The guys of Waterloo Revival are the ultimate story of redemption and perseverance. They went from working desk jobs in Austin, Texas while playing gigs in bars to moving to Nashville, getting signed by a major label, before being dropped and signed to another label. While they could’ve packed their bags and headed back to Texas with their tail behind their legs, they didn’t. They stood back up, dusted themselves off and came back stronger than ever. Before their set at the Xfinity Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts last week, the duo took some time with New England Country Music backstage to chat about their journey and their time on the road with Toby Keith.
As previously mentioned, Cody Cooper and George Birge took the big leap to move from the Lone Star State to Music City to chase their dream of making it big in the music industry. They had success early on with a record deal with Big Machine Label Group. But this past December, Big Machine decided to part ways with the duo. George described the experience by saying, “It was a little bit of a scary thing because we didn’t know what was going to happen next. It was the first time that it had ever happened to us. The cool part of it was that when it happened, everybody we knew in town, like Jaren from The Cadillac Three and our producers and everyone, reached out to us and said, ‘Welcome to Nashville. It happens to everybody. Get yourself up, you’ll be just fine.’” They took all their money that they had earned over the last year, called in every favor they had in Nashville and made an EP, which they turned into management. Their manager loved the EP and asked them if they minded if he sent it to Toby Keith. Needless to say, Toby loved it and decided to sign Waterloo Revival in a joint venture with his record label, Show Dog, and Universal.
After signing their record deal, Waterloo was told that they’d be opening for Toby Keith on a few dates during the summer. When they found out that they would be spending the whole summer on the road with Toby Keith, they were blown away. “We had never been on a major tour before. That was one of the things when we first moved to Nashville, that we hoped to do because you can get stuff on the radio and that’s an amazing way to reach fans but actually playing for people is what we got in the business to do. When we got asked to go out on the Toby Keith tour and we saw all the amphitheaters and great areas we were going to be able to go to, it’s such a great opportunity and a dream come true,” said Cody.
The first night out on the tour was a night that they will never forget. It was in Virginia Beach and happened to be Toby Keith’s birthday. They recounted the night for us…
Cody: “Our first night out on the tour was Toby’s birthday so that was a fun one not only because it was this awesome amphitheater, packed house that we got to play for, but we got to hang out backstage. It was us, and the first person to show up was Post Malone, who is on tour opening for Justin Bieber, and is a huge Toby Keith fan.”
George: “This guy has corn rows and gold teeth and is a rapper and is like ‘Dude, I’m the biggest Toby Keith fan in the world.’ He knew every word to ‘How Do You Like Me Now’ – it was awesome.”
Cody: “We hung outside for awhile. And then Toby came out and grabbed us and said, ‘I’m gonna grab my guitar, we’re gonna go on the bus and see who can hang and who can’t.’ It was us, Eric Paslay, Post Malone, Toby and some guys from Seal Team Six on the first night out ‘til like 4AM.”
George: “Toby was playing ‘Should’ve Been A Cowboy’ on his acoustic guitar. He’s playing Willie Nelson, George Strait. The guy is a human jukebox. I was trying to stump him. We were throwing out every song we could think of. Someone even threw out Sugar Hill Gang and he was like, ‘I got that. Easy.’ He’s an amazing human being.”
The tour has also featured Eric Paslay on the majority of the dates but Toby brought David Lee Murphy to Mansfield for this particular show. What is it like to play shows with these other fantastic opening acts? George described, “Tonight is the first night we’re playing with David Lee Murphy. We met him earlier today and he is amazing. Super nice guy. The coolest thing about him, and Eric, is not only that they’ve had Number Ones in their own right, they’ve written so many Number One songs. We were listening to David Lee Murphy soundcheck today and he was doing Jason Aldean, Jake Owen. It was really unbelievable. We’re trying to capitalize on it as much as we can. Eric invited us to write with him last week and we wrote a killer song. We’re learning a ton from those guys because they’re a lot like us- we love to write. We’re artists and writers and we look at both with the same respect. And everyone on this tour, including Toby, writes their own music so that’s really cool.”
Before stopping in the Bay State, the tour made a stop in Hartford in the prior week and in Maine the night before. And Waterloo Revival has loved playing in New England over the past couple weeks. Cody said, “It (New England) has been by far one of our favorite places to play. It’s crazy. The crowd that we had yesterday when we went on stage (in Bangor, Maine) was the most packed, the most amped up, and the most ready to party and have a good time. Not to mention the scenery. We started our this run by getting to Portland, Maine before hand and getting some lobsters and good seafood and see all this other stuff.” George went on to describe their time in Maine the night before by saying, “David Lee Murphy did not make the show yesterday so it was just us and Toby. But we got to be direct support for Toby for 15,000 people in Maine. It was probably the best show we’ve ever played in our lives. New England definitely does have a helluva country following.”
We were lucky enough to see Waterloo Revival at this year’s Tortuga Music Festival and were blown away by their set. And the duo acknowledges that they have grown incredibly as performers since that festival in April. George explained, “Last year on the label thing, we did mostly radio touring which is really a lot of acoustic sets and boardrooms and things like that. For us, one of the goals of getting a on a big tour, was getting to play extended sets every night. You’re playing every night but learning from the headliners every night too. I think we’ve come a really long way in our live set. It’s really fun to test out new songs to see what they’re connecting with.” He continues by saying, “You learn so much from Toby. The other thing is that we consciously just step back and make sure that we are appreciating what we’re getting to do right now. Touring the whole country, playing for thousands of people each night. I’ve been sure to take a mental snapshot.” So what’s next for Waterloo Revival? They will be on tour with Toby through the end of the summer but when they’re back home in Nashville, they are writing nearly every day as well as working in the studio with the hopes of putting out a full length record this year. Whatever is next for Waterloo Revival, we’re sure it will be successful. This duo won’t let it be anything but. They could’ve failed already. They could’ve given up on this crazy dream and gone back to their day jobs. But they didn’t and they won’t ever. This is what they were made to do. With a strong stage presence, and one that grows each night as they open for Toby Keith, their drive, and their persistence, Waterloo Revival will be a staple in country music for years to come.