Craig Campbell made his European debut during the 24th edition of this year’s Country Night Gstaad. The two day Swiss music festival, traditionally held on a September Friday and Saturday night in the picturesque alpine village of Gstaad, also featured country music superstar Martina McBride.
The festival, which started back in 1989, is said to be Europe’s leading country music event and welcomes fans from Switzerland, France, Italy, Germany, Holland, Belgium and Spain. With nearly 3,000 seats, the marque style tent offered the audience a good view and surprisingly good acoustics.
“It was an amazing trip, and we couldn’t have had a better time… We were treated so well, and the fans really made us feel welcome. Thank you for doing the article, Lucy!” – David Spires, steel guitar player
After being announced, the band took the stage while Brooks & Dunn’s Play Something Country was blasting through the speakers. When taking his place behind the microphone, front and center, Craig said: ‘Lass uns spaß haben’ and by doing so showed the audience that he took the time to learn some of the local, German, language, which is always highly appreciated.
When asked about it, he answered: “I asked the lady at the front desk of the hotel how to say ‘Let’s have a good time’ and she told me that that was an American expression so she changed it to ‘Let’s have fun’. Before we got to the venue I asked someone what I was saying just so I didn’t say ‘Let’s all get naked’ or something.”
Other questions we were able to ask Craig while he sat down to talk to us on the Saturday afternoon were:
How does it feel to have played in Europe for the first time?
“Well, there’s one thing I realize. The people here really love country music. It’s always a treat for us, for me as a singer and my band, to go play what we play. We’re considered to be a more traditional country music band.”
Compared to certain drinking and dancing crowds we sometimes get in the US, the crowd in Gstaad was more of a sit down kind.
“I like it when the crowd sits down and really listens to the songs. I loved to see their reactions.”
Do you have a special setlist for this festival?
“We do. We put together a special setlist for this show as I knew that there are still a bunch of people that hadn’t heard my first album. So I put a lot of the songs from my first album back on the list. We don’t do as many as we used to because I have a new album coming out so it’s fun to play these again. We also do a few covers and a few new songs.
You’re known for being a family man. Did you, like Martina, bring your daughters or your wife?
“I didn’t bring my daughters, or my wife, this time. It’s a little expensive so I just brought enough people to make the show happen. But they travel with me some times. Most of the time they don’t.”
How many days out of the year are you on the road?
“About 220 days. We travel on a bus. If logistically we can’t get there by bus we’ll fly. So yeah, we’re gone a lot. We don’t do 220 shows, it’s all the travel. Some times it takes a day to get there and a day to get back home. But at the end of the day it’s 220 nights I’m not in my bed.
Country music is leaning towards the pop sound at the moment. Being a traditional country music artist, what do you think of the evolution in country music?
“I would say that throughout the history of country music there has always been this cycle. Every ten or so years it will shift to a more pop sound and then it will shift back to a traditional sound. If you think about it, Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton’s ‘Islands in the stream’ kind of started the whole pop country thing.
Then in 1986 Randy Travis came out and the focus was back on traditional country music again, with Alan Jackson, George Strait and Clint Black following Travis’ suit. In 2000 Rascal Flatts and Keith Urban came out leaning towards pop so I’d like to think that traditional country music is about to start coming back.”
Your sound is close to Tracy Lawrence, Tracy Byrd and especially Alan Jackson.
“That’s gonna happen. When I was growing up, those are the guys I listened to. They are the reason I fell in love with country music so there’s gonna be that influence. Alan Jackson is a hero of mine. There are several reasons we sound similar.
First of all we’re both from Georgia and second, we both have the same producer, Keith Stegall. He was one of my most important influences. I knew I was going to be compared to him, and it’s a compliment.”
Craig took the time to tell the audience about how he got his start in the music business; playing piano in Nashville’s honky tonks and in the band of Tracy Byrd and fellow Georgia boy Luke Bryan. He showed his appreciation by playing ‘Watermelon Crawl’ and ‘Country Man’.
As he mentioned, the majority of the songs he played were from his debut album like ‘When I get it’, ‘Family man’, ‘All night to get there’, ‘That’s music to me’ and ‘I bought it’. He started the show with ‘Party for a living’ and also played his current single ‘Outta my head’.
Craig explained to the crowd that the whole band had promised to themselves that they would never play a show without playing a Merle Haggard song and so they continued by playing ‘Stay here and drink’. A song to look out for on his second album, which should be finished by December and released in the spring of 2013, besides ‘Outta my head’ is the heart warming ‘When she grows up’. The love for his daughters showed when singing “What she sees in me, that’s what I wanna be, when she grows up”.
The crowd loved Craig’s traditional country music sound and was very excited to see both a violin player and steel guitar player in the band.
Everyone, both on stage and in the audience, looked like they were having a good time. His European debut was a good one, and I hope to see Craig and his band here again in the future.
“It was an amazing trip, and we couldn’t have had a better time… We were treated so well, and the fans really made us feel welcome. Thank you for doing the article, Lucy!” – David Spires, steel guitar player
Country music fans in Europe rely on social media to keep up to date with artists and their music. There’s no CMT or GAC over here. Craig realizes that social media is a great tool and ensured us that he runs his own twitter and facebook. Regular video blogs are also part of his routine. You can watch his video blog of his trip to Switzerland below.
Click here to view the embedded video.
We are happy to announce that Craig signed a picture for us to give away. And no, you don’t need to be from Europe to enter, everyone has a chance at this one.
All you have to do for a chance to win is leave a comment below this post here or on our Facebook page at Facebook.com/TodaysCountry. We’ll randomly pick a winner from all entries on Monday October 29th. Don’t miss out. Enter today!
A big thank you goes out to the organization of Country Night Gstaad. Thank you for having us come out and enjoy it with you. Next year will be the 25th edition of the festival. What a spectacle that will be. For more information go to www.CountryNight-Gstaad.ch.
For more information on Craig Campbell go to:
