Tyler Bryant

Tyler Bryant's musical journey embodies the purest essence of artistic dedication. From the moment he left his tiny Texas town of 1,700 people at age 17, armed with nothing but talent and determination, his singular focus has been creating authentic music that resonates. That unwavering commitment has evolved into a Grammy-winning career spanning performance, songwriting, and production.

What strikes you immediately about Bryant is his refreshing perspective on success. Where once it meant packed venues and non-stop touring, he's found deeper fulfillment in creating meaningful music while maintaining balance. His current rhythm of 50-70 shows yearly complemented by studio work represents not a compromise but an evolution—one allowing him to truly savor each creative moment.

Bryant's production philosophy is equally enlightening. Rather than imposing his vision, he describes himself as "a professional appreciator" who helps artists recognize their most magical moments. "Hold on, do you realize when you do this, that's super badass? I have goosebumps," he explains. This approach has led to collaborations with artists ranging from Ruthie Foster to Rodney Crowell, culminating in Grammy recognition that Bryant humbly downplays, insisting "the work is the reward."

The conversation reveals a musician who's grown not just in skill but wisdom. From building a professional studio from scratch to recovering his beloved pink Stratocaster five years after it was stolen, Bryant approaches each experience with both passion and perspective. Now preparing for fatherhood with a baby due in August, he's entering yet another creative chapter—one where music and family harmonize completely. As he puts it, success today means "getting to make cool music as much as I possibly can and provide for my family." For anyone navigating their own creative path, Tyler Bryant offers the perfect reminder that authentic art happens when you follow what truly moves you.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Ladies and gentlemen, it's time, once again for
another season of Chewing theGristle with yours truly Greg
Kauk.
Can you believe it's alreadyseason six?
We've got so many coolinterviews lined up.
Are we going to talk aboutmusic, you betcha?
But what else are we going totalk about?
Well, quite frankly, anythingthat comes to mind.
So stay tuned, doggone it.

(00:30):
Let's chew that doggone gristle.
Season six come this week onChewing the Gristle.
Not only do we have aguitar-playing potentate, an
artist in his own right, buthe's a producer, a Grammy
award-winning producer.
That's right, Tyler Bryant,this week on Chewing the Gristle

(00:53):
.
Can't wait, let's get involved.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys andgirls, welcome once again to
another installment of Chewingthe Gristle with yours truly
Gregory Cochrie.
I'm here with the mighty TylerBryant, performer, guitar
slinger, Grammy Award-winningproducer.
Hell of a nice fella.
What the hell's going on, Tyler?

(01:14):
What's new, what's happening?

Speaker 2 (01:16):
Hey, man, just, I've been working on this studio for
the last 18 months and I'mfinally making music in here,
and I think I was probably inthe thick of it the last time I
ran into you in Fort Wayne.
Yes, but, man, I was tickledwhenever I got a text message
from you asking to hang outbecause I've been a fan of you
for so long and I'm just.

(01:37):
I was like, yeah, I want tohang out and shoot it with Greg.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
You know what I'm trying to think of.
When we first met, it had tohave been back in, I think,
fender days for me, when I was,I think, maybe at that Fender
University.
Remember when we did that acouple times, mm-hmm, and you
were a wee lad.
Well, of course I was weirderthan I am now, but you were a

(02:01):
youngster.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah, I think one of correct me if I'm wrong.

Speaker 1 (02:08):
Did you ever play the Dallas Guitar Show?
Yes, but I think that's when Istarted playing the Dallas
Guitar Show.
I think that was after we hadmet for the first time Okay,
many yarns ago.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
Okay, cool, yeah, I have a memory of you playing
there, but man, yeah, it's greatto get to hang out.
I have a memory of you playingthere, but man, yeah, it's great
to get to hang out.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
And then I remember we talked at you were playing at
Summerfest one year inMilwaukee and I saw you there as
well, and we were like heywhat's going on Was that the
year Buddy Guy played.
I think so.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
I just remember being so bummed because we had to
play and then we had to run tomake some stupid ridiculous
all-night drive, as we do, as wedo, and we didn't get to stay
and watch Buddy Guy that night,and I just remember that was
like one of a couple ofexperiences where I was like
we're doing this wrong, we'resaying yes to too much yes, you
know.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
Well, you've been hitting it hard for a long time
Now.
When did you end up like you'renot from, you're a Texan.
So when did you end up saying,hey, I'm going to move to
Nashville and make that my place.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
Pretty much the day I turned 17,.
I moved oh you did.
Yeah, and it wasn't because Ihad a bad relationship with my
family.
My family has always been supergreat and supportive and and
cool.
It was more of like I.
You know, I, my small town, was1700 people at best and none of
them played the music that Iwas into.

(03:35):
I didn't have anyone to justlike converse about.
You know how great I thoughtJohnny winter was, or you know
my favorite Jeff Beck records,or you know any of that.
And I and I really wanted tolike find some guys to play with
that.
We're going to get togetherwith me every day and go out and
hit the road and and um.

(03:56):
And also I was really intriguedby Nashville and the
songwriting community because Iknew people who lived in
Nashville based on just a coupleof trips and visits, where it
felt like people were justconstantly collaborating and I
wanted that in my life.
So I kind of dropped out ofhigh school and moved to
Nashville to do it.

Speaker 1 (04:17):
And went to a school of a different sort.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
I know my mom's a teacher.
My grandparents were like mygrandma was a teacher and my
grandpa was a principal, so theywere a little bit just like
golly Tyler, you're almost aboutto graduate, just finish.
But so I moved to Nashville,started the shakedown, took my
last little few credits onlineand then, the day before

(04:41):
graduation, went and enrolled inhigh school in Honeygrove,
Texas, and graduated.
Oh nice, yeah.
So I got a diploma, but my lastyear was spent, you know,
getting a publishing deal tosustain myself and putting my
band together Nice.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
And so your experience in Nashville up to
this point.
Obviously you've beensuccessful.
Is it everything you thought itwould be, or is it?
Obviously with anything there'sups and downs, but overall
you're pleased with being aNashvilleian.

Speaker 2 (05:10):
Yeah, I love Nashville and I think, as
probably a lot of artists do.
I think the word successful issomething that I have a
different meaning for every year.
Right, I mean, you know, successwhen I was 17 would have been
like playing the biggest showsever and doing, you know, this
and that and always, and havingpeople at every show.

(05:32):
And then, and like now, as a 34year old man, success is getting
to make cool music as much as Ipossibly can and right, for my
family and um, and enjoying,because I think what I, what
I've learned over the years ofdoing it and I'd be curious to
know how you relate to this too.
You know, doing 200, 250 showsa year I don't think was

(05:55):
necessarily the best thing formy happiness.
Right, you know, you start tokind of get a little bit.
I never didn't like playing,but sometimes the travel and the
and all of that could can, whenyou're doing it as hard as as
we did it in the beginning, wasalways a little bit taxing,
right and what would you sayyour schedule has been like in

(06:18):
the recent past as far astouring as it has it curtailed
to a reasonable amount of roadthings versus producing and so
on, and so forth.
Yeah, yeah, it's been like 50 to70 shows a year, Nice, just
because I kind of I don't know,I just follow wherever my

(06:39):
passion is and the thing thatwas bringing me the most joy
there.
For well, still, I'm, I'm, I'mjust obsessed with music, but
being in the studio and workingwith other artists just makes me
really happy.
And um, and I'm, I'm kind of aprofessional appreciator in the
studio to where that's sort ofthe stance I take when I'm

(07:00):
producing with, with artists istrying to like go, hey, hold on,
Do you realize that when you dothis, that's super badass and I
want to hear that over and overand I have goosebumps, so don't
, maybe let's not do it again,you know, and pay attention to
what that thing is.
And I just kind of found alittle.
I found that I had a knack forpaying attention to other

(07:20):
people's music and what it mademe feel and I just leaned in and
leaned in, and leaned in andobsessed, you know, and Well,
that's fascinating because Ilove.

Speaker 1 (07:33):
I love getting into people's production style,
because you know, my experienceover the many years is that
there's a million kind ofdifferent ways of that people
produce.
Some people just kind of sit inthe background and say, no,
you're good.
And then other people are likeare managing the budget, are the
engineer and do everything, andthen there's like all points in

(07:55):
between.
What's your kind of processwith a band in terms of are you
very much picking the repertoireand the arrangements and the
sidemen and so on and so forth,or does it depend on the artist?

Speaker 2 (08:10):
It totally depends on the artist.
You know, like with the LarkinPoe records, you know, I've done
their last two albums and thosewere co-productions and so it's
working hand in hand with them,you know, and we decide exactly
who we're going to use, as theplayers are very meticulous with
the songs.
That's one thing that I feellike Nashville has sort of

(08:31):
drilled into me throughout mylife, you know, as a staff
songwriter for Sony for eightyears and then wrote for Razor
and Tide for a while, and you,you know, it was just all about
song, song, songs, and so that'sone thing that I that I love to
pay attention to.
Um, but then, like this, thisrecord I just made with ruthie

(08:52):
foster, it was like it happenedso organically.
So I just, I just, I feel likeI'm at a point where I'm just
trying to follow cool, inspiringmoments right with her, her new
album mileage.
She spent nine, 10 days in thestudio and came in and we wrote
every song together and then I'dlay down like a drum beat and

(09:13):
she, and just enough, justenough to get a killer vocal
from her, which is not hard todo, because she just is great.
She's like you.
Everything she, you know, doesjust sounds intentional and and
then and then it was.
She goes back to Austin and Ibring over a horn section, I
bring over the people that Ithink would be able to

(09:34):
contribute.
So I actually just finished aninstrumental record for Mike
Seal, who's like oh, yeah, yeah,and saying and Toby Marshall,
yeah, yeah, toby, yep, yourhomie played on it.

Speaker 1 (09:46):
He played great now, mike seal is your brother-in-law
, right, my brother-in-law yeah,yeah, he plays great.
I've seen some you know his uhcarter vintage videos and yeah,
he's, he's got a beautiful touchdude, he's, yeah, he's.

Speaker 2 (09:59):
He's just one of those guys.
I watch him and I go.
I don't know how you did that,but I'm glad you did.

Speaker 1 (10:05):
Yeah, I'm glad you did, but I don't know how you
did it so yeah, and speaking ofthat, I mean his materials seems
like they're very well crafted,you know melodic things with
probably some improvisationinvolved, but but kind of set
pieces.
How are you with the process ofyou know, in making a record

(10:28):
like that, as far as how much ofit is loosely structured and
how much it is meticulous?
I guess it depends on the song,but is there for an
instrumental record like that?
What was your approach in thatregard?

Speaker 2 (10:42):
Well, my approach with that was mike.
Mike has just had a bunch ofreally great ideas, but they're
all fragments of ideas and so,but he's one of those guys that
just sits down and playsbrilliant stuff.
So it would be a matter ofsketching and say, like this is
your idea and it has to gosomewhere, so where does it go?
And then, gotcha, I wouldcreate a couple beats and just

(11:04):
wait for something to click andthen, ok, now check this out.
This is what you did, this isreally cool.
And now, how does it lead intothe next section?
And what is that?
And you know, and just andhonestly, trying to hold on for
dear life, because some of thatmusic was so over my head, but
still just listening to thatvoice of like, what moves the
needle for me as I listen, whatkeeps me engaged, how do we

(11:28):
change the scene?
Once it?
Once I know what's coming.
Maybe it's time for a scenechange or something like that.
You know, um, but yeah, I, I do.
I just, I think whenever there's, whenever there's people that
are, they're brilliant, yougotta follow them.
You know, like, working withthis on this rodney Crowell
record that just finished.
He's such a great songwriterand arranger and composer that

(11:51):
he would come up with thesebeautiful arrangements, but then
and we would sketch them outand the band would have their
charts, and the band is like ofthe highest caliber, and then he
starts singing and he catchesan emotional wave and all of a
sudden the chart needs to.
You can't look at it anymore,right, because he's on a wave
and it doesn't make sense tolook at that.
You got to look at the singerand like follow him, because

(12:13):
he's just added a few bars,right?
And I just think that all thatkind of stuff is worth paying
attention to.
Rather than the idea of whatsomething should be, it's like
follow what it is in the momentand that maybe that'll tell you
what it's supposed to be.
I can dig that.

Speaker 1 (12:30):
Now are a lot of the productions you're doing at your
house, or is it kind of goingto other studios as well,
depending on what you're doing?

Speaker 2 (12:38):
Well, so I just I've just moved into a new studio and
I've been working every day outof here.
But I lived in this.
My wife and I lived in a duplexand we lived on the top, which
was unit A, and the studio wason the bottom in unit B, got it
Over the last couple of years.
It's like 15 albums made andreleased into the world out of

(13:00):
that little duplex.
And and God bless my wife shewas like "'Dude, I love you and
I support you "'but like I heareverything you do'".
And you know, because it wasn'tan intentional space.
And and then this RodneyCrowell record.
We actually went to DocksideStudios in Maurice, louisiana,

(13:22):
to do that on this beautiful oldNeve and it was fantastic.
But we came home and finishedall the overdubs in my studio.
But now I'm set up to have fullbands tracking in my space.

Speaker 1 (13:35):
So it's a detached space from the main part of the
house.

Speaker 2 (13:38):
Yeah, I built it from the ground up over the last 18
months and and have all of mytools and we've got four
isolation rooms and you knowjust anything you could want,
really.
So, all right, well, we'll beright down.
Come on, man, I'm telling you,next time you come to nashville,
just book an extra day and comehang out oh, we'd love to, I'd

(14:00):
love nothing more than to haveyou over, to just be in the room
.
I just but that's the thing too.
I just want to be in the roomwhen cool shit happens, you know
yeah, we're coming down therethis summer.

Speaker 1 (14:12):
We're playing at analog on.
I think it's sometime in june.
You know where that place isanalog?
Yeah, it's a cool spot, verycool spot.
Hopefully we'll get some humansin there At the Hutton Hotel.
Yeah, there you go.
Yeah, we're coming down to rocksome brains.
So you've got a youngin' coming, I got a little son on the way.

Speaker 2 (14:34):
Oh, bless you In August, august, yeah, oh,
congratulations, that's awesome.
Yeah, I've man, I've just been,uh, I'm.
I'm kind of in like prep mode.
Oh yeah, I'm thinking aboutlike I've been thinking about
all the things that I reallyrespect about my father and
going like, yeah, my dad had allthe right tools.
You know, like I gotta go.
I'm like I find myself like inin home Depot going I need that

(15:05):
tool, i'm'm gonna need this tool, when my son, you know, right,
right, pick something.
I need to have the tool youknow what's that?

Speaker 1 (15:10):
are you, father?
I am, yeah, I've got four ofthem.
My son plays in the in the bandbig.
My son is the drummer in theband oh nice, how's that?

Speaker 2 (15:18):
That's gotta be rewarding.

Speaker 1 (15:20):
Yeah Well, yeah, he's a beast, uh, well, he's.
He's my size, so we're the sameheight, but he looks bigger
cause he's got this Robert planthair, uh, but he's my oldest
and he's he's 30.
And then I've got, uh, twodaughters, uh, one's 28, one's
24.
And then my youngest is uh,youngest, 21, cool and uh.

(15:41):
So, yeah, it's, uh, it's anadventure, as I like to say.
I teach people.
I was like, oh, you're having akid.
Well, next thing you know it'llbe, it'll be new year's eve,
when they're a senior in highschool, and they'll come
downstairs and go I'm dad, I'mon acid, but it's cool, oh, man,
that's great.

(16:02):
And it was, it's fun.
You know, I really didn't getmy act together until I had kids
.
So you know, we found out wewere having Dylan and, yeah,
about six months after he wasborn I gave up all my
debaucherous ways.
So I always say, if it wasn'tfor kids, uh, I may not be alive

(16:23):
.

Speaker 2 (16:24):
Yeah, man, that's uh, that's really interesting.
I'm, I'm curious to you know,cause everyone, everyone I meet,
is like oh, it'll change you.
You have no idea, you won't bethe same, and I'm kind of like,
yeah, but you're it's, it'sawesome.

Speaker 1 (16:39):
I mean it's you know, it's like, uh, you reprioritize
things, but, as I like to say,it's like your highs are higher
and your lows are lower.
It's just the whole dynamicrange of being, although now I
kind of sound, now I kind ofsound like Terry Katy Perry
getting off the thing.
You don't know what love isuntil you always did.

Speaker 2 (17:01):
Thank you, I did always think that you sounded a
little bit like.

Speaker 1 (17:06):
Katie.
Oh my Lord, we should mentionthat this is the day after
Easter that we're, uh, we're,we're doing this.
I just got done feasting like awarrior of the night.
My wife made this whole thingof these, these lemon bars, and
as much as we like usually I'm asucker for the uh, for the
whole, um, reese's peanut butteregg thing, which I think is the

(17:29):
greatest iteration of all theReese's products.
But we, we were good about notgetting any of that this year,
and so now I just got this giantvat of these lemon bars and
I've just been feasting.
So I am, I'm just sugared outof my mind right now.

Speaker 2 (17:43):
I love it.
Man, yeah, we, I have a.
I have a little niece thatlives nearby and, and, um, all
of my wife's family was out oftown, so it fell to me to hide
the easter eggs and provide yes,provide the paint, the paint
set and all the fun things forher to do.
She's, she's tiny.
So we, we had a little feastourselves and it was fun, so

(18:05):
let's call it feaster yeah,feaster this is.

Speaker 1 (18:08):
This is the first time my son, my youngest son,
wasn't around.
He joined the air force, of allthings, and he's actually
stationed down in um outside ofphoenix and uh, yeah, it was
kind of a surprise thing.
I mean, all of my kids areartsy fartsy's.
And then one day he's like,yeah, you know what?
He was going to college, wentto college for two years and

(18:31):
decided that not quite sure whatI want to do, but I think I
want to go on the air force,maybe have a little adventure,
save some dough, see a littlebit of the world.
I'm like, excuse me, what so?
But he's there.
But you know the final, eventhough he wasn't home yesterday
we talked to him and all thatkind of stuff and that's cool.
But when it all sunk in it waslike my youngest is now out of
the house and I don't have topay for college anymore.

(18:52):
Tyler.
So it's like I got a raise, Alittle more pocket jingle,
exactly.
So that is all well and good.
He was a sax player.
He was a pretty good sax playertoo.
He was.
You know, he had a nice touchin the whole nine yards.
He's like yeah, I don't want todo that.
My other daughter, or mydaughter that's closest to him

(19:13):
in age, is actually asinger-songwriter.
Now we're finishing up a recordfor her, and then my other
daughter is kind of an actress.
So they're all kind of artsyfartsy and of course Dylan plays
drums in the band.
So that's, that's all well andgood.

Speaker 2 (19:24):
So Is he a?

Speaker 1 (19:24):
good sax player he was.
You know what.
He had a nice touch, he had anice vibrato, yeah, and and we'd
hear him playing songs upstairsand he would play in the combo
and he was in this at school.
And then he was in this otherjazz kind of group thing at the
wisconsin conservatory and hewas playing with some other kind
of local hot shots or whateverand I thought he had a great

(19:46):
touch and dylan, my other son,would be like dude, you should
sit in with us, let's play thechicken or something like that.
He just absolutely refused todo it.
I think he's.
I think he saw it's like dadand dylan are that's their thing
, I'm gonna do something.
So he was more like a chesschampion and all this other kind
of stuff.
He was the, he was his, he wasa biochem major, so he's a

(20:07):
brainiac, but then he soundsintelligent, yes, and so he
sniffed.
He's been on some tours with usand I think he's sniffed it out
.
We're like did you enjoy doingthat, john?
He's like yeah, that was fun,but I'm glad I'm not going on.
So I think he realized that themusic thing was not for him,
yeah, although I did introducehim to the delicious ways of the

(20:29):
Waffle House and he isappreciative of that knowledge
of the delicious.

Speaker 2 (20:34):
It's good to.
Yeah, I mean, that's a staple.
My wife and I went to a WaffleHouse just a couple days ago
because we were going.
That's a staple.
My wife and I went to a WaffleHouse just a couple days ago
because we were going.
It's Sunday man, all of thesebreakfast spots in Nashville are
just loaded.
Yeah, they're packed right, youknow, and there's lines out the
door and we go to the WaffleHouse and the chef was singing

(20:54):
beautifully, of course, inNashville, and there was no one
else in there and we just hadthe best time.
You know, yeah, it's me and mypregnant wife at the Waffle
House.

Speaker 1 (21:03):
It sounds like a glorious time.
You know, the waffles there areunparalleled, that's all I'm
going to say.
They're delightful.

Speaker 2 (21:09):
Man.
We just recently we have like alittle morning coffee ritual
and we've been following alongwith this studio build on
YouTube over the last likecouple of years.
This guy in Sweden who'sbuilding a studio and one of the
the suggested videos that cameup was your Rick Beato.

(21:32):
Oh no, kidding and dude, wewatched the whole thing.
We sat there, we were justgoing to drink our coffee and
launch into the day and we endedup watching the whole thing and
I was just like this is so coolto see you on there.
And honestly too, I always justget such a kick out of your,
out of your like comedic ways,because obviously the playing we
all know that that's great.

(21:52):
But then I just get such a kickout of your personality and I
was wondering do you have anyfavorite comedians or are you
just naturally funny?

Speaker 1 (22:01):
Well, thank you, I mean I do, I do.
You know, my whole family waspretty humorous.
My dad was a card and my momwas as well, and all my brothers
and sisters, especially acouple of my sisters, were out
of their minds and still are.
But you know, I'm of themindset of.
I don't get how people don'tthink Will Ferrell is hysterical

(22:22):
.
Every time I see that son of abitch I think, especially the
outtakes are my, are my favorite, and so, yeah, I'm a big fan of
his and and everyone from youknow, sam Kennison back in the
day, to you name it I do enjoy,but most of the stuff is just,
we're always riffing, like if mywife had a dime for every time

(22:43):
that anything she says I'll turninto like a fucked up song at
any given time.
Right Drives her insane.
But you know, the good thing isthat she still laughs at my
jokes after all these years.
So I have to keep it fresh,keep it fresh.
And so as, as a result, on thehome front, there's, um, there
is, uh, the bar is pretty high,so I have to, uh, that's great,

(23:06):
man.
Well, what's great too aboutthe band you mentioned, toby.
You know the organ player he's,he's a blast and his, his humor
level is high and my son'shumor level is very high in kind
of a different way.
And so there's times wherewe're driving and crying, but it
ain't because we're sad,because the hilarity factor is

(23:28):
glorious.

Speaker 2 (23:29):
That's good man.
It's good for you to laugh, youknow.

Speaker 1 (23:32):
Well, you know, especially in this business can
be a little well you know anybusiness, but this business in
particular, that if you don'thave a sense of humor, man,
you're in for a long haul.

Speaker 2 (23:44):
Well, you know, that's an interesting.
Interesting point too, becauseso much of you know like you're
putting your heart and soul outthere and like all the things
that you like, truly believe inmusically, whenever you do this
for a living.
And as soon as you get a doorslammed in your face or someone
says I don't like that you knowI meet a lot of.
I met a young musician theother day who was, you know, 22

(24:08):
and he was talking about he'slike yeah, I was thinking about
quitting and I'm like oh man,you can't listen to those Like
just because I slam the door inyour face doesn't mean there's
not another door somewhere.
Just because I slam the door inyour face doesn't mean there's
not another door, somewhereExactly?
correct.
So I think that having a senseof humor about things and not
taking it so seriously andthere's not like one way to get

(24:28):
to any destination, there'smultiple ways and sometimes
you've got to connect to adifferent train to get there no
doubt I do think it is good tonot take it all so seriously,
because it can be a toughindustry, because so much of
your self-worth can get tied upinto the art, you know.

Speaker 1 (24:47):
Yes, no doubt about it.
No doubt about it.
You know, it was interesting.
We were just talking the otherday to somebody about this and
the whole idea of what you sayto young people and some people
are real jaded and they'll saydon't do it under any
circumstances.
And then you got the more,which, of course, people said

(25:10):
that to me.
I mean my dad.
I've told this story a milliontimes.
My dad talked to every one of myteachers along the way saying
for the love of God, discouragehim for doing this as a living,
because he was not from theworld of the arts.
You know what I mean.
So he thought that I'd bestarving forever.
And then you have more of thepeople like Zappa, who's you
know.
Zappa used to say two thingsnever give up and don't stop.

(25:36):
And never give up are his twothings, but I think the best one
.
I think my daughter heard fromsomebody you know she's going
into acting and it basicallysaid if you can see yourself
doing anything else, do that,because unless you have that
singular vision of this is allI'm going to do.
No one's going to stop me.
You're kind of against theeight ball, would not you say?

Speaker 2 (26:00):
Yeah, it's's, it's.
That's interesting because I,when I was, I remember my dad
was in his shop.
We had a shop out behind ourhouse where he, you know, would
work on lawnmowers and kept allof his tools and you know dad,
stuff, right, he was out thereand I kind of, um, I was about
to turn 17 and I had made myplan of moving to Nashville, and

(26:23):
so I went out there with and Iwas like, hey, dad, I need to
talk to you about something.
Um, I want to move to Nashvilleand I'd like your support on it
.
And I'm not going to ask you forany money, I don't want any
money, I'm just I got to do this, it's I.
I just have feeling I got to doit.
I got to follow my gut here andand he's like what are you

(26:44):
going to do if it doesn't workout?
And I said I don't know.
And he's like, all right, cool,he's like you know, cause he
was kind of like looking to seeif I had a backup plan, because
if I had a backup plan he wasgoing to think I wasn't serious.
Right, right, right, right.

Speaker 1 (27:00):
So and that's a scary thing, but it almost, you know,
you almost just need thatabsolute.
I think it's not almost.
You absolutely have to havethat singular focus of nothing
will stop me.
I'm giving this my complete andutter emphasis, yeah, and
because if you're thinking well,maybe, maybe I could do this,

(27:21):
and maybe, if it's like, becauseI'm sure you knew plenty of
people along the way, they'rejust not doing it anymore
because they decided that youknow, any kind of other
tangential thing that they couldhave done, they've done, uh,
for any number of differentlegitimate reasons, but you know
right, uh.
But to your other point too,though, is, like you, once
you're doing it and you'vedecided that you know I'm going

(27:43):
to do this, make an effort to tobe a musician and create my own
music and do whatever it takes,you find all these little
sidetrack things that are allrelated, but things you never
would have thought of.
But they present themselves andyou're like, oh, I guess I'm
going to do that for a while,and then that will supplement
this, and so on and so forth.

Speaker 2 (28:02):
So things just kind of I hate to use that term
manifest, but they do as aresult of that absolutely
singular focus yeah, no, I mean,I think about all the things
that have like over the yearswhere all of a sudden we're
working on a record and we'vegot a record deal and there's.
We've kind of used the musicvideo budget to go out and tour

(28:24):
shows because the shows didn'tpay quite enough but we wanted
to do them.
So we have to come up with amusic video and it's like, okay,
well, I guess we'll just figureout how to do it.
And I've always been the dudethat's like okay, I'll download
the software and learn how to do, learn how to do, learn how to

(28:48):
edit a music video.
Next thing you know, I'mediting five videos for my
friends bands, and I think it'sbeen.
It's been interesting to see howjust the situations I've found
myself in have forced me todiversify and find just like,
okay, this train isn't gonna getthere, I have to connect.
And then you get on there andyou go, hey, this is kind of
cool, cause it's.
It's a just a different way ofexpressing yourself.
I've got now, I've got a cameraand I'm.
You know, I'm like hey.
Greg, you want to come over andnot, I'll record you and film

(29:10):
you and we'll have a good time.
And you know, and I just lovecapturing moments, and's
exciting, it's a fun business tobe in, but it's certainly not
for the faint of heart, indeed.

Speaker 1 (29:26):
We interrupt this regularly scheduled
gristle-infested conversation togive a special shout-out to our
friends at Fishman Transducers,makers of the Greg Koch
Signature Fluence Gristle TonePickup Set Can you dig that?
And our friends at WildwoodGuitars of Louisville, Colorado,
bringing the heat in the shadowof the Rocky Mountains.

(29:48):
So I see this phalanx of pinkStratocasters behind you.
So that's kind of your thing,is the pink Strat?
Now you did a run of FenderCustom Shop guitars, right?

Speaker 2 (30:02):
I did, yeah, which was super rad.
Um, they had.
So I got this, this custom shoppink strat that was like a
1960s version right when I wasyoung and made the first
shakedown record with it, touredwith it, got to do shows with
jeff beck with it and yeah, andhe actually played it backstage

(30:22):
one day and I thought that wasso cool that he had touched my
guitar.

Speaker 1 (30:25):
Yes, he sanctified it , Blessed it.

Speaker 2 (30:28):
Yes, Then it got stolen in Spokane Valley,
washington, aw, missing for fiveand a half years.
And in the meantime my parentstook out like a little loan,
borrowed some money from afriend and got me a guitar just
like it oh nice, and they hadlike written some stuff on the
inside of it and that kind ofbecame my favorite guitar and

(30:52):
Fender approached me about doinga custom shop guitar and that's
what we did Awesome.
Yeah, I think they made 65 ofthem or 70 of them, something
like that, but they turned outreally cool.

Speaker 1 (31:04):
So I was kind of detecting that maybe you found
that guitar that got stolen, butyou have not.

Speaker 2 (31:09):
It found it in a car dealership in Spokane.
Somebody traded it.
Traded it in because the ownerof the car dealership played in
Willie Nelson cover band and theguy was like, will you give me
a thousand dollars off of thisCorolla in exchange for this
guitar?
And the guy was like sure, andthen took it into river city
guitars or river city yeah,river city guitars in Spokane

(31:33):
Valley, which I don't think isaround anymore and they bought
the guitar.
They said we'll pay you whatyou paid for it.
They bought it and mailed it tome and wouldn't even accept
payment.
Oh, you're kidding me.
Class act dudes.
And I've got it back.
It's, it's.
I don't know if you can see hereoh, yeah, there it is, yeah,
yeah, yeah that's the og, andthen this is the one that my

(31:55):
parents got me, and then this isthe uh, the custom shop rock.

Speaker 1 (32:00):
Yeah, yeah, I was gonna say you know the say what
you will about that thief, butpretty sensible choice on a used
vehicle yeah, I, I just usedthat for the example.

Speaker 2 (32:10):
I don't know exactly know what the car was.
It could have been somethingdifferent.
But you know the funny, thefunniest part about that thief
is on the back of the guitar.
We had done, um, a show openingfor Aerosmith and Steven Tyler
had taken a Sharpie and wrotePink, it's Like Red but Not
Quite Right, and they sandedthat off.
And then we had done like aSteve Cropper songwriting Hall

(32:33):
of Fame induction and I had tosing Midnight Hour, which I know
, but I was really nervous aboutsinging it in front of him,
sure, so I wrote the lyrics ontop of the guitar.
So, not to mess them up, theysanded that off.
One of my favorite guitaristsin Texas, this guy named Alan
Haynes oh yeah, sure He'd signedthe headstock they sent.
They sanded that off, but theynever changed the serial number.

Speaker 1 (32:56):
Oh, you're kidding me .

Speaker 2 (32:57):
It's just a plate.
All you gotta do is just put anew plate on.
Oh, you're kidding me, it'sjust a plate.
All you got to do is just put anew plate on.
So I was able to identify itand you know just clearly see
where they had sanded off thedefining marks Crazy.

Speaker 1 (33:11):
Well, that's awesome you got it back.
Yeah, I had a 335 stolen when Iwas I don't even know how old I
was, probably 22 or something,21, 22, up in Minneapolis, out
of my car and I'm always hopingthat I'll come across it one of
these days.
I can't remember the serialnumber, but it had this one
distinguishing mark on it thatwhen I see it I'll know if it's

(33:32):
it or not.
Yeah, but so far that has nottranspired.

Speaker 2 (33:36):
Hey, man, you never know, one never knows.
I had completely kind of justmade peace with not seeing that
guitar again and that was aterrible feeling to wake up and
we left the guitars in the vanbecause we were doing a drive
from Vancouver to Nashville,which makes a lot of sense, with

(33:58):
no shows in between.
Oh, good God, and you know, itwas about five or six in the
morning and we thought we got topull over and get a hotel room
and sleep for a few hoursbecause we were just toast and
we were at the hotel for threeor four hours and I I went out
that night to get my toothbrushand about three hours later the

(34:18):
drummer was knocking on the doorgoing hey, you asshole, you
have the band door open.
And I was like what door hegoes?
The back door.
I said I didn't go in the backdoor and we go out there.
And I had a 62 SG that wasstolen.
We had all our amps, we had.
We had a box of tim horton'sdonuts and there were 12 of them
in there and they left onedonut as just sort of a middle

(34:41):
finger to us.
Isn't that hilarious?
The thieves just took all thedonuts too.

Speaker 1 (34:46):
Oh, that's so weird because I had a dream last night
that our van got broken intoand they stole the Vista lights
and they stole.
They didn't steal my guitars,but they stole the drums and a
couple of amps.
It was a very vivid, weirddream that they stole that stuff

(35:09):
.
So hopefully this is notforeshadowing for me.
I hope it's not In my tripcoming up.
Yeah, are you going to be atdallas this year?
By chance, the dallas guitarshow?

Speaker 2 (35:19):
it's in a couple weeks no, I'm not gonna make it
this year.
I'd love you.
Are you gonna play?

Speaker 1 (35:24):
we are, we're heading down there, we're uh, we're
routing down.
On friday we're gonna be inevansville, indiana, then we're
going over to old knuckleheadsin kansas city.
I love knuckleheads, I lovethat place and then, uh, mercury
Lounge in Tulsa Great.
And then we're going to theContinental Club in Houston Cool
, which I have not been and thenwe do the Dallas Guitar Show,

(35:45):
and then we're doing Saxon Pub,and then Sam's Burger Joint, and
then we drive home.

Speaker 2 (35:51):
Oh man, that's awesome.
It'll be a nice little.

Speaker 1 (35:53):
Texas trip.
Bunch of great shows.
Yeah, yeah, it'll be good,clean, fun and a good time to
get out of here.
The weather's been a littlebeen a little dicey around here,
has it cold, a little cold, youknow.
It's just like today.
It's just kind of 40 and rainy.
You know what I mean, but youknow it's at least we're not
getting you know untoldpestilence like they do in most

(36:14):
places.

Speaker 2 (36:15):
But be that as it may , Well, my wife and I were
driving in Nashville.
You know, we had a tornadoscare where we had a tornado
warning in the middle of thenight and the sirens are going
off, and all that.
So the next day there was, ormaybe two days later, they said
oh, it's a tornado watch, we'reexpecting a tornado.
I walk outside, I'm like it's atornado watch, we're expecting

(36:36):
a tornado.
I walk outside, I'm like it'sbeautiful, it's not.
You know, no rain, no clouds,nothing right.
And her mom and made dinner.
I said there's no tornado,let's go on.
And by the time we get thereit's like all right, 90 mile an
hour wind incoming to nashville.
I said I think I might havesteered us into danger.
We better head on home.
Oh, and so we get, we, we um,get in the car and I'm listening
to the live stream on nashsevere weather and they say if

(36:59):
you're downtown, you're out oftime.
And about that time thismassive gazebo blows up through
the air and lands like a foot infront of my truck.
Oh my god, it was horrifying.
And I was going.
Oh my gosh, this was a bad move.
I've led, I've led our familyinto danger oh, I'll tell you
what tornadoes are.

Speaker 1 (37:17):
Nothing to nothing to toy around with.
No way, no way.
Nature is, uh, not to betrifled with.
It's the bottom line, yeahthat's true so are you a guitar
collecting fiend, or you justhave the stuff you like and you
don't go too crazy, or or do youhave the affliction.

Speaker 2 (37:36):
I'm not really a guitar collector.
I have things.
I have a lot of guitars, butI've accumulated them very
slowly, got it.
Well, I say I say slowly, it'dbe probably fast for most people
, but I do, I I have, I have alot of.
I collected guitars a lot morewhen I was younger.
I used to work in a guitar shop, okay, and so I never got paid

(38:05):
because I would just always putwhatever money was owed to me
down on a guitar and then workit off, you know.
So I have a bunch of guitarsthat came just came into one
Lamar Avenue in Paris, texas.
You know where someone wouldcome in and they'd be like I've
got this 60s, you know Mustangbass, and I'd be like I will, I
will buy it.
I will take it Stuff like that.
So, but lately my thing hasjust been buying microphones and
preamps, oh yeah.

Speaker 1 (38:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (38:26):
Got that bug.
Yeah, I go deep down that bugwith that bug.

Speaker 1 (38:31):
Yeah.
So, now, how about amps?
Are you?
Are there certain amps that youlike to use in the studio, as
opposed to what you use live andthat whole kind of thing, or is
it?
Is there pretty?
Is there a consistency acrossthe board?

Speaker 2 (38:47):
Yeah, I've got, I've got a bunch of amp heads on a
switcher here in the controlroom so some of my favorite
heads are just all able to beand I can switch between cabs
and amps.
You know, really fast, and I Iwill say I did.
I did do a signature amp withSupro recently called the black

(39:08):
magic reverb TB, and it's it's.
It's a very similar amp totheir black magic reverb.
It's just, you know, beefed upa little bit, a little higher
power, more headroom, and I'mobsessed with that amp so I've
been using that a lot.
I just got one of those DavidGrissom, paul Reed Smith amps,
that's a good amp, yeah, yeah,yeah, badass amp man.

(39:30):
I love that.
There's a guy in Nashville thatmakes, that makes amps called
tyler amps and my wife bought meone for christmas one year just
because it had my name on itand I've become obsessed with
his amp.
So I have a bunch of his ampsaround the studio.
Um, but, yeah, I have, I have aton of stuff laying around I,
but yeah, I, you know, I don't.

(39:50):
I don't really go out andcollect, collect amps.
I have more amps than I needand can am able to get just
about any sound.
Once you have like three orfour things that you know really
well, you can normally find thething.

Speaker 1 (40:03):
Yes, what about you?
You know, I'm kind of the sameas you were saying.
I accumulate things and everynow and again I'll get something
new.
A buddy of mine that I went tohigh school with he got ahold of
me and he's like, hey, you knowmy, my uncle I'm kind of in
charge of his affairs.

(40:23):
He's, you know, he's sick andhe was a guitar player and he's
got this old Gibson.
You want to take a look at it?
And I'm like, yeah, I'll take alook at it.
So he brings it over and it's,it wasn't.
It was a guitar.
I wasn't all that familiar withit.
It was a 57 ES I'm going to getit wrong, I already forgot it
Not a two 55.

(40:44):
Yeah, I think that might beright.
Florentine the dog, your Pnineties blonde.
And I was like, yeah, this ispretty awesome.
So I called my buddy Steve fromWildwood and I called Dave from
Dave's Guitars.
I said, what do you think thisthing is worth?
And put them on speakers sothat my buddy could hear it.
And I was like, oh, it reallyisn't all that much money.
He's like, yeah, you know, ifyou sold it through us, you know

(41:06):
you'd have to get like 25% andyada, yada, yada.
He, oh, you know, this amountof money would be good.
And I said to my buddy I waslike, well, shit, I'll give you
that for it.
So I ended up buying that.
That's usually, you know, withmy Reverend deal, when they come
up with a new color, I have toget one.
So I've been accumulatingguitars that way, but I just got

(41:32):
kind of a fun little.
You know I'm a Hendrix fanatic,but I got this new set of
pickups that I did with Fishman,new Strat pickups that are in
one of my new Reverends.
But they're also making apreloaded pickguard that they're
selling and I thought, well,it'd be cool to have a guitar to
pop it on to see what it soundslike.
So I just got one of these likeJapanese 69 St strap type

(41:56):
things and I popped my pickardin it and man, it sounds
majestic, sounds sweet.
So I've got that and then thelittle things will come along,
like there's this uh, I had athing for, like you know, the
keith richards.
It's a 74, but it was someonerefinished it, this cool green

(42:16):
and so I had to have that.
So there's just little thingslike that.
But I don't go too crazy and Idon't, you know, I'm not
obsessed with.
I mean, I've got a, I've got a53 Tele.
That's probably the, thevintage guitar that I have.

Speaker 2 (42:30):
But I got that.
That's like the.
That's one of the best ones youcould have.

Speaker 1 (42:33):
Right, right, and I, I lucked out on that.
Someone had a guy passed awayand his brother was put in
charge of his, his stuff, and hebrought the stuff into Wildwood
and there was a 54 strat andthat that went right away.
And then there was this 53telly and I, I, I toyed around
with getting it, for it wasstill there for a couple of

(42:54):
months and anyways, I, uh, Itoyed around with getting it,
for it was still there for acouple of months and anyways, I
ended up driving out to Coloradowith a van full of stuff custom
shop guitars, of this, that andthe next thing and I, I just
unleashed a bunch of stuff inorder to get that, and I'm glad
I did, because that thing that'sjust sitting around the house
playing that guitar is sometimesyou got to sacrifice.

Speaker 2 (43:13):
You got to sacrifice a few to get the good one.
That is correct.
And I did that recently with auh.
I found this gibson country andwestern acoustic, oh yeah, and
I a friend of mine called me andhe was like, hey, will you go
over to uh blues vintage, whichis a nashville guitar shop, and
will you go over there and playsome acoustics with me and help

(43:34):
me pick out an acoustic?
And he fell in love with aMartin and I was like, dude,
this is the guitar, right, thisis the one.
And I go home and I wasthinking about it and I was like
be quiet, mind you know, andthe next next day I'm thinking
about it, and the next day I'mthinking about it and I go back
and I play it again and it'sstill the same feeling and I was
like damn it.

(43:55):
So I put like 10 guitars in mycar and a bunch of pedals and
went over there's like what doyou want, right?

Speaker 1 (44:02):
make me an offer I can't understand.
Yeah, well, that's the thingwith acoustics.
I mean it's.
I don't know about you, but Ialways grew up as like, well,
martin, I got to have a Martin,so I saved up my dough and I got
a hd 28 and I used that on abunch of sessions and whatnot
and never really gigged with itall that much um.
And then I got a hankering forlike a triple o 28 and so I got

(44:26):
one of those and I love thesound of that and that's
actually I use that more thesedays, um, but then I realized
it's like the way I play andgibson can take the banging so
much better than a mark.
And then it's like I love thesound of, uh, you know, the
rosewood on the on the 28s andstuff, but it's really a d18 or

(44:49):
a triple o18 is really thatmahogany can kind of take the
beating.
I administer a little bit more,and that that's why the Gibson
sounds so great, are you?
Obviously they're both good fordifferent things, but where do
you?
Where do you?
Where do you gravitate?

Speaker 2 (45:00):
Well, I'm, I've, I had recently just got a, um, uh,
martin super D.
Okay, there have been a lot ofjokes made about that.
My wife, my wife, liked it somuch that she started taking
mine out on on tour and so Icalled martin, I was like please
, god, help this woman get asuper d of her own, you know,

(45:23):
because she keeps taking mineand I want to play it, and so
now she has the same guitar.
So we technically have superdouble d's, you know, and we've,
like I well, I say we liberally, we've been joking about that,
I've been joking about it, um,but I do love that guitar.
It's a very.
It's like, basically, martin'stake on what a j200 would be.
It's an oversized.

(45:45):
Martin got it and I I'm, I'mkind of obsessed with that low
end, right, but like my, um, mygibson, it's got more of that,
like you can dig into it and allthe strings are real, even I
can play it very hard andTownsend thing or whatever.
Um, but yeah, I don't, you know, I just I love them all, they,
they're, they all have.

(46:06):
You know, uh, brian Sutton cameover to my, to my place, to
borrow a cabinet and I wasshowing him my martin that I'm
into, and he was like do youwant to see mine?
And so he brings it out hislike 30s oh, jesus e28.
And he started playing and I've, and I understood.
I was like, oh, I see, whythese?

(46:26):
why people pay the big simoleonsright especially when you have
a guy like that playing it, whojust knows how to touch a guitar
.
Right, because when I played itit didn't sound like that.

Speaker 1 (46:38):
He's like the way everything he's doing holding
the guitar, touching the guitar,the picks he's using it's all
designed to make that guitarsing right, so I got you yeah it
was really fun to hear him play, like sitting in front of the
guitar yeah, I was gonna ask youwhat's it like having your wife
be a fiendish guitar player aswell?

(46:59):
Is that, it's just gotta bewild.

Speaker 2 (47:01):
It's great, I mean I love it.
You know there's a lot of musicin our in our family but
between my wife, rebecca, andher sister, megan is a crazy lap
seal player and and I meanthey're just, they're're so
musical and and cool that itmakes you know holiday jams
really fun mike seal as well.
Um, so we we do have a lot ofjams at family gatherings.

(47:23):
Um, you know, rebecca and Iwere introduced by an engineer
producer here in nashville towrite songs together and we
ended up, you know, kind ofstriking up a relationship and
never really writing a songuntil a couple years into the
relationship.
Honestly, um, but it's beenreally fun to to write tunes
together and work out, work outparts on, you know, rock and

(47:47):
jams and record them and yeah,yeah, yeah, they're, they're,
they're killing it right now andI'm excited, excited for them.
It's been a lot of fun and youknow I got such a kick that
whenever their Blood Harmonyalbum won the Grammy for
Contemporary Blues or whatever,because I'm just going, it
shouldn't be this easy, you know, to make a record.

(48:08):
Like with them it's just likestay out of the way because what
they do is just so naturallycool.
Yeah, it's like write the song,make it a good song and stay
out of the way because they,what they do is just so
naturally cool.
Yeah, you know, it's like writethe song, make it a good song
and stay out of the way and Iwas just laughing, I'm going,
man, it's neat to get a grammyfor an album that was made in a
basement.
It's awesome.
And like with the ruthie fosterrecord, um rebecca, rebecca and

(48:31):
I wrote nine of the 10 songs onthat album with Ruthie just
sitting in our kitchen, you know, and it was just, it was a lot
of fun.
It's fun collaborating with her.
Awesome.

Speaker 1 (48:43):
Yeah, what's it like?
You know, at this point, youknow you have two Grammys under
the bell.
I mean, for some people thatwould probably be like, oh my
God, this is fantastic.
Other people would just be like, yeah, well, it's just part of
the whole journey, or so on andso forth.
But it's got to be a momentwhere you're just like I've got

(49:03):
that cred.
Now I can branch out and domore because I've got this in
the bank.
Is that the way you feel aboutit?

Speaker 2 (49:11):
I don't know, man.
I mean, I just feel like Ihelped facilitate records for
great artists.
I don't keep the grammys in thestudio right now they're in the
house because I don't want tolook at that shit whenever I'm
recording.
Right, I hear you.
I don't want to like think youknow what?
What can we win with this album?
It's like I just want to.

Speaker 1 (49:31):
Oh yeah, I mean you know and I I I definitely didn't
mean that, but you know what Imean Just just the idea of you
know.
There's people that probablythat's their goal is, is that?
But then there's other peoplewho just like, like what you're
describing, you just want to dothe work and you want to have
fun, and so on and so forth.
But those things that so manyother people take as the big

(49:52):
gravitas you know what I meanpeople take as the big gravitas.
You know what I mean.
Yeah, allows you to just belike, oh okay, well, that's,
that's, that's done for peoplethat need to have that kind of
validation in order to take me,however they want to take me.
You know what I mean yeah, noman.

Speaker 2 (50:06):
and and I think this goes back to our what we were
talking about earlier, about,like you know, kind of being
able to have a thick skin andnot be discouraged when doors
get slammed in your face.
The thing that I have realizedmore and more over the years is
that the work is the reward,absolutely.
Like if you were to come overand hang out and want to walk in

(50:27):
the studio and just be likewhat's up, man, and if I had a
jam to play for you that I feltlike I could hang my hat on.
That's, that's it for me.
Um right, it's.
Yeah, it's really cool.
And it's cool especially for anartist like Ruthie, because
she's been nominated forcountless Grammys.
It's cool to see her getartists who deserve it get their
flowers right.
Yeah, yeah, I got you know, andit's also neat to like get a

(50:49):
Grammy in the mail, you know.
But like I got a Grammy in themail and then immediately went
to Home Depot and bought a newwater heater because our water
heater failed.
I don't take it lightly, but itis the work, that is the reward
for me, and getting to just bein the room with talented people
and try to capture it to thebest of my ability.

(51:10):
Yeah, I don't know.
I dig it, I dig it all.

Speaker 1 (51:15):
It's a head trip, so what's on the docket coming up
here?
What's the next series ofthings other than, of course,
the impending arrival of theman-child?

Speaker 2 (51:24):
Yeah, I've just been working on some music for myself
.
You know we're going out on theroad doing shakedown shows in
June and July.
We're going out with Clutch Ah,what good tour.
In June and July we're goingout with Clutch.
That'll be a great fun tour.
That's almost all of June andthen going to Texas in July and
other places and, yeah, then thebaby boy comes in August and I

(51:48):
think we're probably going totake well, I know we're going to
take baby boy.
Provided all goes well, whichI'm sure it will He'll be going
on the road with Larkin Poe andon their fall tour, which means
I'll be going on the road withLarkin Poe on their fall tour.
Just hang out with, hang outwith my son and, you know, make
sure he's not getting up toanything.
You know any bad behavior onthe road, fantastic.

(52:12):
So, yeah, just just I'm outhere working in the studio all
day so what's your currentlineup with your band?
it's the same dudes, it's sameguys, same dudes.
Man, I've I've been playingwith, uh, caleb crosby on drums
since I was 17 years old, andGraham Whitford, I think, joined

(52:35):
two years afterwards and then,uh, it's base base.
Actually, we have a DiegoNevada who's been playing with
us for a couple years now, or ayear and a half or so.
Um, I think that you know Caleb.
Caleb is in an interestingposition right now because he
just got hired on by KelseyBallerini to go out and do these

(52:56):
massive arena shows.
Oh, good Lord.
So he's not going to be able tomake all of the upcoming
Shakedown gigs, but we're gladthat he's getting to travel in
the big leagues and, you know,have a cushy gig and make his
money, because he deserves it.
Money is you know, it's's noteverything, but it is a little
bit he's got a second child onthe way as well, so you know

(53:20):
it's been, but it's been funhaving, you know, having he's
got a little son that's threeyears old, who's like basically
on fire when he comes over andhe comes into the studio and
he's like, you know, to hellwith your settings, turns all
the knobs and pretty fun.

Speaker 1 (53:37):
So obviously you know your way around studio how.
What was the learning curvelike for you?
Were you kind of intimated thatyou were the person always
downloading things and figuringthe technical side of things out
?
So were you pretty studio savvyhave you been for quite some
time, or is it kind of alearning curve once you decided
to get into the production gameas it?

Speaker 2 (53:58):
were certainly certainly a learning curve.
Um, I took my when I did.
When I did my first publishingdeal with sony, I realized
pretty quickly that I would takean advance from them and then
they would have like an allottedbudget for songwriting demos.
So I would go and write everyday of the week with a Nashville
songwriter and then I wouldspend 300 to 600 dollars making

(54:23):
a demo and then that would justget tacked on to the bill that I
owed them.
And so the next year when I did, when it was time for my
advance to come, I took justenough money I needed to survive
and I spent the rest buyingmicrophones and a working
computer and a humble set ofspeakers.

(54:43):
And over the years it just kindof became more of an obsession
and anytime I would start a newproject or have any disposable
income I would buy a new preampor a microphone.
And so I was very lucky to havea couple of mentors who would
just let me ask them questions,and they weren't guarded with
the keys Right, because if youwant to drive you have to do

(55:06):
this Right and would show mestuff about parallel compression
or why you would EQ certainthings a certain way and how to
capture stuff and not commit tooheavily on the front end to box
in a mix engineer or, if youwant this to be the sound, don't
be afraid to commit.
And then, just working with abunch of different people and

(55:27):
through having the shakedown, wewould work with Vance Powell or
Andy Johns or some of thesegreat producer engineers and I
would just ask questions andtake notes Cool and I would just
use that when it came time toto make my decisions on what
gear I thought could benefit meand the results I wanted to have
.

Speaker 1 (55:47):
So so how are how?
How much are you into theanalog gear versus the digital
stuff, and so on and so forth?

Speaker 2 (55:57):
I, I love, I love the analog stuff.
I mean, I'm, I'm recording.
I don't I'm not recording totape in my, in my studio I have.
But yeah, I've got, I've got ananalog API console in here and
then I've got, like you know, abunch of old like ampeg stuff
and gate stuff and you knowprobably 20 channels of tube

(56:18):
analog preamps, um, as well as abunch of great solid state
preamps and tube compressors.
You know all that kind of stuff.
I'm, I'm obsessed with it.
I've got the, you know, tapeechoes and analog reverbs, um.
But I do, I do like to, to, Ilike hitting analog on the front
end.
But with that said, I've made.

(56:39):
You know, we made one record,just kind of as an experiment
during the pandemic, usingnothing but a Universal Audio
Apollo and it sounds great to me.
Yeah, yeah, we didn't use asingle piece of outboard gear.
So you know, I think I talkedto Richard Dodd, who's this
great engineer and masteringengineer, when I was first

(57:03):
moving in Nashville.
I remember calling him andasking what the best microphone
was and he said the one thatworks when you need it to.
So you know, for me it is justa matter of like being able to
capture the stuff wheneverpeople are ready to Perfect.
What's your, what's your takeon it?
Like are you into the?
Are you like doing a lot ofmodeling these days?

(57:24):
Are you still using a real amp?

Speaker 1 (57:26):
Like no, I use, I make, I make loud noises, that's
.
That's the problem.
You know, I've always been uhtechnically inane when it came
to recording.
I mean, the only reason why,you know, we got this live
streaming rig was during thepandemo, when I needed to uh to
do the live streams from thehouse and just gradually it went

(57:48):
from.
I was using.
This fishman sent me a laptopwith this usb microphone and
that's all I used for theinitial few live streams.
The next thing, you know, myson's like dude, we should get
some stuff so that we caninterface and get some kind of
like these are words, I don'tknow what you're saying.
So then, next thing, you knowwe've got everything mic'd up
and we've.

(58:09):
You know we got cameras and allthis other kind of shit.
Yeah, but it's not good enough.
I mean, I've recorded, uh, justguitar tracks here at the house
, uh, but whenever we record wego into a studio.
A buddy of mine's got a placethat we go into, or uh, toby's
got a buddy of his up in thetwin cities we've gone to record
with.
But, um, yeah, you know, I usemy amps and we we play a lot.

(58:39):
I try to do everything as liveas possible.
Um and um.
You know that's awesome.
That's just kind of how wewe've been rolling.
We got a session coming upwhere, um, we're going down to
sweetwater to do so.
I think you guys are going downthere to do something, or
larkin pose going there to do arecording workshop like a master
class song song from scratch.

Speaker 2 (58:54):
Yeah, that we're going down there to do that.
We're there to do a recordingworkshop Like a masterclass song
song from scratch.

Speaker 1 (58:56):
Yeah, we're going down there to do that.
We're going to come a couple ofdays early and record a few
more tunes, and Jimmy Hall isgoing to come in and probably do
a couple of tunes with us.

Speaker 2 (59:05):
I love Jimmy man.
What a legendary voice.

Speaker 1 (59:07):
Yes, so we're going to record some stuff there and
see what we get.

Speaker 2 (59:12):
And tell Jimmy, I have one of his hats.
Man, I was just uh cleaning outthe old studio and I have one
of his hats that he left on thebus or something on that jeff
beck tour that I was on, awesomebecause he was out there.

Speaker 1 (59:23):
Jimmy is a force of nature, that's something.
I mean he's you know mid-70sand sings and gets on stage and
plays harp.
I mean the guy's a madman, Imean he's definitely an
inspiring character ever.

Speaker 2 (59:35):
He always delivers, yes, he nails it, and then we
did this cool we did.

Speaker 1 (59:41):
You know, he was on one of the the tunes from the
last record and and, uh, we weregoing to do this music video
for it down with devin allman.
So devin brings us all into stlouis to do this, this video,
and of course I don't rememberwhat the hell I played, and so
I'm trying to listen to thissong, like what am I miming?
But you know, jimmy was someticulous, taking notes, making

(01:00:04):
sure he had everything ready togo.
It's, like you know, so awesomethat a person with that stature
, that kind of a career at hisage, he still just totally gives
a shit Because, as you weresaying earlier, it's all about
the music and being in themoment and doing the best job
you can at the at that point intime, and he's definitely all
about that, which is which isawesome, because there are many
who do not look at it that way.

Speaker 2 (01:00:25):
Yeah, no, I know it's never.
I don't think that and I thinkthat's what's interesting too
about like the way that peoplemake records.
Now so many I've I've workedwith a lot of young guys who
come in and they're like wasthat good enough?
I'm like I don't understandthat question.
Like, right, was that goodenough?
Like, if you have a doubt, likeyou know, are we looking for
good enough no, that is a.

Speaker 1 (01:00:47):
That is a strange way to say it.
You want to people, was thatthe one?
Is what you want here?
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:00:54):
that's the stuff you want to play for your mailman
when he walks by Right.

Speaker 1 (01:00:58):
Exactly.

Speaker 2 (01:01:01):
Man.
Next time y'all are in town,though, I'd love to have you
over, just to you know, hang out, because the studio that I've
been building it's designed forlive moments like that Excellent
.
It's been so fun to have peoplecome by and the room just
sounds beautiful to where, whenyou get the guitar and the bass
amp and everything bleedingright into the drums, it just

(01:01:22):
sounds yes, supposed to you knowglorious.

Speaker 1 (01:01:27):
well, definitely, you know when we're going to be
down there.
We're going to be down thereearly june and then we're coming
back in August to do a showwith LA Guns of all people.
So that'll be kind of fun and Ithink it's a solo show we're
doing at the Analog, but Idefinitely would love to come

(01:01:47):
over and cause trouble.

Speaker 2 (01:01:49):
I would love to come check out the show too.
Yes, please Listen my friend.
Thank you so much, friend,thank you so much, thank you so
much that contraption of a pedalboard that you had the last
time I saw you.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,this beast that has I was just
watching you use it going how,how in the world?
Yeah, you know what is whatit's got.

Speaker 1 (01:02:10):
Well, you know what I and I just gotten it.
Then it was funny as that,here's the beast right here.
Oh my gosh.
You remember when I had thatblue thing.
I didn't realize that youactually take that off and it
becomes transparent, but therewas this plastic thing on the
front of it which tells you whateverything is.
I had just gotten the pedal andI was like, why is that thing

(01:02:31):
blue?
I guess that looks cool.
And then the greeks called me,who make this thing, like yeah,
you take that off oh my gosh butyou know, what's funny is that
you know I go in phases where Ijust go straight into an amp and
it's got reverb.
I'm good, you know, turn it upand away.
You go.
And then during the pandemo,when you know we're doing a live

(01:02:52):
stream, I was like, yeah, it'skind of fun to have a little
delay, or you, you know, alittle univibe here and there or
a little flange or whatevs.
So then I started using apaddle board again and then my
buddies from Jam Paddles werelike, hey, what if we did like a
signature thing?
And I'm like, okay, so we puttogether this stuff and I mean

(01:03:13):
sometimes I'm not I'm using likeone thing on it, you know, but
it's nice to have all the.
But what's interesting lately isthat I haven't been using an
amp with reverb.
I've been using that Tone KingRoyalist, which is more of like
a Marshall type of a situation.
So I set it kind of like aJTM-45, and I set it so it's
pretty clean.
If I lean on it a little bit itstarts to give, but it doesn't

(01:03:34):
have reverb.
So if I lean on it a little bitit starts to give, but it
doesn't have reverb.
So I've just been using alittle bit of slapback, delay
Cool Instead of reverb, and Ikind of dig in that.
So I kind of keep that on allthe time.
But sometimes I turn that offand just have it dry as a bone
and you know what.
That's a delight as well.

Speaker 2 (01:03:50):
Yeah, hey, man, you eat beef every night.
Sometimes you want chicken.
Yeah, hey, man, you eat beefevery night.

Speaker 1 (01:03:54):
Sometimes you want chicken, that's right, doggone
it.
Well, listen, my friend, youtake care of yourself.
I hope to see you soon.
Great to see you, buddy.
Likewise, thanks for doing this.
We'll talk to you soon.
Talk to you soon, man Later.
Have a good one, bye-bye.
Well, thanks for tuning in,ladies and gentlemen, to another
episode of Chewing the Gristle.

(01:04:15):
We certainly do appreciate youstopping by.
Make sure you tell your friendsall about us.
I think they might enjoythemselves.
So thanks again for tuning inand we'll see you next time.