Sue Bonzell: Welcome to Cow Chair Country, where I highlight new up and coming country artists. I’m your host, Sue Bonzell and today excited to introduce you to Alex Hall. He has collaborated with Tenille Townes, Brad Paisley, Vince Gill, and Brad Tursi of Old Dominion. I’m excited to introduce you to Alex Hall. Hey Alex.
Alex Hall: All right. Hey there. How are you?
Sue Bonzell: I am fantastic. It’s great to see you.
Alex Hall: You as well. Thanks for having me today.
Sue Bonzell: Absolutely. So, okay. You have an EP that has some pretty cool collaborations on there. Tell us about your new EP.
Alex Hall: Yeah, I still don’t know how we coerced them all into to being a part of it, but somehow they said yes. But yeah, put out an EP earlier this year called Six Strings and it was a little pandemic baby I guess you could say, it was not anything that I was planning to be making but then the world kind of shut down and my team and I were trying to figure out what I was going to be doing in the meantime. And so, we decided to make this six songs, six featured all focused around the guitar record. And we asked a few of my friends and some of my heroes to be a part of it. Like you said, there was Brad Paisley and Vince Gill and a few people and then Tenille Townes and Brad Tursi and Cassie Ashton, and John Osborne from Brothers Osborne too for some friends of mine prior. But yeah, so it’s just a pretty guitar heavy record and I’m really excited about it. I just finally have gotten to start playing some of the songs live again here recently. So, it’s been pretty cool.
Sue Bonzell: So, you said guitar heavy. I noticed in a lot of the things that you do, I mean the guitar thing is like your thing. And then you’re also, you got a new fender, so what’s going on with that?
Alex Hall: Yeah, so I’m definitely a big fan of the guitar, I’ve been playing for a while now and it’s a big part of my music and the sound of my music and stuff. But I also was a chosen, I guess it was this year, yeah this year is flying by a little bit, for the 2021 Fender Next Class. And if you don’t know what Fender is, it’s a guitar company, one of the biggest in the world. And they asked me to be a part of their Next Program and have given me some incredible gear. And it’s just pretty, pretty incredible for a kid who started playing guitar on one of them. Now they’re giving me some for free, which is pretty cool.
Sue Bonzell: That is awesome. So, how old were you when you started playing guitar?
Alex Hall: I was 14. I got my first guitar when I was about five, but I really started playing when I was about 14 years old.
Sue Bonzell: Okay. I love it. So, you talked about a couple of things in the last year. You have had quite a year, so you’ve got this EP, these amazing collaborations that I absolutely love, and what else? Let’s see. Did you just play the Grand Ole Opry?
Alex Hall: I did. I just made my Grand Ole Opry debut this past Tuesday.
Sue Bonzell: And how was that?
Alex Hall: I’m still recovering from the party of it, the after party a little bit, but yeah man it was a dream come true. I grew up listening to country music primarily over everything and then, I’ve said it a million times I feel like since Tuesday when I played, but pretty much every hero of mine I’ve ever had, has stood in the circle there at the Opry. And the fact that I was able to do that is probably one of the greatest days that I’ll ever have in my career and it was an incredible night.
Sue Bonzell: That’s so great, listening to you talk about that and just picturing, I’ve got chills. Like you said that thinking about your heroes standing exactly where you were, I mean that’s a super powerful feeling.
Alex Hall: It is overwhelming I can assure you because there’s a whole thing of like, you get to go out on stage before everyone comes in and have a moment for yourself the first time that you play and you either step into the circle then or you wait and you step in it when you walk on stage for the first time and sing. And I decided to wait and so, the first time I stepped into it was when I sang and it is an overwhelming feeling, but everyone in the crowd it was a sold out show, which was amazing. And every fan out there made you feel at home and it was just an incredible moment that I will definitely never forget.
Sue Bonzell: Oh, I can’t imagine. Yes, absolutely. And speaking of a big year, so you and your wife are expecting a baby in September, is that correct?
Alex Hall: Yes.
Sue Bonzell: Congratulations.
Alex Hall: That’s correct. Thank you very much. We’re just swallowing life all at once this year, I got married in November of last year, so we’re just doing everything really quickly. But we’re about two months away from our little boy being here. He’s a little boy and we’re thrilled and excited to meet him and to become parents. It’s going to be awesome.
Sue Bonzell: That is so exciting. Now I watched a little bit of your TikToks, I follow everybody on TikTok, I’m all about that. I saw some pretty fun videos on your channel, you and your wife. Well I think it was just you that was doing it, maybe her, I don’t know. It snowed in Nashville and you all didn’t have a sled, so tell us what you used.
Alex Hall: We went full redneck on them and I’m from north Georgia, so we’ll find stuff to make do with. We live on this huge hill in west Nashville and we couldn’t get out at all for a few days. And so, we got a huge snow and had no sled or anything, so we grabbed a baking sheet and sprayed it down with some, I think it was olive oil or something. And it worked too well, hard to stop, it’s hard to stop on that thing. But we had a blast and yeah, we got our sledding in.
Sue Bonzell: Yeah. I love it. It was fun to watch. It was entertaining for sure. Yeah, I was like, what is he sitting on? And I’m like, oh no, it’s a baking sheet.
Alex Hall: Baking sheet. Yeah, a little makeshift sled. I think I said a few words I probably shouldn’t have in that video, but yeah.
Sue Bonzell: I heard one, but it’s all good. I have said the same thing.
Alex Hall: It was a little scary, a little scary.
Sue Bonzell: The adventures continue. I love it. So, now during the pandemic you were also nominated for was it CMT quarantine video of the year with several other artists?
Alex Hall: Yes, I think so. With Tenille Townes and who else? Adam Hambrick and Abby Anderson and a few other folks were on that one, I think
Sue Bonzell: It was a great video.
Alex Hall: Yeah, that was early on. It was fun. That was something to Tenille had put together and asked me to be a part of, and it was my first big nomination on one of the award shows, which was pretty cool. We didn’t win, but you know, next time.
Sue Bonzell: Hey, you know what? Always great to be nominated, right?
Alex Hall: It’s always good to be nominated. It was a pretty cool thing, especially in a time where not a whole lot was going on. It was pretty cool to get a CMT nomination, yeah. I forgot about that actually, I’m glad that you brought up-
Sue Bonzell: There you go. It goes on the resume as far as I’m concerned.
Alex Hall: I’m telling you, it should. Yeah. That’s awesome.
Sue Bonzell: So, you do this great song with Tenille Townes. She’s absolutely amazing called Heart Shut. And that was, I think one of the first songs I heard of yours before I started looking into what you were doing and I’m like, okay, this is good stuff. Would you be willing to play a little song for us? Will you play that for us?
Alex Hall: Sure. I would love to. Yeah, Tenille and I have become really good friends over the past couple of years and gosh, we’ve probably written close to 20 songs together now at least. But this was actually the very first song we ever wrote. So, it was back in 2019 and we had just met, I had the idea for this song and I wanted to write it as a duet not knowing what was going to come in the future of making this record. And we kind of based the whole way we recorded the album around the way we wrote this song. So, it was a really big part of how the record turned out. So, yeah this is called Heart Shut. And it’s actually so funny because out of all the songs, I’ve always loved this song but I wasn’t expecting this to be the one that was just like flew past all the others. And I think it just went over like 7 million streams or something, which is amazing. So, people seem to really like it, which is incredible and I’m thankful for.
Sue Bonzell: I like it too. It’s a great song.
Alex Hall: Well thank you. This is Heart Shut. Thank you.
I’m sitting here in a neon cloud. You walk in and there ain’t no doubt. You look happy now. Damn, you look happy now. He takes your coat and gets your chair. You’re talking fast, you cut your hair. You still drink Coke and crown. Yeah, you look happy now. I wish I could walk over, say, “Hello, how you been?” Pretend that this ain’t killing me, pretend we’re just old friends. I wish I could just lie to you, keep my feelings all locked up. But when it comes to you, I know I’ll say too much. ‘Cause it’s hard to keep my heart shut. It’s hard to keep my heart shut.
There’s a gravity that’s in this room. Why do I feel so pulled to you? When I’m right here with him? Damn, I looked at you again. I took some space, I gave it time for the smoke to clear, for the fire to die. But the flame’s still flickering and you’re right there with him. I wish I could walk over, say, “Hello, how you been?” Pretend that this ain’t killing me, pretend we’re just old friends. I wish I could just lie to you, keep my feelings all locked up. But when it comes to you, I know I’ll say too much. ‘Cause it’s hard to keep my heart shut. It’s hard to keep my heart shut.
I wonder if you feel the way I do. Is it better if we never know the truth? I wish I could walk over, say, “Hello, how you been?” Pretend that this ain’t killing me, pretend we’re just old friends. I wish I could just lie to you, keep my feelings all locked up. But when it comes to you, I know I’ll say too much. ‘Cause it’s hard to keep my heart shut. It’s hard to keep my heart shut. I can’t keep my heart shut, oh I can’t keep my heart shut. I can’t keep my heart shut.
Sue Bonzell: Yes, I love that song. And our listeners, our viewers have to hear that with Tenille also because you guys together are just magic. I mean your voices, there’s something about both of you that have that little, it’s not really a twain, but it’s something that’s super similar in spots. And man, when you guys are together, it’s like magic.
Alex Hall: Well thank you very much. It’s definitely more fun to sing with her as well because that song it’s the only one on the record that’s a full on duet and it’s definitely more fun having her sing on the second verse and everything, but I appreciate it. Yeah, we, love singing together and hopefully we can find a way to do some more of it after this too.
Sue Bonzell: I hope so. I hope so. I will definitely look forward to that. So, one last thing before I let you go, I understand you may be opening for a Little Big Town. Did I hear a rumor about that?
Alex Hall: That is correct. Yes, I’m doing a few dates out on their tour this year on The Nightfall tour.
Sue Bonzell: Nice. And you got a few other dates going on as well around Nashville.
Alex Hall: A few shows in Nashville. Yeah, coming up. But I don’t actually know if it’s announced yet, but I’m going out on the East Coast tour with Brandy Clark this fall, which is going to be great. And then I’m doing some of the Little Big Town shows and then a ton of festivals the rest of the year too. So, I’m basically hopping on planes all over the United States at the moment. And I don’t really know where I’m going, but it’s been a blast and I’m looking forward to doing more of it. I love, I love playing live music, so it’s great.
Sue Bonzell: That’s fantastic. I really appreciate you being here playing the song for us. Oh, it was so great to meet you. So, we can find you, what’s your website?
Alex Hall: It’s alexhall.com. Anything you can just type in that and it should take it where you need to go.
Sue Bonzell: And we can find your music on all the outlets, Spotify, iTunes, all that good stuff.
Alex Hall: Absolutely, yeah.
Sue Bonzell: Great. Thank you again.
Alex Hall: Thank you so much for having me.
Sue Bonzell: Absolutely. I hope to see you in person someday.
Alex Hall: Yes, I hope so too, we’ll make sure that it happens.
Sue Bonzell: Okay, it’s a deal.
Alex Hall: Awesome. Thank you so much.
Sue Bonzell: Thanks. Thanks for watching Cow Chair Country. I’m Sue Bonzell. Make sure you follow me on TikTok and like and subscribe. And of course, if you have an up and coming country artists that you would love for me to interview, please let me know in the comments.
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