Cole Swindell scored the perfect bartender for his latest music video… ‘90s country icon Jo Dee Messina served everyone drinks at a Printer’s Alley bar in Nashville, Tennessee, becoming the perfect cameo appearance in Swindell’s music video inspired by her smash-hit song.
Swindell rounded up a group of friends and stepped into a karaoke bar, where Messina was the bartended while a blonde woman in a dress and cowgirl boots took the stage to sing “Heads Carolina Tails California.” Swindell said in a Q&A on Instagram when the video premiered on Thursday (August 11) that “it was a fun video to shoot” in Nashville, and the team didn’t wrap filming until around 3 a.m.
Swindell said the reaction to his latest single has been at a “different level…than we’ve seen in a long time.” He knew immediately that he wanted Messina to play a role in the music video, and knew that the cameo would become one of the best parts. Swindell admitted that meeting Messina, “I was nervous. I’m just such a big fan of hers and her songs. To get a chance to meet her for the first time in the music video shoot of ‘She Had Me At Heads Carolina,’ …that’s a pretty big moment to meet somebody for the first time. I wish it could’ve been sooner, but both of our schedules are busy. I’m hoping we have a show together on the road, our paths cross somewhere out there.”
“She Had Me At Heads Carolina” is one of 13 tracks on Swindell’s latest full-length album, Stereotype, which released earlier this year. Other fan-favorites on the project the romantic “I’m Gonna Let Her,” “Single Saturday Night,” “Some Habits,” “Down to the Bar” — the collaboration with HARDY that inspired Swindell’s tour name — and “Never Say Never,” with Lainey Wilson.
During Swindell’s live Q&A session, fans also wanted to know, will we get a remix of ‘She Had Me At Heads Carolina?’ “I would say so, yes,” Swindell said. “It’s so funny reading the comments. It’s like ‘dude…you gotta get Jo Dee on this,’ and I just want y’all to know, trust me, I know that’s been the plan from the beginning. Nobody knew what to expect with this song and the reaction has been insane. …Yeah, we’re figuring something out. Don’t worry. Me and my team, we want Jo Dee on something and we’re figuring that out now, so y’all be patient. I promise, it’s gonna be worth it when we figure out what we wanna do.”
Watch the new music video here: