On his new single “Blame It on Nashville,” he said, “I dated a girl after moving to Nashville and I was getting to know her at the same time I was getting to know the city. Needless to say, I was liking both, a lot. The energy of Nashville makes it easy and fun to fall for someone. But, when it didn’t work out, I found the split to be a little harder and I realized that it wasn’t just her, but her mixed with the city.”
He opened up about shooting a music video during the pandemic. “Shooting the music video was a big challenge. There was a lot of uncertainty about COVID mandates, and shooting permits. I knew that if we could just get everything in place, then we could very well capture something pretty unique, that being an empty lower Broadway and we did. It was even supposed to start raining at call time, but the rain moved in early and went away right before and started back right after we wrapped. The whole production seemed to have had a guardian angel, it really did,” he said.
Collins grew up on a cattle and alfalfa farm in Oklahoma. “I grew up listening to all types of music and still do. As a kid, I was mostly into ’90s and early ’00s rock and country. I was always big on the red dirt country music coming out of Oklahoma and Texas like Randy Rogers Band and Cross Canadian Ragweed. They always had an edge and sonic value that was different from what was coming out of Nashville and it resonated with me as a kid a lot; however, it was listening to Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney that made me want to pursue music,” he said.
While in college, he was a linebacker for the Northeastern OK A&M football team. “The difference between the ones you know and the ones you don’t is showing up. It’s that simple. Also, I learned how to check myself before I pursue something that I think I want to do. Sometimes, it’s the idea of something that you like, but the process of actually getting it is a whole other story,” he said.
“If you visualize the work and sacrifices of going after something that you want to do and that doesn’t deter you, then go for it, because the process never ends,” he added.
He has seen success in Los Angeles and now he is breaking through in Nashville. “LA is the entertainment capitol of the world and it takes a long time to even grasp how many people have moved there to be in the industry, whether it’s music or film. In LA, there are just so many producers, executives and actors that it makes your head spin,” he said.
“Nashville is mostly just music and not so much film. I’ll put it this way, you throw a rock in LA and you’ll hit a TV producer or actor; throw a rock in Nashville and you’ll hit a musician or a church,” he said.
“McFarland had a lot of on-location shoots outside of LA, like Semi Valley and Pacific Palisades and that was a lot of fun hanging out all day shooting in the countryside,” he added.
His work in print and video advertising campaigns will serve as an asset when he expands into the sponsorship and ambassador community. “The biggest surprise was buyouts for national ads. I had a commercial run over two years for a major restaurant chain, but I didn’t get any residuals for it,” he said.
He listed country queen Dolly Parton as his dream duet partner. “A duet with Dolly Parton would be pretty awesome. The Grand Ole Opry is my top goal and I’ve always wanted to play Madison Square Garden,” he said.
As an actor, he would love to do a role on a show such as Yellowstone. “Playing a wild cowboy is the dream role,” he said.
As an outdoor lifestyle enthusiast, he enjoys trail running. “I’m a big runner and I work out a lot of my problems and stress through it. With the way I tick, I need a reset regularly and that’s one thing that always works. Since this has been an unusually stressful time, I’ve been pushing myself harder than normal. I even got lost at Percy Warner Park and was caught in the rain, but I really didn’t mind, because it took my attention off of the fact that there’s a global pandemic happening,” he said.
To learn more about Brandon Collins, check out his official website, as well as his Facebook and Instagram pages.
