Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors are coming to Tower Theatre in Oklahoma City on Tuesday, October 15th after a weekend performing across Texas and headlining at Austin City Limits.
Drew Holcomb’s music has been included in a variety of shows from 'Criminal Minds' to 'How I Met Your Mother' and everything in between. His latest album, Dragons, includes songs co-written with other veteran songwriters such as Zach Williams from Lone Bellow and Natalie Hemby of the recently formed group, The Highwomen.
He and his band have traveled across America touring over the last ten years, but Drew had already been to 44 states by the time he finished high school just from childhood road trips with his family.
Drew Holcomb spoke with Matthew Viriyapah about family road trips and traveling with his own children, collaboration for this new album, and what song of his he thinks would fit on the hit show, 'Stranger Things.'
Listen to the full interview above and read the highlights below.
On traveling
I think I got something like 1,500 to 1,700 shows under my belt… Nowadays it’s more about staying healthy out here.
We’ve been trying on this tour to play a song every night from an artist from each state. So last night in Arkansas, we covered Johnny Cash.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_obENrstn4w
There’s a song on the new record called "See The World," which is a song about my son and just the idea of watching him grow up and watching him see the world that I know through his own eyes.
Somebody gave us great advice. Home is wherever the parents are so they love being on the road as long as they're with us
I think as a kid that was one of my favorite memories. Growing up, my dad loved traveling, loved to show us what he knew, the world that he knew, and the places he’d been and watch them all anew through our eyes.
We do a tour every February where they (Holcomb's children) come out, but it’s fun. They love sleeping on the bunks in the bus.
On headlining Austin City Limits
We played ACL about five years ago and this time we’re gonna play the main stage. We’re just honored and thrilled to be a part of it.
On working with new co-writers
I’ve always written most of my records by myself and this time I wanted to try some new things. Doing this for as long as I have, you meet a lot of great friends that are also musicians. And some of them had offered up to write in the past and I had not taken them up on that so I decided to give it a go.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XEWYbaloUs
And I really love what came out of it. It was a really sort of stretching experience to have people kind of imagine how they would interpret my voice and how they would interpret what I would have to say. And it was challenging too. Having more than one cook in the kitchen always makes for a messier kitchen, but it was a lot of fun.
What TV show he would want his music to be played on next
I loved 'Friday Night Lights' and always wanted to have a song on there but it didn’t happen. But 'Stranger Things' would be a lot of fun. We’ve had songs on shows that I have seen before and some that I haven’t. But it’s always cool to see how people imagine your work in the visual medium of TV.
Holcomb said that if there were a song to play on 'Stranger Things,' he thinks something like his song "Bittersweet" would be "pretty cool."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_llDzs8-cGs
You can find more information on Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors hereand his performance at Tower Theatre on Tuesday attowertheatreokc.com.
