Rob Wheeler is an Alsager-born, Haslington-based country artist who has worked with Grammy-nominated songwriters such as Jeff Trott, Steve Dorff and Frank Liddell during a four month stint in Nashville, Tennessee. Throughout June Wheeler will be travelling across the UK to share his work with avid music fans in towns and cities including Glasgow, London, and his home-town's neighbour, Crewe.
I was able to catch up with Rob to find out more about what has inspired his latest album: Leave Tomorrow, and what it was really like to work with nationally acclaimed musicians.
First of all, can you tell us a bit about yourself, and what you enjoy getting up to when you don't have a guitar in your hands?
I live in the lovely little village of Haslington in Cheshire. I’m very happily married to my wife and business partner Rebecca, we dated when we were teens but she dumped me cause I was too nice! Later she realised that’s a good thing and now we’re married and have two rescue dogs. We foster dogs who have been abused or are disabled through abuse and it’s hard but it’s also very rewarding.
I love collecting vinyl and antique books, as well as sea swimming, even though I’m permanently psychologically damaged by the film Jaws. I play football for physical and mental health benefits and I love vegetarian cooking - food is awesome but animals are too.
How was it that you got into country music in the beginning?
Growing up in a musical family was definitely the start, my mum loves The Eagles and John Hiatt and of all the great, and bad, stuff we listened to in my mum's car was the stuff that spoke to me. But I guess the big turning point for me was watching my uncle's band play on a Wednesday night. They played great stuff and somewhere in the middle of the Hotel California solo I knew I’d found my music.
From your upcoming album, if we're allowed a little preview, which is your favourite song?
That's a tough question! What seems to happen is it changes from week to week because this album is still unfolding for me. I took a break from listening to it for a while after production and I’m really proud that now that I’ve come back to it. The album really flows as a cohesive piece - it’s an album in the traditional sense and all the songs are chapters of one story and not 11 short stories. But I don’t want to cop out of answering the question so I'm going to say Throw A Little Light My Way because the sentiment is pure, I love the wordplay in the lyrics and believe it will connect with my fans deeply when they hear it.
Leave Tomorrow is constructed of 11 songs, but how long does it take you to write each one?
Impossible to say - I’ve written songs in minutes, the ones that just seem to fall from heaven...and then I’ve spent months finessing a song that just needed a few extra ingredients. What was cool in Nashville was the collaboration process - the way great writers took my incomplete ideas and brought their perspective to them. Every single writing session I went into delivered a complete song.
Where do you get the inspiration for all of your songs from?
I am quite an autobiographical writer so I tend to write about experiences and emotions first hand. But I also love writing stories and I enjoy writing songs like The Chained Oak and Gallows Humour, where I wrote songs inspired by folklore and local legends. Being a big Beatles fan, I also like to follow in their footsteps and take inspiration from everyday life. Sometimes I’ll hear someone say a funny turn of phrase and think “that’s a good title”... Dickens was great at that too. It’s taking normal everyday life and people and telling a story about it with music, and it's great fun.
That's brilliant. Have you ever tried your hand at writing any other genres of music aside from country?
I have a stunning early 1900s piano in my studio and although I’m not a true player, I do love composing instrumental pieces on it and I’ve written pieces that would be great for films. Since I never studied music theory, I have zero clue what it is I’m playing but I like how it sounds. I would love to score a horror film someday - maybe a western-horror mash up?
What would you say has been the most influential moment of your career so far?
They were a few years apart but I’d give equal top billing to my first break as a writer and my trip to Nashville. These two moments kind of bookend my career so far and have been monumental in terms of where I am now. I will always have gratitude in my heart to Kristian Gilroy who took a chance on me...I was recording a session vocal for him and asked if instead of paying me cash, which at the time I really needed by the way, if he would take a listen to my demo. He promised he would, paid me anyway, and two days later I was in HMV of all places when he called me and invited me to work with him as a co-writer. He took me under his wing in the studio as well, teaching me the foundations of production techniques.
You've got a few locations to travel to, but what are you most looking forward to about your upcoming UK tour?
I love being on the road and I love meeting my fans face-to-face. I have an amazing community of fans who are all so kind to me and to each other as well - it’s really wholesome. And of course I’m excited to play the album live as well. The band is sounding great so the audiences are in for a real treat.
Final question, we need to end on this one...what was it like working with Grammy-nominated song-writers?
At first I thought I’d feel intimidated in the session, but in reality these guys are just humble, kind, hard working and talented - they don’t bring any ego so you don’t feel any pressure. They want the song to work too, and it allows for creativity to flow and friendships to form. To be honest, I have found way more ego and attitude in some writers who have no awards or hits on their shelf...the guys I worked with were nothing but generous craftspeople, and I feel really blessed to have them on my record.
Rob Wheeler's third album: Leave Tomorrow, will be released on Friday 6th June 2025, and you can pre-save here.
Tickets for Rob Wheeler's fast-approaching tour can be purchased here, and we recommend getting in quickly while there's still vacancies.
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