Singer-songwriter Will Hoge makes his fourth visit to Mountain Stage, recorded live in Charleston, W.V. With his mix of heartland rock, soul and country, Hoge’s powerful voice, songwriting chops and relentless touring schedule have earned him tremendous respect among his peers. His song “Even If It Breaks Your Heart” has become a mainstream radio hit for the Eli Young Band, while his new album Seven has secured Hoge several appearances on the Grand Ole Opry, where he was first introduced by his hero Vince Gill.
Hoge is backed by his own band for a set that includes the emotional ballad “When I Get My Wings,” which was not heard during the radio broadcast. A lifelong Nashville native, Hoge told host Larry Groce that one advantage to living in the town is that when his children tell their teachers that their dad is a musician, they don’t freak out, “because there’s 10 other ones in the class.” more
Will Hoge made his late night debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live on January 10th, 2012. If you missed the show, don’t worry we’ve got the clips right here! Will performed “Fool’s Gonna Fly,” and “Too Old To Die Young.” If you haven’t picked up your copy of Will Hoge’s new album NUMBER SEVENclick here to order today!
For more than a decade, Will Hoge has stood as one of Nashville’s most reliable rock ‘n’ rollers. Yet, as a native, he couldn’t escape the country music influence — not that he wanted to.
“I think that artists can really live in Nashville and flourish in Nashville. And everybody supports each other,” says Hoge, who just released his seventh album, appropriately titled Number Seven. “There’s that sense of community, that sense of still being somewhat a small town. People try to take care of one another. It’s one of the things I hope we never lose.”
Will Hoge is one of the rare natives sons of Nashville, TN and while his brand of music – heartland rock – wasn’t exactly mainstream country music when he started out, the genre has made its way to him, at least a little bit. Take a look at this brand new video for the lead single from Will’s seventh album Number Seven. The album will be released September 27, 2011 on Rykodisc (also the label home to country artist Kelly Willis). more!
Nashville singer/songwriter Will Hoge premieres his video for “When I Get My Wings,” the first single off his upcoming album, today on CMT. Hoge’s seventh studio album, NUMBER SEVEN, will be released on Sept. 27 on Ryko.
For the song, Hoge found inspiration in an obituary he read about a 50-plus-year marriage. The video illustrates the love story from its infancy to the present-day heartache of losing the love of your life. The song highlights Hoge’s full-throated
Otis Redding-style vocal, backed by a heavenly host of Memphis-inspired horns.
“The song started life as a bluegrass song, but it just wasn’t working,” says Hoge. “On the last day of recording, I wasn’t willing to give up on it. I sat in the studio and rethought the whole song and that led me to the Stax sound. After that, the song took on a whole new life. It’s really cool that CMT wants to get behind this video, I’m so appreciative of their support.”
“Will won us over the first time we heard this song and watched this video,” said Stephen Linn, Sr. Director, Music Programming and Promotion, CMT. “We’re really introducing him to our audience with this video, and I know it’s one they will embrace and enjoy.”
Hoge kicks off his headlining WHEN I GET MY WINGS 2011 TOUR on Sept. 24 in Athens, GA. Joining Hoge for several dates on the 30 city tour will be indie pop rockers Locksley, with Jaron and the Long Road to Love, James Dunn, Brighton, Nic Cowan and Aunt Martha all confirmed for opening slots on various tour stops.
For more information and a full list of tour dates, visit: www.willhoge.com.
So the last week has been incredibly busy and even more exciting. We started last Wednesday with an acoustic performance of 6 new songs from the album. This was for press folks and we did it at the Standard in Nashville. They have this killer new venue that reminds me of an old speak easy. It was a perfect setting for the night. I’ve never done many of these ‘showcase’ type things but this really was fun. Cool to see the turnout and feel the support for the new album. Hopefully there’s lots more to come there.
Saturday, Sunday, and Monday were spent getting the video together for ‘When I Get My Wings’. This one was WAY easier than the last video in that we are using actors instead of focusing on me and the bands dumb asses the whole time. Had great folks as the ‘love drunk kids’ the first day. Then shot the ‘old man’ scenes on Sunday with this great old man named Jerry. He does a lot of voice over work and has this huge booming voice. I’m thinking of getting a price quote for him to narrate my life. I’ll keep you posted on how that goes.
So now I guess we time travel back to Friday as we are saving the best for last. Now mind you I realize I’m a lucky son of a bitch. I travel around with my friends and play rock and roll music for a living. I’ve done and seen some pretty cool things in my time on this fine earth. But let me say that no musical experience will ever top what happened on Friday night. NEVER. EVER. For those just joining us I’d gotten a call from my manger about 2 weeks ago letting me know that I’d been invited to make my debut at the Grand Old Opry. Of course I jumped at the chance. As a native Nashvillian and a music fan the Opry is truly sacred ground for me. I was so humbled and excited. My first question was ‘will I get to meet Little Jimmie Dickens?’. Good news. Yes I did. There’s a photo to prove it. ‘Me and Tater’ I like to call it. He’s the last living link to all those hallowed stars who’s records I still go back to on a near daily basis. Plus he KILLED on stage. Funny as could be. And my oldest son has asked every day since then, ‘when can I see Chicken Dickens and all his sparkles again?’. I don’t have the heart to tell the boy his name isn’t Chicken. It does have a ring to it after all. Also got to see Connie Smith and Jeanie Sealy. Both of which still sang like angels. Played great songs. Bill Anderson hosted the segment before ours and was awesome too. He’s still writing hit songs which is something we should all tip our cap to him for. Now to back track, a couple of days before the show we had begun discussing what songs we should do. Everyone, including the Opry folks, seemed big on us doing the current single. I was worried that it might be a bit loud for that environment but they kept saying it would be fine. Then we found out that Vince Gill would be hosting our portion of the show. I thought it’d go over way better if he played guitar with us on that song. That way even if we were the loud heathen rock band we’d have one of the finest musicians around and living opry legend marking for us. He agreed and we sent him an mp3 the day before so he’d know the song. Backstage before the show he and his wife Amy come in. We all say our hellos and exchange pleasantries. A bit later Vince stops me and asks what song we are going to play second? I tell him ‘highways home’. He pauses and then says’ “Could you do me a favor?”. In my mind I already know the answer is yes pretty much whatever it is. Wash your car? Sure. Mow your lawn? Got it. Plasma? You bet. First, he’s one of my favorite musicians of all time. Second, he agreed to play on a song called ‘trying to be a man’ on Number 7. Third, he’s agreed to play with me and the guys on the first song of our Opry debut. YES dammit. I’ll do whatever. But very cooly I say, “sure. What is it?”. (I didn’t want to squeal like a tween at some Bieber meet and greet you know?!?). He tells me that his wife has just dropped off their daughter at college and is pretty emotional about it. He then asks if he could bring us back onstage and have us play ‘baby girl’ for them? Ummmmmmmm. Ok.
So for those of you that have never seen the Opry live it goes FAST. You’ve got right around 27 seconds between bands to get onstage, set up and ready. So we wait in the wings with our gear ready, set, GO! We get everything in place quickly and it truly seems like time has stopped and we are standing there forever!! Finally Vince starts his intro, which I won’t attempt to recount, but he says some absolutely wonderful things about me and my music and he perfectly sums up the emotion that you go through being brought on the Opry stage for the first time. Then we play. I’m a nervous damned wreck. Finally I’m able to sing and everything settles down a bit. Half way into the first verse folks are clapping and we realize it’s all gonna be ok. That song went great. Then I tell a quick story leading into ‘highways home’. The place is deathly quiet. Folks are really listening. I’ll admit that singing that song there on that stage, with all we’ve been through musically was very emotional. Then standing in that circle and wrapping it up with our Hank Sr. bit was special. The response was awesome. It was like we’d been invited to this party we weren’t sure we belonged at. But we went and did our thing and they all really liked it. Wow. Then Vince brings us back out for ‘baby girl’. He says some more flattering things and I’m totally tripping out. Then he brings Amy onstage to sit and watch. Then we start the song. As I’m thinking this can’t get any better he grabs his guitar and plays along and THEN sings harmony on the chorus. Fuck!(I’d love to use another expletive here, but sometimes there’s just no substitute!). We play the tune. Yogi and Vince each take a solo. We finish. The folks there give us a greater round of applause than any I could have ever wished for. I’m pretty sure we floated off stage just in time for Vince to close the night with a solo acoustic version of ‘go rest high on that mountain’. Magical. Then there were a bunch of photos and smiles and laughs and thank yous. Then we were gone. Back in the car and driving home. In my post Opry excitement I actually drove the wrong way. Haha. Now I just hope we’ll get to do it all again…….
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