Thad Cockrell: Who Is the Rising Singer Jimmy Fallon Discovered

On Tuesday, Jan. 26, Thad Cockrell made his debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in a performance that was booked after Fallon heard Cockrell’s song “Swingin’” playing in a hardware store. “It’s hard to explain,” Cockrell told Rolling Stone of his reaction to hearing that he would be performing on the show. “Like, maybe night and day does it, but there’s sun shining somewhere. I couldn’t speak. I was like, ‘Are y’all screwing with me?’ And they said, ‘No.’ And I just started bawling my eyes out.”

Three weeks ago, Cockrell was considering looking for another job after two decades as a musician, most recently releasing his sixth album, If in Case You Feel the Same, last summer. Over the past 20 years, he has released several albums under his own names and also as Leagues while working as a songwriter in Nashville.

“[The album] comes out and, you know, it does what it can, but it’s as flatlined as something can be,” Cockrell said of If in Case You Feel the Same. “I’ve been doing this a long time, but in order to do this on a viable level, enough people have to sign up for the conversation.” At the beginning of 2021, the musician made a list of goals for the coming year, which included finding a new career.

“I was really just trying to figure it out,” Cockrell said, adding that he has his master’s degree in family therapy and counseling and is also interested in cooking and was considering restaurant jobs or finding a way to bottle and sell his homemade hot sauce. After he sent the list to his managers, they called him and told him Fallon had booked a performance.

The talk show host shared that he took a trip to the hardware store after a light switch in his home stopped working. “Oh, I know how to do this thing,” Fallon said. “I think I learned it in basic electricity or something when I was in high school.” While he was in the store, “Swingin’” came on, and Fallon quickly got out his phone to identify the song.

“It had this George Harrison-y feel, or ELO, Jeff Lynne-type of vibes,” the host recalled. “I just stood there and listened to the whole song. I was mesmerized… I just kept listening to it. It’s a great song to crank in the car on the way home.”