11-time No. 1 hit rising superstar Cole Swindell will launch his headlining Down To Earth Tour on March 5, 2020 in Toledo, OH. Joining Swindell on his Down To Earth Tour are special guests HARDY and Trea Landon.

I had the pleasure to interview Cole before he starts his own, “Down To Earth Tour” while he finishes up opening up for Thomas Rhett on his “Center Point Road Tour.”

I asked Cole what is looking forward to most about his up coming tour and he said, “I think this time around, we’ve learned a little more about how headlining goes. This will be the second time we’ve headlined. Last year, we were out on the Sunset Repeat tour with Luke Bryan. But the year before, I got to take out folks with me, and that was kind of the first year I’d ever went out on my own after being on a bunch of big tours. There’s a lot more that goes into it from, catering to everything about it. It’s kind of all on you. We had the luxury of being on big tours my first four or five years and just learning from the best of the best. And I think this time around, we’ll have a better grip on it. And like I said, I mean the first one went great, but I’m just excited to see what we learned from the first one, and make sure that HARDY and Trea Landon have fun and we take care of them the way we’ve been taken care of these past years or so.”

Cole tells me why he picked Trea and HARDY. He says, “When you’re doing a tour, you’re trying to find something that fits. And honestly, I mean there’s so many great artists out there, but at the level we’re at right here, kind of in the middle, you got to find who fits with you. And I think for HARDY, for me, I came up through the songwriting world. And like a lot of people do these days, and I had several songs for other people before I ever got my record deal. And that’s the same for HARDY, except for I think he’s got way more than I did at the time I got my record deal. I mean he’s literally, probably the hottest songwriter in Nashville right now. And I’ve just been a fan of his writing and his voice. And then he’s got his Hixtape out. He even asked me to sing on it. That kind of started the thing when he asked me to sing it because I was already a fan. And we were thinking about tour mates and who we could get out with us. I had his name as the top of my list, and we went to work on it. He was the first one we went after. I wanted to make sure we could lock down HARDY. He might have one radio hit out there, but he’s got a ton of hits for other people. I know my fans are going to love him and he’s going to be a huge part of this tour. And Trae Landon is a Georgia boy that i’m a huge fan of. He’s brand new and I’m a big fan of his voice and his songs. I am also looking forward to writing songs with HARDY. Hopefully we use our time wisely, and when we have time at the end of the day, we’re writing songs. Because I’ll be recording my next project this year, so we’ve already recorded a couple things, but we’ll be looking for the best of the best.”

Cole says, “the Thomas Rhett tour is going to be massive and that’s going to get the year started for us. Me and TR have been buddies for a long time, and that was my first number one as a song writer his song, “Get Me Some Of That. It’s crazy. We were on the FGL cruise in 2014 I think and we kept saying, ‘Man, one day we’re going to tour together.’ And that’s been five years ago and here we are. I am so proud of him and just proud to call him my friend. He’s a hell of a songwriter. But just as a person, he’s somebody that we all in music industry look up to him and Lauren. It’s going to be good company all summer. I can’t wait to get out there with all three of them.”

Cole tells me the reason he chose to name his tour, “Down To Earth Tour” is because, “For me, when we were coming up with the tour, I had just finished my Down Home Sessions the fifth version of that, and there’s a song called Down to Earth. I did it because you got to build things around the tour name, and to me, I think it’s going to be amazing, and I think with the whole Down to Earth thing, I just knew and had the idea of what if we went to promote the whole thing and everything around the tour was the whole space thing? So me and HARDY went to space camp in Huntsville, Alabama and filmed the whole promo thing for the tour. It was mainly just to have an idea of something to work around, something we could build around the tour that was cool. And I’d like to think me and HARDY are pretty down to Earth guys, so I found it just fit the whole vibe and whole outer space thing. I don’t even know what we are going to do with that. We’re starting to build our set for the tour right now, so who knows? I just thought it was interesting and we couldn’t really call it the Breakup in the End Tour. That’s probably the best reason! Or Love You Too Late Tour. That’s the whole reason I did that Down Home Sessions, is just I feel like a lot of my songs that hit you right in the heart, but I’ve got a fun side too that kind of started my career. And that was the whole point of the Down Home Sessions is, “Hey, look. Let’s just make this fun. There’s no agenda here. Let’s just have fun songs and something a little different than what we usually do.”

Over the years Cole says, “I’ve been so fortunate to be out with the artists I have been like “Luke Bryan, Dierks Bentley, FGL, Jason Aldean, Kenny Chesney and currently Thomas Rhett. I mean if you would of told me where I would be right now, I would’ve never believed. Like I said,”To do this with good people and people your a fan of, I’m a huge TR’s as far as music, as a person, all that stuff.” They are the best of the best and I try to learn a little bit of everything. I mean, how does Kenny Chesney reach the top person in a stadium every single night? It’s just everybody does it a little differently. How do you make it a show and not just playing songs like you’re a cover band? How do you make it a show? I’ve tried to learn from everybody I’ve been with. If you don’t, then you’re wasting an opportunity I think. The biggest thing is I think just watching how they treat their people, the people that work for you. Not just the fans. The people that are busting their butts all day. And I mean, just everybody I’ve been on tour with, you can’t say enough great things abut them. I’ll never forget the last night of Dierks Bentley tour. You know what a great guy Dierks is. It was me and Jon Pardi that were out with him, and we were standing backstage and there was this security guard standing over the deck. He was just talking about how much fun the year had been and he wished us luck and all that stuff.And I just remember Dierks said, “You see that security guard right there?” He’s like, “That guy is helping make this thing happen. “He’s like, “Any chance you can go shake their hand, introduce yourself, invite them backstage, it’ll mean the world to them.” Cole said, “I’m getting choked up thinking about it because, “God, who thinks of that?” So that’s something I’ve done since then. And that’s exactly the reason why it definitely fits the Down to Earth Tour because you think about the other people. I mean, without them, you wouldn’t be there. And it’s like when people out in public, they’re like,”Man, I bet you get tired of taking pictures. “I’m like, “Hey, one day, they’re not going to there, and that’s going to be way worse. I am a fan, so I know exactly what it feels like to love somebody.”

Cole has had nine number one singles and says, “That’s crazy! I can’t fathom that. But it’s been a good several years so far. We’re going to hope I can do it for nine more!” “Love You Too Late” is Cole’s current single and says, “I wrote that with Brandon Kinney and my producer Michael Carter. And Michael is an unbelievable guitar player, so most of the things we write together are pretty. If you look back over the list of the songs that I’ve written with Michael and Brandon, there’s a lot of them that just feel like just that driving, pour on the floor. So I remember we were on the bus out on the road writing, and Michael just started playing a little tempo thing. And I was humming something over it, and we ended up getting into that chorus somehow. And I remember saying, Well, somebody saying something about wide open, wide open. And I stopped, I was like, “Hey, that’s it, right there.” I was like, “We just got to not mess that up and get to the wide open part!” And we really didn’t know what we were doing. We were just kind of humming about a girl leaving or whatever, heading down the interstate. And then, We got to the end of it, and somebody said something about saying I love you too late. And we were like, “Man, that could be the title. I certainly I lived that song, but it wasn’t like, “Hey, I’m writing this song about this girl or anything. It just came out in that situation. I think a lot of guys have them. And I think you try to hold your feelings in and not say how you feel. And then, it’s too late. They’re not going to put up with that forever, and I’ve been through that. And I don’t know why I have to live my songs, but I feel I can’t sing or write anything that I haven’t lived or I don’t want to live or something like that. Like a love song, people are like, “Who do you write all these songs about? And I’m like, “Hell if I know.” I’m just prepared!”

I asked Cole if he has a favorite song that he likes to perform live and he said, “That’s a tough one. Because I love all of them. But there are some special moments. I mean, for me, getting to thank our men and women in the military, police, firefighters, all that stuff in the Ain’t Worth the Whiskey at the end of the show. I mean, that’s a huge moment, and I think it’s funny. We were just talking about like I say, the breakup song or whatever, but I mean, for a song to start out about an ex that’s kind of done you wrong and to turn it into such a big moment in my show, getting to salute all those brave folks. I mean, that is probably my favorite moment of the night. That, and just the stories of “You Should be Here” that I hear every night in meet and greet. And getting to sing that song every night and look out there and see from children to grown men, people with tears in their eyes. And it’s you wonder who are those tears for? I know who I’m singing it about, but you don’t get to hear everybody’s story. But I always say this on stage, I say, “If this is the most special song I’m ever a part of, I’m good with that. I had to write it, but it’s just been the most powerful song I’ve ever been a part of and just the stories I’ve heard. I mean, you thing your story’s rough, and then you hear somebody else’s. And it’s a little easier to find the good in yours.”

Cole tells me his greatest musical accomplishment is, “Winning New Artist at the 50th ACM’s. That was pretty amazing but honestly I think, “You Should be Here” is bigger than that. I think it always will be. I think that song, as much as I wish I didn’t have to write it, I think that is by far the biggest thing I’ve done in m career. Just from the stories I’ve heard. My dad wouldn’t have wanted to get any kind of recognition, that’s how he was. Never took a compliment, just kind of shook his head. He was such a humble guy. So I think writing “You Should Be Here” is by far the biggest accomplishment of my career.