Donny Crosswell turns us on with "Twistin' Me Off"

Donny Crosswell hit the scene in all his gay cowboy glory with “There's Just Something About That Tennessee Whiskey” in 2021, and has since been cranking out unforgettable country tunes and growing a large and loyal fanbase.

We had a chance to send Donny some questions in celebration of his latest music video release for “Twistin’ Me Off”.

Congratulations on the launch of Twistin' Me Off. Can you tell us about the music video shoot? (Where/when it was shot, how the concept was developed etc)

Thank you! We shot it at the beginning of June in St Catharines at the Niagara Artists Centre. I just wanted it to look like an old television performance with one location. It was simple and fun but nothing extravagant. Might have to make the next one spectacular. 


Your songs have a lot of heart, but are also remarkably funny. When songwriting, what normally comes first for you - the heartbreak or the punchline?

Definitely a mix of both. For Only a Beer Can and Twistin’ Me Off I thought of the punchline first and wrote the songs around it. I still use personal experiences to fill the rest of the song. I’ve always been a guy who is constantly making jokes but I hope people don’t think I’m making a joke of music. Adding humour into the songs is just who I am. Country music is truly my heart and soul. 

You have been consistently releasing incredible country music singles for three years. Is there an album on the horizon?

That is a goal of mine. It’s hard to do an album with no money and hard to make money with a limited amount of songs. We’ve been playing more shows this year and hope to play many more in the near future which I hope will lead to a full length album. Which also leads to many more shows!


You recently performed the pre-show festivities at the Orville Peck concert at Budweiser Stage. How did that opportunity come about, and how did audiences react?

I somehow met this wonderful lady when I was out with friends one night. We ended up following each other on social media and it turned out she works for Live Nation. Eventually she asked if I’d like to do the pre show and I obviously could never say no. It was an amazing experience! There were a lot of people who sat and listened. I have no idea if they liked it or not. I was told we never sounded better than that though so I know we rocked the hell out of that stage! 

Your live shows, performed all around the Golden Horseshoe, are legendary functions with an enthusiastic team pulling out costumes, props, pranks, sketches, and legit live music performances. What has inspired your vision for these spectacles?


I used to do The Donny Crosswell Show with my friends where we would go on live stream and do a ton of sketches in the form of a talk show. We got the insane idea to do it Live and it went over quite well actually. At the same time I was writing more music and also wanted to perform my songs live so I mixed the two together. Ever since I’ve been focusing more on just the music and kind of left the sketch comedy behind. I think it was a little too bizarre for most peoples tastes anyway. Performing on stage in front of people is truly the greatest thing I love in life. 


Anything else you'd like readers to know?

I will be playing a show with Weeping Dave and the Diamond Boys on August 24th in St Catharines, Ontario at Warehouse! If you want more gay country in your life give me a follow, let's ride off into the sunset, or something I don’t know.