Sam Outlaw talks tours, duets and famous friends
We caught up at The Long Road Festival
Last updated 11th May 2021
'Ghost Town' singer Sam Outlaw is performing at The Long Road Festival and Absolute Radio Country were lucky to have a chat. Our Breakfast Presenter Jennie Longdon asked Sam about his tour, pre-show ritual and his recent duet with Sarah Darling.
As we were at the extremely picturesque The Long Road Festival, we had to start by asking Sam what it was like to be here...
“This is one of the festivals that I think is brought up a lot as an example of a really great country and Americana festival and so far I’ve been really impressed.
“I got to see my friends the Cactus Blossoms perform on stage early and we just rolled in and it just looked like this really idyllic pastoral beauty.”
As this is Sam's first venue on his tour, we wanted to know how he finds life on the road...
“I love to perform music, I love connecting with people, I love travelling, but unfortunately most of touring is not that. Most of touring is pretty gruelling. But I’m not going to complain, the fact that I get to go anywhere and people want to pay any sort of money to hear me sing my songs at them, that never gets old and I’ll always be thankful for it. "
Sam also told us about his pre-show rituals...
“I usually try to get into my stage clothes, pick up my guitar, play the strings, maybe take some deep breaths and say some encouraging words to the band… and then shoot 12 shots of tequila and head out!”. Sam then clarified he was joking, adding “I don’t really drink before sets… If there’s room to celebrate after then I will.”
Recently Sam teamed up with huge country star, Sarah Darling, on the song 'Forever and Always', so we asked how that duet came about...
“We were put in touch by a mutual friend, Jeff Cohen who’s a songwriter. I wrote this sweet little love song and right away I thought it might make a good duet, he put us together and we sang through the song at my house in Nashville and we just sort of hit it off.
“And talk about a pinch me moment, getting to perform the song at the Grand Ole Opry, that was tremendous, I hope that won’t be the last song I get to do with Sarah."
You can hear Sam Outlaw on Absolute Radio Country.