Interviewing McCoy was really fun and very relaxed.  It was made easier by the fact that Thursday night after CMA Songwriters, we had piled into the pub and McCoy was in there, we were introduced and it broke the ice.  As I was interviewing him on Saturday, I let the others in my group do the talking!  When a couple of my friends found out he was touring this year with Hardy unfortunately they gave him a hard time, telling him to tell Hardy the UK fans were pissed with him for cancelling his UK tour!  McCoy seemed to take it in his stride though and he certainly didn’t turn tail and run for the hills!  

So, when we met up on Saturday for the interview, I started by saying that we’re old buddies now, aren’t we? 

“We are buddies yes!”

Is this your first visit to the UK?

“First time. First time ever. Oh, my gosh it has been amazing, it has been an amazing experience, seriously. I just, I never thought I would get to come over here. for anything!  Growing up in Florida, it wasn’t even on the cards. Like, you didn’t even think about it. Really. It was just like a place you saw on TV”. 

This brought me quite nicely to a question that was much further down my list – how did a boy from Florida get into Country music? 

“Oh, my gosh. Well, it was pretty much all I ever knew.  Music wise, my mom and my grandparents always listened to it, it was all they would play in the truck and all that was played around the house. We didn’t listen to Christmas music, we listened to Country Christmas.  It was just, it was kind of in my blood, but I never really knew that I would end up doing it.  Nobody in my family has ever sang or played an instrument or done anything. So one day, when I was 16, I lost my interest in baseball and picked up a guitar and it changed my life.  I started to teach myself to play the guitar!  I remember I used to get sent to the principal’s office in school, ’cause I would be in my study hall class, trying to learn how to play Beautiful, Crazy by Luke Combs from a video of him playing little bar shows and doing stuff like that. So I, yeah, I just learned a lot by myself and tried to watch what other people did”. 

Okay. Luke Combs? The obvious question next. How did you meet him? 

“So around that same time, I was dating this girl in high school, and she had bought me tickets to a Luke Combs, well, Brantley Gilbert show that Luke was opening. He was 1st of three, this was 2017, so, and it’s funny because he was in the slot on that Brantley tour that I’m in on the Hardy tour now. So crazy to think about, but that show, she bought me tickets to it, but we ended up splitting up before the show! So my mom ended up buying me better tickets, Meet and Greets and everything, and we met Luke in that Meet and Greet. He gave me some advice, was real nice, and then he was about to finish up his set, that day, he had Hurricane left to play. Before he played Hurricane, he walked off stage, and he grabbed his CD, and he was like, ‘I met this kid in my Meet and Greet and I saw a lot of myself and him, I remember how it was when I started out, and, you know, I just wanna see him. I see him sitting right there’, and he points at me. And I’m behind a little phone recording the whole thing. And so I dropped the phone, run up there, grab the CD, and I’m just a basket case. So overwhelmed. We go back and sit down at our seats, and my mom was like, hey, I’m gonna run up to the bathroom.  5 minutes later, she calls me and she’s like, ‘Hey, can you come up here?’ And I was like, Yeah, I’m coming. So I grabbed her purse and ran up there and she was at the backstage gate and had Luke’s tour manager there and it was crazy. And 5 minutes later, they were like, yeah, y’all come back here.  So we went back and I spent about an hour and a half on Luke’s bus. I was 16 and he changed my life. That night was the night that I went home and learned or started learning to play guitar.” 

Right, that must have been absolutely surreal. 

“It’s amazing. And now we’re label mates. Now we’re at the same level. Amazing. It’s wild. It was a blessing.” 

So, your parents were quite supportive in your choice of career?

“Absolutely. My dad passed away when I was 16 months old, so I grew up without my father, but my mom has always, from the time I was a little kid, it didn’t matter if it was digging up dirt in the yard or this. She always supported everything I did. So it makes me happy knowing that I make her proud and everything. It’s amazing.” 

You’re a songwriter as well? 

“That’s my first love. Absolutely. I started right after the Luke experience. I was 16, and I really didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. I figured I would just do what everybody does in my hometown and find a job that I liked and go that route and settle down, start a family, and everything like that. But, you know, God had different plans for me. It’s just good.” 

Where do you get your inspirations from? 

“Honestly, I give everybody this advice, that is now that I’m not the new guy in Nashville, it’s like everybody, I get that question a lot and it’s like, I always tell people to go back to where they’re happiest or where they’re from or anything like that. I spent the 1st couple years I was in Nashville until I got really busy, I would go home every couple weeks, back to Florida. The flight’s only an hour and 20 minutes. So it’s not terrible, but I always went home and lived more life, because when you get when you get up there (Nashville) and you’re just writing songs every day, it’s easy to get where you don’t really want to and you don’t get to, do anything else, you know? And so I would go home and go to the beach with my friends and go hang out. And that was where I got a lot of my inspiration. A lot of the stories that are in the songs are inspired by stuff that actually happened.” 

Okay. So apart from Luke Combs, who would you like to co write with? 

Oh, man. Who would I like to co write with? I mean, I feel like Stephen Wilson Jr. is a guy that I really admire his writing style. Hardy is another one that I’m like, man, we’re really good buddies. We’ve actually never written a song, which is really funny. 

Well, you’ve got the opportunity coming up.

“Yeah, we’ve got a whole year on the road together, so I’m sure that will happen. But man, I don’t really know. I get to write with a lot of great people in Nashville now. But if I had to do it, I’m looking forward to, I have Cole Swindell on my album coming up. And we were talking about writing a song soon, so I’d say Cole Swindell, we’re gonna write some good ones. That would be good.” 

Had you heard of C2C before you were actually asked to play it? 

“I had and I had heard about it before I moved to Nashville.  I knew about it, and I was always excited for the opportunity to go. And this year, thankfully, as soon as they asked me, I was like, I absolutely want to do that. We were supposed to come over to the UK last year with Hardy. That didn’t end up happening. Very sore subject, I now know!  It’s a blessing to be here, and the fact that music brought me here is awesome. It’s amazing.  C2C has been a dream come true.” 

You played Berlin and Rotterdam. 

“I did.” 

How was that? 

“Amazing. I mean…” 

I take it that was your first time to Europe as well?

“Oh, yeah. I mean, first time experiencing any of it. Yeah, I came, I did all the things, I made all the stops, and I said yes to everything. I went and did it all. So I had a good time.”

You’re playing three times over this week? 

“Is it two times or four times?” 

Three times. 

“Three times, yes.” 

So, how do you feel about that? 

“It’s amazing. I’m looking forward to seeing everybody. I made some friends here, just like you. And it’s just awesome. I love seeing familiar faces every day, you know?” 

Have you been surprised at the reaction that you’ve been getting over here? 

‘Very. It’s, like I said a minute ago, it’s crazy that, you know, you grow up in Florida, and everything’s gonna make it over here, and then I started writing songs on the edge of my bed at my mom’s house, and the fact that I come over here, and people are singing them is pretty unreal and just amazing.” 

There’s one comment that we get a lot over here is that the British audience are a lot more receptive. 

“Very attentive and genuinely listen to the songs, and that’s so cool. Like, it does mean a ton, you know? There’s always that moment in a show, maybe where somebody’s – well, I don’t like this song as much as the other ones, so I’m gonna go get a beer during this one. I feel like nobody goes and gets a beer. I’m like, I need to just bring a cooler so I can throw them out to y’all. Like, everybody, everybody stays there. They’re locked in.” 

You’ve mentioned Hardy. How do you feel about touring with a huge artist like that? 

“Oh, my God. It’s insane.  Me and Hardy have the same manager, he was saying how good of friends we would be if we met. Then one day, Hardy invited me over to watch football at his house, American football.  I went over there, and immediately we just became really good buddies, and shortly thereafter, he asked me to go on tour. And it’s just insane. Last year in I think May, it was my 1st full band show ever. First time playing with a band in my whole life. That was in a small bar in Nashville, and 2 weeks later was my 2nd full band show, and we were playing T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas! So you can imagine the jump of thousands of people. It definitely, it’s amazing. I get to watch one of the best to do it in the songwriting world and the performing world every single night. And to say that is set an example for me as an understatement. It’s amazing. And outside of the music and the performing and the writing and everything, one of the best dudes you could possibly get in contact with, just one of the best guys in the world, for sure.” 

You’re not daunted about playing these huge, great big areas. 

“Not anymore. I’m not used to it, I still get nervous a little bit.” 

Do you suffer from stage fright at all?

“I don’t anymore, but I will say, I get overly excited to do it. So I do get the butterflies, but it’s good butterflies. You know?”

So last year, Mackenzie Carpenter played on the Indigo stage. 

“Yeah.” 

This year, she’s mainstage. 

“I love it.” 

Hoping it’s gonna be you next year?

“I sure am. I cannot wait to come back, and if it is mainstage, there’ll probably be some tourist shit, for sure. I, uh, I don’t take this stuff lightly, so it does. It’s super cool. and the fact, I’m so happy for her. I write songs with Mackenzie’s brother a lot, and I know how talented she is, and I’m super happy for her that she’s up there. 

Ashley McBride is another artist who started off on the BBC 2 stage.

“Yeah. It’s crazy.” 

You’ve got a road ahead of you. 

“Thank you so much. I appreciate it. I mean, I’m looking forward to it.”

It really was lovely chatting to McCoy, genuinely he really is a very nice guy and I for one really cannot wait to see him back performing in the UK!

Catch up with all things McCoy here – https://www.mccoymooremusic.com/