Carter Vail is an emerging artist making waves in the music scene with his unique blend of comedy and heartfelt storytelling. Currently on tour with Yung Gravy, he shares firsthand the exhilarating world of live performances. In this interview, Vail reflects on his rapid rise on social media, tour life, and the process of making his recent album, 100 Cowboys, which he recorded in just one month following a personal breakup. This intense period of creativity served as a therapeutic outlet, allowing him to channel his emotions into music that resonates with listeners.

With a humorous perspective and a genuine love for his craft, Vail shares the realities of balancing his passion for music with the demands of touring, highlighting the lessons he’s learned along the way.

PLEASER: You are currently on tour with Yung Gravy. How has that been so far?

CARTER VAIL: The shows have been going really well. I was a little nervous coming into it because the genre of music is very different than what I think Gravy fans are used to. But they have been very receptive to it, which we're really happy about.

What has been your favorite stop on tour so far?

CV: I think our favorite so far has been Indianapolis. It was the first time we played in an amphitheater and everyone was super excited. We were riding off of four hours of sleep and against all odds, having no sleep and then playing a show actually worked. When we got on stage, it was a very strange feeling but it went really well and we had a lot of fun.

What is your favorite song to perform live?

CV: “Harder to Kill,” which is off the new record. The chorus is so much fun to perform and the crowd loves it.

You made your album 100 Cowboys in only one month. Can you walk me through that process?

CV: It started off with getting dumped really hard. My roommate and I locked ourselves in my home studio for about a month. I didn't know it was going to be an album. Every day, we'd write a song, and when we stopped being able to write new stuff that felt good, we said, ‘okay, that's probably the end of the record.’ I think I was just trying to stay busy after the breakup, and what came out of it was a full record.

It was a very cathartic experience. This was also the first time I've really co-written with people and it was a really new and exciting way to create stuff. I'm so used to making things just alone in my room. Noah Tauscher and I made this whole album together. We've been really close friends for the past seven years so getting to make this with him was great.

In your old blog, The Interstellar Tennis Journal, you said in one of the entries that you were bad about taking breaks, and that's something you wanted to work on. Do you think that you've improved since you posted that entry over a year ago?

CV: I've actually become a lot worse at that. Especially being on tour, there are no breaks. I was under the impression that when people started listening to your music, there would be more time to do other stuff. But the opposite has been true. Now that people care about my music, it takes up a lot more time, which is great. I love doing it, but I have very little free time.

You went to school for audio engineering and played every instrument on your album 100 Cowboys, did you grow up doing music?

CV: I started playing guitar when I was ten. I still am surprised by the idea of music being a career path.

Making music is always something that I wanted to do, without the expectation of it being something that I could do as a job. Every year, I'm like, ‘Holy sh*t, this is still working? This is crazy.’ I love creating music, and if I had a different job, I'd still be making music on the side. Writing songs has always been my passion.

You post most of your music to social media and you have gained a lot of traction because of it. Do you remember your first “viral” moment?

CV: The first one that did really well was in 2020. It was a really dumb song that I made in 30 minutes, but people really liked it. I remember I was at my sister's college graduation, and people were messaging me about it, and my parents were so excited. They were like, ‘Oh my god, my son's famous.’ And of course, I was certainly not famous. But it was a really cool moment.

What was the backstory of making and posting these videos?

CV: I've been making funny short songs since I was a little kid. I didn't start posting them until around 2019. It was mostly just a way for me to practice music production, I was trying to get better at that and I thought that was going to be my main job. Then that started taking off. And I was like, ‘Oh, sick, I'll do that all the time.’ I love doing it.

The rest of my band have similar senses of humor to me and they are all great musicians, so I think I steal a lot from them. Sometimes they'll say something, and I'll be like, ‘That's actually a pretty good idea.’

What is your favorite song that you've ever released, and why?

CV: One of my favorites is probably the song, “Andrew.” Which is off my record, Red Eyes. I love performing it live, and it means a lot to me. But I love all of my children [songs], they all mean something special to me.

The best is when you write a song and then don't think of it for a long time, and then someone is like, ‘You should play this song.’ And I'm like, ‘Whoa, I didn't even remember I wrote that song.’ Someone recently asked at one of the shows for me to play the song “Guest Room,” which is a song I put out in 2019. They knew all the words to it, and I didn't know any of the words to it.

Was there a song on this album that you almost didn't release, but you're really glad that you did now?

CV: The song, “Arizona,” I thought wasn't very good, and then I listened to it a couple days after the session, and I was like, hold on. It's my favorite song. It just had to simmer. It was a throwaway song at first, but I really love it now.

Is there anything we can expect from you in the future?

CV: You know, we're still on tour. There are more tickets to be sold. We're going to be putting out more music very shortly. I can't reveal too much about it yet. But be on the lookout for music in the coming months. And aside from that, you know, I'm just going to be making my fun videos and silly songs, because I think it's fun and I love doing it.