Just two years removed from their third-place finish on NBC’s hit television show The Voice, The Swon Brothers have come so far after their major label debut album in 2014. New England Country Music recently sat down with the Oklahoma brothers to discuss their new single, touring with Brad Paisley, and the honor of being nominated for an Academy of Country Music Award.
When the Academy of Country Music Awards announced the nominees, Colton and Zach Swon were not watching as they were not expecting a nomination. When they woke up on their tour bus to hundreds of text messages and phone calls, they were shocked. They had been nominated for Vocal Duo of the Year, along with Dan + Shay, Maddie & Tae, Brothers Osborne, and eventual winners Florida Georgia Line. “We were extremely honored and could not believe it. We felt so grateful to be put in that category with some of those great duos. With a short time being in the business, it is a great feeling that your peers and industry look at you like that.”
Last October, the duo released their major label debut album, which reached number six on the US Top Country Albums chart. The album featured their hit song, ‘Later On,’ a duet with country megastar Carrie Underwood in ‘This Side of Heaven,’ and their new single, ‘Pray for You.’ The song, written by fellow country artist, Eric Paslay, along with Jessi Alexander and Tommy Lee James was sent to The Swon Brothers as an iPhone recording via e-mail on the same day that it was written. And later that day, the two brothers would end up listening to the song in their truck and almost immediately, they knew they wanted to record it. Colton tells us, “We heard it the day they wrote it. We played it in the truck and me and my brother just looked at each other and said, ‘yep, this is something we want to sing. ‘ And I am so glad that we did. We’re getting a lot of great feedback and a lot of cool stories that people write us on Facebook and Twitter. It really reiterates what we felt about the song.”
Out of respect to their fans, the brothers would not discuss any specific stories that fans have come forth to them with regarding the meaning of the song but the duo really loves to hear the stories from military families. “The stories about the military families means a lot to us. They are why we get to do what we do.”
Earlier this year, the duo ended a run of tour stops on Brad Paisley’s tour and the duo really enjoyed the crowd reaction to ‘Pray For You.’ Zach describes, “It didn’t really matter where we are playing. It was kind of the same reaction. It’s a new song and people don’t know it yet. But you go from a rocking tune to ‘Pray for You,’ or ‘Pretty Beautiful’ to ‘Pray for You,’ and the whole crowd almost starts to really pay attention. They go from dancing and having a good time, to really listening to the lyrics of the song. And by the end of the song, they are singing it with us which is a great feeling.”
With the duo’s style of music and where they are at in their careers, there may not have been a better artist than Brad Paisley to tour with. And with Zach Swon being a guitar player himself, it will be an experience that he will never forget. “Brad has been a hero of mine and ours for a long, long time. I think the average person doesn’t realize what a monster he is on the guitar. He is amazing and he does stuff that nobody else can do. Being a guitar player, I think that was the sweetest part of the tour. Getting to watch him everyday at soundcheck set his amps and he would spend hours getting the perfect guitar tones and doing soundchecks. It almost turned into a lesson everyday. He would give me pointers on how to make my stuff sound better. All the songs that he might not play in the show now, songs we grew up listening, he would play for us. He would do them in soundcheck. He did everything from sign my pink paisley guitar to give me a guitar pedal that was his. It was really cool to learn from someone who has that much experience but is still a real genuine, humble, and down to earth guy.”
But being on tour also comes with it’s risks as Brad Paisley is a notorious prankster and The Swon Brothers could not escape from the tour without being the victims of Brad’s pranks. While in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Brad hijacked the screen behind the brothers during one of their songs and proceeded to tell the Green Bay Packers heavy crowd the truth about Zach… that he is a Detroit Lions fan. And in the world of NFL fans, Packers fans and Lions fans do not get along! The worst part about it was that the brothers had no idea that it was happening! Midway through the song, the brothers were booed off of the stage before Brad came out on stage and slapped a big cheesehead hat on Zach. He says, “It was very embarrassing. He is very good at it. He’s very elaborate.” But this prank was not as bad as the final night of the tour, when Brad interrupted their show intro and sent out two ballerinas with beards out on stage before announcing that The Swon Brothers had taken a new direction. And the ballerinas proceeded to prance across the stage to one of the duo’s songs. So despite giving the brothers extensive experience and knowledge, Brad Paisley had the final laugh as he usually does with his supporting acts.
In less than a year since New England Country Music first talked with The Swon Brothers, it is extremely apparent that they have come so far. And the duo agrees as Colton says, “We’ve matured a great deal. Even just the business side of things, we’ve had to learn a lot that we’ve never gone through. We’ve gotten to see the world a little more. We were two guys that had barely been out of Oklahoma and now we’ve been to almost every state in the US and other countries like Canada and Russia. It’s pretty cool to grow as a person and when it gets tough to have your brother there for you. It’s brought us closer. We’ve wanted to kill each other but hey that’s being brothers.” With their mentorship from Blake Shelton on The Voice and Brad Paisley on tour to their major label debut album last year, The Swon Brothers are set on a path for success.
We here at New England Country Music are excited to see what the future holds for The Swon Brothers and wish the duo nothing but the best.
Make sure to follow The Swon Brothers on Twitter, Facebook, and their official website.
Check out when The Swon Brothers played in Country 102.5’s special studio show at Loretta’s Last Call here.