Speaking his piece: country-rap's Colt Ford

By John Benson

entertainment@vindy.com

The apocalypse might be near, considering country-rap is officially a musical genre bubbling in pockets around the country.

Hoping to do what Kid Rock did for the rap-’n’-rock game, Georgia native Colt Ford is leading the country-rap charge.

“To me it just boils down to music,” said Ford, calling from Georgia. “I grew up listening to country, listening to Waylon Jennings, and then I loved Run-DMC too, just like everyone else in America. I liked AC/DC and Journey. So people today are not genre specific. Either they like the song or don’t like the song. What’s frustrating to me is I don’t consider myself a country rapper. I say I’m a country artist. I just make music for people who love God, family, friends, America and hard work. I talk about stuff I know. It’s real to me.”

A former professional golfer, Ford turned to music a few years ago with the idea of combining hip-hop and country. It’s been a steady rise for the artist whose journey began in 2008 with his debut effort, “Ride Through The Country.” Slowly, a cult following started to emerge, but the 42-year-old performer said the lack of radio exposure has been the biggest hill to climb.

However, that’s not to suggest that his music isn’t played on the radio. Avid country-radio fans may be familiar with Jason Aldean’s monster hit “Dirt Road Anthem,” which was co-written by, you guessed it, Ford.

“Would I like to be played on the radio a little bit more? Yeah,” Ford said. “It hurts my feelings. And it kind of [irritates me] when I see them play the heck out of this song or that song on the radio, and yet they haven’t sold a tenth of the records I’ve sold. It’s like why play that and not me when you know that I can come to your town, sell a bunch of tickets and sell records in your area. That’s really frustrating to me.”

Ford, who makes his Youngstown-area debut Saturday at the Dusty Armadillo, followed up “Ride Through the Country” with his sophomore effort “Chicken & Biscuits” and his recently released album “Every Chance I Get.” He admitted the new CD finds him kowtowing more to the Music City style of songwriting with tunes such as the popish “Country Thang,” featuring an appearance by Eric Church, and the mainstream, honky-tonk “Skirts and Boots.”

The other interesting aspect of Ford’s relatively short career is how quickly notable country artists were to show their support by playing on his albums. The list includes everyone from Tim McGraw, Charlie Daniels and Jamey Johnson to John Michael Montgomery and Craig Morgan. If Ford’s music was a novelty, these Grand Ole Opry stars wouldn’t waste their time.

“I write with some of the biggest songwriters in town,” Ford said. “Some of the best players have played on my record. Tim McGraw is about as high on the country-music food chain as you can go. He’s not going to do something that he thinks is [expletive]. Eric Church and Luke Bryan are on the rise, and they’re not going to do something that they think will hurt them. That’s what frustrating. I don’t pay them to be on the record. They’re friends of mine; they’re on my album because they want to do it.”

He quickly added, “You have freedom to decide what you want to listen to, but if you come to my show, I promise you’ll have fun. And if you don’t have fun at my show, then you need to go straight to the hospital because there’s something wrong with you.”