Chase Matthew & Ashley Cooke Kick Off Tailgate N Tallboys Bloomington With Epic Pre-Party Concert

Chase Matthew and Ashley Cooke kicked off Tailgate N Tallboys Bloomington with an epic pre-party concert!

On Wednesday (June 15) at The Station Saloon Tent in Bloomington, Illinois, DJ Cliffy D launched the pre-party concert with a set that included some of the hottest hits across all genres. DJ Cliffy D got the crowd dancing and their energy levels rising for performances from Matthew and Cooke.

As hundreds of fans filled the massive tent, Ashley Cooke stepped onto the stage to a loud applause as she performed “Gettin Somewhere.” She also delivered performances of “Already Drank That Beer,” “Good Goodbye,” “Sunday Morning Kinda Saturday Night,” “Between You & Me” and more. The Florida native also performed a cover of Morgan Wallen’s “Chasin’ You” that she put her own spin on.

Cooke concluded her set with a massive sing-along to her current single at Country radio, “Never Til Now,” where hundreds of fans lit up their cell phone lights and sang along to the infectious tune. 

Ahead of Cooke’s performance at Tailgate N Tallboys’ pre-party concert kickoff, the fast-rising country star sat down with Music Mayhem to chat about her single.

“I wrote and recorded ‘Never Til Now’ back in the pandemic with my friend Matt Roy, who also wrote ‘Done’ for Chris Janson,” Cooke told Music Mayhem. “We put the song out and people seemed to love it, but it wasn’t until I posted a TikTok that the song just completely blew up and went viral. It was absolutely crazy how it all happened.”

She continued, “I love the song and people seem to love the song so much that I figured I would give people a duet of the song because it’s about a relationship. It’s a two-way song about love and being in love with somebody. So, my producer and I were trying to think of cool people that would great on the song and Brett Young came to mind. My producer reached out to him and Brett said ‘hell yeah’ and it is what it is today.”

Upon release, “Never Til Now” was most-added at Country radio and Cooke says after doing a “grueling radio tour” seeing that achievement was the “biggest pay off.” 

“It’s crazy because as a young artist and as a country artist, especially, going to radio is a massive honor. Everybody wants to do that because Country radio is still so important in our genre,” Cooke added. “My very first add day, my very first song going to radio. Number one most-added, I was like ‘what is happening?’ So, it’s really cool and I’m just honestly blessed that people like the song enough to want to add it and to believe in a new artist and their very first song going to Country radio.”

Matthew exploded onto the stage in Illinois to “Raised In The Holler,” and was welcomed by a massive crowd who roared at the first sight of the Nashville native.

Backed by a stellar band, dressed in all black, the country singer delivered an energy-filled performance that was the perfect showcase of his debut album, Born For This. His included performances of “This Side Of Town,” “Love You Like That,” “Everything He Couldn’t,” “11:11,” “We Had It Good,” and more.

Matthew also performed several fan-favorite hits such as “Nashville Crazy,” and a rowdy rendition of Luke Combs’ “Beer Never Broke My Heart.” The buzzed about country star ended his set with an explosive performance of his viral anthem, “County Line,” that ignited a massive sing-along as he interacted with fans on the barricade.

With an all-new production kit and a passion for music that truly shined vibrantly through his performance, Matthew proved that he is a must-see live performer.

See photos of Chase Matthew and Ashley Cooke below.

Chase Matthew

Ashley Cooke

Written by

Andrew Wendowski

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