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Exclusive Interview with Craig Campbell
2K views
Jul 9, 2025
Craig Campbell talks to Everything Nash about his upcoming benefit concert at the Ryman Auditorium, new music, TikTok and more.
View Video Transcript
0:01
Hey guys, it's Gail with Everything Nash
0:03
here with my friend Craig Campbell at
0:05
his Grindstone coffee shop. Good to see
0:06
you.
0:07
Good to see you as well.
0:08
Appreciate you taking the time to talk
0:09
to us.
0:10
My pleasure.
0:10
Lots to talk about. Ryan benefit coming
0:12
up. Tell me everything we need to know.
0:14
Oh man. Uh so, you know, we've been
0:18
doing the cornhole tournament every CMA
0:19
Fest uh to benefit the the Kenny
0:22
Campbell Foundation, which is in honor
0:24
of my dad. My dad was 36 years old when
0:27
he died with colon cancer. So for the
0:29
past, you know, 15 years, everything,
0:32
all all the charity stuff that I've kind
0:34
of focused my time and energy towards
0:36
has been towards colorectal cancer
0:39
awareness, raising money for that in
0:41
honor of him. Um, and so we decided this
0:44
year to to go big or go home, you know,
0:47
so we uh the idea popped up, let's just
0:50
let's book the Ryman and do a show at
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the Ryman. And and uh that's that's kind
0:54
of where it all started. So, and here we
0:55
are.
0:56
And talk about the lineup. you have one
0:57
of my favorite people in there, Michael
0:59
Ray. I just love him, but you've got
1:01
lots of other good people, too.
1:02
So, I'm I'm I'm blessed. I'm blessed to
1:05
have some really awesome friends in the
1:06
music business. And um I called I called
1:09
Michael or texted him and uh he hit me
1:12
back right away and said, "I'm in." and
1:14
um and he was literally one of the first
1:16
two or three people that I texted and um
1:18
and so yeah, it's it's cool to have
1:20
people like that in your in your life,
1:21
in your circle, and you can call and and
1:24
help and ask for for help with certain
1:26
things and and uh he uh he didn't
1:28
hesitate.
1:30
All right, tell me who else is on the
1:31
lineup.
1:32
So, um we got Well, first of all, me and
1:35
Bradley Gaskin are kind of sharing the
1:38
show together. He's he's somebody that
1:40
I've I've come to admire and I just I
1:42
love his artistry. I love his voice and
1:45
we decided to do this together. So, he's
1:47
got Brian White coming up during his
1:48
show. He's got uh Haley Benedict. Um and
1:53
then during my show I'm I'm kind of So,
1:56
we haven't announced this yet, so you
1:58
probably the first one to find out. But
2:00
alongside Michael Ray, like we talked
2:02
about, we have Taylor Holder. I'm
2:05
excited about him. He's become a pretty
2:07
cool dude over, you know, with me over
2:08
the last couple couple of years. He's
2:10
been in my cornhole tournament a few
2:12
times. He actually won this past year.
2:14
Uh the cornhole tournament. Uh
2:18
top seven American Idol finalist Maddie
2:21
Puit is coming. Uh she's going to sing a
2:24
song with us. Uh my daughter Presley
2:27
Campbell is going to do a couple of
2:28
songs. And then uh I got a very dear
2:31
friend of mine, his name is Jason
2:32
Sturgeon, who's going to play between
2:34
Bradley's set and my set. So got a great
2:37
lineup.
2:37
Love it. How old were you when your dad
2:39
passed away?
2:40
I was 11 years old when he died. Um and
2:43
he and my mom had pass divorced
2:46
when I was a kid. So even the the
2:51
even even
2:52
the the time that I did get to spend
2:55
with him, I didn't get to spend a whole
2:56
lot of time with him. It was like the
2:57
every other weekend kind of thing. But
2:59
yeah, I was I was 11.
3:01
Can you talk a little bit about why the
3:03
cause is so important to you?
3:06
Well, honestly, um, when my dad died, I
3:10
I was 11, so everybody was old to me.
3:12
So, I'm like, that's just what people
3:15
do. They die. But when I when I got
3:17
older and I started thinking about
3:19
having a family of my own, I started
3:21
doing research and I'm like, what took
3:24
my dad away from me?
3:26
And um when I started doing some
3:28
research, I found out that what he died
3:30
from was very preventable. And so that
3:34
put me on a path to uh basically
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eliminate that as a possibility
3:40
of what was going to take me out of this
3:43
world. And I said, I'm going to do
3:45
everything I possibly can to stay in my
3:46
baby's lives for as long as I can. So
3:49
that's where that that's where that came
3:51
from.
3:51
Hey, you mentioned Mattie Puit. You, my
3:53
friend, were on American Idol earlier
3:55
this year. What in the actual world?
3:57
Talk about that.
3:58
Well, we I've known Maddie for years.
3:59
She's uh she's super good friends with
4:02
my girls. Um
4:04
and just I've watched her. She's
4:07
performed here. She's sold out this
4:09
place twice. Um and I've just always
4:12
been a fan of her talent. And she came
4:14
to me one day, she said, "Mr. Craig, I'm
4:16
trying for Americano. Will you play
4:19
piano for my audition?" And I'm like,
4:21
"Yeah, let's do it."
4:23
And so yeah, I spent the whole weekend
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with her down there and uh in Nashville,
4:26
right?
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In Nashville. She she auditioned in
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Nashville and
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and uh it was pretty neat to be able to,
4:31
you know, when we walked out. I don't
4:32
think Luke knew I was coming, you know,
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cuz you used to play for Luke.
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I used to play piano for Luke as well.
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And so it was it was a cool like
4:39
surprise uh for that to for me to be be
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there for that and then just also to be
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a part of her day
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and to meet Lionel Richie, which
4:47
I did. I got to shake hands with Lionel
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Richie and it was pretty cool.
4:51
Okay. single out, Missing You. We were
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just talking about it. What a great
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song. First of all, give me the story
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behind the song.
4:58
So,
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the song has a has a deep history with
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me. I actually recorded this song over
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10 years ago. And um when I was signed
5:08
to that record label, they didn't really
5:10
love the song as much as I did. So, fast
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forward a few years, uh, in 2018, we
5:16
decided to put out an EP, and this song
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was on it, but it was called Me Missing
5:22
You. And then not long after that, me
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and that record label, we we went our
5:27
separate ways. Um,
5:30
and then you you mentioned Drew
5:31
Baldridge and I saw because honestly, I
5:34
didn't think I could have a hit at radio
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without a record deal. And then when I
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saw Drew do what he did, Drew Baldridge,
5:42
I it it just like, man, wait a minute,
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he has he has broken the algorithm. And
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so I decided to to take a chance at
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radio and I I just knew that there was
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that Missing You had to be the song.
5:55
Gosh, it's a great
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I love it so much I recorded twice.
5:58
But that's a big as an independent
6:00
artist that's a big investment.
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It is. It is a very big investment.
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every month those checks come or those
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invoices come in, I'm like, "Oh." But
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I'm loving it. I'm love I love being in
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this position. I love being independent
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and and uh having having the the control
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and the the
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I don't have to ask permission to do
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anything. It's just we me and my wife,
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it's we make the decisions and we lay
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down at night knowing that
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it's it's us.
6:29
So you have had it's climbing up the
6:31
charts at radio. Yeah,
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radio is adding it thanks to your hard
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work.
6:35
Would you do a record deal again or are
6:37
you pretty happy independent?
6:38
I wouldn't do a record deal and but but
6:40
I don't know that I would I don't know
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that anybody would give me the record
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deal that I want. Uh it it would be a
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very Craig friendly deal and so and I
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don't think record labels are signing
6:52
people with that in mind these days. But
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if if a if a record I I definitely
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wouldn't say no off the bat. I mean if
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if they wanted to come to the table then
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let's talk. I mean I'm
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okay
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I'm not opposed to it.
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You heard it here. Um you also have
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become very famous on Tik Tok and we
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cannot not we cannot talk and not talk
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about that. You are hysterical.
7:13
Well I appreciate it. Uh I will say that
7:16
when my manager came to me she said hey
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we got we got to do this Tik Tok. I said
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no no I'm not doing that. She said we
7:24
have to. I said, "I'm not doing it."
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Because several years ago, you know, Tik
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Tok was real a lot of the the dancing
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and the all that. And I said, "I'm not
7:32
doing that."
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And I don't like singing into my phone.
7:36
I just I don't like doing that. And so
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she said, "How about this? How about we
7:40
lean into
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your comedic side and just start doing
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some skits?"
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I said, "Well, even then, I don't have
7:47
the time. I got this place. I got my
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girls are in full-time volleyball year
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round.
7:53
um a tour. She said, "What if I make it
7:57
easy on you?" And so um she she brought
8:01
a plan and and I said, "Okay, I'll do
8:02
that." And I've been I've been having
8:04
fun with it.
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I love it so much. What else is
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happening with you with music?
8:08
So the single been working it, you know,
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hyperfocused on it. Um music, still
8:13
touring, doing doing my same. I do about
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75 to 100 shows a year. Um, and just
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always working on new music, writing new
8:20
songs and uh, so but yeah, the main
8:23
focus right now is just is uh, missing
8:25
you and getting it up the chart.
8:27
All right, and last question. We're on
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your beautiful Grindstone Cowboy coffee
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house. Talk about this place.
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So, Grindstone Cowboy is uh, is a was a
8:35
dream. I've always thought maybe uh,
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owning a coffee shop. I had the name
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Grindstone Cowboy and we just celebrated
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our third anniversary. It's just it took
8:44
off. It turn it turned into it turned
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into something we didn't expect, but we
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uh we we love it. We're actually about
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to open our second location in um
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Shelbyville. Should be open sometime
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maybe in October.
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Okay.
8:57
And then uh we also have another
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location going in Florida that should
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open next year.
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Where?
9:03
Santa Rosa Beach.
9:04
Okay. Do you need me to come cover that
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when it opens? Cuz I'm just
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volunteering.
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I'm 100% I'm going to need all the help
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we can get.
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Good to see you, my friends.
9:11
You, too. Upper shake.
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