Russell Dickerson is a country music artist whose star seems to continue to rise. She’s had three US chart-topping albums and four No. 1 hits, including “Yous,” “Blue Tacoma,” “Every Little Thing” and Love You Like I Used To. Another success”God gave me a girl“, reached No. 2.
Dickerson now has a new version EP, “Bones”, and the title track already has over two million streams on Spotify.
Now he is enjoying success. His YouTube This is Russ The series, which chronicled his life on the road and at home, is a must-watch. Still, he sometimes wishes he could document the early days of long miles and low pay in pursuit of his country music dream.
“I definitely wish I had started earlier. It’s just like, man, it was so tiring back then. We drive a van, go here, go there, make $200 to $500, just enough to get gas to the next one.”
Now Russell Dickerson, along with his family and bandmates, are riding in style, thanks to a custom tour bus created by a WWE Superstar. “Triple H designed it,” he says. “Once we got into it, that bus was fire! It’s as big as my living room. And when you’re on a tour bus, that extra space is so precious. It even had a washer and dryer!”
Now the Union City, TN native’s name is on the marquee now as he is currently wrapping up his North American tour. But before headlining, Dickerson began working as a stage crew member for Christian artist Chris Tomlin.
“I was the first one out, the last one out,” he says. “I had to help hang the lighting and then once I got on stage I had to set up a full drum kit, an organ, three other keyboards, four guitar amps, as well as changing strings on eight guitars. All this before the show started. it was exhausting.”
It’s worth noting that Dickerson doesn’t want to learn the musical ropes from scratch. He enjoyed every minute because that time fueled his own goals and ambitions. Sometimes, though, the country superstar feels the urge to channel his inner driver and take on some of the pack’s responsibilities. Especially when the complaints start flying from the crew.
“I’m like, ‘Guys, you’ve got it too plush—I don’t want to hear that crap,'” he says with a laugh. “I used to have to stack a trailer triple, and you’re just suitcases. I don’t want to hear it.”
Staying fit on the road
With huge success comes some sacrifice. For this fitness fanatic, it meant parting with most of the gym gear you travel with—which included a grill, bench, bar, and dishes that accompany him to each stop on a separate bus—in order to store extra hoodies and hats and T-shirts that require now his fans.
“We lost our space for more merchandise, which is a big problem,” says Dickerson. They say, “You’ve got your workout gear and everything, but we need it for merchandise.” I was that we had to pay the bills. We have to make this money. So I’ll sacrifice the beautiful workout setting for more merchandise. Now we just have dumbbells.”
Now that he’s on the bus and living his dream, he wants to make the most of it. Part of that means being in shape to put on the best possible show for the fans who paid their hard-earned money to see him. There are gyms all over the country, but this may not always be an option. That’s why he has exercise equipment with him on that bus.
“I got my clothes, I got my trainers. I got, you know, I got the dumbbells.”
Russell Dickerson will work with the equipment he has, but he’s not trying to set world records. The goal is to stay in shape for the main reason he is on the road. It uses MAPS fitness programs for his workouts and he likes to do them because they serve him very well.
“I’m not trying to gas myself because if you watch my live show, I have good cardio. And we jump, we run. We don’t just stand there and sing.”
Dickerson has been active since he was a kid, but admitted he wasn’t a star athlete in school. Besides already discovering his love for music, he didn’t reach his current height of six feet four inches until he was already in college. Fortunately for him, he already knew what he wanted and invested time in pursuing it.
“I was just much more passionate about music and drums and playing guitar and learning songs on guitar.”
Dickerson also doesn’t let touring be an excuse to not eat healthy. She may not have a perfect kitchen on the road, but she makes the most of what she has—a microwave and Traeger grill.
“I always keep Mega Fit Meals and it’s so good I always keep it on deck,” she says. “And I got cottage cheese and Celsius in there, and individual packages of Costco chicken. These are amazing.”
When it comes to nutrition, Dickerson isn’t one to count calories or macros. Following the guidance of experts like Paul Saladino, Dickerson has found what works best for him and follows it. As long as his protein is where he wants it, he’s good.
“I just really make sure I get 170 to 190 or more grams of protein a day.”
Structure equal consistency
There’s a lot of uncertainty that comes with touring and recording, but finding ways to have structure in a schedule can help make everything work so Dickerson can stay on track with everything, both physically and and with the recording. Having to balance touring, training and business alongside songwriting isn’t easy, but he has a team around him that makes the process less daunting.
“I have a great, great team that schedules it very deliberately to make sure I get time off the road and time with family,” he explained. “Seasons come and go. This is a very heavy touring season, so starting in October, it will be more writing and more recording.”
As the tours continue and Dickerson’s success continues to grow, he continues to learn more about the business and himself. New artists regularly break into his business and he remembers what it was like for him on that journey. He acknowledged that he was blessed to receive a lot of great advice, including from the great Tim McGraw, who told him to focus on why he was there to begin with, music.
“It’s like, ‘it’s all about the songs.’ You can look like Tim McGraw, but you have to have the songs. And he stayed true to it.”
Follow Russell Dickerson on Instagram @russelldickerson .
For tickets to the rest of his tour shows, Click here!
