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Craig Campbell talks to Everything Nash about his upcoming benefit concert at the Ryman Auditorium, new music, TikTok and more.
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0:01
Hey guys, it's Gail with Everything Nash
0:03
here with my friend Craig Campbell at
0:05
his Grindstone coffee shop. Good to see
0:06
you.
0:07
Good to see you as well.
0:08
Appreciate you taking the time to talk
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to us.
0:10
My pleasure.
0:10
Lots to talk about. Ryan benefit coming
0:12
up. Tell me everything we need to know.
0:14
Oh man. Uh so, you know, we've been
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doing the cornhole tournament every CMA
0:19
Fest uh to benefit the the Kenny
0:22
Campbell Foundation, which is in honor
0:24
of my dad. My dad was 36 years old when
0:27
he died with colon cancer. So for the
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past, you know, 15 years, everything,
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all all the charity stuff that I've kind
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of focused my time and energy towards
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has been towards colorectal cancer
0:39
awareness, raising money for that in
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honor of him. Um, and so we decided this
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year to to go big or go home, you know,
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so we uh the idea popped up, let's just
0:50
let's book the Ryman and do a show at
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the Ryman. And and uh that's that's kind
0:54
of where it all started. So, and here we
0:55
are.
0:56
And talk about the lineup. you have one
0:57
of my favorite people in there, Michael
0:59
Ray. I just love him, but you've got
1:01
lots of other good people, too.
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So, I'm I'm I'm blessed. I'm blessed to
1:05
have some really awesome friends in the
1:06
music business. And um I called I called
1:09
Michael or texted him and uh he hit me
1:12
back right away and said, "I'm in." and
1:14
um and he was literally one of the first
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two or three people that I texted and um
1:18
and so yeah, it's it's cool to have
1:20
people like that in your in your life,
1:21
in your circle, and you can call and and
1:24
help and ask for for help with certain
1:26
things and and uh he uh he didn't
1:28
hesitate.
1:30
All right, tell me who else is on the
1:31
lineup.
1:32
So, um we got Well, first of all, me and
1:35
Bradley Gaskin are kind of sharing the
1:38
show together. He's he's somebody that
1:40
I've I've come to admire and I just I
1:42
love his artistry. I love his voice and
1:45
we decided to do this together. So, he's
1:47
got Brian White coming up during his
1:48
show. He's got uh Haley Benedict. Um and
1:53
then during my show I'm I'm kind of So,
1:56
we haven't announced this yet, so you
1:58
probably the first one to find out. But
2:00
alongside Michael Ray, like we talked
2:02
about, we have Taylor Holder. I'm
2:05
excited about him. He's become a pretty
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cool dude over, you know, with me over
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the last couple couple of years. He's
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been in my cornhole tournament a few
2:12
times. He actually won this past year.
2:14
Uh the cornhole tournament. Uh
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top seven American Idol finalist Maddie
2:21
Puit is coming. Uh she's going to sing a
2:24
song with us. Uh my daughter Presley
2:27
Campbell is going to do a couple of
2:28
songs. And then uh I got a very dear
2:31
friend of mine, his name is Jason
2:32
Sturgeon, who's going to play between
2:34
Bradley's set and my set. So got a great
2:37
lineup.
2:37
Love it. How old were you when your dad
2:39
passed away?
2:40
I was 11 years old when he died. Um and
2:43
he and my mom had pass divorced
2:46
when I was a kid. So even the the
2:51
even even
2:52
the the time that I did get to spend
2:55
with him, I didn't get to spend a whole
2:56
lot of time with him. It was like the
2:57
every other weekend kind of thing. But
2:59
yeah, I was I was 11.
3:01
Can you talk a little bit about why the
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cause is so important to you?
3:06
Well, honestly, um, when my dad died, I
3:10
I was 11, so everybody was old to me.
3:12
So, I'm like, that's just what people
3:15
do. They die. But when I when I got
3:17
older and I started thinking about
3:19
having a family of my own, I started
3:21
doing research and I'm like, what took
3:24
my dad away from me?
3:26
And um when I started doing some
3:28
research, I found out that what he died
3:30
from was very preventable. And so that
3:34
put me on a path to uh basically
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eliminate that as a possibility
3:40
of what was going to take me out of this
3:43
world. And I said, I'm going to do
3:45
everything I possibly can to stay in my
3:46
baby's lives for as long as I can. So
3:49
that's where that that's where that came
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from.
3:51
Hey, you mentioned Mattie Puit. You, my
3:53
friend, were on American Idol earlier
3:55
this year. What in the actual world?
3:57
Talk about that.
3:58
Well, we I've known Maddie for years.
3:59
She's uh she's super good friends with
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my girls. Um
4:04
and just I've watched her. She's
4:07
performed here. She's sold out this
4:09
place twice. Um and I've just always
4:12
been a fan of her talent. And she came
4:14
to me one day, she said, "Mr. Craig, I'm
4:16
trying for Americano. Will you play
4:19
piano for my audition?" And I'm like,
4:21
"Yeah, let's do it."
4:23
And so yeah, I spent the whole weekend
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with her down there and uh in Nashville,
4:26
right?
4:26
In Nashville. She she auditioned in
4:28
Nashville and
4:29
and uh it was pretty neat to be able to,
4:31
you know, when we walked out. I don't
4:32
think Luke knew I was coming, you know,
4:34
cuz you used to play for Luke.
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I used to play piano for Luke as well.
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And so it was it was a cool like
4:39
surprise uh for that to for me to be be
4:42
there for that and then just also to be
4:44
a part of her day
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and to meet Lionel Richie, which
4:47
I did. I got to shake hands with Lionel
4:49
Richie and it was pretty cool.
4:51
Okay. single out, Missing You. We were
4:53
just talking about it. What a great
4:55
song. First of all, give me the story
4:56
behind the song.
4:58
So,
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the song has a has a deep history with
5:02
me. I actually recorded this song over
5:04
10 years ago. And um when I was signed
5:08
to that record label, they didn't really
5:10
love the song as much as I did. So, fast
5:13
forward a few years, uh, in 2018, we
5:16
decided to put out an EP, and this song
5:19
was on it, but it was called Me Missing
5:22
You. And then not long after that, me
5:25
and that record label, we we went our
5:27
separate ways. Um,
5:30
and then you you mentioned Drew
5:31
Baldridge and I saw because honestly, I
5:34
didn't think I could have a hit at radio
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without a record deal. And then when I
5:40
saw Drew do what he did, Drew Baldridge,
5:42
I it it just like, man, wait a minute,
5:44
he has he has broken the algorithm. And
5:48
so I decided to to take a chance at
5:51
radio and I I just knew that there was
5:53
that Missing You had to be the song.
5:55
Gosh, it's a great
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I love it so much I recorded twice.
5:58
But that's a big as an independent
6:00
artist that's a big investment.
6:03
It is. It is a very big investment.
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every month those checks come or those
6:07
invoices come in, I'm like, "Oh." But
6:10
I'm loving it. I'm love I love being in
6:12
this position. I love being independent
6:13
and and uh having having the the control
6:17
and the the
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I don't have to ask permission to do
6:21
anything. It's just we me and my wife,
6:23
it's we make the decisions and we lay
6:26
down at night knowing that
6:27
it's it's us.
6:29
So you have had it's climbing up the
6:31
charts at radio. Yeah,
6:33
radio is adding it thanks to your hard
6:34
work.
6:35
Would you do a record deal again or are
6:37
you pretty happy independent?
6:38
I wouldn't do a record deal and but but
6:40
I don't know that I would I don't know
6:42
that anybody would give me the record
6:43
deal that I want. Uh it it would be a
6:46
very Craig friendly deal and so and I
6:49
don't think record labels are signing
6:52
people with that in mind these days. But
6:54
if if a if a record I I definitely
6:57
wouldn't say no off the bat. I mean if
6:58
if they wanted to come to the table then
7:00
let's talk. I mean I'm
7:02
okay
7:03
I'm not opposed to it.
7:04
You heard it here. Um you also have
7:06
become very famous on Tik Tok and we
7:08
cannot not we cannot talk and not talk
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about that. You are hysterical.
7:13
Well I appreciate it. Uh I will say that
7:16
when my manager came to me she said hey
7:19
we got we got to do this Tik Tok. I said
7:22
no no I'm not doing that. She said we
7:24
have to. I said, "I'm not doing it."
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Because several years ago, you know, Tik
7:28
Tok was real a lot of the the dancing
7:30
and the all that. And I said, "I'm not
7:32
doing that."
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And I don't like singing into my phone.
7:36
I just I don't like doing that. And so
7:38
she said, "How about this? How about we
7:40
lean into
7:41
your comedic side and just start doing
7:44
some skits?"
7:46
I said, "Well, even then, I don't have
7:47
the time. I got this place. I got my
7:50
girls are in full-time volleyball year
7:52
round.
7:53
um a tour. She said, "What if I make it
7:57
easy on you?" And so um she she brought
8:01
a plan and and I said, "Okay, I'll do
8:02
that." And I've been I've been having
8:04
fun with it.
8:05
I love it so much. What else is
8:06
happening with you with music?
8:08
So the single been working it, you know,
8:10
hyperfocused on it. Um music, still
8:13
touring, doing doing my same. I do about
8:16
75 to 100 shows a year. Um, and just
8:19
always working on new music, writing new
8:20
songs and uh, so but yeah, the main
8:23
focus right now is just is uh, missing
8:25
you and getting it up the chart.
8:27
All right, and last question. We're on
8:29
your beautiful Grindstone Cowboy coffee
8:30
house. Talk about this place.
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So, Grindstone Cowboy is uh, is a was a
8:35
dream. I've always thought maybe uh,
8:38
owning a coffee shop. I had the name
8:40
Grindstone Cowboy and we just celebrated
8:43
our third anniversary. It's just it took
8:44
off. It turn it turned into it turned
8:47
into something we didn't expect, but we
8:48
uh we we love it. We're actually about
8:50
to open our second location in um
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Shelbyville. Should be open sometime
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maybe in October.
8:56
Okay.
8:57
And then uh we also have another
8:59
location going in Florida that should
9:01
open next year.
9:02
Where?
9:03
Santa Rosa Beach.
9:04
Okay. Do you need me to come cover that
9:05
when it opens? Cuz I'm just
9:06
volunteering.
9:07
I'm 100% I'm going to need all the help
9:09
we can get.
9:10
Good to see you, my friends.
9:11
You, too. Upper shake.
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