July 23, 2024 • 38 mins
Musician Tim Williams joined Keys Weekly digital editor Gwen Filosa on the Key West Side Tracks podcast for a deep dive on one of the most endearing and enduring albums of the past half century: August and Everything After by Counting Crows.
The Tim Williams Band is headed to the Key West Theater on Monday, Aug. 12, to perform August and 30 Years After: A Counting Crows Tribute.
Tim arrived in Key West in July to play shows in Key West and dropped by the Weekly’s office on Stock Island. From “Mr. Jones” to “Anna Begins,” Tim and Gwen go song-by-song sharing what they find meaningful in the roots rock staple.
Tim and his band will play in its entirety the smash debut album by Counting Crows, released Sept. 14, 2023, to rave reviews and eventually sold seven times platinum.
As he introduced Counting Crows on his show in 1994, David Letterman said, "And I’m telling you something, if you don’t have a copy of this, there’s something wrong with you.”
Key West Side Tracks is presented by the Keys Weekly Newspapers, the only locally owned and operated media outlet in the Florida Keys. Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Gwen Filosa hosts the podcast, with a wide-ranging guest list that includes touring musicians as they make stops in Key West, along with local creatives.
Key West Side Tracks is available wherever you find podcasts.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Tim Williams. Thank you for coming on the podcast. Thanks
for having me, Gwen. You're already in Key West. You
have a show coming up in August uh at the
Key West Theater and I'm just gonna jump right in.
It is a tribute to Counting Crows, August. And 30
years after that, please just tell me all about that
album was formative. I believe in my opinion,
(00:20):
it changed things in popular music, a new way to
sing about emotions, kind of vulnerability. But plus rock and
roll,
Speaker 2 (00:29):
totally agree. And it's, it's one of the first albums
I can remember aside from maybe Pearl Jam 10, that
was a front to back full listen. There were no
duds on the album. Um So it was 30 years old.
Last September,
I think last September 14th was the 30th anniversary of
the release date. So some band members and I got
to talk about how we should maybe put together a
(00:51):
show and perform at one time. Small scale. Nothing, no,
nothing that would extend into a full on tribute. Uh
But so we did that, we learned the album and
we put together an opening set of 1993 pop rock
hits to sort of set the table of the show, uh,
extend the 50 minute running time of the CD into
a full two hour show.
(01:12):
Um, and the first one that we did sold really well.
It was a success. We recorded it, we put it
up on Spotify. It's up there. Now, uh, if you,
your listeners, it's already there. If your listeners want to
give a listen. Um, And then we took it to
a couple of different venues. We're from Pennsylvania. So we
debuted it outside of Philadelphia.
Uh And it was a success and that's the one
we recorded. And then we, we took it around, we
(01:34):
took it to Darryl's house up in New York in
upstate New York. He made a music venue that looks
like his, his home based on the success of his
TV show. They opened a live music venue that caters
to a lot of, uh, you know, 200 seat type shows.
So we took it there. It did. Well, we took
it to City Winery out in Pittsburgh and it sold
out there and we've taken it to DC and it
(01:54):
has legs and we never intended it to. Um And
I've been coming down here for
the last 1213 years playing and obviously, the Key West
Theater has been on my radar with, I've seen the
Sunday Ramble and friends of mine have played it and
you guys have great acts coming through. So we reached
out to Kelly Norman and asked if she would be
down and like most people that I've come across, she
(02:16):
has a soft spot for that album as well.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
It is. Uh I don't even know what the word is,
but Graham Marcus once wrote uh
about a Bob Seger song. These are the chords of
memory and not, not to me, not memory lane or
let's talk about. It's just something that just hit hard. I,
I'd had like my first serious relationship and
we were just, it was just a time of like
(02:39):
in those songs like Sullivan Street is my favorite because
it used to make me cry. And uh around here
I relate to too hard. Thank you very much. Adam
Speaker 2 (02:51):
begins gets Me. That's the one that
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Anna begins
Speaker 2 (02:55):
that hooks me.
Um There's a lot of even the songs that are
throwaways that never saw the light of day on radio. Um,
you know, Ghost Train and, you know, there's, there's a
lot of complicated parts of we, we underestimated what we
were getting into when we were going to tackle the same.
We thought, you know, we knew Mr Jones, we knew
round here we knew Rain King.
(03:17):
The, you know, the low hanging fruit. Yeah, we thought
we'll just, we'll put this together and it turned out
to be a lot more work for our keyboard player.
I should say there's, there's a good dozen synth patches
he had to create just to get those counting crows,
August and everything after sound. So,
um, the band did, did a heck of a job
putting it all together. Um So I'm glad that it
(03:38):
has legs now and we're performing it more than just
the debut night that we did this and we're bringing
it down to Key West because so much time was
put in for the band to learn these parts. Uh
The fact that we're continuing on with this is, uh,
is making it all
worthwhile
Speaker 1 (03:50):
and I just want to get it right. It is
Speaker 2 (03:52):
August 12th. It's Monday. It's a Monday show.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
I'm gonna be there. I can't wait. So
Speaker 2 (03:58):
my home down here has always been Hog's Breath. That was, um,
my, my wife and I came down here in 2012
on an anniversary trip and we met Chad Birch, um,
local musician and realtor and he was playing with Kenny
Bradley on trumpet over at Hog's Breath. And Chad Birch
really plugged me into the music scene down here and, uh,
introduced me to hog's breath and Hog's breath has been,
(04:18):
has been booking us for,
I guess the last 1213 years now and we do
at least a month a year. It's awesome.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Premier. We have and we have tons of great places.
Hog's breath is fun in the open air. You must
feel like you're just, it's at a backyard barbecue, but
Speaker 2 (04:35):
it's,
I love the parking lot. People, there are always people
that walk up and they're always like, should, should we
go in? We do, like, come on in the waters warm.
They do. We sometimes turn the speaker, we'll play a
song to the parking lot, turn back to the, to
the
Speaker 1 (04:50):
parking lot. And that's to me. So Q si,
Speaker 2 (04:53):
we haven't played on the new stage yet though since they,
they removed the tree. They, uh,
they up the sound system. So we're looking forward to
Speaker 1 (05:00):
going there. Where am I? I gotta get out more. Tim.
That's all right.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Listen, I'm impressed when any local shows up to one
of our gigs because you all are so you must
be so jaded from all the amount of live music
constantly being thrown at you. You're not
Speaker 1 (05:13):
the jaded as much as the, everyone's got a side
hustle not complaining, but it's, it's, but I take it,
I can only speak for himself. I take it for
granted and then I'll go downtown and I'll go,
I could get. And years ago a few years ago
I wrote a story. I was working at the Miami
Herald and I go, I'm gonna write about the music scene.
There's so many and I'll be honest, I walked out going,
(05:34):
I'm gonna hear Tom Petty songs and I love Tom Petty,
but I'm gonna hear
Wagon Wheels. All I met were talented, hard working and
they hustle playing all night and one of them was
just like, I'll play anything. I'm here to do a
job and
Speaker 2 (05:50):
we're certainly not too proud to play a wagon wheel
or anything like that.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Oh, no,
Speaker 2 (05:54):
of course. But we make the same jokes, of course.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
No. Sweet Caroline. Sorry. We,
Speaker 2 (05:59):
we look at it like our job is, uh, keep
money in the register, keep people happy.
And honestly we get people at their best. You know, the,
the people that are grumpy in the bar weed themselves
up pretty quickly. You know, we're not, we're not playing
to anybody on a grumpy rainy 9 a.m. Monday morning.
We're seeing people on vacation. We're seeing people when they're
drinking and singing along. So we're lucky in that regard
(06:21):
that we're filled with that much positivity. So I have
zero problem playing a, uh, a corny or overdone song
if the people are vibing,
Speaker 1 (06:29):
enjoying it. Um, there are a couple of musicians and they're,
they're very kind. There's a couple of songs. It's like
the $100 songs. Marguerite is a great song. It's not,
it's not Jimmy Buffett's fault. We played it so much
that we burned a hole in the ozone layer. It's
a great Jimmy
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Buffett also hits differently here than it does in Sheboygan.
You know, I mean, when it's a, when it's a
snowy day in Collegeville, Pennsylvania in January and you're listening
to try
the reason the hurricane season or whatever it doesn't hit
as well as when you're driving through Big Cot, you know,
Speaker 1 (07:02):
but I'm like you, I celebrate when I see a
bunch of people in a golf cart on Whitehead Street
and they're blaring Margaretville. I'm like, you go, you go, guys,
you go, girl, come
Speaker 2 (07:12):
on, you're doing the whole thing. I can't
Speaker 1 (07:14):
blame you. But, and, and, you know, growing up, growing
up in college, uh I went to college in Bloomington, Indiana,
powerful music scene
but cover bands. I don't think I'm not calling you to,
oh my God, I'll edit that out. Tribute bands or
people who do the word cover to me is not
a bad word in here. This is what I learned
when I went out. Yeah, they're doing covers. It's called
(07:35):
earning a living, making people happy. They re invent, they
reimagine them. And it's almost like a translation.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
It's like a Broadway show. You recast it with the
same music,
but also the, the reality of being a full time
working musician in 2024. If you're not on a major
label or have a crazy independent success
is that you have many projects going at once. You know,
we are an original band with music up at, you know,
Tim Williams Band online. We're also a wedding and corporate
(08:04):
band at times. We're also uh uh you know, a
hog's breath bar band, taking requests from people and then
we're a solo acoustic duo, acoustic trio, acoustic. We play funerals, baptisms.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
You
got the side. I love that. And that's what the
fellow down
here. Um, David Warren, he said he was the hardest
working music. He is at the bull. He, he plays
until his hands hurt. He'll play happy. He goes, I'll
play Happy Birthday.
I'm here.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
I like John Laie. He, he's got blood all over
his
guitar,
Speaker 1 (08:31):
blood on the guitar and they're so grateful to just
be in psych, to be a lot of these. They
earn a living playing. How could you, and you earn
a living playing music? Like, how can you? Um, but
I do think it is so much work from the
ones I know
and I, my heart goes out to anyone on tour
because I think I would cry all the time because I'm,
I'm a kind of a princess. I know. It's hard
(08:52):
to
Speaker 2 (08:52):
believe you're more of a Hampton Inn girl and not a,
not a camper.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Oh, God. II, I don't know, not outside, but I
could sleep in a camper. But, I mean, just the,
I would eat junk food and I would probably smoke
Speaker 2 (09:05):
and, well, the beauty of Key West and the appeal
for me, aside from the fact that I bring my
kids down,
my wife and we make it a whole thing. Um,
it's like touring a different city every night but they're
coming to you. You know,
Speaker 1 (09:17):
that's why we say a comedy. They, we're like, we
don't have to tour.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
They're great. They come to you
Speaker 1 (09:23):
all over the world. You
never know who's out there. And
Speaker 2 (09:24):
it's, and with social media now, as much as I'm
trying to pull away from it. My, my job is,
it keeps it as a necessity. I, I still have
friends on my timeline that I met at Hog's Breath
eight years ago and they're in Atlanta or they're in
Chicago or they're in Charleston.
So, instead of going, you know, we did that years ago,
we would go around the country and we would play
(09:46):
to seven people uh wherever we could play and you'd
make your 50 bucks and go and you go, what,
what am I doing? Like this is, it's so much
better to come down here.
Have the luxury of having all the folks come to
you and you're playing in many different cities on one
stage
Speaker 1 (10:01):
in Key
West Florida, legendary bars.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
It's amazing.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Tell me about growing up. What were you musical growing up?
Was it in your home? How did, what informed
you?
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Um, the 1st, 1st musical memories from my parents. You're
talking the Eagles, Steely Dan Darryl Hall. John Oates. Um
my dad, you know, singing along in a falsetto in
the car sort of thing.
My parents weren't musicians, they weren't actors, they weren't artsy.
My dad worked in hotels and my mom was a nurse. Um,
you know, I grew up sort of being the ham
(10:34):
of my four brothers. Well, four of us total. My
three brothers and I played sports and I always sort
of hummed a tune here and there. But then senior
year of high school I quit the basketball team and
I went out and I did grease of all things.
I did the play at school and,
um, I got bit by the acting bug and then
from there, you know, I started picking up the guitar
that I had sitting in the corner a little more. Um,
(10:57):
at the time, you know, you know, every rose has
its thorn and wish you were here and that's it.
It holds up. You
know,
Speaker 1 (11:04):
I, I told someone the other day, I wish I
could tell you that I was in, I loved Rem
and you two and I, I just lied. I loved poison.
I love Bon Jovi.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
That's one of the first albums I bought was Swallow
This Live by Poison.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
It's, they were just to me, a garage band and
fun and fun. And those songs, everyone has its thorn.
There's a reason that it rings out
Speaker 2 (11:26):
and it's different hearing them. Now as a four piece,
it sounds thin because now today's music is so layered
and there's syn behind it and production and they layer
track after track after track, but back then it was
just a four piece,
you know, hair, pop, rock, garage bands. Um My, my
intro to music was buying uh Metallica the Black album
(11:47):
and I think Guns N Roses use your illusion one
and two
Terminator Two the summer that came out and you could be.
Mine was on MTV.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
I was a Springsteen fan. I'm Gen X and I'm
going to tell you we were so mean to each
other and judgmental. We're like you like that. I like
Echo and the bunny man. I'm like, you know, every
word you're pretty in pink. You are singing. You are.
But I grew up in, I think the eighties were
just such a, there's nothing
like it, but today it is all a producer's game
(12:19):
with Mark Ronson. Like the producer is the artist. A
lot of
Speaker 2 (12:21):
that. That's a good point. You're right. And, and, and
when country music has sort of taken over for what,
mid to late nineties pop rock was, you used to
go see a vertical Horizon Sugar Ray Goo dolls concert.
But now that's, you know, Riley Green Eric Church and
whoever it's, that's, and that's more songwriter
behind the scenes centered I
(12:42):
think
Speaker 1 (12:42):
and not, not having a preference, but just I think
of a song like Amy Winehouse's rehab. And I didn't
know at first that, I mean, great voice. I mean,
I love her, but I didn't realize that when I
saw Mark Ronson talk about it. I'm like, oh, that's
a producer. Like, what would he have done without him?
And that's
Speaker 2 (12:57):
fine. He's the, he's the top bill on that song. Yeah,
Mark Ronson, featuring Amy Winehouse, I
Speaker 1 (13:02):
believe. Good, good friend because, and to me it's like, uh,
I don't know, it's, it's, it's great. I, um, tell
me about, uh,
I want to get back to the show, um, because
I wanted to, I have to ask with Counting Crows. Um,
the songwriters, do they, do you have to ask for
permission or just let them know? What's the
etiquette?
Speaker 2 (13:20):
I think, I think we're, we're touring with this at
the level where we're not causing too many waves. Um
We're playing, you know, 2 to 300 seat theaters. Um
If we were selling out red rocks, I think, I
think their lawyers would have a something to say.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
I can't think. I, I, but I mean, it's obvious
it's obviously that it's done as a
tribute. Oh,
Speaker 2 (13:40):
and it's in there. It's, it's August and 30 years
after a Counting Crows tribute. And it's also not something
where we're trying to go full, get the let out
led Zeppelin touring full time job. This is a side
project for us. We have for sure. It was meant
to be one time only.
Um We've, we've brought it to several different cities including
Key West here. Um And when it, when it runs
(14:02):
out of steam, it's gonna run out of steam. It
was supposed to be centered around the 30th anniversary which
was September of 2023. Uh We have ideas for the
next one we can put together for another tribute, uh,
different bands.
Um, I'm unapologetically into nineties popular music. You know, it
was a
Speaker 1 (14:19):
singular time. The grunge thing I was there. You were
too MTV was all poison. It was a little quiet.
It was all hair bands. Some of them are terrible.
And then one day
it changed everything. What I think we needed
Speaker 2 (14:38):
it. It was the palette cleanser after the eyeliner, leather pants.
Sunset Strip
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Warren's got good songs, but I'm like I want Allison
change
Speaker 2 (14:47):
agreed, agreed. And then they would always do the top
videos of all time and
it would always be you could be mine and Pearl
Jam Jeremy and smells like Teen Spirit vying for the
top spots. And there was days when, when movies over
the summer had the big soundtrack and you mentioned it
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Terminator.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
It doesn't happen much anymore.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
If this is annoying,
you can stop me. Not at all. I just pulled
up on Apple August and everything. After counting crows 1993
I'm not even gonna put myself down that. I'm old.
I'm 52 and I'm so proud that I was there
for this to come out. I mean, I was 22.
I don't know and really into folk music and this
(15:29):
at the time and this uh this came out around here.
Um What, what let's do again? You can, you don't
have to,
let's do uh where does, so what, what comes to
your mind round here?
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Um Round here, their Saturday night live performance comes to
mind because I remember Mr Jones was the first single
and then I think the turn of the year in
94 they were booked on SNL and round here is
what really made that album explode. The Mr Jones video
was one thing but their SNL performance, I think Adam
Durt has talked about how that performance sort of catapulted
(16:03):
the song into and the album into the next level.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Um
Let's see, Omaha
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Omaha, you know what's funny, this whole album. So this
is what's interesting to me. You're 10 years older than me.
I'm 42. We like this album for very different reasons,
probably because we were in different places in our lives
at the time. A lot of these songs as a
whole um go together for me because I moved that,
that summer, I moved um from Pennsylvania out to New
(16:31):
Jersey and I was, what was I an 11 year
old kid at the time, right? I mean, that's 6th,
7th grade,
very formative years going into high school. A couple of
years later, this album went with me on that journey.
I listened to it nonstop throughout that point in my life.
Um A lot of these songs remind me of being
in a new bedroom, in a new house, um
(16:53):
getting used to a new school, making new friends. And
because of that, it became the soundtrack to that time
in my life. So, when I hear these songs I
hear Omaha, I hear all these song titles. It, I
smell the ocean air in Monmouth Beach, New Jersey as
an 11 year old, 12 year old kid. Um, it
sort of puts me back. There's, there's a nostalgia that's
tied to
it.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
It's memory. Oh my gosh. T Bone Burnett produced this.
How did I not know or forget? Um, and,
uh, August and everything after and I guess it came
out in the fall of 93. I don't think it
blew up right away. But, um, so Mr Jones, I
love when this stuff comes on or I think to
play
(17:32):
these songs. Hold
Speaker 2 (17:33):
up that I associate the music video instantly.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
But Mr Jones, I love it because I relate to
the words when I want to be. I want people
to love me. I want also as just a woman
who likes women when they're like, I'm like, she's looking
at me and she's looking at me. But what, what
do you, what are your, uh,
emotions when you hear me?
Speaker 2 (17:56):
It's the gray guitar line always gets me. I want
to be Bob Dylan. I don't want to be Bob Dylan,
but I, you know, I don't
Speaker 1 (18:03):
insert my own
Speaker 2 (18:05):
and that could be a movie star, a rock star
comedian or whatever it is. Um, yeah, it's that you're
sitting there, it's the Billy Joel piano man. I'm sure
it could be a movie star if I can get
out of it.
That's what Mr Jones is for me. And I
Speaker 1 (18:18):
wanna
be famous because then everyone I'm just relating, it's like
that will be the answer. Um Perfect blue buildings, beautiful.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
That
is wild. I didn't realize that that song was about,
um basically heroin and drug houses on the wrong side
of town. And once, once we got into the lyrics
of that song, um
much, much more depressing and heavier subject matter than I
ever considered until we started really diving into this album. And,
(18:46):
you know, that's one thing when I'm passively listening to it,
when I'm singing it on stage and really, really
paying attention to what's being said, you realize. Wow, that's,
that's a drop off from Mr Jones. Positive daydream to
Speaker 1 (18:59):
hit on some, I mean, round here has got, I mean,
just lines that are heartbreaking and
Speaker 2 (19:04):
she looks up at the building says she's taking a
shot
Speaker 1 (19:07):
or even just wants to meet a boy looks like,
I don't know, these were heartfelt. Um Anna begins,
Speaker 2 (19:15):
that's my favorite. That's my favorite song on the album.
Um I don't know why. Um It's not even my
favorite love song. It, there's something about that song the
way the chorus kicks in and it only does half
a chorus and it goes back to the verse that's
in this minor key and then it does these three
choruses on the altro and these background vocals come in
(19:35):
and it just, it grows, it builds and it's just,
that's my favorite song on the album.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Time and time again.
This kind of, I don't know this song very well.
I'm just
being
Speaker 2 (19:47):
honest. That's ok. Sure.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
It's great.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Time and time again. It feels like it's got a
perfect blue buildings vibe. It goes back to the, this
is the depressing stretch of the album here.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
It
gets really dark and then Rain King. I used to
play this as a motivational song at
Speaker 2 (20:04):
the
Speaker 1 (20:05):
end.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
That's everyone scream at the top of their lungs
Speaker 1 (20:07):
and the whole like I belong, it's almost like he's like, hey,
I'm awesome and, and I love life. And, uh, my favorite,
I mean, it's hard around here. I have to be
Feel safe. Mr Jones's Party
ranking. Um Sullivan Street is my absolute favorite song. It's
dramatic and I love that, but it, when he says,
(20:28):
you know, you're all I need. I, I don't know,
there's something to me. It's, it's not always a sad song,
but
I don't know. To me
Speaker 2 (20:37):
it's a love song where he holds that. You're almost
everything I need. And it just goes on
Speaker 1 (20:42):
everybody. If you haven't listened to Sullivan Street, just put
it on at work right now.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
It's a great, it's a great song.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Ghost Train is, uh, again, I don't know if there's
a throwaway song. Time maybe Time and time. Ghost Train
is
Speaker 2 (20:54):
cool. Ghost Train is cool, but this to me was
always in the back of my head, a throwaway song
that maybe won't resonate with.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
I was just
trying to be really generous.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
That's fine. Yeah, but in terms of this is a,
this is a very listenable front to back. Um Ghost
Train For me is it's more interesting now that we've
learned it. I
Speaker 1 (21:12):
think they try to throw away. It's a
great title. I like that.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
The opening riff is a keyboard patch, sort of warbling.
And it sounds like a train chugging along
Speaker 1 (21:22):
and I love trains. So I'm just
Speaker 2 (21:24):
so you can find my
Speaker 1 (21:25):
love language, the
Speaker 2 (21:26):
positivity in anything
Speaker 1 (21:28):
again, a great title. They're all great titles.
Meaning in Baltimore,
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Heartbreaker. There's things I remember. There's things I forget. I
miss you. I guess that I should 3000, 500 miles away.
What would you change if you could, it rips your
heart out? That's a great line.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
I'm not listening
to that today. I feel vulnerable. It's
Speaker 2 (21:45):
such a nice sunny day. What are we doing to ourselves?
Speaker 1 (21:48):
But
sometimes it's a good place to be where I'm because
my friends and they have a point like all you
do is listen to depressing music and murder podcast. I'm like,
I, I don't have small talk anymore. I'm sober. I want,
Speaker 2 (22:02):
what's the Tom Waits Line? It's, um, tell me horrible
things in a beautiful way.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
I think that can either rip your guts out or go, hey,
he's just writing down, he's just a journalist in a,
in a Rascal.
Um and finally the, the wrap up track number 11
on uh Counting Crows August and everything after a murder
of one greatest title ever.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
I have a very recent association with this song. Um
Love this song have for 31 years. At this point.
I have three kids and my six year old son, Ashton,
uh has a CD player in his room now and
he's been playing the original disc, August and everything after.
And he loves a murder of one. It's his new
favorite song.
And I'm trying to explain to him that Counting Crows
(22:48):
wrote it. But I also play it over at Hog's
Breath and I'll play it in the Counting Crows show.
So he thinks it's my song. I'm telling him it's
Counting Crows song. He wants to get up on stage
at Hog's Breath with me tonight and sing this song
with me and he's six years old. Keep in mind going,
going into first grade.
So the fact that my favorite album 31 years later
(23:09):
is now my six year old's favorite album for completely
different reasons. Just because my, my dad gave him a
CD player and he took my Counting Crow City and
is playing
it.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
OK? That is a beautiful and that's you just, you
just explain put language to how I feel about music
because we all want richer lives or we all want
something extra that we might not be able to get,
but I can put on, you know,
OK, DMX or Cheryl Crow and just be like vicariously.
(23:38):
But also, I don't know, I
Speaker 2 (23:39):
just, well, Dave Matthews said the autonomy of art where
once you put the song out there, it's not yours
anymore and it becomes the listeners and everyone's gonna attach
their own nostalgia. You were, you were 10 years older
than me when this album came out, you like this
album for your own personal reasons, which are none of
my business and
beautiful and your own and everybody that I talked to
(23:59):
about this album has their own nostalgia sort of glued
to it, which is great, which is why it has
legs 31 years later. I mean,
Speaker 1 (24:05):
it was, and also I just think the vulnerability is
hard in some, I mean, I grew up and then
when I got in college, I was like, I'm listening
to ZZ Top and nowadays I'm like, really, maybe I'll
listen to that later and put on something that isn't
ZZ Top is awesome. But sometimes I don't really need
to think about what you're talking about. Like
calm down.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
It's true. We get, we get frozen in a certain
year or a handful of years in a, in a decade.
Um Usually your formative years, right? High school college, that
age group,
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Johnny
Cougar, then John Cougar Mellencamp, then John Mellencamp, we loved him.
We claimed him as our own.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
I remember when
Speaker 2 (24:42):
we was he from your
area,
Speaker 1 (24:44):
he's from Seymour, Indiana. I grew up about 30 miles south.
North Vernon and we kind of claimed him and I'll
tell you something,
remember when he shocked everybody by getting really good because
he got rid of the management making him and just
for him to go on that to me, takes such
courage to know I'm taking plus changing your name three twice.
That's
risky
Speaker 2 (25:04):
and losing, losing something as cool as Cougar too.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Cougar is
so named it after my car and I'm like, keep
it then of all
Speaker 2 (25:11):
three names to drop. I mean, you know, Cougar seems
to be the coolest of those three words.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
It's
true. Mellencamp trips you up. But I knew some me,
I knew there was some more name. The Sheps. I
knew some Sheps like you're on that album and they're like,
that's not about us, but that's our name. But, um,
and then the Bruce Springsteen has changed my, that was
my first concert. I was 11. How lucky am I?
Speaker 2 (25:31):
I'm
going to see him next month, uh, back North and shockingly,
it'll be my first time seeing
him.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
No good. I think now he did four hour concerts.
So I saw him three times and when I was younger,
what do you think you'll see him up in New
York or
Speaker 2 (25:44):
we
have tickets for Philadelphia?
Yeah. As a working musician, social life usually takes a hit. Um,
so
Speaker 1 (25:53):
I have a lot of free night.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
There
are a lot of friends that I have that play
music in this town that I've only seen, play music
for five minutes at a clip because I'm on break
or I'm walking home from a gig.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
I relate because I'm like, kind of like, I mean,
I'm very lucky just a lot of my quote unquote,
social things are, are work. I'm hosting, I'm there and
it's great.
But like, people go, hey, and I'll go, man, I
gotta go run or I, I lose, I don't wanna,
I wanna totally talk about your own music and tell me,
um I just asked someone that when I get a
musician on, I love to ask and it can be
(26:24):
two or three songs that can be one. Tell me
a song that you wrote and tell me the story
behind it or where it came from.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Part time local is what I ended up calling. Um
My last ep that came out and gosh, it's been
a while. I've been in dad mode the last few years,
so I haven't written or put anything out recently. This
was 2016. Um And part time local, it's more of
a melancholy song, but it was about,
it's a me, the metaphor is spending time here a
couple of months a year and living full time in Pennsylvania.
(26:54):
But at the same time, I, I moved quite a
bit growing up. Um Almost every year, changing schools, new,
you're always the new kid moving to new towns. Um
So this sense of, of feeling like a part time
local even in your hometown,
um where you, you acclimate really quickly, you're comfortable in
your own skin, you meet new friends and you, you
make a new place home, but it's not a permanent residence.
(27:18):
So that was sort of the, the idea behind that song.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Um As you know, you've been coming to Q for
years and years, 12 years, part time local rings out
for a lot.
I still, I've been here 13 years. I'm blessed. I'm grateful.
It's not the easiest place to live, even if you
have all the money. You know, it's remote traveling. I mean,
it can be a lonely place every once in a while,
but for me, at least, but it's such a, I've
(27:42):
never lived in New Orleans is a lot, lived in
New Orleans a lot like this. People will help you
without even being asked.
People support you. You walk around, it's so small. People go, hey, Gwen.
And just when you need that
Speaker 2 (27:53):
live, it's a very close knit community. And even as
someone who's not a permanent member of it, there are
bartenders and musicians that I've gotten to know really well,
that'll give me a hug whenever they see me. And
it's been 10 months since I've been in town or
six months. And,
um, it's amazing how things change. You know, friends pass
away businesses go out of, go out and, and walls
(28:14):
get painted or whatever happens. But certain things are always
the same. It's almost timeless in that
way.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
That's a great point because you can come back and
that green parrot is there. And no,
it has not changed. But I doesn't need to hog's
breath is, even though hog's breath has changed hands, a
new stage, it's still hog's breath.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Got the bones, the bones are still planted.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
It's
a flag planted of let's enjoy this life. And, um, II,
I imagine touring
sounds really great. It's, it's gotta be tough on your body,
your emotions. But tell me, or, or, I mean, you
tell me what's your experience
Speaker 2 (28:49):
for me? It's about quality of life and how do
you want to spend your time? And now that I'm
a dad and I have three kids, um, I'm lucky
that I can play music for a living. I'm lucky
that I do this for a job. And I have since,
uh without any other day job since 2010. So I'm, I'm,
I'm beating the system currently. Knock on wood. I hope
that continues. Um,
but for me, the idea of getting into a van
(29:12):
and staying in a different hotel every night to play
a club to push originals and try to sell some merch.
And I don't have that in my heart anymore. And
I did in my, I tried it in my twenties and,
Speaker 1 (29:24):
well, you did it, you had to run and,
Speaker 2 (29:26):
you know, at least I tried, you know, and did, I,
I didn't wanna, I grew up in a wonderful family.
I had three brothers and great parents. And,
um, I wanted that I wanted a family. I have
a wonderful wife. I've got three great kids. Um, so
that I can, the fact that I can have both,
I can play music for a living and I can
have a family life. I'm a very lucky guy and
for me it's back home, write some music, put it out.
(29:49):
Something happens great if it doesn't. We're a wedding band.
We're a bar band. We're an original band. We play
backyard parties and we play, we play in tuxedos. We
play everything in between. I just literally in the last
week I did a baptism on Sunday.
We did 1/50 birthday party. We did a wedding, we
did another wedding. I did a bar solo.
(30:10):
Um We traveled in a van down here to Key
West and I'll be at Hog's Breath with my buddy,
Mark Teague tonight and the whole week long
Speaker 1 (30:17):
you did a, I'm sure it's nice. But you did
Speaker 2 (30:19):
a, we got a, well,
Speaker 1 (30:21):
you guys
get along. So, but I, I do have to sleep
a lot.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
So it's easy. I get
Speaker 1 (30:26):
out. He's like I gotta say this, it's actually beautiful
to hear someone say, I, I want to be with
my family and if you didn't, if you three kids,
if you were,
it's like, oh, I'm never home. I would judge you.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Well, yeah. Or I call
Speaker 1 (30:41):
your wife and I
Speaker 2 (30:42):
wouldn't be married very long.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
I was gonna say I'd call your wife and be like,
can you believe that? I mean, and I just love
hearing that as your career evolved with your personal life,
men or women, it's gotta be having everything or the,
you know, you gotta make
Speaker 2 (30:57):
choices for sure. And I, and one of those big
choices for me and I'm not on a soapbox. It's
just a personal choice I made was 3.5 years ago.
I quit drinking
and being in this town especially it. I love it
so much more with clear eyes. Um My, for years
and years, my only perception of this town was being
close to blackout drunk on stage, uh you know, slurring
(31:20):
through lyrics and, and dealing with the 1 a.m. bar
and I was with and I, I really started to
get a negative association with this town anxiety, the whole thing.
And then I, then I cut out the drinking and
then I got out on the water and then my
perspective on this place changed for the better and I realized, oh,
it's not all Duval drunkenness which has its place. And listen,
(31:44):
I'm playing tonight on it and I'm still gonna enjoy
it from a sober point of view and we're
Speaker 1 (31:48):
both like to each his own, none of my business
the same. It doesn't
Speaker 2 (31:52):
bother me. We're gonna be taking requests from people that
have been drinking all day and they're gonna have a
smile on their face and I'm gonna love, but for
me personally, behind the microphone, looking out over that crowd,
I'm a much happier person, clear headed and
Speaker 1 (32:05):
totally because I got so in New Orleans and I
for a long time, like, oh New Orleans turned me
into a drunk and then, and then I got sober
and I was like, oh that was me
Speaker 2 (32:15):
because no one stops you.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
That was me and New Orleans and Key West are
very much alike to me. Um in the sense that it,
it's a cultural thing in, in a fun town and,
and people drink for all kinds of,
a lot of people can drink safely and normally it's
hard to tell the Alkies from the non Alkies and,
and I have friends here who are sober for so
many different reasons and it can
Speaker 2 (32:36):
be
Speaker 1 (32:36):
done.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
And the beautiful thing that I, that I found the
only thing I'll say is that nobody cares. I found
that nobody gives a curse on this. Nobody
gives a shit. What you do.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Nobody care. Oh This is live and let live. You
can be, it's the most forgiving
you can blow up your bridge and grow back
Speaker 2 (32:56):
and on the other side of that, oh, you quit drinking? Cool.
How you been? Otherwise nobody cares. You go on with
their life. It doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
It's not
a place where people, everyone's kind of content. I mean,
don't get me wrong everything. Um, this is a famous
quote and it's not mine who said this, I'll find
out this guy was like, it's Key West. We don't
care what you do but we want to hear about
it and it's just, it's such a small town.
But, um, Tim Williams and it's the, it's Tim Williams
Speaker 2 (33:24):
Band. Yeah, it's a very common name. So, Tim Williams Band.
If you Google that, that should land you where we are, uh,
social media, Tim Williams Band.
Tim williams.com part time. Local.com. Tim Williams band.com. We'll all
get you
Speaker 1 (33:35):
there and I follow your social. It's really cool.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Can I say something on that? You are now my
source of what's going on around town on Facebook. I'm
up in Pennsylvania most of the year and I'm following
you and you're like, oh, car crashed into this restaurant
last night, car drove off into the
Speaker 1 (33:49):
ocean last night, by the way,
my friends were like, oh, you moved to Kos from
no one? Wow, you really gave up your career. And
I was like, ok, between Sea Rise roads and housing.
But we have weird stuff and it's k, so it's,
it's never too horrible. It's bad car in the ocean
but the car saved it. It is so weird.
(34:12):
And those two instances the crash, alcohol was allegedly involved.
There was
Speaker 2 (34:16):
like a bulldozer a couple of weeks ago
Speaker 1 (34:19):
had to catch up on that guy. He stole a
tractor and at first he rammed a police car and
they caught him and when I saw the crime body camp,
he's smashing a tractor is dangerous. I'm from Indiana and
I knew
and, and, um, anyway, sorry. But uh thank you. You
know why that means a lot to me. And I'm
(34:40):
not alone in this job, especially nowadays. Sometimes I look
and I go, is anyone reading this? Does anyone care?
I bet you can. And then I think it holds
me accountable and, and it's just fun.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
There are a lot of people like me who Key
West is, it's not our home, but it holds a
special place in our hearts.
And when we go home and pressures of life take over,
we start looking at, you know, what's, what's the Conch
Republic posting about what's hogs breath post and what fish
monster post and all this stuff?
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Boring. And I do. And it also helps me not
take for granted because it just doesn't come natural to
be like, dude, I live in Keys Florida, beautiful historic.
A lot of people would like to, but it doesn't
work out.
And um actually when I, uh if I came to
one of your shows and like did a little live.
(35:31):
Could I do that? I always ask permission because then
people can see you and, uh, probably hog's breath or
Speaker 2 (35:38):
so, we're doing hog's breath this week through Sunday 430
to 830 as a duo, me and Mark Teague. Um,
and then in two weeks time we're back, we're gonna
do the mid shift again at hog's breath and then
we're gonna,
the following week, late night with the full band nine
o'clock and the very last night in town is Monday,
August 12th. And that's the Key West Theater
Speaker 1 (35:57):
and you will play just so August and everything after
Key West Theater, y'all the entirety in order.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
So the tickets are on sale right now. Um, we
are going, it's about a two hour show.
Uh, first hour of that show. 1st 45 minutes maybe, uh,
is top 1993 hits. So we'll leave that to the
imagination of what that's gonna be. But we, we went
down the list, we googled 100 billboard hits and we said, well, what,
what can we fit in a 45 minute time frame?
That'll get the nostalgia.
(36:24):
So we're setting the table
Speaker 1 (36:26):
that would help me kind of go back and go, hey,
if you want to have a little, a little appetizer,
Speaker 2 (36:31):
forgot about crash test dummies or whatever it might be, right?
Um So then that gives you time, get a drink,
get a bite, you know, chilling out and you're there
and then we get into the album and we start
hitting in about 45 minutes into the show.
Uh, and we have a couple of counting crows encores
that we throw at the
very end.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
I was like, you probably get a, we'll leave it
as a surprise. I can think of one song that
I think and, and Tim, I mean, um you all,
you're the vocalist, correct? And, and, and it's a lot of,
that's a lot of songs in
one night.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
I'll be honest with you. Hog's breath is rockstar boot camp.
So three weeks of hog's breath leading into the theater
um does have me a little
Speaker 1 (37:12):
but I just didn't know if you ever go, hey,
I've got to go sit, I've got to go just
play the piano. Can Mike? Can you take over?
Speaker 2 (37:18):
Not with this show? This show that on you if
you ever see me go, you sing it and point
the mic to the crowd. You'll be like, oh, he's
tired today. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
Well, sometimes everyone needs a break. But no, you're amazing.
I can't wait to
see the show at the theater. And Tim Williams, you've
been a delight. You came in on your, you gotta
work tonight. You came all the way to Stock Island
in uh continued success. And thanks for coming
on.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
I really appreciate you having me on. Thank you Gwen.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
And thank you for listening to Key West Sidetracks. I'll
be back in a week, we're actually posting shows all
the time in the podcast. And, um, Keys weekly.com, check
us out online.
It's all free. And for the take in there's no, um,
no paywall, no force signings. And our newspapers come out
every Thursday, Upper Keys Marathon, Key West. Um, check it out.
(38:06):
Thanks everybody. I'll talk to you later.
Tim Williams. Thank you for coming on the podcast. Thanks
for having me, Gwen. You're already in Key West. You
have a show coming up in August uh at the
Key West Theater and I'm just gonna jump right in.
It is a tribute to Counting Crows, August. And 30
years after that, please just tell me all about that
album was formative. I believe in my opinion,
(00:20):
it changed things in popular music, a new way to
sing about emotions, kind of vulnerability. But plus rock and
roll,
Speaker 2 (00:29):
totally agree. And it's, it's one of the first albums
I can remember aside from maybe Pearl Jam 10, that
was a front to back full listen. There were no
duds on the album. Um So it was 30 years old.
Last September,
I think last September 14th was the 30th anniversary of
the release date. So some band members and I got
to talk about how we should maybe put together a
(00:51):
show and perform at one time. Small scale. Nothing, no,
nothing that would extend into a full on tribute. Uh
But so we did that, we learned the album and
we put together an opening set of 1993 pop rock
hits to sort of set the table of the show, uh,
extend the 50 minute running time of the CD into
a full two hour show.
(01:12):
Um, and the first one that we did sold really well.
It was a success. We recorded it, we put it
up on Spotify. It's up there. Now, uh, if you,
your listeners, it's already there. If your listeners want to
give a listen. Um, And then we took it to
a couple of different venues. We're from Pennsylvania. So we
debuted it outside of Philadelphia.
Uh And it was a success and that's the one
we recorded. And then we, we took it around, we
(01:34):
took it to Darryl's house up in New York in
upstate New York. He made a music venue that looks
like his, his home based on the success of his
TV show. They opened a live music venue that caters
to a lot of, uh, you know, 200 seat type shows.
So we took it there. It did. Well, we took
it to City Winery out in Pittsburgh and it sold
out there and we've taken it to DC and it
(01:54):
has legs and we never intended it to. Um And
I've been coming down here for
the last 1213 years playing and obviously, the Key West
Theater has been on my radar with, I've seen the
Sunday Ramble and friends of mine have played it and
you guys have great acts coming through. So we reached
out to Kelly Norman and asked if she would be
down and like most people that I've come across, she
(02:16):
has a soft spot for that album as well.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
It is. Uh I don't even know what the word is,
but Graham Marcus once wrote uh
about a Bob Seger song. These are the chords of
memory and not, not to me, not memory lane or
let's talk about. It's just something that just hit hard. I,
I'd had like my first serious relationship and
we were just, it was just a time of like
(02:39):
in those songs like Sullivan Street is my favorite because
it used to make me cry. And uh around here
I relate to too hard. Thank you very much. Adam
Speaker 2 (02:51):
begins gets Me. That's the one that
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Anna begins
Speaker 2 (02:55):
that hooks me.
Um There's a lot of even the songs that are
throwaways that never saw the light of day on radio. Um,
you know, Ghost Train and, you know, there's, there's a
lot of complicated parts of we, we underestimated what we
were getting into when we were going to tackle the same.
We thought, you know, we knew Mr Jones, we knew
round here we knew Rain King.
(03:17):
The, you know, the low hanging fruit. Yeah, we thought
we'll just, we'll put this together and it turned out
to be a lot more work for our keyboard player.
I should say there's, there's a good dozen synth patches
he had to create just to get those counting crows,
August and everything after sound. So,
um, the band did, did a heck of a job
putting it all together. Um So I'm glad that it
(03:38):
has legs now and we're performing it more than just
the debut night that we did this and we're bringing
it down to Key West because so much time was
put in for the band to learn these parts. Uh
The fact that we're continuing on with this is, uh,
is making it all
worthwhile
Speaker 1 (03:50):
and I just want to get it right. It is
Speaker 2 (03:52):
August 12th. It's Monday. It's a Monday show.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
I'm gonna be there. I can't wait. So
Speaker 2 (03:58):
my home down here has always been Hog's Breath. That was, um,
my, my wife and I came down here in 2012
on an anniversary trip and we met Chad Birch, um,
local musician and realtor and he was playing with Kenny
Bradley on trumpet over at Hog's Breath. And Chad Birch
really plugged me into the music scene down here and, uh,
introduced me to hog's breath and Hog's breath has been,
(04:18):
has been booking us for,
I guess the last 1213 years now and we do
at least a month a year. It's awesome.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Premier. We have and we have tons of great places.
Hog's breath is fun in the open air. You must
feel like you're just, it's at a backyard barbecue, but
Speaker 2 (04:35):
it's,
I love the parking lot. People, there are always people
that walk up and they're always like, should, should we
go in? We do, like, come on in the waters warm.
They do. We sometimes turn the speaker, we'll play a
song to the parking lot, turn back to the, to
the
Speaker 1 (04:50):
parking lot. And that's to me. So Q si,
Speaker 2 (04:53):
we haven't played on the new stage yet though since they,
they removed the tree. They, uh,
they up the sound system. So we're looking forward to
Speaker 1 (05:00):
going there. Where am I? I gotta get out more. Tim.
That's all right.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Listen, I'm impressed when any local shows up to one
of our gigs because you all are so you must
be so jaded from all the amount of live music
constantly being thrown at you. You're not
Speaker 1 (05:13):
the jaded as much as the, everyone's got a side
hustle not complaining, but it's, it's, but I take it,
I can only speak for himself. I take it for
granted and then I'll go downtown and I'll go,
I could get. And years ago a few years ago
I wrote a story. I was working at the Miami
Herald and I go, I'm gonna write about the music scene.
There's so many and I'll be honest, I walked out going,
(05:34):
I'm gonna hear Tom Petty songs and I love Tom Petty,
but I'm gonna hear
Wagon Wheels. All I met were talented, hard working and
they hustle playing all night and one of them was
just like, I'll play anything. I'm here to do a
job and
Speaker 2 (05:50):
we're certainly not too proud to play a wagon wheel
or anything like that.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Oh, no,
Speaker 2 (05:54):
of course. But we make the same jokes, of course.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
No. Sweet Caroline. Sorry. We,
Speaker 2 (05:59):
we look at it like our job is, uh, keep
money in the register, keep people happy.
And honestly we get people at their best. You know, the,
the people that are grumpy in the bar weed themselves
up pretty quickly. You know, we're not, we're not playing
to anybody on a grumpy rainy 9 a.m. Monday morning.
We're seeing people on vacation. We're seeing people when they're
drinking and singing along. So we're lucky in that regard
(06:21):
that we're filled with that much positivity. So I have
zero problem playing a, uh, a corny or overdone song
if the people are vibing,
Speaker 1 (06:29):
enjoying it. Um, there are a couple of musicians and they're,
they're very kind. There's a couple of songs. It's like
the $100 songs. Marguerite is a great song. It's not,
it's not Jimmy Buffett's fault. We played it so much
that we burned a hole in the ozone layer. It's
a great Jimmy
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Buffett also hits differently here than it does in Sheboygan.
You know, I mean, when it's a, when it's a
snowy day in Collegeville, Pennsylvania in January and you're listening
to try
the reason the hurricane season or whatever it doesn't hit
as well as when you're driving through Big Cot, you know,
Speaker 1 (07:02):
but I'm like you, I celebrate when I see a
bunch of people in a golf cart on Whitehead Street
and they're blaring Margaretville. I'm like, you go, you go, guys,
you go, girl, come
Speaker 2 (07:12):
on, you're doing the whole thing. I can't
Speaker 1 (07:14):
blame you. But, and, and, you know, growing up, growing
up in college, uh I went to college in Bloomington, Indiana,
powerful music scene
but cover bands. I don't think I'm not calling you to,
oh my God, I'll edit that out. Tribute bands or
people who do the word cover to me is not
a bad word in here. This is what I learned
when I went out. Yeah, they're doing covers. It's called
(07:35):
earning a living, making people happy. They re invent, they
reimagine them. And it's almost like a translation.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
It's like a Broadway show. You recast it with the
same music,
but also the, the reality of being a full time
working musician in 2024. If you're not on a major
label or have a crazy independent success
is that you have many projects going at once. You know,
we are an original band with music up at, you know,
Tim Williams Band online. We're also a wedding and corporate
(08:04):
band at times. We're also uh uh you know, a
hog's breath bar band, taking requests from people and then
we're a solo acoustic duo, acoustic trio, acoustic. We play funerals, baptisms.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
You
got the side. I love that. And that's what the
fellow down
here. Um, David Warren, he said he was the hardest
working music. He is at the bull. He, he plays
until his hands hurt. He'll play happy. He goes, I'll
play Happy Birthday.
I'm here.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
I like John Laie. He, he's got blood all over
his
guitar,
Speaker 1 (08:31):
blood on the guitar and they're so grateful to just
be in psych, to be a lot of these. They
earn a living playing. How could you, and you earn
a living playing music? Like, how can you? Um, but
I do think it is so much work from the
ones I know
and I, my heart goes out to anyone on tour
because I think I would cry all the time because I'm,
I'm a kind of a princess. I know. It's hard
(08:52):
to
Speaker 2 (08:52):
believe you're more of a Hampton Inn girl and not a,
not a camper.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Oh, God. II, I don't know, not outside, but I
could sleep in a camper. But, I mean, just the,
I would eat junk food and I would probably smoke
Speaker 2 (09:05):
and, well, the beauty of Key West and the appeal
for me, aside from the fact that I bring my
kids down,
my wife and we make it a whole thing. Um,
it's like touring a different city every night but they're
coming to you. You know,
Speaker 1 (09:17):
that's why we say a comedy. They, we're like, we
don't have to tour.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
They're great. They come to you
Speaker 1 (09:23):
all over the world. You
never know who's out there. And
Speaker 2 (09:24):
it's, and with social media now, as much as I'm
trying to pull away from it. My, my job is,
it keeps it as a necessity. I, I still have
friends on my timeline that I met at Hog's Breath
eight years ago and they're in Atlanta or they're in
Chicago or they're in Charleston.
So, instead of going, you know, we did that years ago,
we would go around the country and we would play
(09:46):
to seven people uh wherever we could play and you'd
make your 50 bucks and go and you go, what,
what am I doing? Like this is, it's so much
better to come down here.
Have the luxury of having all the folks come to
you and you're playing in many different cities on one
stage
Speaker 1 (10:01):
in Key
West Florida, legendary bars.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
It's amazing.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Tell me about growing up. What were you musical growing up?
Was it in your home? How did, what informed
you?
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Um, the 1st, 1st musical memories from my parents. You're
talking the Eagles, Steely Dan Darryl Hall. John Oates. Um
my dad, you know, singing along in a falsetto in
the car sort of thing.
My parents weren't musicians, they weren't actors, they weren't artsy.
My dad worked in hotels and my mom was a nurse. Um,
you know, I grew up sort of being the ham
(10:34):
of my four brothers. Well, four of us total. My
three brothers and I played sports and I always sort
of hummed a tune here and there. But then senior
year of high school I quit the basketball team and
I went out and I did grease of all things.
I did the play at school and,
um, I got bit by the acting bug and then
from there, you know, I started picking up the guitar
that I had sitting in the corner a little more. Um,
(10:57):
at the time, you know, you know, every rose has
its thorn and wish you were here and that's it.
It holds up. You
know,
Speaker 1 (11:04):
I, I told someone the other day, I wish I
could tell you that I was in, I loved Rem
and you two and I, I just lied. I loved poison.
I love Bon Jovi.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
That's one of the first albums I bought was Swallow
This Live by Poison.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
It's, they were just to me, a garage band and
fun and fun. And those songs, everyone has its thorn.
There's a reason that it rings out
Speaker 2 (11:26):
and it's different hearing them. Now as a four piece,
it sounds thin because now today's music is so layered
and there's syn behind it and production and they layer
track after track after track, but back then it was
just a four piece,
you know, hair, pop, rock, garage bands. Um My, my
intro to music was buying uh Metallica the Black album
(11:47):
and I think Guns N Roses use your illusion one
and two
Terminator Two the summer that came out and you could be.
Mine was on MTV.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
I was a Springsteen fan. I'm Gen X and I'm
going to tell you we were so mean to each
other and judgmental. We're like you like that. I like
Echo and the bunny man. I'm like, you know, every
word you're pretty in pink. You are singing. You are.
But I grew up in, I think the eighties were
just such a, there's nothing
like it, but today it is all a producer's game
(12:19):
with Mark Ronson. Like the producer is the artist. A
lot of
Speaker 2 (12:21):
that. That's a good point. You're right. And, and, and
when country music has sort of taken over for what,
mid to late nineties pop rock was, you used to
go see a vertical Horizon Sugar Ray Goo dolls concert.
But now that's, you know, Riley Green Eric Church and
whoever it's, that's, and that's more songwriter
behind the scenes centered I
(12:42):
think
Speaker 1 (12:42):
and not, not having a preference, but just I think
of a song like Amy Winehouse's rehab. And I didn't
know at first that, I mean, great voice. I mean,
I love her, but I didn't realize that when I
saw Mark Ronson talk about it. I'm like, oh, that's
a producer. Like, what would he have done without him?
And that's
Speaker 2 (12:57):
fine. He's the, he's the top bill on that song. Yeah,
Mark Ronson, featuring Amy Winehouse, I
Speaker 1 (13:02):
believe. Good, good friend because, and to me it's like, uh,
I don't know, it's, it's, it's great. I, um, tell
me about, uh,
I want to get back to the show, um, because
I wanted to, I have to ask with Counting Crows. Um,
the songwriters, do they, do you have to ask for
permission or just let them know? What's the
etiquette?
Speaker 2 (13:20):
I think, I think we're, we're touring with this at
the level where we're not causing too many waves. Um
We're playing, you know, 2 to 300 seat theaters. Um
If we were selling out red rocks, I think, I
think their lawyers would have a something to say.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
I can't think. I, I, but I mean, it's obvious
it's obviously that it's done as a
tribute. Oh,
Speaker 2 (13:40):
and it's in there. It's, it's August and 30 years
after a Counting Crows tribute. And it's also not something
where we're trying to go full, get the let out
led Zeppelin touring full time job. This is a side
project for us. We have for sure. It was meant
to be one time only.
Um We've, we've brought it to several different cities including
Key West here. Um And when it, when it runs
(14:02):
out of steam, it's gonna run out of steam. It
was supposed to be centered around the 30th anniversary which
was September of 2023. Uh We have ideas for the
next one we can put together for another tribute, uh,
different bands.
Um, I'm unapologetically into nineties popular music. You know, it
was a
Speaker 1 (14:19):
singular time. The grunge thing I was there. You were
too MTV was all poison. It was a little quiet.
It was all hair bands. Some of them are terrible.
And then one day
it changed everything. What I think we needed
Speaker 2 (14:38):
it. It was the palette cleanser after the eyeliner, leather pants.
Sunset Strip
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Warren's got good songs, but I'm like I want Allison
change
Speaker 2 (14:47):
agreed, agreed. And then they would always do the top
videos of all time and
it would always be you could be mine and Pearl
Jam Jeremy and smells like Teen Spirit vying for the
top spots. And there was days when, when movies over
the summer had the big soundtrack and you mentioned it
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Terminator.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
It doesn't happen much anymore.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
If this is annoying,
you can stop me. Not at all. I just pulled
up on Apple August and everything. After counting crows 1993
I'm not even gonna put myself down that. I'm old.
I'm 52 and I'm so proud that I was there
for this to come out. I mean, I was 22.
I don't know and really into folk music and this
(15:29):
at the time and this uh this came out around here.
Um What, what let's do again? You can, you don't
have to,
let's do uh where does, so what, what comes to
your mind round here?
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Um Round here, their Saturday night live performance comes to
mind because I remember Mr Jones was the first single
and then I think the turn of the year in
94 they were booked on SNL and round here is
what really made that album explode. The Mr Jones video
was one thing but their SNL performance, I think Adam
Durt has talked about how that performance sort of catapulted
(16:03):
the song into and the album into the next level.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Um
Let's see, Omaha
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Omaha, you know what's funny, this whole album. So this
is what's interesting to me. You're 10 years older than me.
I'm 42. We like this album for very different reasons,
probably because we were in different places in our lives
at the time. A lot of these songs as a
whole um go together for me because I moved that,
that summer, I moved um from Pennsylvania out to New
(16:31):
Jersey and I was, what was I an 11 year
old kid at the time, right? I mean, that's 6th,
7th grade,
very formative years going into high school. A couple of
years later, this album went with me on that journey.
I listened to it nonstop throughout that point in my life.
Um A lot of these songs remind me of being
in a new bedroom, in a new house, um
(16:53):
getting used to a new school, making new friends. And
because of that, it became the soundtrack to that time
in my life. So, when I hear these songs I
hear Omaha, I hear all these song titles. It, I
smell the ocean air in Monmouth Beach, New Jersey as
an 11 year old, 12 year old kid. Um, it
sort of puts me back. There's, there's a nostalgia that's
tied to
it.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
It's memory. Oh my gosh. T Bone Burnett produced this.
How did I not know or forget? Um, and,
uh, August and everything after and I guess it came
out in the fall of 93. I don't think it
blew up right away. But, um, so Mr Jones, I
love when this stuff comes on or I think to
play
(17:32):
these songs. Hold
Speaker 2 (17:33):
up that I associate the music video instantly.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
But Mr Jones, I love it because I relate to
the words when I want to be. I want people
to love me. I want also as just a woman
who likes women when they're like, I'm like, she's looking
at me and she's looking at me. But what, what
do you, what are your, uh,
emotions when you hear me?
Speaker 2 (17:56):
It's the gray guitar line always gets me. I want
to be Bob Dylan. I don't want to be Bob Dylan,
but I, you know, I don't
Speaker 1 (18:03):
insert my own
Speaker 2 (18:05):
and that could be a movie star, a rock star
comedian or whatever it is. Um, yeah, it's that you're
sitting there, it's the Billy Joel piano man. I'm sure
it could be a movie star if I can get
out of it.
That's what Mr Jones is for me. And I
Speaker 1 (18:18):
wanna
be famous because then everyone I'm just relating, it's like
that will be the answer. Um Perfect blue buildings, beautiful.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
That
is wild. I didn't realize that that song was about,
um basically heroin and drug houses on the wrong side
of town. And once, once we got into the lyrics
of that song, um
much, much more depressing and heavier subject matter than I
ever considered until we started really diving into this album. And,
(18:46):
you know, that's one thing when I'm passively listening to it,
when I'm singing it on stage and really, really
paying attention to what's being said, you realize. Wow, that's,
that's a drop off from Mr Jones. Positive daydream to
Speaker 1 (18:59):
hit on some, I mean, round here has got, I mean,
just lines that are heartbreaking and
Speaker 2 (19:04):
she looks up at the building says she's taking a
shot
Speaker 1 (19:07):
or even just wants to meet a boy looks like,
I don't know, these were heartfelt. Um Anna begins,
Speaker 2 (19:15):
that's my favorite. That's my favorite song on the album.
Um I don't know why. Um It's not even my
favorite love song. It, there's something about that song the
way the chorus kicks in and it only does half
a chorus and it goes back to the verse that's
in this minor key and then it does these three
choruses on the altro and these background vocals come in
(19:35):
and it just, it grows, it builds and it's just,
that's my favorite song on the album.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Time and time again.
This kind of, I don't know this song very well.
I'm just
being
Speaker 2 (19:47):
honest. That's ok. Sure.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
It's great.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Time and time again. It feels like it's got a
perfect blue buildings vibe. It goes back to the, this
is the depressing stretch of the album here.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
It
gets really dark and then Rain King. I used to
play this as a motivational song at
Speaker 2 (20:04):
the
Speaker 1 (20:05):
end.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
That's everyone scream at the top of their lungs
Speaker 1 (20:07):
and the whole like I belong, it's almost like he's like, hey,
I'm awesome and, and I love life. And, uh, my favorite,
I mean, it's hard around here. I have to be
Feel safe. Mr Jones's Party
ranking. Um Sullivan Street is my absolute favorite song. It's
dramatic and I love that, but it, when he says,
(20:28):
you know, you're all I need. I, I don't know,
there's something to me. It's, it's not always a sad song,
but
I don't know. To me
Speaker 2 (20:37):
it's a love song where he holds that. You're almost
everything I need. And it just goes on
Speaker 1 (20:42):
everybody. If you haven't listened to Sullivan Street, just put
it on at work right now.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
It's a great, it's a great song.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Ghost Train is, uh, again, I don't know if there's
a throwaway song. Time maybe Time and time. Ghost Train
is
Speaker 2 (20:54):
cool. Ghost Train is cool, but this to me was
always in the back of my head, a throwaway song
that maybe won't resonate with.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
I was just
trying to be really generous.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
That's fine. Yeah, but in terms of this is a,
this is a very listenable front to back. Um Ghost
Train For me is it's more interesting now that we've
learned it. I
Speaker 1 (21:12):
think they try to throw away. It's a
great title. I like that.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
The opening riff is a keyboard patch, sort of warbling.
And it sounds like a train chugging along
Speaker 1 (21:22):
and I love trains. So I'm just
Speaker 2 (21:24):
so you can find my
Speaker 1 (21:25):
love language, the
Speaker 2 (21:26):
positivity in anything
Speaker 1 (21:28):
again, a great title. They're all great titles.
Meaning in Baltimore,
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Heartbreaker. There's things I remember. There's things I forget. I
miss you. I guess that I should 3000, 500 miles away.
What would you change if you could, it rips your
heart out? That's a great line.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
I'm not listening
to that today. I feel vulnerable. It's
Speaker 2 (21:45):
such a nice sunny day. What are we doing to ourselves?
Speaker 1 (21:48):
But
sometimes it's a good place to be where I'm because
my friends and they have a point like all you
do is listen to depressing music and murder podcast. I'm like,
I, I don't have small talk anymore. I'm sober. I want,
Speaker 2 (22:02):
what's the Tom Waits Line? It's, um, tell me horrible
things in a beautiful way.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
I think that can either rip your guts out or go, hey,
he's just writing down, he's just a journalist in a,
in a Rascal.
Um and finally the, the wrap up track number 11
on uh Counting Crows August and everything after a murder
of one greatest title ever.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
I have a very recent association with this song. Um
Love this song have for 31 years. At this point.
I have three kids and my six year old son, Ashton,
uh has a CD player in his room now and
he's been playing the original disc, August and everything after.
And he loves a murder of one. It's his new
favorite song.
And I'm trying to explain to him that Counting Crows
(22:48):
wrote it. But I also play it over at Hog's
Breath and I'll play it in the Counting Crows show.
So he thinks it's my song. I'm telling him it's
Counting Crows song. He wants to get up on stage
at Hog's Breath with me tonight and sing this song
with me and he's six years old. Keep in mind going,
going into first grade.
So the fact that my favorite album 31 years later
(23:09):
is now my six year old's favorite album for completely
different reasons. Just because my, my dad gave him a
CD player and he took my Counting Crow City and
is playing
it.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
OK? That is a beautiful and that's you just, you
just explain put language to how I feel about music
because we all want richer lives or we all want
something extra that we might not be able to get,
but I can put on, you know,
OK, DMX or Cheryl Crow and just be like vicariously.
(23:38):
But also, I don't know, I
Speaker 2 (23:39):
just, well, Dave Matthews said the autonomy of art where
once you put the song out there, it's not yours
anymore and it becomes the listeners and everyone's gonna attach
their own nostalgia. You were, you were 10 years older
than me when this album came out, you like this
album for your own personal reasons, which are none of
my business and
beautiful and your own and everybody that I talked to
(23:59):
about this album has their own nostalgia sort of glued
to it, which is great, which is why it has
legs 31 years later. I mean,
Speaker 1 (24:05):
it was, and also I just think the vulnerability is
hard in some, I mean, I grew up and then
when I got in college, I was like, I'm listening
to ZZ Top and nowadays I'm like, really, maybe I'll
listen to that later and put on something that isn't
ZZ Top is awesome. But sometimes I don't really need
to think about what you're talking about. Like
calm down.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
It's true. We get, we get frozen in a certain
year or a handful of years in a, in a decade.
Um Usually your formative years, right? High school college, that
age group,
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Johnny
Cougar, then John Cougar Mellencamp, then John Mellencamp, we loved him.
We claimed him as our own.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
I remember when
Speaker 2 (24:42):
we was he from your
area,
Speaker 1 (24:44):
he's from Seymour, Indiana. I grew up about 30 miles south.
North Vernon and we kind of claimed him and I'll
tell you something,
remember when he shocked everybody by getting really good because
he got rid of the management making him and just
for him to go on that to me, takes such
courage to know I'm taking plus changing your name three twice.
That's
risky
Speaker 2 (25:04):
and losing, losing something as cool as Cougar too.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Cougar is
so named it after my car and I'm like, keep
it then of all
Speaker 2 (25:11):
three names to drop. I mean, you know, Cougar seems
to be the coolest of those three words.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
It's
true. Mellencamp trips you up. But I knew some me,
I knew there was some more name. The Sheps. I
knew some Sheps like you're on that album and they're like,
that's not about us, but that's our name. But, um,
and then the Bruce Springsteen has changed my, that was
my first concert. I was 11. How lucky am I?
Speaker 2 (25:31):
I'm
going to see him next month, uh, back North and shockingly,
it'll be my first time seeing
him.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
No good. I think now he did four hour concerts.
So I saw him three times and when I was younger,
what do you think you'll see him up in New
York or
Speaker 2 (25:44):
we
have tickets for Philadelphia?
Yeah. As a working musician, social life usually takes a hit. Um,
so
Speaker 1 (25:53):
I have a lot of free night.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
There
are a lot of friends that I have that play
music in this town that I've only seen, play music
for five minutes at a clip because I'm on break
or I'm walking home from a gig.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
I relate because I'm like, kind of like, I mean,
I'm very lucky just a lot of my quote unquote,
social things are, are work. I'm hosting, I'm there and
it's great.
But like, people go, hey, and I'll go, man, I
gotta go run or I, I lose, I don't wanna,
I wanna totally talk about your own music and tell me,
um I just asked someone that when I get a
musician on, I love to ask and it can be
(26:24):
two or three songs that can be one. Tell me
a song that you wrote and tell me the story
behind it or where it came from.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Part time local is what I ended up calling. Um
My last ep that came out and gosh, it's been
a while. I've been in dad mode the last few years,
so I haven't written or put anything out recently. This
was 2016. Um And part time local, it's more of
a melancholy song, but it was about,
it's a me, the metaphor is spending time here a
couple of months a year and living full time in Pennsylvania.
(26:54):
But at the same time, I, I moved quite a
bit growing up. Um Almost every year, changing schools, new,
you're always the new kid moving to new towns. Um
So this sense of, of feeling like a part time
local even in your hometown,
um where you, you acclimate really quickly, you're comfortable in
your own skin, you meet new friends and you, you
make a new place home, but it's not a permanent residence.
(27:18):
So that was sort of the, the idea behind that song.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Um As you know, you've been coming to Q for
years and years, 12 years, part time local rings out
for a lot.
I still, I've been here 13 years. I'm blessed. I'm grateful.
It's not the easiest place to live, even if you
have all the money. You know, it's remote traveling. I mean,
it can be a lonely place every once in a while,
but for me, at least, but it's such a, I've
(27:42):
never lived in New Orleans is a lot, lived in
New Orleans a lot like this. People will help you
without even being asked.
People support you. You walk around, it's so small. People go, hey, Gwen.
And just when you need that
Speaker 2 (27:53):
live, it's a very close knit community. And even as
someone who's not a permanent member of it, there are
bartenders and musicians that I've gotten to know really well,
that'll give me a hug whenever they see me. And
it's been 10 months since I've been in town or
six months. And,
um, it's amazing how things change. You know, friends pass
away businesses go out of, go out and, and walls
(28:14):
get painted or whatever happens. But certain things are always
the same. It's almost timeless in that
way.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
That's a great point because you can come back and
that green parrot is there. And no,
it has not changed. But I doesn't need to hog's
breath is, even though hog's breath has changed hands, a
new stage, it's still hog's breath.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Got the bones, the bones are still planted.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
It's
a flag planted of let's enjoy this life. And, um, II,
I imagine touring
sounds really great. It's, it's gotta be tough on your body,
your emotions. But tell me, or, or, I mean, you
tell me what's your experience
Speaker 2 (28:49):
for me? It's about quality of life and how do
you want to spend your time? And now that I'm
a dad and I have three kids, um, I'm lucky
that I can play music for a living. I'm lucky
that I do this for a job. And I have since,
uh without any other day job since 2010. So I'm, I'm,
I'm beating the system currently. Knock on wood. I hope
that continues. Um,
but for me, the idea of getting into a van
(29:12):
and staying in a different hotel every night to play
a club to push originals and try to sell some merch.
And I don't have that in my heart anymore. And
I did in my, I tried it in my twenties and,
Speaker 1 (29:24):
well, you did it, you had to run and,
Speaker 2 (29:26):
you know, at least I tried, you know, and did, I,
I didn't wanna, I grew up in a wonderful family.
I had three brothers and great parents. And,
um, I wanted that I wanted a family. I have
a wonderful wife. I've got three great kids. Um, so
that I can, the fact that I can have both,
I can play music for a living and I can
have a family life. I'm a very lucky guy and
for me it's back home, write some music, put it out.
(29:49):
Something happens great if it doesn't. We're a wedding band.
We're a bar band. We're an original band. We play
backyard parties and we play, we play in tuxedos. We
play everything in between. I just literally in the last
week I did a baptism on Sunday.
We did 1/50 birthday party. We did a wedding, we
did another wedding. I did a bar solo.
(30:10):
Um We traveled in a van down here to Key
West and I'll be at Hog's Breath with my buddy,
Mark Teague tonight and the whole week long
Speaker 1 (30:17):
you did a, I'm sure it's nice. But you did
Speaker 2 (30:19):
a, we got a, well,
Speaker 1 (30:21):
you guys
get along. So, but I, I do have to sleep
a lot.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
So it's easy. I get
Speaker 1 (30:26):
out. He's like I gotta say this, it's actually beautiful
to hear someone say, I, I want to be with
my family and if you didn't, if you three kids,
if you were,
it's like, oh, I'm never home. I would judge you.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Well, yeah. Or I call
Speaker 1 (30:41):
your wife and I
Speaker 2 (30:42):
wouldn't be married very long.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
I was gonna say I'd call your wife and be like,
can you believe that? I mean, and I just love
hearing that as your career evolved with your personal life,
men or women, it's gotta be having everything or the,
you know, you gotta make
Speaker 2 (30:57):
choices for sure. And I, and one of those big
choices for me and I'm not on a soapbox. It's
just a personal choice I made was 3.5 years ago.
I quit drinking
and being in this town especially it. I love it
so much more with clear eyes. Um My, for years
and years, my only perception of this town was being
close to blackout drunk on stage, uh you know, slurring
(31:20):
through lyrics and, and dealing with the 1 a.m. bar
and I was with and I, I really started to
get a negative association with this town anxiety, the whole thing.
And then I, then I cut out the drinking and
then I got out on the water and then my
perspective on this place changed for the better and I realized, oh,
it's not all Duval drunkenness which has its place. And listen,
(31:44):
I'm playing tonight on it and I'm still gonna enjoy
it from a sober point of view and we're
Speaker 1 (31:48):
both like to each his own, none of my business
the same. It doesn't
Speaker 2 (31:52):
bother me. We're gonna be taking requests from people that
have been drinking all day and they're gonna have a
smile on their face and I'm gonna love, but for
me personally, behind the microphone, looking out over that crowd,
I'm a much happier person, clear headed and
Speaker 1 (32:05):
totally because I got so in New Orleans and I
for a long time, like, oh New Orleans turned me
into a drunk and then, and then I got sober
and I was like, oh that was me
Speaker 2 (32:15):
because no one stops you.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
That was me and New Orleans and Key West are
very much alike to me. Um in the sense that it,
it's a cultural thing in, in a fun town and,
and people drink for all kinds of,
a lot of people can drink safely and normally it's
hard to tell the Alkies from the non Alkies and,
and I have friends here who are sober for so
many different reasons and it can
Speaker 2 (32:36):
be
Speaker 1 (32:36):
done.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
And the beautiful thing that I, that I found the
only thing I'll say is that nobody cares. I found
that nobody gives a curse on this. Nobody
gives a shit. What you do.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Nobody care. Oh This is live and let live. You
can be, it's the most forgiving
you can blow up your bridge and grow back
Speaker 2 (32:56):
and on the other side of that, oh, you quit drinking? Cool.
How you been? Otherwise nobody cares. You go on with
their life. It doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
It's not
a place where people, everyone's kind of content. I mean,
don't get me wrong everything. Um, this is a famous
quote and it's not mine who said this, I'll find
out this guy was like, it's Key West. We don't
care what you do but we want to hear about
it and it's just, it's such a small town.
But, um, Tim Williams and it's the, it's Tim Williams
Speaker 2 (33:24):
Band. Yeah, it's a very common name. So, Tim Williams Band.
If you Google that, that should land you where we are, uh,
social media, Tim Williams Band.
Tim williams.com part time. Local.com. Tim Williams band.com. We'll all
get you
Speaker 1 (33:35):
there and I follow your social. It's really cool.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Can I say something on that? You are now my
source of what's going on around town on Facebook. I'm
up in Pennsylvania most of the year and I'm following
you and you're like, oh, car crashed into this restaurant
last night, car drove off into the
Speaker 1 (33:49):
ocean last night, by the way,
my friends were like, oh, you moved to Kos from
no one? Wow, you really gave up your career. And
I was like, ok, between Sea Rise roads and housing.
But we have weird stuff and it's k, so it's,
it's never too horrible. It's bad car in the ocean
but the car saved it. It is so weird.
(34:12):
And those two instances the crash, alcohol was allegedly involved.
There was
Speaker 2 (34:16):
like a bulldozer a couple of weeks ago
Speaker 1 (34:19):
had to catch up on that guy. He stole a
tractor and at first he rammed a police car and
they caught him and when I saw the crime body camp,
he's smashing a tractor is dangerous. I'm from Indiana and
I knew
and, and, um, anyway, sorry. But uh thank you. You
know why that means a lot to me. And I'm
(34:40):
not alone in this job, especially nowadays. Sometimes I look
and I go, is anyone reading this? Does anyone care?
I bet you can. And then I think it holds
me accountable and, and it's just fun.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
There are a lot of people like me who Key
West is, it's not our home, but it holds a
special place in our hearts.
And when we go home and pressures of life take over,
we start looking at, you know, what's, what's the Conch
Republic posting about what's hogs breath post and what fish
monster post and all this stuff?
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Boring. And I do. And it also helps me not
take for granted because it just doesn't come natural to
be like, dude, I live in Keys Florida, beautiful historic.
A lot of people would like to, but it doesn't
work out.
And um actually when I, uh if I came to
one of your shows and like did a little live.
(35:31):
Could I do that? I always ask permission because then
people can see you and, uh, probably hog's breath or
Speaker 2 (35:38):
so, we're doing hog's breath this week through Sunday 430
to 830 as a duo, me and Mark Teague. Um,
and then in two weeks time we're back, we're gonna
do the mid shift again at hog's breath and then
we're gonna,
the following week, late night with the full band nine
o'clock and the very last night in town is Monday,
August 12th. And that's the Key West Theater
Speaker 1 (35:57):
and you will play just so August and everything after
Key West Theater, y'all the entirety in order.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
So the tickets are on sale right now. Um, we
are going, it's about a two hour show.
Uh, first hour of that show. 1st 45 minutes maybe, uh,
is top 1993 hits. So we'll leave that to the
imagination of what that's gonna be. But we, we went
down the list, we googled 100 billboard hits and we said, well, what,
what can we fit in a 45 minute time frame?
That'll get the nostalgia.
(36:24):
So we're setting the table
Speaker 1 (36:26):
that would help me kind of go back and go, hey,
if you want to have a little, a little appetizer,
Speaker 2 (36:31):
forgot about crash test dummies or whatever it might be, right?
Um So then that gives you time, get a drink,
get a bite, you know, chilling out and you're there
and then we get into the album and we start
hitting in about 45 minutes into the show.
Uh, and we have a couple of counting crows encores
that we throw at the
very end.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
I was like, you probably get a, we'll leave it
as a surprise. I can think of one song that
I think and, and Tim, I mean, um you all,
you're the vocalist, correct? And, and, and it's a lot of,
that's a lot of songs in
one night.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
I'll be honest with you. Hog's breath is rockstar boot camp.
So three weeks of hog's breath leading into the theater
um does have me a little
Speaker 1 (37:12):
but I just didn't know if you ever go, hey,
I've got to go sit, I've got to go just
play the piano. Can Mike? Can you take over?
Speaker 2 (37:18):
Not with this show? This show that on you if
you ever see me go, you sing it and point
the mic to the crowd. You'll be like, oh, he's
tired today. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
Well, sometimes everyone needs a break. But no, you're amazing.
I can't wait to
see the show at the theater. And Tim Williams, you've
been a delight. You came in on your, you gotta
work tonight. You came all the way to Stock Island
in uh continued success. And thanks for coming
on.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
I really appreciate you having me on. Thank you Gwen.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
And thank you for listening to Key West Sidetracks. I'll
be back in a week, we're actually posting shows all
the time in the podcast. And, um, Keys weekly.com, check
us out online.
It's all free. And for the take in there's no, um,
no paywall, no force signings. And our newspapers come out
every Thursday, Upper Keys Marathon, Key West. Um, check it out.
(38:06):
Thanks everybody. I'll talk to you later.
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