Brett Eldredge has officially settled into headliner life. He has graduated from performing 45-minute sets opening for Little Big Town, Keith Urban and co-headlining 2015’s CMT On Tour with Thomas Rhett, to doing 90-minute performances, digging deep into his four-album catalog.
He is currently enjoying summer on the road with upcoming performances in Canada and the Illinois State Fair.
“That’s one of the things in doing a headlining tour,” Eldredge tells Billboard, “you have more time to tell your story than just forty-five minutes. I can include some songs that tell a little more about me, and how I got to the place that I’m at.
“For me, it’s digging in and coming up with things like ’Raymond,’ which was my first single from 2010. I want it to be a heart-to-heart kind of show, and I feel that I’m really coming into my own on this tour. I get to pull from a lot of different places. There’s some cover stuff, but for the most part, I can just dig in. I’ve got three albums now, and I get to play whatever I want. I just want to make it a really cool experience for everyone that’s out there.”
His repertoire includes the Frank Sinatra-influenced holiday album Glow, and he isn’t ruling out the possibility of unleashing his inner old-school crooner for fans on tour.
“I think it’s that’s very possible,” he says. “I haven’t dived into it all the way yet, but I think that’s definitely something that I could wind up doing when we get back out there. I’m looking forward to trying some different things and doing some throwback stuff that was my inspiration. I come from a unique place of musical influences, and I have always tried to show that — but I get a chance to share that even more on this tour.”
The Long Way Tour with Devin Dawson and Abby Anderson resumes Sept. 13 in Denver, Co.