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TC in Conversation with Danielle Bradbery

Danielle Bradbery has quickly become a firm favourite and regular visitor to this side of the pond having played at Country 2 Country, The Long Road Festival and being part of the Introducing Nashville tour last September. The Texas native and winner of the 4th season of The Voice was due to return to the UK in May where she would have appeared at The Great Escape Festival but unfortunately 2020 has not quite gone to plan. Annette last spoke to Danielle in June last year so it was great to catch up and hear what she has been up to during the last couple of months under lockdown along with her brand new single “Never Have I Ever”

Courtesy of BMLG Records

Firstly, has she been out yet in Nashville since things have started to open up and has she played live anywhere:

I haven’t played anywhere since everything which has felt crazy. I’ve done a couple video performances but with the microphone, with the band and with fans that has been a while! I haven’t been crazy crazy social, I’ve seen a few friends here and there but I have to be careful because my friends were the ones wanting to head out to the bars.

Then how this unprecedented time has felt for Danielle and is she ready to get back on stage: 

Yeah I am, there’s definitely a lot of sides to this situation because I’m itching to get back out there, get in a routine and get busy but it has been nice! Hanging out at home, taking time to yourself and for some being with a loved one or being with family. You know when we’re all busy you don’t really have time to do that, at the same time it’s really nice to be at home and just relaxing the other side is now I am really excited to get back out there! You can only do so many video shows before you want to see real faces.

and how the period has been creatively and working on new songs:

I’ve been trying to write more, as much as I can in all of this. Right now some people are doing video writes and some are like yeah, we’ll write in person as long as we’re all careful so I’ve been kind of dipping my toes in both. So far it’s been great, it’s been smooth and we’ve able to write in person which is nice but as far as recording and stuff it’s been kind of hard though creating music and finding music has been a success, a slow but steady success.

On any future live dates on the horizon:

Shows here are kind of put on hold for a little bit but once everything picks up again, I think we’ll hopefully start getting really busy and we’ll definitely be planning to come back over there since we were due right before everything hit so that’s a plan for sure!

and why a return across the pond to play for the UK audiences is something she is keen for when things allow it:

I’ve made a lot of trips which I’m so happy about. There is the talk and the reputation of y’all just listening to every single word and I love that so much. I have seen different stages the more I have come back, for the writers round style everybody does listen and hangs onto everything that you’re saying which I love and they are so respectful. Then you have the festivals, it’s not like the writers rounds, you have to tell people don’t underestimate them, they can party. I love it, they get loud and you just kind of hit everything! They’re respectful but they give you that loud festival crowd that we want, so I’ve seen every stage of the fans there, I’m happy and thankful that I have.

On new single “Never Have I Ever”:

We honestly haven’t always loved that song. We kept coming back to it and other people on the team or in the industry kept coming back to it so it was OK! If everybody loved it and we all keep coming back to it, then why not? Then of course the virus and everything changed a lot, it kind of sped up the process a little bit on putting music out which is helpful and I liked that. So we’ve kind of had our finger on this one for a while and whilst all of this was going on, we did need new music out and it worked out perfectly because we got in the studio recorded everything and recorded my vocal just before everything shut down. We were like Thank God, we got all of that done before all of this craziness so that kind of showed me too that it was meant to be for sure and we’re really happy with the decision of making the song the single.

The R&B feel to “Never Have I Ever” was kind of our goal, I love all different types of music and I personally love the combination of R&B and country. I think that’s always been there for as long as we can remember and I don’t think people realise how big of an influence R&B puts into country music. I love it and I love the combination so we just ran with it and I love how it turned out.

Given that her sophomore record came out in December 2017, explaining taking time to get new original music out: 

At first I kind of questioned why it was taking so long but as I experienced these big gaps in between my music, I’m realising more that I’m needing it more than ever and it won’t always be like this. I think these last few times getting out music, I’ve been focusing on myself and really growing as a person and an artist because I’m still young. I’m learning every day, I feel like we never stop learning no matter how old you are but I’m definitely in those years that I’m learning more than once every day. I think these gaps are much more needed than I realised and my mom always tells me if you were to blow up as a superstar right now? I’m like I would love it but also think I would need a little more time to strengthen myself if that makes any sense at all? I think these gaps are helpful in a lot of ways like creativity along with growing as a person and an artist.

and where we are with an update on if there is more new music on the horizon:

I don’t know exact schedules as of yet, but we definitely have songs lined up and we’re searching for more. We’re definitely in the direction to have a new project so as soon as we have the details we’ll definitely give y’all that information but I’m really excited though!

and finally on her collaboration as part of “Diplo Presents Thomas Wesley Chapter 1: Snake Oil” with “Hometown” also featuring Zac Brown:

That kind of works out with management and teams reaching out to each other as Diplo was working on his first country album collaboration. His management was talking about things and I know his producer pretty well and we have mutual friends so people contacted each other. There’s a lot of communication there at first and then I got the call and asked to put my vocal on the song. I was in LA writing and actually on my way to Stagecoach when all of this was going on, I went and did my vocal when I was there for all of that so it all kind of worked out. Perfect timing, it was very exciting, I’m so glad he asked me to do that and I’ve been really excited to see how well it’s done.

Danielle Bradbery’s latest single “Never Have I Ever” is out now, which you can listen to HERE and also features along with Zac Brown on “Hometown” as part “Diplo Presents Thomas Wesley Chapter 1: Snake Oil” that is also out now and available HERE. We will make sure to bring you all the news from team DB but in the meantime, make sure you keep up to date by visiting DanielleBradbery.com and following along on Instagram Twitter & Facebook.

 

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Annette Gibbons
Hi, I’m Annette, I have been a huge country music fan since the early 90s those were the days we were lucky enough to have CMT in the UK. I enjoy nothing more than listening to country music whilst having a cold beer (or a moonshine) with friends. I try to as many gigs as I can here in the UK and in the USA; I think of Nashville as my second home and I am lucky to have made some amazing friends in Tennessee. Think Country is something I am very proud of, I just want to share my love and passion of all things country music related with you all.
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