When Cole Swindell graduated to headliner status with his current Reason to Drink Tour. After years of opening for artists like Florida Georgia Line, Jason Aldean and Dierks Bentley, suddenly Swindell became the man in charge – a role he is still getting used to. But with the goal of someday having his own tour, Swindell paid attention to every detail of his previous tours, learning what would, and wouldn’t, work for him.
“I do have a phenomenal team because this is all brand new to me,” Swindell shared with PopCulture.com at a recent media event. “Thank God I do have a team. I tried to learn as much as I could knowing we do our catering a little different, more local. It’s just trying to save money – that stuff’s really expensive and my production takes up a lot of the budget we have.”
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Swindell also wants to make sure the people on the tour with him, including Chris Janson and Lauren Alaina, who are his opening acts, feel at home while on the road with him. With his busy schedule, the “Break Up in the End” singer acknowledged he relies on his own team to make sure everything runs smoothly.
“You have other people to take care of out there,” continued Swindell. “My main goal is to make sure I can take care of everybody’s camp, not just mine, cause that’s how everybody has treated us. So there’s a lot that goes into it, but although I may have to approve it, they still come up with all of it and figure it all out to make it all work. That’s what a lot of people don’t realize, that the teams we have here in Nashville, they really help this whole thing really go around.”
Swindell has plenty of people who work for him, but he isn’t about to abuse his authority, and will happily share in the workload.
“I know everybody’s got a job out there and it’s not taking care of me,” he said. “I got a guy that if I need stuff, it’s fine, but I don’t want to be high maintenance. I don’t want anything in particular. But you hear stories about people – I just don’t want to be that guy. I’m pretty open with the guys, anything they need I try to take care of them. I’ve always admired the way Kenny Chesney takes care of his band, his crew, and I’m not even close to that level but I just try to take care of them. They have families, and they’re giving up time to be out there with me. I’d like to think I’m a good boss.”
A list of all of Swindell’s shows can be found on his website.
