Backstage LP Field Press Conference CMA Music Festival 2010

Billy Currington Backstage LP Field Press Conference CMA Music Festival 2010

Q: How has CMA Fest been so far?

BC: CMA Fest has been great so far. I actually got here yesterday so tonight is my first night. It has been fun.

Q: Why don’t you talk about the fastest rising single of your career, “Pretty Good Drinking Beer”? We were talking and can’t remember if you drink or don’t drink but you have had some pretty good beer songs.

BC: Yes, just now and then. I’m not a heavy drinker. This song, I got a demo CD about three years ago and I picked it up off this guy’s desk at my label because it had the song “Shiftwork” on there that George Strait recorded. I wanted to hear the demo and the second song that came on was “People Are Crazy”. It was from the writer Troy Jones. He wrote the song and I ended up recording it. Then, I remembered hearing the song “Pretty Good Drinking Beer” and it stayed in my head for two or three years. I called Troy up a little while ago and asked if anyone had recorded that song yet? He said “no, you can have it”. So I recorded it for this new album that is coming out in a few months.

Q: Tell us what you have planned for tonight and what it’s like to play that stage and that crowd?

BC: We have five songs we are going to be playing tonight. I have played in front of the crowd here about two or three years ago and it was great. The roar of the crowd was something I had never experienced. This will only be my second time and I look forward to feeling that feeling again.

Q: When you were recording “People Are Crazy”, did it occur to you that the song and the video would be so big for you?

BC: I was hoping that the song would affect people the way it did me in the truck that day leaving the label on the way home. I just kept hitting the repeat button over and over. I was making calls and asking who recorded that song, I had to have it. The fact that it did was a blessing.

Q: Was the laugh at the end intentional?

BC: It was; it was just goofing off. When we listened back to what was recorded, we decided to keep it because it was fun and added a smile to the song.

Q: You did something similar in “Pretty Good Drinking Beer” of getting the pop sound of popping of the can.

BC: Yes, I was looking for a can and went to the refrigerator and there was a Root Beer can. I just wanted to add a little spice to it and make it fun.

Q: I remember reading somewhere that you were trying to learn to play the Ukulele and even considering incorporating it into your new album. I was wondering if that happened.

BC: Not yet, I have been going to Hawaii for the past three or four years and all my friends that I meet over there all play the Ukulele. They have been showing me some cords and I have a friend here on the mainland that has been teaching me lately. Right now, I am at the beginning stages like I was when I started playing guitar. I am just starting to get the chords down. It is so different from playing the guitar. I wrote on it recently. It has been fun playing it.

Q: From what we understand, you just shot the video for the single yesterday. Can you give us some fun details and how do you go about shooting the “Pretty Good At Drinking Beer” video.

BC: About a month ago, this guy named “Potsy”, that has shot the last couple video I did, said he had an idea for this thing. We are going to take it back to the 1970s. We found this house and this guy, he is like a “Parrot Head” and his whole house is done in the “1970s” décor. I was a little unsure about it, all the people that were dressing up in the clothes and wigs…I might have worn one, I can’t tell you yet. It turned out to be the total opposite of what I thought; it was so much fun. I am glad I committed to it. I hope the editing process is good.

Q: What can you tell us about the new album?

BC: If you heard any part of the last album, it has the same feel. I just wanted to record songs that weren’t all the same; all country songs or all this or that. I just mixed it up. You will hear some “soulful” songs on there and some “back porch country” on there and maybe one that is a little “rock”. I recorded what I thought was good.

Q: Are there any duets or special guests on the album?

BC: Not yet, no duets yet. I am still working on that. I am thinking outside the box, I don’t know who yet.

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