Story Behind the Song: Cole Swindell, ‘Stay Downtown’
"Stay Downtown" is one of only five songs on Cole Swindell's 2016 album You Should Be Here that the singer didn't write, and also the first outside song he's released as a single. But, Swindell says, he didn't need to hear "Stay Downtown" -- written by Cole Taylor and Matt Dragstrem -- more than once to know that he wanted to include it on his sophomore record.
Below, Swindell shares why he decided to record "Stay Downtown" and release it as a single.
Two of my buddies wrote this song, Cole Taylor and Matt Dragstrem. It’s my first taste of having a song out there that I didn’t write, that I love and believe in. I always said, "I’m always going to return the favor if I believe in somebody’s stuff," and this is my chance to release one that I wasn’t fortunate enough to write.
The first time I heard it, I was like, "Cole, don’t play that for anyone else," because I had gotten on him -- I was like, "Man, quit sending me these songs that everybody -- you’ve already sent to Luke [Bryan] and Blake [Shelton] and [Jason] Aldean. Send me something that you love right when you’re writing it."
He sent me that one, and sure enough, I recorded it, and here it is, my eighth single. I hope it keeps doing well; we’ll see what happens with it. But this will be my last single off of the You Should Be Here album, and then we’ll have a brand-new one for album three sometime [in 2018].
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