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PODCAST

Country Roads with Ben Earle

Spiritland Creative

Singer songwriter Ben Earle is offering Country fans a fresh take on the lives and careers of their favourite artists. Country music has always been closely tied to the land from which it sprung, and as a result many of the best Country songs tell us stories with a strong sense of place; be it Dolly’s Mountain Home in Tennessee, Tim McGraw’s Nashville, or Cam’s Redwood Tree in California. We’re taking this one step further by better getting to know our favourite Country stars through the places that

music music interviews

All Episodes

35:38

Jackson Dean

Country Roads with Ben Earle ·

2026/04/22

Heavens To Betsy hitmaker, Jackson Dean, is a man who loves to travel and takes great inspiration from the natural landscapes he finds himself in, so who better to be our guest on Country Roads! Jackson traces this back to his upbringing in Odenton, Maryland, where he grew up exploring the sprawling woods and the east coast. Jackson also speaks a lot about family; his ancestral ties to Germany and Scotland, how he was seeking his father’s approval as a young person, and how being the youngest in the

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52:54

Angie K

Country Roads with Ben Earle ·

2026/04/15

Angie K joins Ben to talk about how her El Salvadorian roots and her upbringing in Georgia have both influenced her music, and the joy of being an independent artist and growing your audience organically. Angie tells us the stories behind some of her most transportative songs like Laredo, and how living in El Salvador as a child was both beautiful and dangerous. She gets emotional speaking about the full circle moment she had thanks to her choir teacher, and speaks openly and honestly about being a

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38:47

Mae Estes

Country Roads with Ben Earle ·

2026/04/08

Mae Estes is country through and through, but as she explains in this episode, when she arrived in Nashville she felt too country for country! Fast forward 10 years and all her hard work is paying off, as people are falling in love with her throwback sound, her powerful voice, and her smart storytelling. Here, she tells Ben about her young life in Arkansas, and how some of the tough things she went through ended up being the perfect material for writing country songs. She explains how she learned

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31:00

Russell Dickerson

Country Roads with Ben Earle ·

2026/04/01

The RD party has come to Country Roads! Russell Dickerson joins Ben fresh off the back of his barnstorming performances at C2C 2026, to talk about the road he’s travelled on to become the multi-platinum artist he is today. Russell talks about being a proud Tennessean raised on Country music, and how his musical influences changed and expanded - everything from Lil Wayne to Red Hot Chilli Peppers - when he moved to Nashville at the age of 10. He also lets us in on the kind of music he was making with

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54:13

Willow Avalon

Country Roads with Ben Earle ·

2026/03/26

Southern belle, Willow Avalon, joins Ben this week to talk about her incredible journey from a teenage runaway living dangerously in Atlanta, to honouring southern storytelling in her music and preparing for her biggest headline show to date - all thanks to a billboard in L.A. she blagged, a brownstone apartment she should never have been able to rent in New York, and a pet possum named Bowie that became her best friend!Willow is perhaps the best example of the idea that underpins this entire

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48:06

Alana Springsteen

Country Roads with Ben Earle ·

2026/03/19

Alana Springsteen joins Ben to talk about everything from her childhood in Virginia Beach to performing in front of 40,000 people when she was just nine years old, to signing a publishing deal at just 14 and how her whole family up-sticks and moved to Nashville so she could pursue her dream. Alana’s childhood was anything but conventional, but still, she felt it was her purpose to connect with others through music, and that’s exactly what her debut album Twenty Something has done.She speaks about

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38:04

Zach Top

Country Roads with Ben Earle ·

2026/03/12

Zach Top is here to kick off the second season of Country Roads, and true to our style, we go back to all the places that have made Zach the artist he is today, including the small hometown he described as, "You could smell it before you could see it!"He tells us all about his hobby farm homeschooled upbringing, a sweet story about how his family band got their first gig, and how his first pub crawlwent down in England. Zach and Ben get nerdy about guitars for a minute, and Zack explains how a viral

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46:22

Max McNown

Country Roads with Ben Earle ·

2025/12/18

Max McNown sits down with Ben to talk about his extraordinary story, and just how much life has changed for him in the last three years; from singing publicly for the first time on a pier in South California, to headlining his own tours, having a viral hit, and notching up over 10 million monthly listens on Spotify!As ever, we get to know Max through the places that have made him who he is, including the wilds of Bend, Oregon, Southern California where the whole trajectory of his life was changed,

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57:40

Eric Paslay

Country Roads with Ben Earle ·

2025/12/11

Singer songwriter Eric Paslay holds the unique honour of being the first guest on the podcast to get Ben on a horse! They chat about this story and so much more, including Eric’s family-filled upbringing in Texas, the amazing story of how one of his songs brought him and his wife together, and his considered take on where Country music is at right now.We also hear about how the memory of his Grandad’s band fed his musical dreams, and the very special moment he got to have singing with his Grandad

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53:35

Caylee Hammack

Country Roads with Ben Earle ·

2025/12/04

This week, Caylee Hammack dials in from Nashville to chat to Ben about the places that have had the biggest impact on her and on her music. She talks about everything from the quiet stability that family life in Ellaville gave her, to the heartbreak that pushed her to leave town and pursue her dreams in Nashville.Caylee speaks about a devastating diagnosis at the age of sixteen which turned her world upside down, and set her on the path to becoming a songwriter. She also shares what she learned from

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57:42

Kassi Ashton

Country Roads with Ben Earle ·

2025/11/27

This week, rising star, Kassi Ashton, speaks about finding her sound by accepting that she is two sides of one coin; leaning into being someone who loves fashion design as much as dirt bikes, and hunting as much as ballet. Kassi has learned to be unapologetically herself, and explains how she has captured her truth in her long awaited debut album, Made From The Dirt.In learning more about the places that have made her who she is today, we journey to Missouri for rifle season which is bigger than

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46:10

Josh Ross

Country Roads with Ben Earle ·

2025/11/20

Canadian singer/songwriter Josh Ross joins Ben for a chat about his incredible rise to stardom, his love of Nashville and how sometimes you just need sit in silence. Josh slept in his car when he first moved to Nashville, trying to make it as a young songwriter, but soon made his mark and it's now the city he calls home. But Canada still has his heart - and he loves to return to see his family, and, to fish! Ben and Josh share stories of songwriting sessions in Nashville (and how, sometimes, they

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44:24

Rissi Palmer

Country Roads with Ben Earle ·

2025/11/13

This week, American country artist Rissi Palmer joins Ben Earle for a chat about the places that have inspired her songwriting. From the churches of Pennsylvania, to her home of North Carolina, Rissi's songs tell great stories, which are influenced by her family. A trailblazer for Black women in country music, she debuted in 2007 with the single "Country Girl", which made her the first African-American woman to chart a country song since 1988.Get more familiar or reacquaint yourself with all the

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55:35

Kezia Gill

Country Roads with Ben Earle ·

2025/11/06

This week, Ben is joined by his first British guest of the series - Kezia Gill! She takes us back to her musical roots in Ireland, where she would sing with her Dad in the local pubs. She honed her craft playing cover songs in clubs, before becoming the singer/songwriter she is today.We journey to Nashville and Memphis, where Kezia had an inspirational Elvis moment, and across the UK, where she calls home. She also tells Ben about the inspiration behind some of her most personal lyrics, and, how she

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43:34

Midland

Country Roads with Ben Earle ·

2025/10/30

This week, we have not one, not two, but three guests - the amigos that make up Midland! Cam, Mark, and Jess tell us about the places have had the biggest impact on them as a band.We journey to L.A. where they explored the early 00's rock scene; to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where Cam brought them together for his wedding, and Mark and Jess played music together for the first time; and then, of course, to Texas and The Sonic Ranch where they cut their first demos and discovered they had something

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54:52

Tenille Townes

Country Roads with Ben Earle ·

2025/10/22

Canadian singer songwriter, Tenille Townes, describes her hometown as a place with a lot of blue sky and room to dream. Being in Alberta, it’s also winter there nine months of the year! But there was nothing cold about the community she grew up in, and we hear how it shaped her into the artist she is today.We also hear about some of the most memorable places she has travelled with her music, including the school on a tiny island that inspired her song Jersey On The Wall, and the one-of-a-kind

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55:03

Mackenzie Carpenter

Country Roads with Ben Earle ·

2025/10/15

Any interview that starts with squats and shots has to be a good one! This week, Ben learns more about Mackenzie Carpenter’s pre-show rituals, the big characters in her childhood neighbourhood who inspired some of her songs, and her friendship with Megan Moroney.Through Mackenzie’s stories, we travel to her tiny hometown in Georgia where they’d hold hootenannys on her back porch until the early hours; to Nashville where she made a new home for herself; and to the sands of Florida where she and her

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46:28

Charles Kelley (Lady A)

Country Roads with Ben Earle ·

2025/10/08

It’s not often you get to interview the person that inspired you to make Country music, but this week Ben does exactly that! Lady A opened his ears to the kind of country music Ben wanted to make, and their co-lead vocalist Charles Kelley joins him today.Charles takes us to all the important places in his life; from the golf courses of Augusta and the pharmacy where he met James Brown, to his swampy college party hangout in Athens where the early foundations of the band were laid, to the venue where

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41:30

Drake Milligan

Country Roads with Ben Earle ·

2025/10/01

Chart-topping student of classic Country, Drake Milligan, joins Ben to talk about the places that have made him who he is today.Drake takes us to the barn in Texas where he sang his heart out as a child; he tells us about his dream holiday on an Elvis Cruise, where he performed with the The Jordanaires; and we journey to Memphis where he moved to film Sun Records and - in his words - went about as far as you can go without being Elvis himself!Drake speaks about his experiences on American Idol and

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44:19

Cam

Country Roads with Ben Earle ·

2025/09/24

Our journey begins with…. Cam! Grammy award winning singer songwriter, Camaron Ochs, is where we go for deep healing. She is one of the greatest storytellers around, so who better to ask about the places who have made her who she is today? Cam takes us to her Grandparents’ ranch in Southern California where her Grandpa first taught her to play the piano; we climb up the redwood tree in her parents backyard where she thought all her big thoughts as a child; and to the banks of the Nile where she

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