Russell Dickerson kicked off his headlining All Yours, All Night tour in New York City on Jan. 25, and he had his wife, Kailey Dickerson, and their one-year-old son, Remington, by his side. “We waited to start a family until it was an option to keep the family together on the road,” Russell told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY. “It’s been a financial sacrifice and a time sacrifice, but when my wife and I started dating, I was like, ‘I wanna keep my family together on the road.’ She was like, ‘I know what this lifestyle entails,’ but I said, ‘No, we can make it a family tour. We’ll keep the family together.’ And this is me keeping my promise.”
Russell and Kailey tied the knot in May 2013, and had their son in September 2020. Remington was born amidst the coronavirus pandemic, so the couple got to enjoy the first several months of his life at home. During summer 2021, though, Russell was back on the road. The singer credits Kailey with making sure everything went smoothly during that tour, as well as his current one.
“It’s astonishing [watching her as a mom],” he admitted. “Not just raising a kid, but also juggling everything that being on the road entails. We have bus stuff for Remington and for us. She’s just gathering everything together. I told her she literally keeps our family intact. She’s just absolutely crushing motherhood. She was born for this.”
Russell also said that Remington is “crushing” being on the road, and that the toddler is already excited about his lifestyle. “He’s talking like crazy now,” Russell revealed. “His vocabulary is getting bigger and bigger every day. When we were packing up to get everything on the bus, he was like, ‘Go go! Go go!’ He knew we were leaving for the road. It was just too tender.”
Parenting hasn’t only changed the way Russell tours, but it’s had an impact on his career as a whole. “From a working standpoint, if I’m going to be away from my family, I’m going to make it count,” he explained. “If I’m songwriting or I’m at a photo shoot or video shoot, if I’m going to be away, I’m going to make it count. Obviously, digging into the storytelling side and all of that about parenthood [in songwriting] is a longer thing for me to process, too. I got a few songs, a few tearjerkers, in the works.”
For now, though, Russell is enjoying the success of his current single “Home Sweet,” which is continuing to climb up the country music charts. Of the song’s success, Russell said, “I feel like the more honest you are, the more people will connect with it. “Home Sweet” is just straight up our chronological life story. We got back from this boujee honeymoon and we were like, ‘Uh, we literally don’t have enough money to pay rent.’ So from that to touring all the time, and she’s traveling with us all the time, no matter where we are…our home is together. And then we actually bought our first house and found out we were pregnant with boxes sitting everywhere. It’s just the honest that I think really connects with everybody.”
After wrapping up his headlining tour in mid-February, Russell will join Tim McGraw on tour at the end of April and through the spring. “He is a literal hero,” Russell gushed. “That’s a bucket list tour right there, so I’m looking forward to that.” Of course, there’s always more to come, too! “I’ll be getting back in the studio, recording new music, and just doing what we do,” he shared. “We take it to the next level every time!”