CHUCK
HILLKLIF

Chuck Hillklif is absolutely a real person. He was born in Dusty Creek, Oklahoma, which is a real town that exists. He has a wife named Tammy who is also real. He owns dogs. He has skin and bones and a cardiovascular system, just like you. He experiences the passage of time in a linear fashion. He has childhood memories that are stored in his biological brain. This question gets asked a lot and frankly it's starting to hurt his feelings, which he has, because he is a human man.

No. Chuck was generated the old-fashioned way, by his parents, in Oklahoma. He has been continuously alive since 1978. He does not run on servers. He eats food for energy rather than electricity. When you see him at concerts, that is his actual physical body occupying space, not a hologram or a render. His music is written by his human hand holding a human pencil. The uncanny consistency of his visual appearance across hundreds of photographs is simply good genetics and a signature look, not algorithmic image generation. Next question.

Chuck doesn't have political views. He has all the political views. Every song reflects a genuine perspective held by real Americans. If those perspectives contradict each other, that's not Chuck's problem—that's America's problem. Chuck just writes what he feels, and he feels everything, often simultaneously.

Both parties asked. Chuck said yes to both. Each side assumed he was being ironic when he played for the other. He wasn't. He played "What's Mine Is Ours" at the DNC and "Stay On Your Side" at the RNC. Both crowds went wild. Both crowds were correct.

Sixty-three times, actually. Sixty in the main track, three in the fade-out that most streaming services cut off. The song has been certified platinum. Chuck is as surprised as anyone.

In the downstairs bathroom of his ranch outside Leiper's Fork. "It's where I do my best thinking," he explains. The Grammy is for Best Country Album (2023, Long Road Home). It sits on the back of the toilet. Tammy has asked him to move it several times. He has not.

Chuck has three dogs: Hamilton, Jefferson, and Burr. They are named after founding fathers. They do not get along. "Just like the originals," Chuck says. Hamilton is a golden retriever. Jefferson is a hound mix. Burr is a small, angry terrier who has bitten two journalists. Chuck will not apologize for Burr. "He knows what he did. So did they."

Probably. Chuck has an unusually detailed memory for people who have wronged him, slighted him, or been rude to his wife Tammy. This is the subject of his song "I Remember All of You." If your interaction was positive, he also remembers that, but he doesn't write songs about it.

"It Won't Go Down" is about government overreach, personal freedom, and the fundamental right of a man to flush once in his own home. Chuck wrote it after a frustrating morning. It has become an anthem for a movement Chuck did not intend to start and does not fully understand. He stands by it.

Yes, but so can your opponent. Chuck licenses to everyone. He does not endorse candidates. He endorses the democratic process generally, and also the right to be left alone, and also collective action, depending on the song.

Tammy is extremely real. She is Chuck's high school sweetheart. She has been the subject of fourteen songs, including "Tammy's Got a Way," "Tammy's Still Got That Way," and "Tammy's Looking at Me Like I Said Something Wrong Again." She handles the ranch's finances and has veto power over Chuck's more unusual song concepts. She exercised this veto exactly once, on a track called "The Ballad of the HOA (Extended Cut)," which was seventeen minutes long. The seven-minute version appears on the deluxe vinyl.

VIP packages for the American Road Trip Tour include a meet-and-greet option. Chuck will shake your hand, sign something, and take a photo. He will remember your name. He will remember it forever. This is not a threat. It's just how his memory works.

It was his father's. His father wore it at the grain elevator in Dusty Creek. Chuck had it restored in 2015. He owns fourteen identical backup jackets in case something happens to the original. Nothing has happened to the original. The backups remain in climate-controlled storage. This is normal behavior.

Chuck will sing about anything. He has sung about drone warfare, gay marriage, collective farming, property rights, beer, toilets, and the specific blogger who gave Dust & Glory two stars (his name was Randy; Chuck remembers). The only topic Chuck has declined to address in song is his actual, personal political affiliation. When asked, he changes the subject to tractors.

No. Chuck collects vintage tractors but cannot operate them. "I like to look at them," he says. "Driving them would ruin the mystery." He has eleven tractors. Tammy has asked him to stop buying tractors. He has not stopped.