Country star Chris Cagle coming to the Stanley

Next month, the Stanley Live Concert Series will be bringing another star to Estes Park. On April 16, country musician Chris Cagle will be taking the stage to perform his hits such as “Laredo,” “What Kind of Gone,” “Chicks Dig It,” and more.

After coming off stage around 10 p.m. the night before, Cagle woke up early to chat about how his current tour is going and his feelings about coming to Estes Park and The Stanley.

“Just sitting outside of a Waffle House in Mississippi,” Cagle said. “These guys in Waffle House bust their ass and they never really get anything. Every once in awhile, when I run across these guys that are nice, and sweet, I’m like, ‘Hey, y’all want to go to a show tonight?’ Last night [on stage] I told the crowd I had my Waffle House crew here and I started popping off their names and they just geeked out. It was awesome.”

Cagle was born in Louisiana but moved to Texas when he was young and now calls Houston home.

“I got to Texas, the Houston area, when I was about six years old, and I don’t mean any disrespect to Louisiana at all, that’s my heritage, that is where my people are from, but Texas is pretty much all I’ve ever known,” Cagle said. “Until I moved to Nashville I had never been anywhere outside of Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.”

After a couple of short stints at a few colleges in Texas, Cagle moved to Nashville in 1994 where he worked various odd jobs for years before getting his first song-writing deal co-writing songs for fellow county musician David Kersh in 2000.

From there, Cagle went on to have multiple Gold Certified albums and numerous Billboard Top 5 hits, including his song “I Breathe In, I Breathe Out,” which went all the way to number one in 2002.

The lead guitar player in Cagle’s band is from Colorado and has visited Estes Park in the past. Cagle himself has been to Denver multiple times but never to Estes Park.

“Denver is like one of those ‘magic happened’ moments where you come into a city and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, you become very endeared to them,” Cagle said. “Playing Denver has always been like that for my band and myself.”

Until our conversation, Cagle was unaware of the haunted history The Stanley has, and while the people of Estes Park will likely be extremely welcoming, he is a little concerned about some of the hotel’s ghostly guests.

“Huh … yeah, I might stay on the bus. I don’t know. If there is paranormal activity, I don’t jack with it man,” Cagle said, half joking, half serious. “Do I want to see a ghost? Absolutely not, no. I have enough trouble with people man, I don’t need to add that extra dimension to my life.”

At age 50, Cagle is still going strong on tour and enjoying playing music.

“It’s unfinished business. It was a situation that presented itself in a certain way that I felt lined up with certain conditions that I was hoping they’d line up with. I was fortunate enough to find a group of guys who put forth a lot of great effort and try to make some great music,” Cagle said. “Man, I’m 50, it’s more about who I am doing it with. I just want to be around people that I want to be around. A byproduct of that is they play good music and we have a good time.”

Touring at 50 is a lot different than touring in your 20’s and 30’s, but Cagle loves being able to hit the road on the weekends and still make it home during the week to be a dad.

“I can do 104 shows and sing every weekend and get to see my kids all during the week, and get to take them to school and be a daddy,” Cagle said. “I don’t have anything left to prove other than I just want to go out and do some things that I never got to do, my way.  We just recorded some new music and I didn’t have anyone telling me, ‘you can’t do that, you can’t do this.’ It’s not about the partying anymore. At one time it was, but unfortunately you grow up, or maybe you grow old, I don’t know. I’m still having a ball.”

Cagle and his band are excited to make their way to Estes Park and The Stanley for the first time on April 16, and while he might not be crazy about the paranormal aspect of the hotel, he’s hoping the lore of The Stanley might lure his 18-year-old daughter to the show.

“This is going to be something new for us, this is a new place to play and I just hope that, when we leave, we have a bunch of people that are excited and  happy, and feel fulfilled with the celebration of music that we interact in,” Cagle said. “I am really, really looking forward to it. I am going to go home and tell my 18-year-old that we’re going to a haunted joint and she might want to come with me.”