10/02/2025
COLE SWINDELL GUESTS ON POPULAR PODCAST “ON THE BUS WITH TROY VOLLHOFFER”
Country Thunder — the largest Country music festival brand in North America — shares the next episode of its fan favorite podcast, “On the Bus with Troy Vollhoffer.” Episode two of Season 3 marks the first appearance of GRAMMY® Award-nominated, MULTI-PLATINUM Country star Cole Swindell on the podcast.
The interview went down right in the middle of the action during Country Thunder Wisconsin 2025. Country Thunder CEO and host Vollhoffer spoke to Swindell at length about his career, catalog of hits, and what’s to come. They go all the way back to Georgia-born troubadour’s days playing bars at Georgia Southern University and follow his journey through career-defining smashes such as “She Had Me At Heads Carolina,” “Chillin’ It,” and more. Of course, they also get into his latest album Spanish Moss, the recent Happy Hour Sad Tour, and fatherhood.
Among many key moments, he recalls slinging covers for pub crowds and its importance to his development. “That honestly gave me a chance to kind of fall in love with performing and being on stage,” says Swindell. “It makes you appreciate every single fan you have or people that are going to spend their money or even time to come hang out and watch you play.”
A chance encounter with Luke Bryan—who pledged in the same fraternity at Georgia Southern University—represented a turning point. He goes on, “That was the moment that I knew that singing cover songs was great, but I knew I needed to be behind writing my own songs because I wanted to be in charge of writing something that made somebody feel the way he just made me feel.”
He went from selling t-shirts for Bryan to penning a procession of hits, including “You Should Be Here.” He crafted the latter after an exchange with Bryan backstage at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, MA. As the story goes, the superstar sent a video to his family at home and said, “You should be here,” and Swindell took the phrase and ran with it.
“I obviously thought of, ‘My dad should be there at this stadium show’,” he goes on. “That’s the song I wish I’d never had to write. The more you think about that, I think songs like that are really why we really like Country music anyway—songs that can speak to you, touch you, and say things you maybe didn’t have the words for.”
Beyond his prolific output and stacked touring schedule, he’s enjoying being a first-time dad.
He smiles, “It’s a big year, career-wise, personally, all of it.”
Season 3 launched last month with an episode featuring 23x No. 1 hitmaker Tyler Hubbard. Now, the podcast has steadily emerged as one of the premier Country music podcasts, elevating Vollhoffer as an industry tastemaker and sharp businessman. Over the course of its first two seasons, he sat down for insightful, revealing, and often hilarious interviews with the likes of Jake Owen, Blake Shelton, HARDY, Gavin Adcock, Koe Wetzel, Dierks Bentley, Bailey Zimmerman, Ashley McBryde, Marty Stuart, and many more. During Season 1 (2024), the podcast notably shook the charts and reached #1 in Music among Apple Podcasts in the U.S. Not to mention, the Dustin Lynch episode debuted in the Top 1% of all podcasts. Following its expansion to video in Season 2 (2025), the Jordan Davis episode remains the highest-performing YouTube video with nearly 100,000 views, while total channel views surpass 1.5 MILLION.
With cameras rolling and tape running, he engages in funny and freewheeling discourse with major Country talent as well as buzzing acts. The episodes are filmed from Vollhoffer’s tour bus and home studio, providing an unfiltered vignette into the lives of artists as they tell stories, recall memories, and share unwavering passion for music.
The podcast stands out as a must-listen for Country aficionados and music fans at large. Boasting an intimate format, exclusive content, and an elite lineup of all-star guests, there’s nothing quite like it.
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ABOUT COLE SWINDELL:
Country music superstar Cole Swindell, who Rolling Stone has called “a proven hit-maker,” has solidified himself as a hit songwriter, recording artist and headlining performer over the past eleven years. With over 8+ billion career streams and his latest single “Forever To Me” (from his new album Spanish Moss) hitting No. 1, the multi-Platinum award winner has now racked up 13 No. 1 singles as an artist – 14 as a songwriter. Twelve of Swindell’s 13 No. 1 singles have been certified Platinum by the RIAA with three being 3X Platinum (“Chillin’ It,” “You Should Be Here,” and “She Had Me At Heads Carolina”) and two being 2X Platinum (“Ain’t Worth The Whiskey” and “Break Up In The End”).
Swindell, who The Tennessean called a “hard charging competitor armed with a mastery of the art of the craft, tirelessly looking for ways to improve his work” charted three back-to-back, Platinum-certified, multi-week No. 1 hits off his fourth studio album, Stereotype: “Single Saturday Night,” “Never Say Never” (with Lainey Wilson) and the five-week 3x Platinum chart-topper “She Had Me At Heads Carolina” that garnered three ACM Awards for Single of the Year and Song of the Year (as songwriter and artist), an iHeart Music Award for Country Song of the Year and received a nomination for Musical Event of the Year for “She Had Me At Heads Carolina” with Jo Dee Messina for the 57th CMA Awards. He released a special duet remix of his smash “She Had Me At Heads Carolina” featuring Messina that produced multiple award nominations and is included on his deluxe album Stereotype Broken, which also includes his 2023 Top 10 single “Drinkaby.”
The Georgia native returned from his first international tour dates in March opening for Cody Johnson’s Leather Deluxe Tour in Australia and New Zealand. Swindell will launch his 2025 headlining Happy Hour Sad Tour in September.
For complete information and upcoming tour dates, sign up for the Down Home Crew at www.ColeSwindell.com.
ABOUT ON THE BUS WITH TROY VOLLHOFFER:
Troy Vollhoffer, owner and founder of Country Thunder Music Festival, invites the biggest Country artists and industry giants to join him for a one-on-one celebrity interview “On the Bus.” As Troy opens his home, his tour bus, and festival venues to his audience for behind the scenes conversations, he asks exclusive questions, discusses festival do’s and don'ts, and highlights the tracks fans will hear on stage at Country Thunder this summer. Guests include Dustin Lynch, Koe Wetzel, Tigirlily Gold, Dierks Bentley, Bailey Zimmerman, Jon Pardi, Ashley McBryde and countless other music industry legends, taking you backstage to share stories of their concerts, their careers, and their entertainment industry journeys. Be ready to be thunderstruck, "On the Bus with Troy Vollhoffer."
ABOUT TROY VOLLHOFFER:
Troy Vollhoffer is an American entrepreneur from Nashville, TN and currently serves as the President of Country Thunder Music Festivals, Big Valley Jamboree, and Premier Global Production Company. One of the most beloved festival brands in the world, Country Thunder has seen tremendous success, receiving numerous awards including the ACM Festival of the Year for Country Thunder Arizona, Wisconsin, and most recently, Bristol in 2023. For his transformation of the festival, Vollhoffer was honored with the Academy of Country Music Lifting Lives Award and the Don Romero Talent Buyer of the Year Award at the ACM Honors in 2023.
Vollhoffer played professional ice hockey from 1982-1992 and has served on the boards of the T.J. Martell Foundation, Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, ACM Lifting Lives, ACM and CMA. His dedicated philanthropic commitment was recognized at the 2018 CCMA Awards, where he received the Slaight Music Humanitarian Award.
ABOUT COUNTRY THUNDER:
Attracting nearly 625,000+ fans to its six multi-day events, Country Thunder Music Festivals boast unparalleled reach with a diverse demographic profile spanning the USA and Canada. Featuring top-tier Country artists, Country Thunder Festivals draw diverse crowds, fostering a vibrant atmosphere that celebrates the essence of Country music. The Country Thunder Music Festivals organization has a 21-year history which boasts five other major multi-day events in North America, including Wisconsin, Florida, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.
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