Patti's After-Party: The Netherlands' Own Robert Weston

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When most people think of country music, they automatically think of American artists, but the truth is, there are talented people doing country music worldwide. I was fortunate to “meet” one of them via Facebook many years ago. Hard to believe, but we just did our first interview this August via Facetime and it went so well. I’d like you all to meet Robert Weston of The Netherlands. I think he’ll surprise you, so stick with me as we virtually fly across the Atlantic to have a fun conversation with this Dutch country singer/songwriter.

Once you listen to Weston’s music, you’ll understand that he clearly identifies with American country music. In fact, unless you know he’s from The Netherlands, you probably would never guess it. He sounds as American as apple pie and baseball when he sings, but he does have an accent when he speaks, but it’s not a heavy accent and his English is impeccable. He explained why he sounds so very “un-Dutch” when he sings. “I’m doing that on purpose. Every producer I work with, I tell them in advance, ‘You really need to listen to the way I sing and if there’s anything you would do differently, let me know because I don’t want to sound stupid.’ Not that having an accent sounds stupid, I just want to blend in.” Something’s working then because he definitely doesn’t sound stupid, he sounds great.

His music is unbelievably catchy too. You listen to a song once and it’s likely you’ve already got the chorus down and stuck in your head. There’s a method to that too. “Whenever I write songs with other people I always want to write catchy songs. I try to write so every song could be a single. That’s important for me.” Truthfully, every song he has could be a single, it would be hard to choose.

While most artists say they started playing music young, Robert Weston didn’t get too serious until he was 17. Not for a lack of wanting to play, he was just easily distracted. Elaborating, he said, “My dad played the guitar and sang in bands, so I wanted to play too, but as a teenager I was way too lazy to pick up a guitar and start playing. I always wanted it, but when I tried it was way too hard for me or I was distracted by girls. It was in college I guess, when I picked up a guitar and I could play. I started practicing and I could play a song in a week. I thought, ‘Okay, if it’s not that hard I might as well continue playing.’” Obviously somewhere between 17 and now it all clicked, but he didn’t immediately begin playing country music. That took some time.

Weston, like myself, was not raised on country music. We both really discovered it later on, and as I’ve told countless people, once I caught on to it, I jumped in with both feet. He was much the same. “I know what got me into country music,” Weston shared. “I used to sing and write in Dutch, and at one time I had a guitar player named Rogier Brink. I’m still playing with Rogier quite a bit, but back then he told me, ‘Dude, you’ve got to listen to this guy.’ That guy was Brad Paisley and I thought, ‘What the heck? What is this?’ Rogier said, ‘That’s country music.’ I was like, ‘Wow!’ My dad always told me, ‘Don’t listen to country music, leave those records alone, you won’t like it.’ I proved him wrong and in the end, he admitted he was wrong.” 

It all seems to start with one specific artist. For me, it was Phil Vassar. Although my parents listened to country, I didn’t pay much attention to it. I was all about rock and pop growing up, but my daughter got into country as a teenager and dragged me in kicking and screaming, and I think she often regrets the monster she created. At least we can listen to the same music now, so there’s that.

American country artists really drew him into the genre. So much so that he visited the United States for the first time in 2017 just because of country music. “It didn’t disappoint me at all,” he said, even returning the next two years, but then COVID hit and the world shut down. Despite the pandemic, Weston found a way to keep himself inside the American country music loop. He began writing via Zoom meetings, a good bulk of it with Ryan Kinder. If you’ve heard Kinder’s songs, you can definitely catch his influence in Weston’s originals. 

Weston praised Ryan Kinder’s writing style, saying, “His songs are always catchy. He made my songs so much better. We started working together during COVID. That was a time when every songwriter was available online, so I thought I’d work with as many as I could. Everybody was looking to write, even online. I remember right before COVID hit, that was a time when I was still playing with Ramblin’ Boots (a very successful modern country band from The Netherlands). We had so many gigs and I was so tired. I planned a trip to the US to enjoy myself and have a good vacation, and that was on the day that the border got closed because of COVID.”

Once the pandemic was over and people could travel again, Weston wasted no time making up for the trips he lost out on. In fact, he’s made several visits to America in recent times. He stated, “This year I came over two times, but last year it was four times and before that it was five times. I have what’s like my second family and they live up in Ohio, close to Warren, Ohio. I love coming over and spending my time there, but everytime I’m over I always take a week and just go travel and explore. I also do some radio tours. I’ve done it two times now and it was really exciting.”

Hearing Robert Weston say he enjoyed doing a little solo travel throughout the United States made me wonder what side of the road the Dutch drive on. His answer made me laugh. “That’s a good question,” he replied, “the normal side, the right side.” The normal side. I loved that. We talked about how we thought we’d kill ourselves driving in the UK. The very idea of driving on the left gives me anxiety! Weston added, “I’ve been in the UK and many times I was almost hit by a bus just walking.” His sense of humor really made for a fun interview.

During his numerous times in Nashville, Weston has had some incredible experiences, once he even played the world-famous Bluebird Café. Now that’s impressive because there are so many Nashville-based artists that are still waiting for their turn to play there. It’s not an easy gig to get. If anyone ever doubted just how humble Robert Weston is, listen to him talk about playing the Bluebird.

“It was really exciting. I only remember the pounding in my chest. I remember what songs I played, but that’s only because somebody recorded it. I don’t even know what I said. It was just a blur, a big blur, but I’ve seen the pictures so I know it was real.” When asked how people liked his performance there, he responded, “It was good. You know, I wasn’t always sure about what I did. I only became sure of what I was doing last year. I wasn’t always sure that what I was doing was headed in the right direction. I didn’t know if people would really love it, you know? So to be honest, I did some work with a psychologist. I just wanted to feel more confident. I would have never had a conversation like the one we’re having now before last year. I just would have never.” A little bit of therapy never hurt anyone and it’s obvious it did wonders for him. I never would have guessed he was so self-conscious before. He sounded quite comfortable.

I think I should point out that as many times as I’ve tried to get tickets to the Bluebird as a paying customer, I have failed every single time. That’s how hot of a venue it is. If you’ve never been there, it isn’t a big place. Seating is extremely limited. The thing that’s crazy is no matter who is on the bill, the place will sell out. That’s how you know there’s some serious talent in there. I’ve been fortunate to attend shows there, but only as a guest of an artist, which I was so grateful for. What’s important to know is the people that go to shows at the Bluebird are true music lovers. They don’t go for social hour (there is a strict “no talking during performances” rule), they go to really listen to music and drink it in. If you’re lucky enough to play there, you’re also lucky enough to truly have your music listened to. Honky tonks are great for cover songs, but the Bluebird is where people go to hear original music.

Weston mentioned that being in Nashville is always a gift to out-of-town artists when it comes to making new connections. He did, however, credit his newly-found confidence for making that much easier. He related, “You meet one person and that person introduces you to another person. You’ve just gotta show up. Just start talking to people. If you’re too scared like I once was, you’re getting nowhere, so you need to start talking or you’re gonna be lonely.” 

He continued, “If you’re playing a songwriter round, stay until the end. If you leave before then, you can’t talk to the people that just listened to you. You can’t listen to your colleagues that are playing their own songs. I mean, I understand if you have other gigs to play and you want to play as many as you can, but I don’t think it’s the right way to do it if you’re looking to move forward and meet people.”

Meeting people. It’s makes up a large percentage of how successful an artist will be in Nashville. If you keep to yourself, chances are not much is going to happen. Robert Weston has someone he’d like to meet. “Yeah, I’d like to meet Scotty McCreery,” he said. I have some songs that if he hears them, he might want to record them. I was close at one time. There was a guy who had been collecting songs for Scotty. I think I still have his number. I’m just waiting until my demos are really, really finished. Before I release them I’m gonna send them to that guy to see if anybody he knows wants to record them. I mentioned Scotty’s name, but anyone is a possibility.” I think he’s right on the money as far as Scotty McCreery being a good choice. Their music seems to be in the same wheelhouse.

The debut album from Robert Weston is called Won’t Settle Down and there isn’t a bad song on it, although I especially love the title track. We talked about that for a few minutes. I said, “It’s really different.” He jumped right in and said, “It’s not a country song.” I guess it doesn’t sound like your typical country song, it has more of a 60s or 70s pop vibe to it, but not pop country, more just straight-up pop. It’s got a unique melody and the arrangement is much cooler than any song I’ve been introduced to recently. It earned a bunch of repeat plays in my car. Weston commented that it was almost like a Broadway musical song. My response to that was, "Kind of, yeah, it’s a little bit theatrical, a little dramatic, but so catchy." With his quick wit he instantly replied, "I do love a little drama."

Giving a few more details on the song, he added, “I wasn’t even sure if I was gonna record it when I was at Kenny’s (Kenny Royster, his Nashville producer) studio, but he told me, ‘Listen, we can make something great of this one ‘cause it’s not your typical country song. I mean, it’s not a country song at all, so if you wanna make this as big as we can, let’s do it.’ If you listen with headphones on, you can hear so many layers in that song. It’s crazy.”

I asked him if he had any interesting stories about the making of the album and he shared this. “I can tell you that I was so freaking nervous when I was going to record it. I did a Kickstarter campaign to fund that album and people paid about 11,000 euros, that’s about 12,000 in US dollars. I spent 10 grand more on top of that. When I was going into the studio I was so nervous. I knocked on the door and Kenny opened it and I saw all the musicians. They were ready for me. I got so freaking nervous that I missed the steps and I fell down right into the studio. I had my guitar on my back and it was so crazy because even with all that, the musicians were so much fun. I felt so stupid, I thought, ‘Okay, well, hi guys, I’m Rob. I’m from The Netherlands.” He laughed as he told his story and quickly mentioned that even though his entrance was less-than-grand, it was certainly memorable and the musicians were really good sports about it. 

Those session musicians weren’t just able to have fun, they were A-listers who played on Luke Combs’ first few singles, among their many projects. They included Wayne Killius (drums), Dave Francis (bass), Jon Conley (guitar), Mike Rojas (keys) and Scotty Sanders (steel guitar). 

Since Weston is from The Netherlands, one might think most of his listeners would be from there too, but not so. People in the United States hold the top spot, followed by Canada, Australia and finally The Netherlands. Weston quipped, “The Netherlands is probably my mom!” Well, let's hope his mom is listening.

I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise that his biggest following comes from the US, because he’s also been nominated for a Josie Award and a Texas Sounds International Country Music Award. Although he’s being recognized in America, he hasn’t forgotten his Dutch roots. He still plays with Rogier Brink of Ramblin’ Boots and every now and then he also plays with Julia Hulshof, also from that band. Weston remarked, “Julia is a fantastic bass player. Rogier is my friend and he’s one of the best guitar players I know from my country. I always tell him, ‘Dude, you should live in Nashville, you could work every day.’ I took him to Nashville a few years ago and he was amazed by the city.”

When he does come to Nashville, Weston admits he isn’t the biggest fan of lower Broadway. He much prefers to hang out in Midtown. I can’t say I blame him. I mean, Broadway is a must-see if it’s your first time in Music City, but it isn’t really what Nashville is all about. If you want to see what’s really going on and what makes the city tick, you need to venture out a bit and see a songwriter round. Head to The Listening Room or 3rd & Lindsley. Visit The Local. Get out and see some actual songwriters. That’s the heartbeat of Nashville, the crafting of songs. 

If you look at Robert Weston’s current tour schedule, you’ll see shows, but only in The Netherlands, although there’s a chance that could change, as he’s planning to visit the US in October. He hasn’t yet booked his trip, but plans to be in the States for a whole month. His main goal is to finish up an EP he started in June. He’ll start his visit off in Ohio with his friends and eventually make his way south. This time he’ll be working with producer David Flint and the project will be a bit of a diversion from his debut album. “It’s gonna be amazing,” said Weston, “it’s gonna be a little different, maybe a little bit rougher around the edges, not that smooth.” Sounds interesting. I guess we’ll know when we hear it.

As far as goals, Robert Weston is just another in an extremely long line of artists who aspire to someday play the Grand Ole Opry. Having been backstage at the Opry before, Weston is familiar with all the chaos and camaraderie that goes on there, but he’s not yet had the chance to stand on the coveted circle. “I would love to play there, but I’m not sure I’ve got the nerve to do that,” he revealed. I told him if he were invited, he’d find the nerve and he agreed. “I wouldn’t say no,” he said with a laugh.

He may have finally beat his fears about playing in front of an audience, but he was happy to share that he’s always been highly accessible to fans on social media. He said, “I will always respond to them. I think that’s important and I’m gonna do that until I can’t, but I probably always will. You can’t ignore somebody that says they like your song. If they take the effort to tell you that, you should respond.”

His dream collaboration? Tim McGraw or Kenny Chesney. He’s not picky, either one works. 

His advice to other international country artists trying to make it through the crazy maze that is the Nashville music industry; “Whatever you want to do, just do it. Do you want to record in Nashville? Do it. You can do it as long as you have the money. If you don’t have money, but you do have people who believe in you, ask them for help. Do a Kickstarter. Pay the other half by yourself. If you want to play there, just go there. Talk to people. Go see a few rounds and talk to anybody who’s there. Talk to the artists and they might even invite you to play. Don’t just sit on your butt at home and do nothing. If you do nothing, nothing will happen. You need to do it yourself.”

When he’s not doing music you might find Robert Weston working on his online shoe store (yes, he does that too) or spending time with his four kids, aged 16 to 22. He enjoys being with friends and going to the gym.

It was near the end, so I asked him a random question. “If you could enter a horse in the Kentucky Derby, what would you name your horse?” He thought and replied, “McCartney.” As in Sir Paul McCartney of The Beatles? Yes, that guy. He explained he was raised on The Beatles, so why not name a horse after one of them?

Then for a final question, because we are Center Stage Magazine, at what time in his life did Robert Weston feel like he was “Center Stage?” Never an easy one to answer, but he pulled out a memory. “When I got booked for a really big festival in Switzerland. I was flying home to Amsterdam and I suddenly got an email asking if I wanted to play at that festival. I couldn’t believe they were asking me. I wasn’t sure the email was legit, but it was and I got booked. I did end up playing it. It was fantastic and crazy! It was the Albisgütli Festival in Zurich.” 

Do yourself a favor and give Robert Weston a follow on all his social media sites. Send him a message or post a comment and tell him Center Stage Magazine sent you! Don’t forget to listen to his music on your favorite streaming platform too. Let him know what you think, and if you like it, be sure to share it with your friends. He’ll appreciate it greatly, I'm sure of it.