it almost!
Yeah, what a blessing, right? So, we just stayed focused on that until Tough People, and we've seen it do that. Now it's like I'm ready for an album. We're actually cutting in April. We're going in the studio in about three weeks, and we're going to record probably 10 to 15 more songs. Hopefully by the end of the year, you'll have a full body of work from us.
Is it going to be a bit of relief to get a new full release after what'll be over three years then?
Yeah, I'm ready for it. I'm really ready for new music. I'm biting at the bit to really get it out. Come on, let's go. Every morning I wake up and I look at my manager, and I'm just like, we need more music. I'm tired of playing these same songs. All I do is go through demos, and I have a lot of friends in Nashville sending me songs now, and we're working on new music. So yeah, it's going to be very exciting.
Yeah, yeah we played Sweden and we got to go to the Netherlands too. We played Rotterdam. We played Scotland, Glasgow. Then we're going, tomorrow we leave to go do our own headline shows in Belfast and Dublin.
That's really cool to kind of get those two shows there as headlines.
Yeah, just me and a guitar. We got a couple hundred tickets sold and we'll go and see what we can do to grow those markets as well.
Do you like it being just you and the guitar on these first visits? Especially because it kind of takes it back to when you wrote these songs. Some of these you wrote years ago.
Yeah, if you know my story for everybody out there, from 2020 to 2024, I didn't have a record deal. I didn't have a manager. I didn't have a booking agent. I lost all that. I almost gave up. The way that I kept going was by playing people's backyards, and by backyards, I mean gardens. I've still got one to do in England! So literally what I would do, this takes me back to those backyards. Every year I'd do over about a hundred of them and I would just go out. There was a time where I did 20 backyards in 19 days. I did two backyards in one day in the same town. Me and a van and my tour manager, we just drove all over the country from New York to California and just played people's backyards that messaged me on Instagram. It ended up being one of the coolest tours ever. But without that backyard, I wouldn't have been so comfortable with just me and a guitar. Now I feel like when I sit down and I'm up there and I'm in front of thousands of people or if I'm in front of two people, I've gotten confidence in just me and a guitar. I know how to talk. I'm very blessed that I've seen what worked in a backyard and what didn't work. That's what it takes me back to. This trip has really taken me back to being in backyards with people, sitting around a campfire, and just playing country music. That's probably how country music started. You're just you and a guitar telling your stories, where that song came from, people talking about, hey, I met people and heard their stories, and then I put those in my songs. It took me back to that.
When you were getting requests for these backyard gardens, were you having to look on a map at where some of these places were? Because I'm sure there had been lots of towns you had never even heard of.
Oh yeah, I mean I would look at the state. Sometimes they would just send the town and I'd be like, what freaking state are you in? I don't know this town. It turned out really cool because I called it the Baldrige and Bonfire Tour. I made t-shirts, so they had their own town on it, their own little town. Instead of saying New York City, it would say like Albany. That never gets a name on the back of the t-shirt. So that was what was fun is they had their own t-shirt, their own town, their own small-town merch, and they got to have a show like that. Especially coming out of COVID, it was so hard for venues to put on shows. There was no way to do social distancing. But it was like, hey, if you're outside and you're in somebody's backyard, it's been eight, ten months afterwards, people were ready to go out. There was no shows happening. It was like, I'll come, I'll play in your backyard, I'm ready to go.
You've obviously teased some new music this week.
Yes, I have.
So what is the song name? Is it just called Rebels?
It's called Rebels. So, we're really hoping to get that one out over the course of the next few months. We're in the studio working on it, we've got a version of it. We don't know if we'll love it, so we're working on another version, cutting multiple times. We have lots of new music that I'm really excited about. I wanted to play so much of it. They're like, Drew, you just can't play new songs. You've got to play the songs that people know. I was like, yeah, but in the last two years, I've only put out one song! Our last record was 2022, and we've only put out Tough People since then because we worked on Daughters so long to go number one in the States. Well, it just kept coming back.
It just kept coming up. You couldn't get rid of it almost!
Yeah, what a blessing, right? So, we just stayed focused on that until Tough People, and we've seen it do that. Now it's like I'm ready for an album. We're actually cutting in April. We're going in the studio in about three weeks, and we're going to record probably 10 to 15 more songs. Hopefully by the end of the year, you'll have a full body of work from us.
Is it going to be a bit of relief to get a new full release after what'll be over three years then?
Yeah, I'm ready for it. I'm really ready for new music. I'm biting at the bit to really get it out. Come on, let's go. Every morning I wake up and I look at my manager, and I'm just like, we need more music. I'm tired of playing these same songs. All I do is go through demos, and I have a lot of friends in Nashville sending me songs now, and we're working on new music. So yeah, it's going to be very exciting.
And then obviously once you release that, it's time for a European tour.
That's right. We've got to come back and do it again.
Having got this C2C call, are you still at that point where you just want to say yes to everything?
When we came here to C2C, we played three shows yesterday. I remember telling my manager when we got the call, I was like, say yes to everything. Everything that comes through, say yes and that's what we did. Now I'm exhausted. I played three shows yesterday, and I played one today. I played four shows in London.
One of which was the late night show last night.
We didn't get in until two. Then we played again today at the same stage I played last night. I was like, these four people have heard my story four freaking times
This is obviously so different to the American Festival. So I guess so many of them, you literally go in, you play one set for that 30, 45 minutes, and then you go home. Whereas having got to do the four sets last weekend, four sets this weekend, you've had people come back to every single show. Then there have been people who have found you last night came to the show today kind of thing.
Yeah, I think that's what's cool, because a lot of these people have either heard of me, never heard of me, or heard the song. They've never seen me live. This gives us a chance for them to go see an artist in a little bar, 100 people, and be like, wow, I like them. I need to make sure that I watch them on the spotlight stage, or I need to make sure I go and see them again, so then I'd play again, and then the room would grow. I'd be like, whoa, we were just three hours ago in some other rooftop, now we're at this rooftop. I think it's really cool that they do that, because a lot of people here might have just heard the name, might have just heard a song. They don't get to know the artist, or like sit and hear their story, or hear where this music comes from. For me, it was a blessing to do a lot of those shows, because I built my business in the States by playing thousands of shows, by going to a venue, playing for 50 people, coming back in six months, playing hopefully for 100 people, going back again. I kind of did that in like 24 hours over here.
But the thing is, here there's so many different stages. There's so much choice. That's probably like the busiest I think I've ever seen that Indigo stage, I’ve been to headline concerts there with less people!
Well, that's crazy. That's crazy. That makes me feel special. Everybody that came into the meet and greet was like, we can't wait for you to come back and do your own tour. Maybe you'll headline the show one year. Maybe you'll come back and play the main stage. I'm in.
So many great artists have made their UK debuts on these spotlight stages with many upgrading to the main stage and they’ve built that fan base over here.
I was talking to Lainey about it, and she was like, this is my seventh time coming. This is her seventh time coming. She said, I started, I didn't even play the spotlight stage when I came. I was playing another stage. She was just like, you've got to go and see if they like it and invest in it. That's what we did. We took her advice, and it's been very eye-opening.
I promise we're worth the investment.
You really are. I can already tell. To already be over here just one time and seeing how many people our music is touching, that's what it's all about.
Thank you for your time today, we can’t wait for you to come back and by the sounds of it from the meet and greets we’re not the only ones.
Yeah, well, thank you so much. Thank you for taking your time, see you the next time we’re over.
To keep up to date with Drew and to be the first to know when he is returning to Europe be sure to head to his official sit and follow him on socials
WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM | TIKTOK | YOUTUBE | FACEBOOK
C2C: Country to Country will return to Berlin in 2026 across the weekend of March 6th to 8th where you will be able to find more details on their WEBSITE and keep in the loop regarding lineups and ticket information on INSTAGRAM & FACEBOOK. Then we will see you again in London (or maybe even Belfast/Glasgow) a week later across March 13th to 15th with early bird tickets set to go on sale at 10am on Friday 21st March where you can find more details on the WEBSITE and socials (FACEBOOK X and INSTAGRAM)
That's right. We've got to come back and do it again.
Having got this C2C call, are you still at that point where you just want to say yes to everything?
When we came here to C2C, we played three shows yesterday. I remember telling my manager when we got the call, I was like, say yes to everything. Everything that comes through, say yes and that's what we did. Now I'm exhausted. I played three shows yesterday, and I played one today. I played four shows in London.
One of which was the late night show last night.
We didn't get in until two. Then we played again today at the same stage I played last night. I was like, these four people have heard my story four freaking times
This is obviously so different to the American Festival. So I guess so many of them, you literally go in, you play one set for that 30, 45 minutes, and then you go home. Whereas having got to do the four sets last weekend, four sets this weekend, you've had people come back to every single show. Then there have been people who have found you last night came to the show today kind of thing.
Yeah, I think that's what's cool, because a lot of these people have either heard of me, never heard of me, or heard the song. They've never seen me live. This gives us a chance for them to go see an artist in a little bar, 100 people, and be like, wow, I like them. I need to make sure that I watch them on the spotlight stage, or I need to make sure I go and see them again, so then I'd play again, and then the room would grow. I'd be like, whoa, we were just three hours ago in some other rooftop, now we're at this rooftop. I think it's really cool that they do that, because a lot of people here might have just heard the name, might have just heard a song. They don't get to know the artist, or like sit and hear their story, or hear where this music comes from. For me, it was a blessing to do a lot of those shows, because I built my business in the States by playing thousands of shows, by going to a venue, playing for 50 people, coming back in six months, playing hopefully for 100 people, going back again. I kind of did that in like 24 hours over here.
But the thing is, here there's so many different stages. There's so much choice. That's probably like the busiest I think I've ever seen that Indigo stage, I’ve been to headline concerts there with less people!
Well, that's crazy. That's crazy. That makes me feel special. Everybody that came into the meet and greet was like, we can't wait for you to come back and do your own tour. Maybe you'll headline the show one year. Maybe you'll come back and play the main stage. I'm in.
So many great artists have made their UK debuts on these spotlight stages with many upgrading to the main stage and they’ve built that fan base over here.
I was talking to Lainey about it, and she was like, this is my seventh time coming. This is her seventh time coming. She said, I started, I didn't even play the spotlight stage when I came. I was playing another stage. She was just like, you've got to go and see if they like it and invest in it. That's what we did. We took her advice, and it's been very eye-opening.
I promise we're worth the investment.
You really are. I can already tell. To already be over here just one time and seeing how many people our music is touching, that's what it's all about.
Thank you for your time today, we can’t wait for you to come back and by the sounds of it from the meet and greets we’re not the only ones.
Yeah, well, thank you so much. Thank you for taking your time, see you the next time we’re over.
To keep up to date with Drew and to be the first to know when he is returning to Europe be sure to head to his official sit and follow him on socials
WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM | TIKTOK | YOUTUBE | FACEBOOK
C2C: Country to Country will return to Berlin in 2026 across the weekend of March 6th to 8th where you will be able to find more details on their WEBSITE and keep in the loop regarding lineups and ticket information on INSTAGRAM & FACEBOOK. Then we will see you again in London (or maybe even Belfast/Glasgow) a week later across March 13th to 15th with early bird tickets set to go on sale at 10am on Friday 21st March where you can find more details on the WEBSITE and socials (FACEBOOK X and INSTAGRAM)
