Easton Corbin is ‘doing country right’

Easton Corbin brings his latest album, Let’s Do Country Right to the Isle of Palms on Aug. 18. His fourth full length project since his self-titled 2010 debut is in some ways exactly what you’d expect if you’ve heard the country star’s previous hits like “Roll With It,” “A Little More Country Than That” or “All Over The Road,” — all of which made the top five on the country charts.

In other words, it’s a mix of raucous honky-tonk scorchers, drained-bottle ballads and more than a little rock n’ roll muscle throughout. But the album title is interesting. The song it’s named for is a good-time dustup about heading to the honky-tonk, dancing, drinking and having a good time, i.e., “doing country right.”

But Corbin readily admits that Let’s Do Country Right is about a little more than that.
“I think it’s just a mindset,” Corbin said. “Yeah, it’s about going out at night, but I think it’s about what country means to you. I think it really sums up the overall theme of the record: It’s a country record, so we’re gonna do it right.”

Country mindset

It’s not the first time that Corbin has expressed the sentiment. A quick scan of his catalog yields not only “A Little More Country Than That,” but another title that stands out: “Somebody’s Gotta Be Country.”

And it’s an approach that’s working. Over the last decade, Corbin has scored 12 country top 100 hit singles, won three American Country Awards, snagged a gold album or two and racked up tens of millions of streams on services like Apple Music and Spotify.

Corbin co-writes much of his material and selects the rest carefully. He said he largely attributes his success to honesty. His songs need to have something universal within them, something that both he and his audience can relate to.

“Everybody has problems and issues, and I think everybody can relate to that,” he said. “The human condition is the human condition, so if you think you’re going through something alone, I don’t think you are. There are a bunch of people going through the same things. The fundamental thing is that I record songs that I can relate to because if you record something you like, most likely your fans will like it as well.”

And Corbin is quick to add that the songs of his that people most often relate to aren’t necessarily the ones you hear on terrestrial radio.

“Sometimes a radio hit is different than something that streams, if that makes sense,” he said. “Sometimes there are radio hits that don’t necessarily put butts in the seats. And sometimes there are streaming hits that really resonate with people. I think of it as ‘hard hits’ versus ‘light hits.’ ”

Hit songs translating to ticket sales is important for Corbin, and not just for financial reasons. There are few things that Easton Corbin loves more than getting onstage and revving up his audience.

“The live show is one of the most important things that I do,” he said. “When people show up, that’s where the rubber meets the road. If you get out there and entertain people, and they think, ‘Man that’s one of the best shows I’ve ever seen,’ they’ll come back, and I think that’s important.”

And you can count on Corbin staying tried-and-true to hard country music no matter when you see him live.

“We’re going to stick to our roots,” he said. “Country music goes through trends; but I think that you can’t really fall for the trends. Just stay straight and make what you do a constant. Sometimes you can go a little bit left or go a little bit to the right, but never enough that people don’t know who you really are.”

Don’t miss country star Easton Corbin at the Windjammer, 6 p.m. Aug. 18. Find tickets for $35 at the-windjammer.com.