The Long Road Sit Down with Evan Bartels
Following performances at last summer’s BST event in Hyde Park on the same bill as Morgan Wallen and appearances at C2C: Country to Country festival in both London and Berlin, Evan Bartels is starting to make trips across the pond a regular occurrence. Earlier this year, the Nebraska native released his stunning new EP “To Make You Cry” which was his first release in partnership with Snakefarm Records here in the UK and off the back of this and his performances earlier in the year, Evan headed back over once more to play at The Long Road festival where we caught up with him again.
It’s great to have you back.
“It’s great to be back.”
This is starting to become quite regular now.
“I know, we're old friends, aren't we.”
Yeah, it's like no sooner you've gone and the next minute, it’s here you are back again.
“I'm trying to man, if somebody calls and asks if I'll come, I will come. I love coming over here and playing shows.”
Yeah and you've seen a lot of different festivals here as well.
“Yeah, I got lucky out of the gate to get on the festival circuit. You know, it started with Hyde Park at BST last year, then that led to C2C and now C2C led to The Long Road.”
It’s great to have you back.
“It’s great to be back.”
This is starting to become quite regular now.
“I know, we're old friends, aren't we.”
Yeah, it's like no sooner you've gone and the next minute, it’s here you are back again.
“I'm trying to man, if somebody calls and asks if I'll come, I will come. I love coming over here and playing shows.”
Yeah and you've seen a lot of different festivals here as well.
“Yeah, I got lucky out of the gate to get on the festival circuit. You know, it started with Hyde Park at BST last year, then that led to C2C and now C2C led to The Long Road.”
How does this here compare to festivals back home in terms of the organisation, all the stuff going on and with the audience from that first set today?
“You know, The Long Road feels the most like other festivals that I've played in the States, I think part of it is being outside with multiple stages, all these vendors and things but the thing that seems different to me is, you know I played a solo set at 1230 and there was a tonne of people out there. There are other bands going on at the same time, too so just the fact that there's so many people here, they come out to the early shows and sets to see people who aren't the headliners on the bill. You see that too, in the US but here, I mean, the crowd for early in the day, I couldn't believe that.”
It's awesome how many people do come out early here, like I've been looking after Halle Kearns this weekend where she had the early spot on The Front Porch yesterday and there were not just so many people there but how many of them came back out for the second set today. It's the same faces and people coming back again and you’ll probably see the same with your set later on is. That stage your doing is a really cool stage too, you might not have seen it yet because it’s tucked away in the woods.
“I'm looking forward to it and I had said on that 1230 show, that I was playing over there tonight and people came up afterwards and they were like, which stage is it? We're going to come to that! Some of my friends who have been over there, they had said, too, you know, that's almost like the secret, it's a very intimate place to play, which is going to be cool because that's the one thing that you miss a lot of times at a festival so I'm excited for that to see how it goes.”
That’s the cool thing for you as well, where obviously, you know, you've got all the stories behind the songs and if you're playing a big space you can’t always share them all.
“Yeah, you know, you don't just want to story tell the whole time and talk, especially when I have never travelled to the UK with a band so, I want to split up the show between an electric guitar, an acoustic guitar and I wish I had a piano. You can kind of cater even a solo set to a larger crowd like that and part of that is that I always look at the sets as your first three or four songs, you’re using those to try to get people not to leave. Then they get to know you a little bit and you can throw in a couple of stories but it's not like when you play to fifty people in a tent somewhere at a small bar or something, you know.”
“You know, The Long Road feels the most like other festivals that I've played in the States, I think part of it is being outside with multiple stages, all these vendors and things but the thing that seems different to me is, you know I played a solo set at 1230 and there was a tonne of people out there. There are other bands going on at the same time, too so just the fact that there's so many people here, they come out to the early shows and sets to see people who aren't the headliners on the bill. You see that too, in the US but here, I mean, the crowd for early in the day, I couldn't believe that.”
It's awesome how many people do come out early here, like I've been looking after Halle Kearns this weekend where she had the early spot on The Front Porch yesterday and there were not just so many people there but how many of them came back out for the second set today. It's the same faces and people coming back again and you’ll probably see the same with your set later on is. That stage your doing is a really cool stage too, you might not have seen it yet because it’s tucked away in the woods.
“I'm looking forward to it and I had said on that 1230 show, that I was playing over there tonight and people came up afterwards and they were like, which stage is it? We're going to come to that! Some of my friends who have been over there, they had said, too, you know, that's almost like the secret, it's a very intimate place to play, which is going to be cool because that's the one thing that you miss a lot of times at a festival so I'm excited for that to see how it goes.”
That’s the cool thing for you as well, where obviously, you know, you've got all the stories behind the songs and if you're playing a big space you can’t always share them all.
“Yeah, you know, you don't just want to story tell the whole time and talk, especially when I have never travelled to the UK with a band so, I want to split up the show between an electric guitar, an acoustic guitar and I wish I had a piano. You can kind of cater even a solo set to a larger crowd like that and part of that is that I always look at the sets as your first three or four songs, you’re using those to try to get people not to leave. Then they get to know you a little bit and you can throw in a couple of stories but it's not like when you play to fifty people in a tent somewhere at a small bar or something, you know.”
Talking about a band, when you've been over before it has just been you stage but now the fact you are coming more and more, is that something that you are looking at going forward? You’ve got the foot in the door now and people are starting to know who you are so is bringing the band the next step?
“That's the plan and I'm going in next month to start recording some new music for the next album and unlike the “To Make You Cry” EP, that I wanted to keep very kind of acoustic driven, very intimate, so to speak, this next album, we're putting together is dare I say straight bangers. It’s a little bit more of a rock album, stuff that you could play solo for sure but the goal Stateside and over here is to start touring with a band. You know, do my own headlines with a band and you know, hopefully be able to come back and play C2C and The Long Road with a band then try to work up to the bigger stages.”
It is all about progression, especially coming here and you really have to invest the time and financially because, we all know that no one makes a tonne of money.
“Oh yeah, if you're in it for money, you might as well not be in it. I think there's a sense of adventure and like I've always said, if you could do anything else besides being a touring singer-songwriter, you should do it. The only reason you should get into this at any level or any degree, whether you're a promoter, somebody in the press industry or whoever, it's because you can't do anything else. There’s a lot of sacrifices that come with being able to do it, you know, the logistics of just me getting over here with the tour manager is incredibly involved to buck and then you realise that's true for you to get here and true especially for them to put these festivals on but you're surrounded by people who love it. As an artist you never make the same record twice and you want to keep expanding the vision in the show. To me, that’s the next step, whatever it takes is start getting a band put together, even if it's, you know, I bring one or two of my kind of core guys with me from the States, then I've got so many friends over here now who are great players so hire local guys, you know put out a call to say hey, everybody, I'm looking for keys and a pedal steel player in London or wherever.”
There’s a couple of core groups of guys that are so good to jump in with people and are so quick to pick things up, you can do stuff over Zoom with them, meet for about twenty minutes before you get on stage and are good to go.
“Yeah, you learn at the show and you go from there. It's nice doing things that way too, because then you have guys who travel over here so they know how to get a van, what you need to expect or what you really need to bring, you know.”
“That's the plan and I'm going in next month to start recording some new music for the next album and unlike the “To Make You Cry” EP, that I wanted to keep very kind of acoustic driven, very intimate, so to speak, this next album, we're putting together is dare I say straight bangers. It’s a little bit more of a rock album, stuff that you could play solo for sure but the goal Stateside and over here is to start touring with a band. You know, do my own headlines with a band and you know, hopefully be able to come back and play C2C and The Long Road with a band then try to work up to the bigger stages.”
It is all about progression, especially coming here and you really have to invest the time and financially because, we all know that no one makes a tonne of money.
“Oh yeah, if you're in it for money, you might as well not be in it. I think there's a sense of adventure and like I've always said, if you could do anything else besides being a touring singer-songwriter, you should do it. The only reason you should get into this at any level or any degree, whether you're a promoter, somebody in the press industry or whoever, it's because you can't do anything else. There’s a lot of sacrifices that come with being able to do it, you know, the logistics of just me getting over here with the tour manager is incredibly involved to buck and then you realise that's true for you to get here and true especially for them to put these festivals on but you're surrounded by people who love it. As an artist you never make the same record twice and you want to keep expanding the vision in the show. To me, that’s the next step, whatever it takes is start getting a band put together, even if it's, you know, I bring one or two of my kind of core guys with me from the States, then I've got so many friends over here now who are great players so hire local guys, you know put out a call to say hey, everybody, I'm looking for keys and a pedal steel player in London or wherever.”
There’s a couple of core groups of guys that are so good to jump in with people and are so quick to pick things up, you can do stuff over Zoom with them, meet for about twenty minutes before you get on stage and are good to go.
“Yeah, you learn at the show and you go from there. It's nice doing things that way too, because then you have guys who travel over here so they know how to get a van, what you need to expect or what you really need to bring, you know.”
For this trip, we've got a headline show on Wednesday night.
“Yes at St Pancras Old Church.”
It’s a really, really nice place.
“I’ve heard that from many people, I've seen photos and I've seen videos but I’ve never been there yet so I’m excited to get inside.”
It really pretty, plus it's nice and easy for people to get to as well, because of where it is at King’s Cross. You've got a really great opener as well.
“Yes, Henry Webb Jenkins.”
He’s an absolute legend, we spent a lot of time with him over a number of alcoholic beverages last night.
“I haven't met him in person yet. We've spoken on Instagram after somebody had recommended him to open, then I listened to his music and I was like, yes.”
He’s an incredible steel player too!
“That’s what he said. I think I'm going to try, if we can get together to work on something, I'm going to try to have him come up for a song.”
He an absolute pro, he was here playing for a girl on the stage in VIP yesterday before all our fun really kicked off.
“See, that's what the move is, you know, you meet guys like that who are doing things like this, and the next thing you know, you come over here, it's like, well, we need a band, I'll call Henry and be like, hey do you want to play steel?”
You said about this new music and how It's going to be kind of a different sort of sound, are we looking towards a full length project?
“Yeah, I'm going to start recording, you know, a few songs at a time, but all to tie in together to get a full length album. I don't think I'll ever, I don't know that I would do the Morgan Wallen thing where you go, I got 47 songs or however many on an album but I would love to hit, you know, ten to fifteen songs because over the past couple of years, I love to write albums as albums. I want it all to be cohesive and I also want somebody who's listening to it to not be thinking, oh, God, this is getting long, you know? So, I've been putting together, I've got about, truthfully, I've got about thirty-five songs that are all in consideration, so right now, it's just going through all of them, playing some of them at live shows, seeing how they go, how I want to shape them out and then just figuring out what tells the story that I want for the album.”
Who have you been working with on it? is it squirrel, your guy who you worked with on the EP? I remember from last time he had a name that stood out.
“Yeah, he has a great name, he engineered and produced a lot of the “To Make You Cry” EP with me and with this one, he's going to be involved on some of that. The main producer that I'm working with is my friend Ryan Hewitt, who I did my last full-length “Lonesome” with so, the dream team for me is Ryan Hewitt and Squirrel, his real name's Dave Covell, but everybody calls him Squirrel. Between those two and then Rico, who, you know, who is an insane A&R guy and just a great song guy, so I love having him on my team where we can bounce things off of each other. But you know, working now with the label too, that’s what's exciting about it is because there's A&R's at the label that see blind spots that I don't have. It’s great to get a little bit outside of your team because otherwise, you know, it's easy to just be smelling your own farts and be like, well, I love this song and I love that song. There's been songs even on “To Make You Cry” that were songs on there that I liked, but it took somebody else saying, hey, man, that is the song!”
“Yes at St Pancras Old Church.”
It’s a really, really nice place.
“I’ve heard that from many people, I've seen photos and I've seen videos but I’ve never been there yet so I’m excited to get inside.”
It really pretty, plus it's nice and easy for people to get to as well, because of where it is at King’s Cross. You've got a really great opener as well.
“Yes, Henry Webb Jenkins.”
He’s an absolute legend, we spent a lot of time with him over a number of alcoholic beverages last night.
“I haven't met him in person yet. We've spoken on Instagram after somebody had recommended him to open, then I listened to his music and I was like, yes.”
He’s an incredible steel player too!
“That’s what he said. I think I'm going to try, if we can get together to work on something, I'm going to try to have him come up for a song.”
He an absolute pro, he was here playing for a girl on the stage in VIP yesterday before all our fun really kicked off.
“See, that's what the move is, you know, you meet guys like that who are doing things like this, and the next thing you know, you come over here, it's like, well, we need a band, I'll call Henry and be like, hey do you want to play steel?”
You said about this new music and how It's going to be kind of a different sort of sound, are we looking towards a full length project?
“Yeah, I'm going to start recording, you know, a few songs at a time, but all to tie in together to get a full length album. I don't think I'll ever, I don't know that I would do the Morgan Wallen thing where you go, I got 47 songs or however many on an album but I would love to hit, you know, ten to fifteen songs because over the past couple of years, I love to write albums as albums. I want it all to be cohesive and I also want somebody who's listening to it to not be thinking, oh, God, this is getting long, you know? So, I've been putting together, I've got about, truthfully, I've got about thirty-five songs that are all in consideration, so right now, it's just going through all of them, playing some of them at live shows, seeing how they go, how I want to shape them out and then just figuring out what tells the story that I want for the album.”
Who have you been working with on it? is it squirrel, your guy who you worked with on the EP? I remember from last time he had a name that stood out.
“Yeah, he has a great name, he engineered and produced a lot of the “To Make You Cry” EP with me and with this one, he's going to be involved on some of that. The main producer that I'm working with is my friend Ryan Hewitt, who I did my last full-length “Lonesome” with so, the dream team for me is Ryan Hewitt and Squirrel, his real name's Dave Covell, but everybody calls him Squirrel. Between those two and then Rico, who, you know, who is an insane A&R guy and just a great song guy, so I love having him on my team where we can bounce things off of each other. But you know, working now with the label too, that’s what's exciting about it is because there's A&R's at the label that see blind spots that I don't have. It’s great to get a little bit outside of your team because otherwise, you know, it's easy to just be smelling your own farts and be like, well, I love this song and I love that song. There's been songs even on “To Make You Cry” that were songs on there that I liked, but it took somebody else saying, hey, man, that is the song!”
That's the thing, because when we went to that listening party thing for the EP and how Dante was talking about things, having the team here, who really believe in you and actually tell you what they think, that must help so much.
“Well, I think art, to make art, you have to trust yourself but to really keep growing as an artist, I think takes collaboration. Then when you're collaborating with another writer, producer or other artists, as well as other team members, there's a level of trust that needs to be there. I've always found that the people you should listen to are the ones who, A, know what they're talking about and B, want what's best for you. Working with people like Dante and through the Universal System at MCA and Mercury in Nashville, there's so much expertise and care there that you can trust those voices and to be like, hey, we're not trying to make you into something else, we’re trying to help you be the best you. I feel like there's a lot of people that can't get out of their own way enough to let that happen whilst still having the backbone to stay true to their vision. It’s all collaboration, the whole world is a collaboration.”
Last one, as we're here at festival, what's your default stuff when you're putting in your rider? What are you asking for?
“Honestly, any time somebody even offers a rider, I'm very flattered and thankful, so I I'll take what I can get. But if I get a choice, I love to have fresh fruit and I love a bottle of red wine. That's if I get nothing but fresh fruit and red wine, I'll be happy. Big time low maintenance, I'm just happy to be here.”
Well, anyway, dude, it's great you’re back. I'm going to come and watch you later and looking forward to it. Sadly, I can't make Wednesday because I've got another gig.
“I’m going to hold it against you.”
I hope you do! Please do, just keep coming. it's always a fun hang, I appreciate it and the more you come, the more cool pubs you can find for me to check out.
“Absolutely, I told somebody about The Grapes earlier today.”
It’s so funny because you were talking about The Gun last time and my friends went there for lunch last week.
“Dude, it's great. It’s so good. I hear they do an awesome Sunday roast but by the time we did have dinner there on Sunday and they had sold out of it. I was like, fuck it, the fish and chips is still banging. The fish and chips were worth it.”
“To Make You Cry” is the current EP from Evan Bartels which is out now and available HERE. To find out more about Evan and his music, you can check out his WEBSITE and you can keep up to date with all that he is up to socially on INSTAGRAM TIKTOK X & FACEBOOK.
The Long Road Festival will return to Stanford Hall in Leicestershire in 2026 between Thursday 27th and Sunday 30th August, with tickets on sale now. You can find ticket details and further information on their WEBSITE and you can be the first to know all updates ahead of next year’s event by checking out their socials on INSTAGRAM or FACEBOOK.
“Well, I think art, to make art, you have to trust yourself but to really keep growing as an artist, I think takes collaboration. Then when you're collaborating with another writer, producer or other artists, as well as other team members, there's a level of trust that needs to be there. I've always found that the people you should listen to are the ones who, A, know what they're talking about and B, want what's best for you. Working with people like Dante and through the Universal System at MCA and Mercury in Nashville, there's so much expertise and care there that you can trust those voices and to be like, hey, we're not trying to make you into something else, we’re trying to help you be the best you. I feel like there's a lot of people that can't get out of their own way enough to let that happen whilst still having the backbone to stay true to their vision. It’s all collaboration, the whole world is a collaboration.”
Last one, as we're here at festival, what's your default stuff when you're putting in your rider? What are you asking for?
“Honestly, any time somebody even offers a rider, I'm very flattered and thankful, so I I'll take what I can get. But if I get a choice, I love to have fresh fruit and I love a bottle of red wine. That's if I get nothing but fresh fruit and red wine, I'll be happy. Big time low maintenance, I'm just happy to be here.”
Well, anyway, dude, it's great you’re back. I'm going to come and watch you later and looking forward to it. Sadly, I can't make Wednesday because I've got another gig.
“I’m going to hold it against you.”
I hope you do! Please do, just keep coming. it's always a fun hang, I appreciate it and the more you come, the more cool pubs you can find for me to check out.
“Absolutely, I told somebody about The Grapes earlier today.”
It’s so funny because you were talking about The Gun last time and my friends went there for lunch last week.
“Dude, it's great. It’s so good. I hear they do an awesome Sunday roast but by the time we did have dinner there on Sunday and they had sold out of it. I was like, fuck it, the fish and chips is still banging. The fish and chips were worth it.”
“To Make You Cry” is the current EP from Evan Bartels which is out now and available HERE. To find out more about Evan and his music, you can check out his WEBSITE and you can keep up to date with all that he is up to socially on INSTAGRAM TIKTOK X & FACEBOOK.
The Long Road Festival will return to Stanford Hall in Leicestershire in 2026 between Thursday 27th and Sunday 30th August, with tickets on sale now. You can find ticket details and further information on their WEBSITE and you can be the first to know all updates ahead of next year’s event by checking out their socials on INSTAGRAM or FACEBOOK.
