George Birge is lighting up the charts with his single "Cowboy Songs," which went No. 1 last week. Taking the time to speak with Wide Open Country, Birge reflected on getting to go on tour with his musical hero Gary Allan.
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It's still one of the coolest experiences that Birge has had so far in Nashville. He revealed that Allan played a pivotal role in developing his own sound. When he got the chance to meet him, there was an understandable amount of nerves.
He said, "One of the encounters with a fellow singer that I'll never forget would be Gary Allan. Gary Allan was one of my biggest influences. He had that dark smokey sound that I was always drawn to. And when I first moved to town, my agent asked me who I wanted to tour with and he was at the top of my list. A couple of weeks later I got put on tour with Gary Allan. I didn't get to meet him the first show, and I thought that was how it was going to be the whole time."
George Birge And Gary Allan
They say never meet your heroes, but as Birge later learned Allan was a very cool dude. In fact, Birge and Allan ended up playing guitar to the late hours of the morning while on tour.
He explained, "But the second show, right as he was about to go on stage, I was like a 'Hey man! I was kind of a fan.' I was like 'Hey man, I just wanted to let you know how big of an influence you are to me and how thankful I am to be here.' I kind of thought that was going to be the extent of it. And he was like, 'Hang around until after the show and we'll hang on the bus.'"
He continued, "So I watched his whole show side-stage, and afterward, his tour manager grabbed me. We went up on the bus, and we ended up playing guitar until about 2 o'clock in the morning.
Birge also revealed a hidden talent that fans may not know about Allan. He said, "Not a lot of people know this but Gary Allan makes incredible jewelry. Silver with gemstones in it, skulls, crosses, and everything. He had a ring up there, and he was like, 'Hey man, I want to give you this to remember being on the tour with me.' We ended up becoming good friends, and I still have that ring in my dresser today."
