Broken Bow Records recording artist Everette, the duo consisting of Brent Rupard and Anthony Olympia, have not only recently blasted onto our radios as co-writers on Thompson Square’s “Without You,” but have also been carving out their own unique path while attracting a strong following to their brand of country rock-n-roll. With CMA Fest happening this week, we had the chance to check in with the duo about their Hard Rock Stage appearance during the fest, their two-part Kings of the Dairy Queen Parking Lot album, making their cover of “Man of a Constant Sorrow” their own, and to get an inside look at their songwriting process.

(Interview by: Jeffrey Kurtis) 

1) The 50th CMA Fest is coming up this week and you’re a part of it. What are you looking forward to most about being on the lineup for this milestone event?

It's always an honor to be a part of the biggest country music festival on the planet. We love getting to see everyone at the shows, making new fans, and being smack dab in the middle of the energy of everything going on.

2) You play the Hard Rock Stage on Sunday morning at 10:15 AM. Why do fans absolutely need to add your performance to their calendars and what can they expect from it?

We have a few new tunes we've cooked up that feel really good with the band. It's gonna be magical to share them with everyone at the show.

3) Being that your performance comes on the final day of the festival…in what ways do you feel that timeslot will benefit you the most in terms of leaving a lasting impression on fans that maybe playing earlier in the weekend might not have?

We just hope to give all the love we can to everyone that comes over to hang with us.

4) This certainly isn’t your first go round playing CMA Fest. Years past have been really good to you, but how do you feel this year is going to be different for you as a showcase of your growth and push into the spotlight as songwriters and performers that prior years didn’t show?

We're always trying to get better. Find more heart in our songs. Find more opportunities to let the music take us all away. Hopefully everyone can feel that.

5) Besides the Hard Rock Stage performance, are you taking part in any other events throughout CMA Fest weekend? Meet-N-Greets, etc.

We plan on hanging around a good bit. We're doing some interviews and meet-n-greets. At the moment, I can't remember where or when. We just got back from a long tour in Europe, so our brains are bit like mashed potatoes

6) Let’s talk new music… you ended 2022 with a double shot of side A and side B releases in October of your Kings of the Dairy Queen Parking Lot album.  For someone who hasn’t heard the album yet, what can they expect to hear from it when they hit play that makes you uniquely stand out?

Thinking about songs on Side B, we hope it's a reminder to everyone listening that they uniquely stand out. On a much lighter note, “Shunk As Drit” might be one of the craziest songs ever recorded. In that song, we imagine what we'd do if the world was ending and the sky was falling down...and we guess that we'd get backwards, upside down, and shunk as drit.

7) What’s your personal favorite song from the album that you feel fans need to check out first to really get the overall vibe of who Everette is?

(Anthony) My personal favorite is “Wild Woman.” It began as a grassy kind of waltz, hopefully empowering the strong women in our lives. Once we hit the red button in the studio, we accidentally turned it into a rock song. This tune always feels good playing live with our amps blaring and drums pounding.

8) Your cover of “Man of a Constant Sorrow” last year gained a lot of attention. Obviously, your name derives from O Brother, Where Art Thou, so it makes sense that you’d cover it. In what ways is it different in comparison to the original, but also in what ways did you keep the ideals of the original intact?

It's definitely louder than the original in terms of rock n roll guitar amps, but the song itself hopefully still shines through. We did our best to make it our own.

9) As songwriters you’ve had a lot of success earning cuts with outside artists with your latest being Thompson Square’s “Without You.” Take us inside the writing room with you. What’s your writing process?

We like to find a launching point. Sometimes it's a guitar riff that inspires the lyric, and other times it's a title or idea that inspires the music. Either way, we try to write something authentic, and something that we'd be amped to play every night.

10) We always end with this one, but what one piece of advice can you offer to someone who is just starting out and trying to break into the music industry?

It's all about leaving something good behind. Something you'd be proud to say or sing every day, every night, year after year...something that brings joy and reminds us of why we're here.

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