Before Toby Keith takes the stage Friday night at Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre in Tinley Park for his Interstates & Tailgates tour, rising star Eric Paslay will play a 50-minute set with dance moves to boot.
“I’d always been hidin’ behind a guitar ’cause I love writing songs and singing them. It’s just the living room dance moves from house parties finally came out,” Paslay said recently by phone aboard his tour bus headed to Janesville, Wis., for his own headlining appearance at the Rock County 4-H Fair. “Everybody loves me dancing now. But it takes a heck of lot of energy, dang it, and I only got about eight moves.”
As a teaser, the 6’4″-bearded red head in a ball cap reveals a few slick moves in the video for “High Class,” the lead single from his upcoming sophomore release “Dressed in Black,” singing “I’m smooth when I move, outta my league but confident.”
“Everyone was like ‘How long did you all practice?’ and ‘What studio did you go to?’ and I was like ‘I just showed up and I been dancing on stage the past two years,'” Paslay said about the video’s choreography. “I keep joking that Luke Bryan comes over for dance lessons.”
A humble, funny and polite guy with some serious southern charm, Paslay talked at length about becoming comfortable on stage, growing as a songwriter, visiting “angels” in the communities he tours and managing diabetes on the road.
“The other night at a Toby Keith show this guy goes “Man, how do you play for 20,000 people?’ I said ‘It’s easy. You play for one then five then 10 then 100 then 5,000 then 10,000 then 12,000, 15,000 and 20,000 and sometimes 60,000 depending on festivals,'” he said. “It’s like weights. The more you lift the more you can handle and it doesn’t seem impossible.”
Paslay’s career got a lift from writing hit songs for others as he grew into an artist of his own accord.
A self-described “mutt” from Temple, Texas, of Czechoslovakian, German, Scottish and Irish descent who’s fond of making poppy seed kolackies with his mother, Paslay moved to Nashville 20 years ago and made a name for himself as a songwriter, with Lady Antebellum, Rascal Flatts, Jake Owen, Sheryl Crow and Donny and Marie Osmond among those who’ve recorded his material.
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His song “Even If It Breaks Your Heart” was a No. 1 hit for Eli Young Band, scoring nominations for Grammy Best Country Song, Academy of Country Music Song of the Year and Country Music Association Song of the Year.
Paslay’s own turn to shine as an artist also netted a No. 1 hit single, “Friday Night.” His eponymous debut in 2014 for EMI Records Nashville also includes “She Don’t Love You,” which was nominated for ACM Song of the Year.
Paslay’s collaboration on “The Driver,” a debut solo single by Charles Kelley (Lady Antebellum) also featuring Dierks Bentley, was nominated for a 2015 Grammy for Best Country Duo/Group Performance.
“Every song has its own soul and gets heard the way it wants to when it wants to by the voice it wants to,” Paslay, 33, said. “I just show up, record songs I love and if it’s the wrong timing then someone else will get to record it. The cool thing is we get to share those songs at shows and all those hits I still get to sing and say thank you to all the people who’ve recorded songs I’ve written.”
Paslay also is thanking everyday “angels” in communities he visits on tour. He has been to police and fire departments, Habitat for Humanity, a Ronald McDonald House and Boys and Girls Clubs.
“People are serving and helping and dealing with things no one in the community knows is going on,” he said. “They’re not on the news because they don’t want to be. You shouldn’t just do good to be on Twitter. You should do good to do good.”
The one to three angel visits every weekend on tour are an extension of “Angels in This Town,” the single released to radio in July that’s on “Dressed in Black,” due out next year. It was inspired by miracles he’d witnessed or heard about from friends, from his high school football team cinching the playoff win and bringing the community together to a friend whose prayers protected her from a murder.
Paslay, who earned a bachelor’s degree and planned to become a pediatric endocrinologist, also is reaching out to families affected by diabetes as a spokesperson for the Dexcom G5 Mobile Glucose Monitoring System. He was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 10, has worn an insulin pump for 15 years and started using the Dexcom continuous glucose monitor (CGM) four months ago.
“The coolest thing about the Dexcom CGM is it goes right to my phone and I can share that with up to five people,” said Paslay, whose wife and tour manager are linked to it. “My manager on the side of the stage can watch my blood sugar level the whole show. Since having the Dexcom, I haven’t gotten low or even close, which is awesome. Before the Dexcom I would not know I’d need to make a tiny adjustment because I couldn’t see the whole picture or the after-effect of having a low blood sugar level and drinking a whole glass of orange juice. I’ve honestly changed my whole diet after seeing what food does to me. It’s exciting that there’s no guessing at all.”
Vickie Jurkowski is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
Toby Keith Interstates & Tailgates Tour with Eric Paslay
When: 7 p.m. Friday, Aug 12
Where: Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, 19100 Ridgeland Ave. in Tinley Park
Tickets: $25.25 to $89
Information: www.livenation.com