Cale Dodds’ ‘Take You Back’ Video Left Him ‘Like a Wide-Eyed Kid’

Cale Dodds’ debut single, “Take You Back,” is rapidly climbing the charts. The video for the song, from his upcoming album that is about halfway completed, took Dodds to the West Coast, where he was tried to take it all in.

“That was so much fun to make because, growing up, going to the beach for me meant going to Florida,” Dodds tells PopCulture.com. “I grew up in Georgia, so going to Florida. And when the label said what they wanted to try a beach setting for the video, my mind didn’t go to Malibu, but that’s where they wanted to go. I looked like a wide-eyed kid the first couple hours of shooting when we were out there, but it turned out great, and I was super excited. The bar is set high as far as locations for videos for me.”

Dodds grew up listening to country music, but expanded his musical influences as he got older.

“I’m a fan of a lot of things,” says Dodds. “My earliest memories of music were growing up on the Chattahoochee River, listening to country music with my dad, and Garth Brooks and George Strait and Alan Jackson. But as I got older, and started rabbit-trailing on music and songwriters, I found Tom Petty. I found Bruce Springsteen. I found [Bob] Seger.

“I’m influenced by a lot of different things,” he continues. “I listen to country, rock, pop, hip hop. I listen to a lot of things now. But those are the guys that started it out for me. If I had a Mount Rushmore of guys, it would be a handful of the guys I just said.”

More than recording music, the singer-songwriter wants to play music live, with his fans as the star of the show.

“I grew up going to concerts and loving being there live with the artist,” Dodds explains. “I always want to create the atmosphere that I wanted to go see. So to me, when people show up at the shows, there’s no separation. I’m lucky enough to get to hang out with them beforehand. We do parking lot stuff, and just try to create an atmosphere that I always wanted to see growing up.”

Dodds is playing several fairs and festivals over the summer. Find dates and venue information at CaleDodds.com.

Download “Take You Back” on iTunes.

Photo Credit: Instagram/caledodds