January 17, 2025 • 9 mins
All of us at WPOC are big fans of George Birge. He's just one of those guys that you root for. He dropped a new song today called "It Won't Be Long." This is one of those powerful songs that will definitely move something in you. I think it's going to be a huge hit.
George called in to talk about the song. I shared a piece of our conversation during the show, but here's the full interview. Along with discussing the song, George and I talk about his Texas Longhorns, if there's more music on the way and what his touring schedule looks like this year.
George called in to talk about the song. I shared a piece of our conversation during the show, but here's the full interview. Along with discussing the song, George and I talk about his Texas Longhorns, if there's more music on the way and what his touring schedule looks like this year.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, thank y'all for taking some time to talk to me.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Man.
Speaker 3 (00:02):
I can't even tell you, like how excited I am
for you, like just watching your career. I remember a
show you did in Baltimore. I want to say it
was summer of twenty twenty one, and it was just
after you decided to go solo.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Dude, it was my first show as a solo artist.
I never forget that.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
I thought I knew it was early. I could if
it was first one or like first.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Time, first one.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Yes, just talking to you before the show and like
hearing a little bit more about your background because I
had met you before with your previous stuff, and then
hearing like how music was almost in your rear view mirror,
and then you had this whole new like reinvigorated interest
in what you were doing. And now to look back
at that just almost four short years ago, two number
ones new song out today, I mean, I just I
(00:47):
can't even believe it. You're like this amazing story.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Oh man, it's it is pretty surreal to think about it,
and even just hearing you say it like that.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
I'm like, how did this happen? So? Thank you man, Yeah,
no problem.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
I was thinking about you too. I'm sorry about your horns.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
It hurt.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
But we had a good season, and I think next year,
new quarterback, same team, we might we might do this thing, yeays, and.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
I see yours is gone, Yours is going to go.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
To the NRLSE going to the draft. Yeah, he's going
to the draft. So we'll have baby Manning, which is
he's a beast. We'll see how that goes.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Yeah. I was actually kind of surprised they didn't use
him more. Not that I want to turn this into
a whole conversation with the long Horns, but I was
surprised they didn't use Manning a little bit more.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
To me both.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
I was like, he is a golden arm, he's got
crazy legs, he's like everything he does is incredible, and
when he did come in the game, he would dominate.
And I'd like, for the life of me, couldn't figure
it out. But maybe they're just building up for next year.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Maybe they are paying yours too much. We got to
use them.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
I think that's exactly what's happening. And I'm being honest,
that's so funny.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Well, George, the new song is out today. It's called
it Won't Be Long Tell me about this song.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
So this song was kind of an answer prayer for me.
I've had the wildest year of my life. I just
had my first ever two number ones last year, which
is incredible and opened all these and all of a sudden,
like my life changed in ways that I could never
have imagined. As Cowboy Songs was getting ready to go
number one here at the end of last year, I
started to have this pressure of like, what's next. I
(02:11):
don't know what my next single is. And when I
put out Mind on You, and when I put out
Cowboy Songs, I knew wholeheartedly those were the next singles,
and I knew they were the right songs to put out.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
And I hadn't written the song that felt like that yet.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
And I was talking to my wife and she's like, hey,
if you don't feel like that yet, like you don't
have the song. So I was kind of digging in
and scrambling and trying to figure it out. And my
dad came and visited for Thanksgiving and I just happened
to be in the kitchen looking out the window in
the backyard, and you know, the same cowboy that raised
me was in the backyard teaching my kids. How to
throw a football and running around in the backyard, and
(02:43):
I just had all these flashbacks of like all the
magic moments that I had as a kid, and all
my core memories, and you know, all the things that
I'm getting to experience for the first time as a
dad now, and just how precious those what seemed like
little moments in the time actually become these huge moments
in your memory in your life.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
And this song kind of fell out that afternoon.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
I sent it to the record label as soon as
I finished it, and about three hours later we had
declared it my next single and we're getting in the
studio the next week to record it. So it was
one of those that kind of just came out of nowhere.
And it's probably as excited as I've ever been about
your music.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Those are the magical songs, right, the songs you don't
see coming, and then all of a sudden, like you said,
like you sit down and all of a sudden, you're
in the studio recording this song. It's going to be
your next single. Those are the magic things that happen
in music.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
That's the exciting and terrifying thing about what we do
is like you just can't force a song. You can't
force a hit. You can't force a song, and it
makes you feel something. And I almost equate it to
go and fishing, you know, like you've always got to
have a line in the water, and most days you're
not going to catch anything worth writing home about. But
some days you get lucky and you get one that
you want to hang on the wall. So this was
(03:49):
one of those for me, and I'm really glad it
worked out in perfect time.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
And that message too. I mean, I remember starting in
country music and hearing people talk about songs like the
Good Stuff by Kenny Chesney and the Tray Sackens song
You're Gonna Miss This, and like how powerful they were,
and like I remember that, like they're powerful, they're good songs.
But then the second I became a dad, like those
songs that were twenty years old hit me in a
completely different way instantaneously.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
And funny how music works like that.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Yeah, It's it's like once you've lived it, it hits
you in a different way. And and those songs kind
of hit me the same way too. When I was younger,
I was like, man, that you know, it's a great song.
You're singing along to it, you know it, and then
you start living those experiences and then it hits you
like a freight train because you're right in the middle
of it, right And that's this song for me. It's
just it tells stories. I always try to draw from
(04:40):
real life in my songwriting. I feel like it helps
me connect with people better and it helps me believe
it when I'm singing it better. But you know, sometimes
I have to take some creative liberties to make the
song either more universal or a little bit easier to
put together the lyric. But this is the first song
I've ever written where every single line in it is
something that I've experienced and something that I've lived. And
my hope is that other people can kind of plug
(05:02):
their own memories into this as well and kind of
feel the same way. So it's a pretty special song,
and it's definitely real life.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
And I love how the song was born out of
you spending time with your family, because I think a
lot of people understand that an artist and musicians such
as yourself. I mean, you're out there doing shows a lot,
and it does take you away from your family, but you,
in particular, and artists in your position that are still
growing in this industry. You're doing so many things, and
you're flying place to I mean, it's insane what your
(05:31):
schedule must look like. And I just knowing that you
were spending time with your family in this moment makes
me happy because I just wonder how much time with
your family you have missed, you know, doing these last
couple of years of your life. It's exciting stuff, but
like you're also you've got a family there too, you know,
and I think it's great that you were able to
have this special moment that will hopefully blossom into something
even bigger for you.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
I think this is exactly that, you know, the last
two years, I've run as hard as I've ever run
in my entire life, and I've missed some things that
I wish I didn't. But at the same time, it
makes the time that I do get so so precious.
And I have the most incredible wife at home that
you know, holds down the ship when I'm not there,
and thank god, we FaceTime every day and I do
get home and most you know, early half of most
(06:12):
weeks to be part of the family and everything. But
I think it just sinks in, you know, when those
moments are fleeting, and when maybe you don't get as
much time as you wish you did, the time that
you do have becomes that more special. And so the
song was also just a reminder to myself to hey,
don't take it for granted when you have it.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
So that's kind of the birth of it.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
I know the music world is a little bit different now,
and singles are great. I mean, I love getting new
music from people. But is there an album maybe on
the way from you?
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Yes, definitely.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
I've been feeling pretty widely inspired lately, just with the
world starting to open up to me and touring and
my family growing and just a lot of life happening
right before my eyes. I have a lot of stories
to tell, and so I've had some great friends digging
in with me here in Nashville in the studio. We've
been writing like crazy, and we're slated here at the
end of the month to go back in and cut
another batch of songs. So I have a pretty good
(07:03):
feeling that there will be a pretty.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Nice chunk of a project here coming this year.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
I'm sure you don't have your schedule sitting right in
front of you for the rest of the year, but
is there a chance we're going to see you in
our area here in the Baltimore and mid Atlantic region
later this year.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
We will definitely be out that way.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
I can't announce how, but it will definitely be a
show where it's seeing and let's.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Put it that way.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
It's become I mean, like we were talking about earlier,
Baltimore when I became a solo artist, was the first
show I ever played as a solo artist, and I
remember playing to about ten people out there, and then
to come back now and do have gotten to do,
you know, Sunday in the country with you guys, and
to be able to come through and play bigger crowds
and see these people that have followed me from day
(07:44):
one and helped me grow my career.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
It's become one of my favorite markets. So I can't
wait to get back out that way.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
My last thought that I'll let you go because I
know you're a busy guy. Just going back to that
setting there in Baltimore, your first show as a solo artist.
I look back on that and I remember sitting there
because it were you know, we're still in the pandemic
and Baltimore was a little bit slower to open back
up compared to a lot of other places, people were
more hesitant to come out. And I looked at the
crowd and I was like, I feel so bad for
(08:09):
these artists that there's not more people here right now.
So I love that you look at that crowd and
you go look at how much we've grown, and I
think that's an amazing way to look at it.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
It was definitely the start of the journey.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Yeah, and sometimes, especially early in my career, man, I
remember there were nights where you'd have to just pump
yourself up and be like, you know what, go up
there and close your eyes and pretend like you're playing
the super Bowl for the five people they are here.
And luckily these days most of them are sold out
and it's a whole different energy. But it also makes
it having played those shows and having to go out
and go to battle some nights makes these days that
(08:41):
much sweeter when you get to go out there and
just soak it in and see how far you've come.
So it was a huge part of my story and
I'm definitely glad to be on the other side now.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Well, George, Man, I love you and I can't wait
to get you back through town. I love the new
song and I hope people are attracted to it just
the same way they were the last couple. Best of
luck to you, my friends, and I hope I see
you soon.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
You're the best.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Thanks for in so much of a part of my
story and helping me grow this and I can't wait
to get out that way
Well, thank y'all for taking some time to talk to me.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Man.
Speaker 3 (00:02):
I can't even tell you, like how excited I am
for you, like just watching your career. I remember a
show you did in Baltimore. I want to say it
was summer of twenty twenty one, and it was just
after you decided to go solo.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Dude, it was my first show as a solo artist.
I never forget that.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
I thought I knew it was early. I could if
it was first one or like first.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Time, first one.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Yes, just talking to you before the show and like
hearing a little bit more about your background because I
had met you before with your previous stuff, and then
hearing like how music was almost in your rear view mirror,
and then you had this whole new like reinvigorated interest
in what you were doing. And now to look back
at that just almost four short years ago, two number
ones new song out today, I mean, I just I
(00:47):
can't even believe it. You're like this amazing story.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Oh man, it's it is pretty surreal to think about it,
and even just hearing you say it like that.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
I'm like, how did this happen? So? Thank you man, Yeah,
no problem.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
I was thinking about you too. I'm sorry about your horns.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
It hurt.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
But we had a good season, and I think next year,
new quarterback, same team, we might we might do this thing, yeays, and.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
I see yours is gone, Yours is going to go.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
To the NRLSE going to the draft. Yeah, he's going
to the draft. So we'll have baby Manning, which is
he's a beast. We'll see how that goes.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Yeah. I was actually kind of surprised they didn't use
him more. Not that I want to turn this into
a whole conversation with the long Horns, but I was
surprised they didn't use Manning a little bit more.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
To me both.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
I was like, he is a golden arm, he's got
crazy legs, he's like everything he does is incredible, and
when he did come in the game, he would dominate.
And I'd like, for the life of me, couldn't figure
it out. But maybe they're just building up for next year.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Maybe they are paying yours too much. We got to
use them.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
I think that's exactly what's happening. And I'm being honest,
that's so funny.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Well, George, the new song is out today. It's called
it Won't Be Long Tell me about this song.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
So this song was kind of an answer prayer for me.
I've had the wildest year of my life. I just
had my first ever two number ones last year, which
is incredible and opened all these and all of a sudden,
like my life changed in ways that I could never
have imagined. As Cowboy Songs was getting ready to go
number one here at the end of last year, I
started to have this pressure of like, what's next. I
(02:11):
don't know what my next single is. And when I
put out Mind on You, and when I put out
Cowboy Songs, I knew wholeheartedly those were the next singles,
and I knew they were the right songs to put out.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
And I hadn't written the song that felt like that yet.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
And I was talking to my wife and she's like, hey,
if you don't feel like that yet, like you don't
have the song. So I was kind of digging in
and scrambling and trying to figure it out. And my
dad came and visited for Thanksgiving and I just happened
to be in the kitchen looking out the window in
the backyard, and you know, the same cowboy that raised
me was in the backyard teaching my kids. How to
throw a football and running around in the backyard, and
(02:43):
I just had all these flashbacks of like all the
magic moments that I had as a kid, and all
my core memories, and you know, all the things that
I'm getting to experience for the first time as a
dad now, and just how precious those what seemed like
little moments in the time actually become these huge moments
in your memory in your life.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
And this song kind of fell out that afternoon.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
I sent it to the record label as soon as
I finished it, and about three hours later we had
declared it my next single and we're getting in the
studio the next week to record it. So it was
one of those that kind of just came out of nowhere.
And it's probably as excited as I've ever been about
your music.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Those are the magical songs, right, the songs you don't
see coming, and then all of a sudden, like you said,
like you sit down and all of a sudden, you're
in the studio recording this song. It's going to be
your next single. Those are the magic things that happen
in music.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
That's the exciting and terrifying thing about what we do
is like you just can't force a song. You can't
force a hit. You can't force a song, and it
makes you feel something. And I almost equate it to
go and fishing, you know, like you've always got to
have a line in the water, and most days you're
not going to catch anything worth writing home about. But
some days you get lucky and you get one that
you want to hang on the wall. So this was
(03:49):
one of those for me, and I'm really glad it
worked out in perfect time.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
And that message too. I mean, I remember starting in
country music and hearing people talk about songs like the
Good Stuff by Kenny Chesney and the Tray Sackens song
You're Gonna Miss This, and like how powerful they were,
and like I remember that, like they're powerful, they're good songs.
But then the second I became a dad, like those
songs that were twenty years old hit me in a
completely different way instantaneously.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
And funny how music works like that.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Yeah, It's it's like once you've lived it, it hits
you in a different way. And and those songs kind
of hit me the same way too. When I was younger,
I was like, man, that you know, it's a great song.
You're singing along to it, you know it, and then
you start living those experiences and then it hits you
like a freight train because you're right in the middle
of it, right And that's this song for me. It's
just it tells stories. I always try to draw from
(04:40):
real life in my songwriting. I feel like it helps
me connect with people better and it helps me believe
it when I'm singing it better. But you know, sometimes
I have to take some creative liberties to make the
song either more universal or a little bit easier to
put together the lyric. But this is the first song
I've ever written where every single line in it is
something that I've experienced and something that I've lived. And
my hope is that other people can kind of plug
(05:02):
their own memories into this as well and kind of
feel the same way. So it's a pretty special song,
and it's definitely real life.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
And I love how the song was born out of
you spending time with your family, because I think a
lot of people understand that an artist and musicians such
as yourself. I mean, you're out there doing shows a lot,
and it does take you away from your family, but you,
in particular, and artists in your position that are still
growing in this industry. You're doing so many things, and
you're flying place to I mean, it's insane what your
(05:31):
schedule must look like. And I just knowing that you
were spending time with your family in this moment makes
me happy because I just wonder how much time with
your family you have missed, you know, doing these last
couple of years of your life. It's exciting stuff, but
like you're also you've got a family there too, you know,
and I think it's great that you were able to
have this special moment that will hopefully blossom into something
even bigger for you.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
I think this is exactly that, you know, the last
two years, I've run as hard as I've ever run
in my entire life, and I've missed some things that
I wish I didn't. But at the same time, it
makes the time that I do get so so precious.
And I have the most incredible wife at home that
you know, holds down the ship when I'm not there,
and thank god, we FaceTime every day and I do
get home and most you know, early half of most
(06:12):
weeks to be part of the family and everything. But
I think it just sinks in, you know, when those
moments are fleeting, and when maybe you don't get as
much time as you wish you did, the time that
you do have becomes that more special. And so the
song was also just a reminder to myself to hey,
don't take it for granted when you have it.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
So that's kind of the birth of it.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
I know the music world is a little bit different now,
and singles are great. I mean, I love getting new
music from people. But is there an album maybe on
the way from you?
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Yes, definitely.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
I've been feeling pretty widely inspired lately, just with the
world starting to open up to me and touring and
my family growing and just a lot of life happening
right before my eyes. I have a lot of stories
to tell, and so I've had some great friends digging
in with me here in Nashville in the studio. We've
been writing like crazy, and we're slated here at the
end of the month to go back in and cut
another batch of songs. So I have a pretty good
(07:03):
feeling that there will be a pretty.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Nice chunk of a project here coming this year.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
I'm sure you don't have your schedule sitting right in
front of you for the rest of the year, but
is there a chance we're going to see you in
our area here in the Baltimore and mid Atlantic region
later this year.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
We will definitely be out that way.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
I can't announce how, but it will definitely be a
show where it's seeing and let's.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Put it that way.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
It's become I mean, like we were talking about earlier,
Baltimore when I became a solo artist, was the first
show I ever played as a solo artist, and I
remember playing to about ten people out there, and then
to come back now and do have gotten to do,
you know, Sunday in the country with you guys, and
to be able to come through and play bigger crowds
and see these people that have followed me from day
(07:44):
one and helped me grow my career.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
It's become one of my favorite markets. So I can't
wait to get back out that way.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
My last thought that I'll let you go because I
know you're a busy guy. Just going back to that
setting there in Baltimore, your first show as a solo artist.
I look back on that and I remember sitting there
because it were you know, we're still in the pandemic
and Baltimore was a little bit slower to open back
up compared to a lot of other places, people were
more hesitant to come out. And I looked at the
crowd and I was like, I feel so bad for
(08:09):
these artists that there's not more people here right now.
So I love that you look at that crowd and
you go look at how much we've grown, and I
think that's an amazing way to look at it.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
It was definitely the start of the journey.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Yeah, and sometimes, especially early in my career, man, I
remember there were nights where you'd have to just pump
yourself up and be like, you know what, go up
there and close your eyes and pretend like you're playing
the super Bowl for the five people they are here.
And luckily these days most of them are sold out
and it's a whole different energy. But it also makes
it having played those shows and having to go out
and go to battle some nights makes these days that
(08:41):
much sweeter when you get to go out there and
just soak it in and see how far you've come.
So it was a huge part of my story and
I'm definitely glad to be on the other side now.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Well, George, Man, I love you and I can't wait
to get you back through town. I love the new
song and I hope people are attracted to it just
the same way they were the last couple. Best of
luck to you, my friends, and I hope I see
you soon.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
You're the best.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Thanks for in so much of a part of my
story and helping me grow this and I can't wait
to get out that way
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