Country Roads with Ben Earle

Ashley McBryde was born to tell stories, and normally we enjoy them in a song, but today you get to hear the stories behind those songs, in her own words. Here, Ashley gives a compelling account of her remarkable journey so far, from her strict fundamentalist upbringing living off the land in the middle of nowhere Arkansas where she was drawn to a guitar she wasn’t allowed to touch, to her scary n...

Rising star, Carter Faith, is an artist that leaves it all on the page, and in this episode she talks honestly about being true to the artist you are and not censoring yourself to compete for the most airplay. She also discusses the sound of her ACM nominated album, Cherry Valley, and why she wanted her debut record to be "something you could really sink your teeth into." She also shares how Taylo...

If Country songwriting is defined by storytelling, then shouldn’t all stories be included? This week’s guest has made it his mission to combine queer stories with the genre that he grew up loving, without diluting himself in the process. Fancy Hagood has been on a journey of self-discovery since he left his home in Arkansas for the bright lights of Nashville when he was just 17, and as he shares i...

Heavens To Betsy hitmaker, Jackson Dean, is a man who loves to travel and takes great inspiration from the natural landscapes he finds himself in, so who better to be our guest on Country Roads ! Jackson traces this back to his upbringing in Odenton, Maryland, where he grew up exploring the sprawling woods and the east coast. Jackson also speaks a lot about family; his ancestral ties to Germany an...

Angie K joins Ben to talk about how her El Salvadorian roots and her upbringing in Georgia have both influenced her music, and the joy of being an independent artist and growing your audience organically. Angie tells us the stories behind some of her most transportative songs like Laredo , and how living in El Salvador as a child was both beautiful and dangerous. She gets emotional speaking about...

Mae Estes is country through and through, but as she explains in this episode, when she arrived in Nashville she felt too country for country! Fast forward 10 years and all her hard work is paying off, as people are falling in love with her throwback sound, her powerful voice, and her smart storytelling. Here, she tells Ben about her young life in Arkansas, and how some of the tough things she wen...

The RD party has come to Country Roads! Russell Dickerson joins Ben fresh off the back of his barnstorming performances at C2C 2026, to talk about the road he’s travelled on to become the multi-platinum artist he is today. Russell talks about being a proud Tennessean raised on Country music, and how his musical influences changed and expanded - everything from Lil Wayne to Red Hot Chilli Peppers -...

Southern belle, Willow Avalon, joins Ben this week to talk about her incredible journey from a teenage runaway living dangerously in Atlanta, to honouring southern storytelling in her music and preparing for her biggest headline show to date - all thanks to a billboard in L.A. she blagged, a brownstone apartment she should never have been able to rent in New York, and a pet possum named Bowie that...

Alana Springsteen joins Ben to talk about everything from her childhood in Virginia Beach to performing in front of 40,000 people when she was just nine years old, to signing a publishing deal at just 14 and how her whole family up-sticks and moved to Nashville so she could pursue her dream. Alana’s childhood was anything but conventional, but still, she felt it was her purpose to connect with oth...

Zach Top is here to kick off the second season of Country Roads, and true to our style, we go back to all the places that have made Zach the artist he is today, including the small hometown he described as, "You could smell it before you could see it!"  He tells us all about his hobby farm homeschooled upbringing, a sweet story about how his family band got their first gig, and how his first...

Max McNown sits down with Ben to talk about his extraordinary story, and just how much life has changed for him in the last three years; from singing publicly for the first time on a pier in South California, to headlining his own tours, having a viral hit, and notching up over 10 million monthly listens on Spotify! As ever, we get to know Max through the places that have made him who he is, incl...

Singer songwriter Eric Paslay holds the unique honour of being the first guest on the podcast to get Ben on a horse! They chat about this story and so much more, including Eric’s family-filled upbringing in Texas, the amazing story of how one of his songs brought him and his wife together, and his considered take on where Country music is at right now.  We also hear about how the memory of hi...

This week, Caylee Hammack dials in from Nashville to chat to Ben about the places that have had the biggest impact on her and on her music. She talks about everything from the quiet stability that family life in Ellaville gave her, to the heartbreak that pushed her to leave town and pursue her dreams in Nashville. Caylee speaks about a devastating diagnosis at the age of sixteen which turned her w...

This week, rising star, Kassi Ashton, speaks about finding her sound by accepting that she is two sides of one coin; leaning into being someone who loves fashion design as much as dirt bikes, and hunting as much as ballet. Kassi has learned to be unapologetically herself, and explains how she has captured her truth in her long awaited debut album, Made From The Dirt .  In learning more about...

Canadian singer/songwriter Josh Ross joins Ben for a chat about his incredible rise to stardom, his love of Nashville and how sometimes you just need sit in silence. Josh slept in his car when he first moved to Nashville, trying to make it as a young songwriter, but soon made his mark and it's now the city he calls home. But Canada still has his heart - and he loves to return to see his family, an...

This week, American country artist Rissi Palmer joins Ben Earle for a chat about the places that have inspired her songwriting. From the churches of Pennsylvania, to her home of North Carolina, Rissi's songs tell great stories, which are influenced by her family. A trailblazer for Black women in country music, she debuted in 2007 with the single "Country Girl", which made her the first African-Ame...

This week, Ben is joined by his first British guest of the series - Kezia Gill! She takes us back to her musical roots in Ireland, where she would sing with her Dad in the local pubs. She honed her craft playing cover songs in clubs, before becoming the singer/songwriter she is today. We journey to Nashville and Memphis, where Kezia had an inspirational Elvis moment, and across the UK, where she c...

This week, we have not one, not two, but three guests - the amigos that make up Midland! Cam, Mark, and Jess tell us about the places have had the biggest impact on them as a band. We journey to L.A. where they explored the early 00's rock scene; to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where Cam brought them together for his wedding, and Mark and Jess played music together for the first time; and then, of cours...

Canadian singer songwriter, Tenille Townes, describes her hometown as a place with a lot of blue sky and room to dream. Being in Alberta, it’s also winter there nine months of the year! But there was nothing cold about the community she grew up in, and we hear how it shaped her into the artist she is today. We also hear about some of the most memorable places she has travelled with her music, incl...

Any interview that starts with squats and shots has to be a good one! This week, Ben learns more about Mackenzie Carpenter’s pre-show rituals, the big characters in her childhood neighbourhood who inspired some of her songs, and her friendship with Megan Moroney.  Through Mackenzie’s stories, we travel to her tiny hometown in Georgia where they’d hold hootenannys on her back porch until the e...

It’s not often you get to interview the person that inspired you to make Country music, but this week Ben does exactly that! Lady A opened his ears to the kind of country music Ben wanted to make, and their co-lead vocalist Charles Kelley joins him today. Charles takes us to all the important places in his life; from the golf courses of Augusta and the pharmacy where he met James Brown, to his swa...

Chart-topping student of classic Country, Drake Milligan, joins Ben to talk about the places that have made him who he is today.  Drake takes us to the barn in Texas where he sang his heart out as a child; he tells us about his dream holiday on an Elvis Cruise, where he performed with the The Jordanaires; and we journey to Memphis where he moved to film Sun Records and - in his words - went a...

Our journey begins with…. Cam! Grammy award winning singer songwriter, Camaron Ochs, is where we go for deep healing. She is one of the greatest storytellers around, so who better to ask about the places who have made her who she is today?   Cam takes us to her Grandparents’ ranch in Southern California where her Grandpa first taught her to play the piano; we climb up the redwood tree in her...

Singer songwriter Ben Earle is offering Country fans a fresh take on the lives and careers of their favourite artists. Follow the podcast on instagram Country music has always been closely tied to the land from which it sprung, and as a result many of the best Country songs tell us stories with a strong sense of place; be it Dolly’s Mountain Home in Tennessee, Tim McGraw’s Nashville, or Cam’s Redw...