Georgia native Cole Swindell has opened for major country artists such as Florida Georgia Line and Jason Aldean. Now, he is spending most of 2017 on the road as an opening act for his musical idol, Dierks Bentley! Bentley’s What the Hell World Tour continues through November, and it is a great opportunity for Swindell and his band. He’s been a fan of Bentley’s for a long time now, so he and his crew can learn from one of the best country musicians!
“It makes me proud to know my guys — not just me — my band, my crew, are out there learning from all of them,” Swindell told The Boot. The tour is already underway, and the guys enjoy being on stage together. “It’s just cool to be out there, me and [Jon Pardi, who is another opener for Bentley], watching, because it’s like Day One for me out there, and it is for him, too.”
Swindell’s current hit single, “Flatliner,” also features Bentley. The two country singers are now so close with each other that Bentley invited Swindell to fly in his private plane with him. Though Swindell cherishes the memory with his good friend and tour boss, he doesn’t really want to repeat it.
“I’m not a big fan of the smaller planes,” Swindell admitted. Bentley asked him to fly back with him after filming the music video for “Flatliner” in South Dakota. “It was just a cool, cool thing to get to fly with him. We actually hung out. He had a pilot that helped, but he made me sit up there. He said, ‘To know me is to fly with me. Get up here.’ So he let me sit in the cockpit and I got to take off.” Flying conveniently avoids traffic, too.
Check out the music video for “Flatliner” below!
“Never in my wildest dreams did I think he would record it with me for my own album one day. And here we are,” Swindell told the Tennessean. Performing “Flatliner” with Bentley on tour, he says, “is such a fun, highly energized and, honestly, surreal moment each and every night of the tour for me that there was no question in my mind of how I wanted to capture this video.”
Cole Swindell is a busy man. Alongside opening larger tours, he also headlined his own Down Home Tour for the past three years. During his time on his personal tour, he played in smaller venues. However, he plans to take what he learned while on tour with Bentley and use it to headline his own big-venue shows someday.
“Of course, that’s a dream of mine, one day, to be headlining [major venues],” Swindell shares. “I don’t want to rush that, but the atmosphere out there is how I want it to be when I’m touring; it’s professional, but it’s fun, and it is people taking care of each other.”
As of right now, Swindell is happy letting Bentley have the top billing spot. He can make the most of his experience being part of the What the Hell World Tour, learning a lot from his musical mentor.
“I know Dierks appreciates having guys who are still fired up and loving what they’re doing,” Swindell said. “Dierks is as good as it gets as an artist and a person.”
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