Catching Up with Bobby McGrath As He Prepares to Support Rascal Flatts at The Prudential Center

Bobby McGrath and The Brothers are about to gain a whole lot of new fans on Friday night! The Albany, NY native and his band of "brothers" won NASH FM 94.7's Battle of the Country Bands contest and secured the opening slot on the Rascal Flatts tour stop at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. We had the pleasure of speaking with Bobby McGrath a few months ago, and he again graciously took the time to talk with us about this tremendous opportunity and what's ahead. 

We last spoke prior to your supporting Frankie Ballard and then Will Hoge at the Highline Ballroom in NYC. How were those experiences? 

Those were great! We had a blast! We were so thrilled to be able to play the Highline because it is the perfect size venue with incredible sound. We had such a terrific turnout too which made it great to look out into the crowd and see people singing along to our songs. It was also great to meet the other bands, hang out and talk with them about music.

On October 2nd, Bobby McGrath and The Brothers were announced the winners of NASH FM 94.7's Battle of The Bands contest, in which the winner gets to perform in the opening slot of the Rascal Flatts show on Friday, October 10th at the Prudential Center. 

How did you come to be involved with the contest?

We listen to NASH all the time and one of us, I cannot remember who, heard about the contest, so we put our name in the hat right away. Once we entered, people just started promoting it from there and here we are.

The contest was fan voted which speaks a great deal about your fan base. 

We couldn’t thank everyone enough for voting every day and helping us get in there. We are very, very excited and really looking forward to getting in there and playing for everyone. 

How did you learn that you won?

We received an email from NASH that we won prior to them announcing it. We were, and still are, just beyond pumped and extremely thankful that NASH provided this opportunity.  

Opening for Rascal Flatts in front of thousands of country music fans will provide quite a bit of exposure. Are you excited, nervous, a combination of both?

We aren't nervous yet, because I don’t think the actual playing part has sunk in, but we're going to put our best foot forward for sure! We try to make the most of every show because you never know who is going to hear you. It's really about playing for as many people as you can and what a better opportunity to do that than at the Prudential Center with Rascal Flatts! 
Our set will be acoustic and we will play maybe four or five songs, including possibly a new song, because it is always fun to expand the set with new, original music that we think the crowd will respond to. The other members of the band who will be joining me onstage will be Trevor Collins (lead guitar), Ryan Langlois (guitar/harmonica), Tommy McGrath (bass) and Billy Trimarchi (cajon).

What's ahead for you professionally? 

I am constantly writing new material and in January I am going to start splitting time between Nashville and New York. I will be in Nashville trying to work on the songwriting end of things and then playing shows in New York. I feel like we've been playing good shows and growing slowly and I don’t want to leave that behind. I am really excited to keep that going while exploring the possibilities.

Tickets for the Prudential Center Show are still available, visit here for more information
For more information visit his official website
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