Recently Drew Baldridge sat down to chat with us prior to his debut set in New York City. The “Dance With Ya” singer discussed songwriting and picking a set list for different venues while sitting at a small table in the legendary Joe’s Pub.
The Shotgun Seat: Mentally, what is like as an artist verses as a songwriter? Do you have to get into a different space?
Drew Baldridge: They are totally two different mindsets. When you are on the road as an artist you always have to be on always smiling and always there, you are the point of the good time. When you are songwriting, you kind of dig deep and you have to open yourself and be true to yourself and you surround yourself with other writers who get who you are and what you want to say. For me, I haven’t written a song in two months now because of all of the traveling and promoting; it has been a lot, but I am very excited about the record that we’ve made. I have worked so hard on that record and to finally have it out it is very exciting so right now I am not in mode where I need to write songs but I can’t wait to get back to writing songs. There is nothing cooler than being here; this is my first time ever playing in NYC, so this is a big deal and with a great group of songwriters that are very talented and I am just lucky to be here. They are all legends and for them to trust me enough to be on stage with them, I don’t have any number ones yet – yet is the key word – but just to be involved in this I feel very special and very blessed.
Do you aspire to write songs in the future that other artists might cut?
I would love to have other artists cut my songs but when I go in to write songs, I don’t go in wanting to write songs for another artist, I always go in with the goal to write songs for myself. If I have another artist that comes to me and likes the song, I would be more than happy to have them cut my song.
When you are writing, does performing it live come to mind? Is the live show a factor in the production?
It depends on what kind of song I am writing. If I am writing a ballad that has to say something and has to mean something, I am not thinking of that. If I am writing a song like “Dance With Ya,” I was 100% thinking about live, I knew I wanted to write a song that I could dance to, choreograph a dance to. If you listen to this album there are a lot of moments on a lot of these songs that can get the crowd involved and when I am writing uptempo songs. Every song has a purpose; [for] the song “Train,” I wanted a show opener and that is a show right from the beginning. You can get everyone singing along and fist pumping and when I was writing that song I was definitely thinking about the crowd participation.
How does choosing a set list like something for tonight [CMA Songwriters Series], differ from choosing a set list for a festival or what you’ll see at any of your other shows?
Tonight is more of a listening [event]; people are going to be sitting here quiet, paying attention to every word. So you can play your songs that have more of a story to them, that have a great strong lyric that people can hear and relate to. You get the chance to talk [about the story] behind the song and why you wrote it and what it is about. [For] festivals I am running around having fun, but tonight is about showcasing that you can really write a song, and dig deep and tell a lot about yourself.
Drew Baldridge released his debut album earlier this summer “Dirt On Us” and played his Grand Ole Opry debut June 15th.