They may be one of the hottest bands in country music over the past year, and rightfully so. From Jake Owen’s Days of Gold tour to their own headlining Aviators and Radiators tour to playing sold-out shows overseas and even winning an award from the United Kingdom’s Classic Rock Roll of Honour Awards for Best New Band. The Cadillac Three is comprised of three incredibly talented musicians who are just as proud of each other’s individual accomplishments as they are of their accomplishments as a group. And as Kelby Ray of The Cadillac Three recently told us, “to do something every day for 10 to 15 years, it’s going to pay off,” and it has definitely paid off for Kelby, Neil Mason, and Jaren Johnston as they have taken the country music scene by storm.
This past weekend, the guys played Mohegan Sun’s Wolf Den, and it’s something they were really looking forward to. Last year, when they stopped at the casino on the Days of Gold tour, they first found the Wolf Den and were confused as to how they were going to fit thousands of Jake Owen fans in the small, intimate concert area. But then they found the arena, they were able to laugh about the confusion. And as Kelby tells us, they love playing smaller venues. “There’s something about it being more intimate and having a packed room of 3, 4, 500 people right in your face and the energy level is just so high versus playing 5,000 people in arena; and although everyone is screaming, there’s a disconnect because the closest person is 20 or 30 feet away. It’s a different vibe. Both are fun. But if you asked all three of us, we’d all say we like playing smaller rooms more.”
Last summer, The Cadillac Three were invited to play at the UK’s Sonisphere Festival, which was headlined by Metallica and after their show at Mohegan Sun this weekend, Kelby, Neil, and Jaren boarded their bus to JFK Airport to head back across the pond for a string of sold-out headlining shows. “It’s awesome to back over there and sell out these rooms. They are really loyal fans over there. They’ll keep coming back. That’s the biggest thing about going over there, is seeing how much they appreciate any American band that comes over there and plays for them because they know how expensive and difficult it is to get over there. So they really appreciate it.” And their popularity seen across the UK is just as high there as it is here in the United States. On their headlining Aviators and Radiators tour, they have drawn sold-out crowds of anywhere from 600 to 1,000 people and everywhere from Florida to Georgia, something that Kelby attributes to their time on Jake Owen’s tour as well as radio airplay.
And all of their hard work and great music is not just leading to sold-out shows but also worldwide recognition. On top of the band taking home the Classic Rock Roll of Honour Awards for Best New Band in 2014, TC3 lead man, Jaren Johnston, was recently nominated for two GRAMMYs for his work as a producer on Dierks Bentley’s ‘RISER’ album and as a writer on Tim McGraw’s ‘Meanwhile Back At Mama’s,’ and Kelby could not be more proud of his bandmate and best friend. “Man, it’s awesome. We’ve been friends since we were teenagers and to see him write his first song when were 18, sitting in a room just trying to figure it out to where he’s gotten and where we’ve gotten, I couldn’t be more proud of him. He’s like my brother and I love him and hate him. He’s really talented and he has really worked hard at it. It’s that kind of story that if you work hard, it pays off.”
While Jaren has been so successful with the individual work he does as a writer and producer for various artists, The Cadillac Three was recently recognized as a group with an ACM Award Nomination for Vocal Event of the Year for their collaboration with Florida-Georgia Line, Mike Eli, and Dierks Bentley on ‘The South.’ Kelby describes, “Being nominated for anything, as we found out with that Classic Rock Award, it’s cool to just be recognized at all. I feel like, no matter how far we get in our careers, as long as we get nominated for stuff, whether or not we win, I think just being recognized is really cool.” But that collaboration was not initially intended, as Kelby goes on to say, “We were in the studio recording and Dierks happened to be in town, FGL happened to be in town, Eli Young Band was recording something in the studio next door at Blackbird where we were. I think Thomas Rhett was actually going to be on it but he wasn’t in town that day. I think he’s still pissed that he wasn’t on it (laughing). We were there, and it was a Tuesday or something, and a lot of that artists that are usually out on the weekends were in town and Jaren just hit them up and asked if they wanted to sing on the song. And it just came together.“
With a well of talent, a relentless work ethic, and the right attitude, The Cadillac Three will be a staple in the country music scene for years to come and we can’t wait to see what the future holds for The Cadillac Three.
If you missed The Cadillac Three’s show at Mohegan Sun’s Wolf Den on Sunday night, they will return to New England for spring concerts at both Merrimack College (April 30th) and University of New Hampshire (May 2nd) as well as the Goshen Stampede on June 20th.
If you can’t make it to a show on The Cadillac Three’s tour schedule, you can always check out their ‘Update From The Road’ videos that can be found exclusively on their Facebook page here.
You can stay up to date with The Cadillac Three on Twitter, Facebook, and their official website.
You can purchase The Cadillac Three’s ‘The South’ as well as their other music on iTunes here.