Backstage with Yung Gravy at State Fair: His new album, his time in Madison and his friendship with Shania Twain

It was only a matter of time before an artist with “Gravy” in his name would take a detour down an old country road.

Rapper Yung Gravy (aka Matthew Hauri) dropped his new album, “Serving Country,” Aug. 2 and headlined the Wisconsin State Fair’s Main Stage the next day.

It was a homecoming of sorts for the tongue-in-cheek rapper. He’s a University of Wisconsin-Madison alum who hails from our neighbor to the west, Minnesota.

“It feels great. It feels greaaat,” Gravy told the Journal Sentinel as he lifted up a Spotted Cow, his drink of choice at the show. “I miss this place. The weather’s great in the summer. I wish we were here longer.”

Gravy and his crew were off to Sioux City, Iowa, early Sunday morning for another show later that night.

A newly-injured wrist didn’t stop Gravy grooving across the stage and throwing out goodies to an energetic audience (More on that later). And, a handful of attendees reciprocated … by throwing their bras on stage.

We caught up with Gravy in a backstage trailer post-show to talk about his new album sprinkled with some of country music’s biggest names, his time in Madison and more.

Why did Yung Gravy release a country-inspired album?

Essentially, Gravy was inspired by country music and his friends in that world, including queen of country pop Shania Twain, HARDY and Shaboozey, he said.

“Everything that I enjoyed about Nashville, the south, I kind of combined it and put it on this project,” he said. “I wanted to try something new.”

That “something new” was originally going to be a country-ish EP with three or four songs “because of Shania Twain.” But, after diving in, the project turned into an entire 14-song album that took a year and a half to write.

“I actually did try pretty hard on the album and I learned a whole new genre and how to sing and all this stuff,” Gravy said. “It’s not country. It’s not rap. It’s Gravy with some seasoning.”

“A lot of true stories” made the album, he said, like actually being arrested in Georgia, which he’s openly spoken about before.

“I don’t know what the definition of country is, but I rap about real life things that I do and I’m using instruments that are, you know, common to country music,” Gravy said.

With a lot of references to his exes on the tracks, he wanted to clarify that some of that was “a bit dramatized.” The cheating that happened to him was back when he was in 10th grade.

“Keep this as evidence, that my more-recent exes — whether they pissed me off or not — they didn’t cheat on me.”

Yung Gravy on working with Shania Twain, Zac Brown

One of the big-time country artists featured on “Serving Country” is Twain,  a five-time Grammy Award winner and the legend behind hits like “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” and “That Don’t Impress Me Much.”

Her song with Gravy is an ode to the hard seltzer people love or love to hate on: White Claw.

After “randomly” meeting Twain — and thinking she was a good looking “older than myself” woman — the unlikely duo would go on to make “a lot of music” together, Gravy said.

Gravy also bonded with Twain’s husband, Frédéric Thiébaud, who’s become like “a father figure” to him.

“It’s very actually wholesome,” Gravy said.

The family even invited Gravy to Geneva, Switzerland, around Christmastime to go skiing, Gravy shared, but he couldn’t make it due to a family obligation.

When Gravy made an Instagram post about his new album earlier this week, Twain gushed with support:

“The gravy to my fries and cheese curds 😜😂 Congratulations on a fantastic album @yunggravy !! 😘” she commented.

Gravy’s buddy is the one who connected him with Zac Brown of the Zac Brown Band because he thought the two of them would get along. He was right.

Gravy said Brown invited him over for a sleepover at his place They wrote four or five songs, two of which made the album: “My Garage (with Zac Brown)” and “Love You For Leavin’ (with Zac Brown). Plus, Gravy’s song “Clementine” samples the Zac Brown Band’s wildly popular “Chicken Fried.”

Gravy’s album also has songs with Brantley Gilbert, Juicy J and Dylan Marlowe.

Is Yung Gravy permanently going country?

While Gravy’s had “so much fun” putting “Serving Country” together, he said it’s simply an “excursion.”

He compared it to the “detour” he took as Baby Gravy with bbno$, which ended up becoming “one of the biggest parts” of his career thus far.

“You never know what’s going to happen with something new you try,” he said. “And, we’ll see. But, I guarantee there’s at least going to be a pretty big deluxe version.”

Yung Gravy’s Wisconsin State Fair audience was the first to hear one of his new songs live

While Gravy’s been previewing some of his new country-flaired songs at shows, his Wisconsin State Fair audience was the first that got to hear him play “Cop a Truck” live.

“It felt really good when they were excited, felt dumb when I forgot the words, but overall it was great because the love was there,” Gravy said. “Honestly, I had a fear about some of the singles that maybe they didn’t love ’em. But, when we played ‘Clementine’ and ‘Lone Ranger’ — and a number of other songs that aren’t even singles — the love was crazy.”

It was. One bra hit the stage. Then, another. And, another. Gravy’s become known for donating them to women’s shelters.

And, the love was mutual.

Before Gravy hit the stage, Tiiiiiiiiiip — the DJ for Gravy — threw out Zebra Cakes. Once the show got going, Gravy and his crew threw out dozens of water bottles to the crowd. At another point, he signed lunchables and launched those out, too. Oh, and also cereal.

This was all done with a bum wrist, which posed as an inconvenience to him at times. He sat on his wrist weird for hours during his flight in, he said, and could barely move it. A makeshift splint — made out of food tongs and gauze — supported it during the show.

During said show, Gravy took his audience down a winding road of his greatest hits — including “Oops!” “Betty (Get Money)” and “Gravy Train” — and many of his new tracks. And, along the way, he had lots of chats —some funny, some heartfelt — with his fans.

And yes, he pulled his signature move: Tossing out red roses at the end. One lucky lady walked away with two souvenirs: The final rose — she jumped around in circles after snagging it — and a cereal box.

After all these gestures, Gravy’s audience was probably left wondering: What are we?

Yung Gravy’s favorite things about Wisconsin and his former hangouts

“The people, the lakes, the food — and I’m not going to say the cheese ’cause that’s obvious,” he said. “The attitude of people.”

During his first week in Madison, Gravy recalled opening up a box of Captain Crunch at a party at 7 a.m. and “some dude” pouring a full beer into it as a substitute for milk.

He questioned it — and the guy got mad at him, he said.

“He was like, ‘What do you mean milk?’” Gravy recalled. “I just love the energy. Love Wisconsin.”

He could “go on for days” about his favorite Madtown hangouts, including Nitty Gritty, The Double U, State Street Brats, Mondays and the “beautiful” Ivory Room Piano Bar.

“There are a lot of great bars there,” he said.

When Gravy spent a summer in Brew City, Oakland Gyros and Bradford Beach were two of his go-tos.

He made sure to give a shout-out to “Andy,” a gentleman who used to throw parties all the time in “that little rich neighborhood” up from the beach.

Yung Gravy maps out where he made music in Madison

While a student at UW-Madison, Gravy started rapping. He wrote his first two tapes when he lived on Gerry Court in the “sophomore slums,” he said.

He uploaded his first Yung Gravy EP to SoundCloud in 2016, according to a previous Journal Sentinel report. Most of his recording in those days was done at a house by Mifflin Street, he said.

When Gravy was living at the Palisade Apartments, he started “popping off.”

Before graduating in December 2017, he signed a deal with Universal Music Group’s Republic Records (the label behind Taylor Swift, the Weeknd and other A-listers).

“(Wisconsin is) a big part of my life,” Gravy said. “I wouldn’t be the same without it.”

Where you can listen to Yung Gravy’s ‘Serving Country’

You can find “Serving Country” pretty much wherever you listen to music, including Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.

When Yung Gravy will be bringing his ‘Grits & Gravy’ tour back to Wisconsin, where else to catch it

When Gravy travels, he said, he’s very proud to rep the Great Lake States, including Wisconsin and Minnesota.

“The Great Lake States are the best and I’ll never change my mind about that,” he said.

Gravy will return to Wisconsin on Sept. 5 to play the La Crosse Center. Other Midwest shows will include the Radius Chicago on Oct. 10, The Fillmore Detroit on Oct. 12 and The Armory in Minneapolis on Nov. 29.

He’ll also be taking the tour overseas to Europe, including stops in Germany, Poland and France.

A full list of his tour stops can be found at yunggravy.com/tour.