When Gavin Adcock finishes one of his raucous sets, the stage is often slick from a rain of beer and littered with cans and water bottles that fans have tossed onstage — though Adcock has thrown plenty of his own drinks into the crowd, too. It’s become a tradition of sorts between the singer, known for his onstage antics, and his fans.
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“There’s been a bunch of crazy stuff thrown onstage, from joints to bras to cans — anything they got in their pockets, they’ll throw up there,” Adcock tells Billboard. “If it’s too crazy, I’ll just be like, ‘If your mama and sister was up here, you wouldn’t be throwing them beer cans.’ But I’ve got hit a few times. It comes with the territory, I reckon.”
He’s also created as much of a stir in the headlines as he has with his crowds, including with his recent comments about Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter album, and having a recent dustup with Nickelback’s sound engineer.
But fans would be remiss in presuming his sophomore major label album Own Worst Enemy, out Aug. 15 on Thrivin’ Here Records/Warner Music Nashville, is solely chock full of booze-soaked bar anthems and wild tales.
“It’s an album about self-destruction,” he says. “We tried to pick the most intense songs that just make you feel, or something that makes me think or puts me in a really bad spot that can make me borderline depressed. I’ve always found that listening to an artist that’s going through some deep s—t heals me a lot better than some artist that’s letting out happy songs all the time.”
Over the past few years, he’s issued some rock-fueled fan favorites — such as “Deep End” and the grunge-tilted “On One” — but some of his biggest songs have been songs of heartbreak and regret, like the RIAA-Platinum certified “A Cigarette,” and the traditional country-leaning “Unlucky Strikes.” The new set contains more of that mixture, including the Vincent Mason collaboration “Almost Gone” and the fan favorite “Last One To Know,” which details regrets over “wild-ass women/ Hard-ass living,” a song that stems in part from Adcock’s own experiences.
“I’ve definitely woke up in some random spots a time or two, but I was just lucky to be alive,” he says. “Those nights are really eye-opening. You have a lot of anxiety the next day, and you’re just real blessed that you just made it home and you just pace yourself next time.”
Raised in Watkinsville, Georgia, the former Georgia Southern University football player grew up working on his family’s cattle farm. Initially, he dreamed of being a bull rider for the Professional Bull Riders (PBR). Though Adcock already sang and wrote songs for fun, and when he blew out his knee playing football in 2021, he used his recovery time to write and release songs, starting with “Ain’t No Cure.” Adcock and his team have kept up a feverish pace of music releases, including 2022’s “Goin’ Gone,” and 2023’s “Deep End” and “A Cigarette.”
“Own Worst Enemy,” the title track of his forthcoming album and a solo write from Adcock, is inspired by his career ambitions.
“You’re the biggest competition in your life. You got everything going for you, the whole world in your hands and the only thing that’s going to stop you from chasing a dream is yourself,” he says. “I lived at home with my parents until I was 25 years old. I was making good money on streams and playing some shows, but I stayed with them until about a year and a half ago. If I never moved to Nashville, I could have kept letting out music and I’d be financially stable — but I got to the point where I said, ‘I want to go build a team around me and add as much fuel to the fire as possible.’”
On the strength of his live shows and songs that were connecting with fans, he signed with Red Light Management and then Warner Music Nashville, which released his major-label debut project, Actin’ Up, last August.
Less than a year later, he’s already preparing to release it’s followup, issuing a cavalcade of songs from the 24-track Own Worst Enemy, including “Never Call Again,” the ’90s country-influenced “Sunset,” “Need To” and “Morning Bail” (released shortly after Adcock’s recent arrest in Tennessee for reckless driving and speeding). “Need To” is at No. 44 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.
“I noticed that I was fans of people who were not letting music out but every year-and-a-half, maybe two years,” Adcock says of his consistent stream of songs. “I was like, ‘Okay, here’s our lane. We’re never going to starve them. The fans are never going to wonder where we went.’”
That practice helped earn Adcock his first ACM Awards nomination earlier this year for new male artist. His 30-show Acting Up Again (Again) Tour sold out, and he’s currently on his headlining Need To Tour.
He also recently played his first stadium show, opening on Morgan Wallen’s I’m The Problem Tour. For Adcock, the shows are both a promise fulfilled and a hopeful harbinger of what is to come.
“I was telling the [band] when we were playing small 250-400 cap rooms and honky-tonks — I was like, ‘If y’all stick with me, I’m going to keep on letting out songs, and we’re going to play stadiums one day,’” he says.
Below, Billboard’s July Country Rookie of the Month Adcock talks about the songs that move him, his collaboration with Vincent Mason and his dream festival lineup.
You talked about how sad songs can heal you the best. What are some of those songs for you?
Just old George Jones, like “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” or [John Conlee’s] “Rose Colored Glasses.” I feel like when you finally get yourself to your saddest and you let your emotions out instead of holding them in like all dudes are expected to — if you hit a nerve on a song, cry it out, you honestly just feel better.
How did “Almost Gone” with Vincent Mason come about?
That first show I ever played at Zydeco Pub [in Atlanta], I sold all the tickets and didn’t have an opener. I’d heard one of his songs and DM’d him. He came down in 2022, and in 2024 he went on tour with me. He’s a really good guy. I was a little bit bigger than he was at the time, and I told him, “Let’s do this song together… People think I’m just the meanest motherf–ker around and you’re the nicest guy in town. It’ll throw ‘em off, but they’ll like it.”
Where does that tendency come from, to always want to keep people on their toes a bit?
Someone told me about an artist they had worked with a long time ago — they said, “The best thing he ever did was, when he had his worst moments of his career, he’d turn it into the best possible outcome every single time.” That hit me hard, and I’ve tried to make sure that when I have tough times I used it to my advantage.
Recently, you said you felt Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter overshadowed some artists who primarily make music within the country genre, and there was a bit of backlash around that. What was that like for you?
I mean, I was dealing with a lot of scrutiny and DMs, just people being real hateful to me. I started my career chugging beer on the top of a school bus in college and I caught a lot of heat from that, so I’m not scared of what they want to say about me. They’re not hurting me in any way, not on a streaming standpoint.
I made the comment in the video that I made the next day, after everybody had posted what I said onstage, and I said, “You know what? I listened to Beyoncé in the car with my mom, saw her Super Bowl halftime performance and basically threw out a compliment about Beyoncé, and was like, ‘I’m just going to stand behind that. Her album is not country. She came over from a pop fanbase.’ I don’t think she embraces it enough, or cares enough about the country community or anybody that makes country music or lives the life. I just don’t believe it’s a country album.
What did you think of Post Malone’s F-1 Trillion project?
I just really think he appreciates country music in its core, and he’s really embraced the town and the artists of country music. I’ve had a couple conversations with him and sat around on the back porch of [Nashville music venue] Losers in Nashville, and he was playing some of the most old-school country music that you could hear. He was singing along to it. It’s nothing new to Post Malone to make whatever music that he wants to, and I just appreciate how he embraces the town and just is claiming to be a country artist after putting in the work and the time and meeting everybody and just doing the thing.
If you could curate your own festival who would be on the lineup?
I get the comparison of Waylon Jennings a lot. I’ve got a mole right near my dimple of my cheek and Waylon had the same thing. I think it’s funny that I’ve kind of adopted his style and I get comparisons. So Waylon would be on there, but also Alan Jackson. He’s one of the all-time greats. Then I’d love to see the original Lynyrd Skynyrd, before the plane crash.
What was your first concert you attended?
It was Aaron’s Amphitheatre — [Cellairis Amphitheatre at] Lakewood now — near Atlanta. I saw Tim McGraw. I was eight, and it was right after he let out “The Cowboy in Me” and “Live Like You Were Dying.” I got to give it up for Tim for some of my rowdy stage presence. He ran out there first thing, raising hell and cussing a bit. That caught my attention. I locked in, and that was when I decided I wanted to perform. I was like, “Yeah, I’m going to raise hell up there.”
When you’re having those onstage moments, what beer are you usually drinking?
Usually Miller Light. I was at a festival the other day and their sponsor was Budweiser Anheuser-Busch, and I had a Miller in my hand onstage, and the camera guys wouldn’t video me. I noticed it and was like, “Damn, I guess I’ll put the beer down.”
Who would you love to collaborate with?
I’d love to do something with Morgan [Wallen] down the road, as we gained a relationship and find a song that fits both of us. I’ve been texting Koe Wetzel a little big. I was listening to Koe when I was in college. We met a couple of months ago and he’s a real nice guy. I’d like to do something with Ella Langley or Megan Moroney or Lainey Wilson. I don’t like to force anything — I’ve never been the type of artist that wanted to feel like anybody thought I was looking for a handout. I just want the time to be right for every situation.