New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Country star and multi-million selling artist COLT FORD talks about his new album, life on the road and more in a new Q&A as the
September 20 release date for his much-anticipated seventh album, WE THE PEOPLE VOLUME 1 gets closer (the Q&A is below and posted below). The 14-song album (Average Joes Entertainment) includes the latest hit "Slow Ride," the groove-driven song featuring guest vocals by number-one hitmaker, Mitchell Tenpenny, to create a seriously infectious blend. Pre-order the album here. The accompanying video for "
Slow Ride" featuring Tenpenny was directed by Ed Pryor for Hideout
Pictures and recently premiered on "YouTube Premieres."
FORD and his band are currently touring the country with a special appearance set for
September 17 at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville alongside Carly Pearce, The Mavericks, Mark Wills, Dillon Carmichael and more. The entire line up will be announced the week of the show.
COLT FORD Q&A -
September 2019:
You gave up your role as a pro golfer for music. What pulled the trigger for you to make that change?
COLT FORD:
Music has always been my first love and although I did some other stuff, including playing golf for a living and being a golf teacher, I could never make music go away in my head and heart. I was born to do this.
Your new album 'We The People, Volume 1' (September 20, 2019, via Average Joes Entertainment) is a strong collection of songs, guest artists, grooves and lyrics. What is the thread that ties it all together so seamlessly?
FORD: I like my records to take you on a journey of sound and time and space and evoke emotions of all sorts. I think this is the best job I have done yet.
Where were you when you performed your first concert on the big stage that kinda took your breath away?
FORD: Well the first really big show was on a July 4th in Georgia years ago. They were expecting 300-400 people but about 3,000-4,000 showed up. We got done about 8:30pm and there were fireworks for about 30 minutes, I was still signing autographs until after midnight. It was just crazy.
What artists did you listen to growing up in Athens, GA that influenced the music you write and perform today?
FORD: I've always been all across the board with music. I know, I'm strange, but it's the truth. To say a particular artist wouldn't be fair to so many.
What is your survival kit for the road-the two or three must-have items?
FORD: Well, I would say my golf clubs, some olives and pickles and my Crystal Light Blue Raspberry stuff I put in my water. (Laughs)
You still play a lot of golf, right? How many times a year would you say you play and who are some of your golf "besties"?
FORD: I still play as much as I can, but I would say I probably play 30 times a year-it's in sections really. I will start to play well, then go a month and don't make a swing-it's frustrating at times. I have a lot of guys I enjoy playing with; Jake Owen,
George Birge from Waterloo Revival, Charles Kelley, my manager TK, and I love playing with my buddy Toby Keith, and a lot of PGA tour players who I'm friends with.
You recently spent your July 4th, not with family, and not with close friends. Instead you traveled across the globe to perform for our troops. What does that do to your head? And what does that do to your heart?
FORD: Well, I'm not a political guy. I don't like when artists or celebrities run their mouth like it's the gospel truth-when it's just your opinion. What I do believe is that we truly owe the men and women who fight and sacrifice everything for our freedom. Getting to be on a base on the other side of the world and play for those amazing men and women is the most special thing I have ever done. It's food for my soul.
If you had a magic wand and you could waive it one time only, what would you wish for?
FORD: As corny as this sounds, I would wish that everyone could just be more tolerant of stuff you don't like and find common ground with each other. I'm sure that sounds dumb to most but it's honest.
Being such a multi-dimensional personality, what's next for
Colt Ford - your own TV Talk show, a comedic actor in a film (you have a great sense of humor by the way), or maybe might you try your hand at bull-riding or some other extreme activity?
FORD: Well I don't need any extreme activities anymore, but I would love to do a talk show and movies and acting is a passion. So can someone make that happen (laughs)?
Colt Ford consistently blazes his own trail. By doing so, the Georgia singer, songwriter, rapper, musician, performer, and co-founder and co-owner of Average Joes Entertainment keeps up pace as country's preeminent independent maverick. Selling over 3 million albums, attracting millions of followers on social media and hitting 1 billion-plus streams, the country artist's dynamic discography spans collaborations with everyone from Toby Keith, Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, and
Jermaine Dupri to members of No Doubt, Lit, and Lady Antebellum. Additionally, he co-wrote Jason Aldean's #1 hit "
Dirt Road Anthem" and Brantley Gilbert's #1 hit "Country Must Be Country Wide" as a behind-the-scenes force in the studio. Moreover, Ford's solo tradition of genre-blurring continued on "Love Hope Faith" in 2017 by way of cuts such as "
Reload" [feat. Taylor Ray Holbrook]. On "We The People Volume 1," Ford continues to evolve his artistry and-as only he can-amp things up even further.
