Pritchett says he’ll still ask you to hold his beer when he’s 90

In an industry filled with people with big egos (to put it politely), Canadian country music artist Aaron Pritchett is refreshingly and genuinely modest.

“I would like them (his fans) to be able to say when they met me I was ‘real,’ down to earth,” said Pritchett, speaking to SooToday in a telephone interview from Kamloops Thursday.

“I’ve shed a lot of ego over the years because this industry can do that to you, but without the fans there’s no career to be had, so I would hope they would say I was a nice guy to them, never mean to anyone, a regular person who gets to do something cool for a living.”

Pritchett, a multiple Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) award winner, will be performing songs from throughout his career Feb. 6 at downtown nightclub Soo Blaster, including his new single ‘Better When I Do’ from his latest EP entitled ‘Out on the Town.’

Other Pritchett hits include Hold My Beer, Let’s Get Rowdy, Dirt Road in ‘Em’ and Worth a Shot.

His performance in the Sault will mark the second time he has played in this city, the first time being New Year’s Eve, 2017.

His Sault concert will be one of over 30 on his current cross-Canada Out on the Town tour with Kira Isabella and David James.    

A Vancouver native, Pritchett, 48, credits Elvis Presley for inspiring him to pursue a career in music.

“One of the most poignant moments in my life was the day Elvis died, Aug. 16, 1977. We were listening to the radio in the car, we heard about his death on the radio and both my parents starting crying.”

“When I started listening to his music for myself, I just loved the idea of singing like him. When I watched him on TV I was captivated by his charisma, and thinking ‘man, I would love to do something like that.’”

“So here I am, I’m not Elvis but I still get to go on a stage and live that dream I had when I was a kid.”

Pritchett said he was also influenced by artists such as Stevie Wonder, naming Randy Travis as the singer who first turned him on to country.

“He wore a suit, he was this country guy but he had this voice that was captivating, he had charisma, I was just blown away by how he sounded live. He wasn’t from the typical country music that people were listening to before.”

“There was this whole new movement with Dwight Yoakam, Clint Black, Travis Tritt, Tanya Tucker was getting into a new era in her music as well...basically it was the New Country movement (that ultimately launched Pritchett’s career).”

Many artists, when referring to their own work, will say their favourite song is the one they haven’t written yet, but when pressed, Pritchett said “I would say it has to be, hands down, Hold My Beer.”

“My best charting song was Big Wheel, but without Hold My Beer, I don’t know if my career would still be going, to be honest.”

“I’m lucky enough to still have this career, releasing new music to radio 13 years after that was released. It’s the song everybody wants to hear. When I run into people in different genres of music, I’m always known as the Hold My Beer guy, which is fine, I don’t mind that, because the song’s so funny.”

“Some artists get really tired of playing their hit songs. I’m the opposite. I love, more and more, as years go on, playing these songs. I’ll be 90 years old and I think I’ll be singing Hold My Beer. It might be ‘hold my oxygen tank’ by that point but I’ll still be playing it,” Pritchett laughed.

Pritchett resides in Nanaimo, BC with his wife and three children, never having been eager to move to the U.S.

“I had an opportunity in the late 90s and I turned it down because I didn’t want to bring my kids down to the States. I wanted them to be good Canadian kids, and they’ve grown up that way.”

Looking forward, Pritchett said he would like to musically collaborate with Keith Urban.

“He seems so down to earth, quite a nice man, and his music has played a role in my career for a long time. I used to play his songs when I was playing in the clubs...I’ve met him a couple of times just in passing, and we’ve got some mutual friends.”

Pritchett said he wants his own work to keep evolving.

“I want each album sounding different from the last, and I also want each of the songs on each album to be diverse. I don’t want them to all sound the same, and that’s what I’ve done with this latest album for sure. I’m at a really great place in my career and I always like to try and push the envelope a little bit.”

“I would even say In the Driver’s Seat (a Pritchett album released in 2010) was ahead of its time, because a lot of the songs I was recording then weren’t on mainstream radio, then skip ahead three or four years and then they were, and are, and became the norm, so I’m always trying to see where the industry’s going next and push the envelope.”

Pritchett added he enjoys making music videos.

“They’re integral, like a business card for me, they can showcase me as an artist telling a funny story and get people to come out to the live shows.”

Pritchett’s Worth a Shot video, for example, humorously portrays him as a bartender encouraging a shy man to pluck up the courage to approach a woman who has caught his eye.

So does that mean the folks at Soo Blaster can count on Pritchett if they need an emergency, fill-in bartender when he visits in February?

“If somebody calls in sick, I’ll be ready,” he laughed.

Pritchett’s Feb. 6 show at Soo Blaster starts at 8 p.m., doors open at 6 p.m. (a 19 years of age and older event).

Tickets to Pritchett’s show may be purchased through his website