This summer, Cole Swindell will join Luke Bryan on Bryan’s Sunset Repeat Tour, with the duo traveling the country together for what Swindell predicts will potentially be the last time.
“It’s been a great five or six years,” Swindell told PopCulture.com of touring with Bryan. “He’s been a big part of my career — to be back out there, it’s going to be our last hurrah together I think. I’m excited to be on stage with him for sure.”
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Swindell and Bryan first met at Georgia Southern University, where they both graduated from. Both were aspiring songwriters and both would eventually make the move to Nashville to pursue their dreams.
“I remember meeting him on fraternity steps, front porch of my fraternity house, and he sat down and played a song he had written,” Swindell recalled. “At that point I was just playing in bars and singing cover songs, kind of falling in love with being on stage. I remember he played a song he’d written and it blew my mind that he wrote that, so that kind of started my whole songwriting phase for me. He’s always been a huge influence.”
After getting a job selling merchandise for Bryan, Swindell went on to become a successful songwriter before making the transition to an artist, and he and Bryan have now toured together multiple times. Swindell has also written a number of songs for his fellow Georgia native and shared that he and Bryan will likely work on some new tunes while on the road.
“We’re both big songwriters and we’d love to do it, so we’re looking forward to try and come up with new music,” Swindell said. “It’s not everyday you’re out there with one of your buddies and much less he’s a great songwriter. That’s what I love to do — I think there will be some songs coming out this summer.”
In addition to songwriting, the pair will likely be doing some grilling, thanks to Swindell’s partnership with Ball Park Brand.
“When we’re on the road some of our favorite things to do are grill,” the 35-year-old revealed. “Luke, he likes to man the grill, he might have a few tips, but I’ve got the partnership. I’ve got the goods. I’ll bring the goods, and we’ll grill out. That’s what we’ve got time to do and that’s kind of the easy thing, to grill, because we don’t have a whole lot of time. Also, it’s just to hang. Me and the band, everybody kind of gets together. We’ll carry a grill up under the bus and I’m gonna be doing that all summer.”
While Bryan may be manning the grill, Swindell shared one of his favorite recipes he’ll be bringing along with him this summer.
“I just have one recipe — there’s a song on my new album that’s called “I’ll be Your Small Town,” so we’ve got one that’s called the small town slaw dog,” he said. “I’m a big slaw dog fan — you gotta have a Ball Park frank, a bun, some coleslaw and baked beans. As sloppy as you want it but that’s my favorite as of right now. “
Photo Credit: Getty / John Shearer
