Michael Dean Goodrich

Michael shares his story of music, personal challenges and success.

Episode Transcript

(00:30):
Well, there's a retreat got Michael Dean Goodrich.
Hi buddy.
Hi.
It's great to be here.
Your new studio.
I know I got excited.
Yeah, I know.
I've been screwing around with it for, you know, a few days now.
So we'll still jump away through it a little bit.
But I think appreciate you coming in.
I know you had a special looking spot.

(00:50):
Yeah, thanks, man.
You have a special project you came in for.
Yeah.
And we'll share that on room on a radio over the days to come, which would be kind of cool.
That sounds really cool.
But since I have you, I figured what the hell?
Why not?
Might as well take a little time together.
Let's do it.
So you had a new album come out.
A new, what is it?
EP?
EP?
Yeah, six song EP in December of 23.

(01:11):
Yeah.
So that's been a couple months.
Yeah.
It's been a couple months.
Yeah.
And then I had a three song EP collaboration with Ashley Norton.
That's true.
That was the most recent thing.
Yeah.
And really excited about that.
This right here is just cool.
You know, these, let's see if we can get the right one going here.

(01:33):
That's this one, right?
Yeah, the Islands in the Stream.
Islands in the Stream.
Yeah.
That was kind of cool.
What made you guys come up, decide to do that?
We were looking for duets to do and that just popped into Ashley's head and I said, let's
try it.
Yeah.
What a great remake.
It's a little bit on my high end for singing, but yeah, we winged it and it sounds pretty
good.
I like that.

(01:53):
It's got to be a little intimidating to take on a song like with two legends like that.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Something I grew up with and never thought I'd ever sing.
Yeah.
I know.
It's kind of cool.
Here it is.
I know.
And I'll be honest with you, it's been a big hit.
A lot of people say, did you hear that?
Did you hear that song by Michael D and Goodtuner?

(02:13):
I'm like, yes, I heard that song.
Yeah.
Of course.
That's cool.
I'm glad we, yeah, I'm glad we decided to put that one out with Ashley and I.
Yeah.
I think that the song thing is a lot of fun.
That's cool.
You guys working on anything else together?
That is always something.
There's always something.
There's always something.
Yeah.
There's always something.
That's cool.
All right.

(02:33):
So your EP came out that last December and it's been getting a lot of good reviews.
Really kind of fun.
What else are you working on?
You working on anything else right now?
Yeah.
So that was volume one of three volumes that I want to do on this.
Holy cow.
Through the years.
On that first volume, I pick three older songs that I've done over the last 30 years since

(02:53):
I've been playing music and I bring back three old ones and then do three newer ones that
I've written, kind of mix them together and just kind of going to do three different volumes.
So I get next one.
I'm going to probably start in June, start recording with John again.
The Wizard of Oz?
Yeah.

(03:14):
And we'll just start putting some songs together for that.
I have some ideas of what I want to do on the old stuff.
I started in a punk rock band when I was a teenager.
So yeah.
Did you really?
Yeah.
And three of the songs from the first volume, In My Soul, being the main one are from that
old punk rock band.

(03:35):
I just kind of acoustify them and make them a little more country fried, which is kind
of what I'm doing.
We have another artist come in not too long ago, Ethan Gilsdorf.
You know Ethan?
Yes.
Yeah.
He had kind of the same story.
Yeah.
You know, punk rock.
And then I think he was saying a few years ago, a song came on the radio or something
like that and it just completely, he just really, it country fried him as well.

(03:58):
And he's full on.
Oh yeah.
He definitely is a lot more.
That's cool.
But yeah, I'm excited to get the next volume out and I picked some good songs that haven't
really seen the light of day since the year 2000 or 2001 when I ended the punk rock band
with my friends and stuff.
So it'll be nice to acoustify those and bring them out back to the light of day and kind

(04:22):
of see what people think of them.
Right.
Yeah.
Now you said that was like, well gosh, that'd be 23 years ago now.
20 ish.
Yeah.
20, 23 years.
And that was here in Southern California?
I was in San Diego.
Yeah.
You were in San Diego?
I lived in PB for 20 plus years.
Oh, okay.
And I moved to PB in 95 with my twin brother and a couple of other friends.

(04:43):
We were in a punk rock band in Phoenix.
But based out of Idaho, we graduated high school in Idaho, found a few punk rock kids
that we knew in town or at our school and started a punk rock band.
And we were really looking to make it big and just do music.

(05:03):
And so Idaho didn't have much at that time.
Phoenix was budding as a punk rock scene and bands like Green Day were starting to come
up there and we were in love with things like Bad Religion and Pennywise and No Effects.
And so we moved out to Phoenix and started playing music and did it as much as we could

(05:24):
and just found it was too hot.
Too hot, yeah.
Too hot and there was not a lot of water around.
So we didn't want to go back to Idaho because we wanted to continue music.
You all moved down from Idaho as a group?
Yes.
Really?
Yeah.
So where did all your friends end up?
Most of them went back to Idaho.
My twin brother is still here in San Diego.
He's in like normal heights area and we connect every once in a while and do some acoustic

(05:48):
stuff together at the house.
Is this still his music?
The punk is still kind of his music?
He's more into like the beachy stuff like Jack Johnson, a lot of Hawaiian stuff.
He picked up the ukulele and started really playing ukulele, tambourine and harmonica
kind of all together.
And he does a lot of really cool stuff with some organizations down in San Diego.

(06:09):
Oh cool.
So you've talked about doing a collab together?
I've talked to him about it but he's not up for the live stuff.
Maybe some recording he might do.
So I'll have to keep working on him with that.
He played out with me a couple times for some events that I did for the Byrne Institute
and he was like yeah playing in public is just not my thing.

(06:33):
But we'll do family stuff and he's more than comfortable to hang out with 20 or 30 family
members and their friends and we'll jam like there's five or six of us that play and get
together.
Oh that's cool.
And we'll just jam at different events and stuff.
That's cool.
Yeah.
That's cool.
Now you've got to give me a little background on this one too.
Oh Haley, yeah.
Because I heard you say once that somebody said or kept on, a few people have mentioned

(06:58):
a few times that they thought you wrote the song about an old girlfriend.
Yes.
Yes.
I would say 90% of the people listen to that and it's either I wrote it about an ex-girlfriend
or it's about my daughter.
And I was like well neither is true and they're like no way.
And so I was living in PB at the time and the punk rock band had broken up in early

(07:23):
2001 or late 2000 excuse me and then 2001 and 2002 I was just starting to do acoustic
stuff by myself.
I'd never really played by myself.
Finding a few spots down in PB and OB to go play open mics and try and get little gigs
and stuff and I was playing on the beach a lot.
A friend of mine moved from Idaho down here just to part, just kind of a temporary thing

(07:48):
just to, he was finishing school doing some stuff.
He was in school in Idaho and in the summers he was a river guide and he had done it 10
plus years like a whitewater rafting guide.
Right.
And I was just kind of waiting tables and doing other things like that and he said you
know if you want I can try and get you on to my company if you move up for the summer

(08:11):
and dedicate yourself to being there all summer we can try and get you trained and then you
can do that.
You can find a part time job up there doing what you're doing.
You're just waiting tables and hanging out and stuff.
And so I did.
I moved to Idaho and my aunt happened to live in Haley Idaho and a couple of my cousins.
I didn't know anyone else up there and my friend was a little further north than Stanley.

(08:33):
It's about an hour north of Haley about 75, 76 miles.
And so I moved to Haley because that was a good base to start from and my aunt was more
welcoming more than welcoming excuse me to have me for the summer.
Just like you know just come stay with us we'll figure it out.
So I moved there I got a little part time job and then that was right before Memorial

(08:54):
Day which they kind of kick off their training for the whitewater season.
So I'd drive up you know the drive up the hour and I'd stay for a couple days and get
on with some of the season guides.
Excuse me.
I just hit the microphone you know talking with my hands.
And got to be some Italian in there somewhere.
And so I you know went up and did that and I stayed the whole summer in Haley and just

(09:18):
once or twice a week I'd go up and and River Guide with my friends and stuff.
I didn't get a job that year but you know I hung out with them a lot.
I ended up starting an open mic up there in Stanley so I'd stay up there a couple days
and go do the open mic at the local local bar the old K Club.
But I spent most of my time in Haley met some really cool friends like the first week I

(09:40):
was there and there was some music stuff going on in town so I just stayed there and then
we we hit it off and we started playing music together.
We'd go out on like camping excursions and just play all night you know in the summer
in Idaho it gets dark around 1030 1045 or so.
So you have daylight all the way you know till that late at night so just hang around

(10:02):
drinking a few beers around the campfire like 10 people in a circle.
You know before I knew that was really a thing and so I spent the whole summer doing that
made some really great friends hung out with my family my aunt and my cousins and came
back to San Diego.
And I remember driving the 1314 hours from Haley to San Diego and went in one stretch

(10:24):
you know just stopping for coffee and gas.
I made it back to PB I drove straight down to the beach and I jumped in the water in
right around law street and came back out and I was like you know I don't I want to
start writing a song about my experience and literally like you know I was tired from the

(10:45):
1314 hour drive but I started kind of playing around with that song and and some made some
good progress on it and like three days later I had the whole thing written and I recorded
it and on little little recorder and just kind of kept playing with it and started playing

(11:07):
it out open mics and stuff like that and it kind of kind of took a people people really
enjoyed it right yeah and I didn't have a way of getting it to my aunt or anybody like
that but the very next summer I went up and played it and they fell in love with it and
I knew it was a keeper.
Is it the Newtown song?
It should be yeah I should send it to their radio station.

(11:30):
It's actually funny because I was talking to you right I was talking to you not too
long ago because I'm a pilot as well yeah and all of a sudden I realized I was flying
into Haley and that's what they call it I go up there all the time yeah you know and
then I thought and I was talking to somebody in Haley and I says you've heard this song
they're like oh I actually heard that song somebody played it for me not too long ago

(11:50):
so it's out there it's out there yeah it's getting some traction I like that that's pretty
cool you have a Randy Travis tribute thing coming up soon yeah Saturday May 4th because
if I can like you got the Michael Dinkins good rich voice yeah I mean it's like it works

(12:10):
and so when I saw that come through I'm like oh man it's gonna be great yeah I'm getting
a lot of good work back from people they're like what's this about this and then I start
talking to them and they look at me like yes you do have the voice right so yeah I'm doing
the Randy Travis tribute at smoking Cannon Brewery May 4th 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. and I'm just
gonna start off I kind of made a list of of the order I want to do the songs to kind of

(12:34):
make a good flow and it's just all 16 of his number one hits I'm gonna be playing as well
as a few others and forever and ever amen is one of the first ones that people started
recognizing here in town that I would play and they were like yes that is your voice
that is your signature you know so do more of his stuff so it happens to be Randy Travis's

(12:57):
birthday on May 4th right and three months ago I was looking at that and I was like I
have a gig on May 4th I'm just gonna combine the two and make sure I do it on his birthday
as a tribute to him and his inspiration for me to play music since I was a kid so nice
I'm looking forward to that yeah I was I was talking with another artist not too long ago

(13:18):
and there's this friendly debate we have going on who's the king of country like who owns
it what is your opinion I think you know George Strait has has been a long-term artist that
I've always admired and I know he is considered the king of country and I agreed with that

(13:40):
to an extent I know that Hank senior had great potential to be one but he had such a short
career I think he paved the way for so many people and I listened to his stuff a lot and
I think it's to real country musicians and real country lovers he is he's right up there

(14:01):
I think for me it is George Strait I think it could have been also Keith Whitley I was
in love with everything he really again he had a Keith Whitley come on yeah but I can
see it yeah he had such a short career and it unfortunately ended when he was just kind
of hitting his peak but I think if he had a longer standing inspiration and career more

(14:25):
runway on his career and more songs and more albums I think he would have been in his voice
I mean even even today you know I listen to his stuff and you know no way I can emulate
it but I try and I love his songs just right style so we were kind of talking kind of like
Patsy Klein we had the discussion about Patsy Klein kind of getting getting really rolling

(14:46):
kind of hitting that peak and having her career cut tragically short yeah you know as well
as in so Queen yeah it's the Queen right yeah I don't know who the Queen would be is it
considered Dolly Parton no I think I think that could be that's a fun debate yeah it's
a fun debate yeah yeah she gets ladies in here and yeah a debate we'll have to get the
girls in here guys versus the girls and oh you got a show idea let's get it on go all

(15:09):
right put some gentlemen jack up on the table and just we'll just let the discussion go
for a couple of hours and see how rowdy it gets yeah that's funny all right pick a song
off your new album I want to hear it beginning to end what would be your new your favorite
um like I said in my soul it's a good fun fun loving song it's a simple song about the

(15:31):
beach and and about you know riding the waves and being part of the ocean and that's probably
a good I think it's kind of a good segue it's such a it's a cross it's kind of a cross
thing that's the one that's the punk rock song that became a good old acoustic

(16:11):
song and I don't have a clue where I've been but it's in my soul it's in my soul

(16:36):
I guess we'll see another fine day live it up and just do it all over again but I'm on
my way to find out what she's got to give and as I'm falling in the deep sand safe tonight
reminded of a past that would not die it's a past that will not die cause it's in my

(16:57):
soul and I float like a feather and I won't show in my soul and I don't have a clue where
I've been but it's in my soul it's in my soul

(17:30):
so what can I say about the days lost all the miles run ragged on a rundown flame only
one true thing keeps embedding in my mind it's about all the nights we sit there watching
the waves go by thinking of a past that would not die oh my brothers it's a past that will
not die cause it's in my soul and I float like a feather and I won't show in my soul

(17:58):
and I don't have a clue where I've been but it's in my soul it's in my soul
it's in my soul it's in my soul

(18:21):
it's in my soul it's in my soul
thank you very much yeah and that started off as a punk slash beach tune yeah yeah it's

(18:42):
uh you know I should bring you the CD of the original we recorded that in 1999 with us
when Eric Seahalm at his studio in San Diego oh yeah we did 13 songs and they're all kind
of ranging from hard punk to melodic punk and you might like that too I would who knows

(19:04):
well I'm very eclectic you know because when you leave I got my reggae going yeah I like
it all I like it all I'm not biased I'm not biased cool if I can ask you mentioned earlier
that you've done some benefit stuff for the burn institute burn institute down there and
I did read a small article on what what had happened to you in that evening would you

(19:28):
mind would you mind telling us that story a little bit not at all you covered with that
yeah of course so in 2005 I was up in Idaho up in Stanley doing river guide stuff and
it was a hectic time in my life running back and forth between um between Haley Sun Valley
and um and Stanley and um one night kind of midsummer uh was partying a lot with some

(19:51):
friends and I did a couple two different river trips in one day so I was tired and high dehydrated
and just did not take care of myself you know didn't eat and I was hosting the open mic
that night so I went to the bar and was playing all night and drinking with friends and and
someone invited me to an after party which I never really went to um just because you

(20:13):
know it's a long day and it had to leave the next next morning at some point but we went
and we drank more and and it was about three three thirty in the morning and and uh I was
kind of done they were still kind of hanging out I knew I was done so I went and uh fell
asleep next to a big rock which was about 10 feet away from the pit I was in jeans and

(20:34):
a t-shirt it was pretty cold outside even though it's summer up there you know gets
down to 40 40 45 degrees at night and they kind of all wandered off they tried to pick
me up they said but I wasn't budging so all kind of wandered off and about an hour later
or so I kind of came to a little bit and I went next to the fire pit it was a big fire

(20:55):
pit and the rocks were warm so I kind of curled up in the fetal position around the around
the ring of that and um I guess in my sleep I was trying to get closer and closer and
I just kind of rolled in into the pit and uh kind of fell down into the bottom of it
and kind of got stuck um in a curled position and then kind of woke up it wasn't really

(21:17):
hot at first so um didn't really register to me that I was in there and a minute minute
and a half later I I would say I kind of woke up and I was just kind of burning you know
the coals were stuck into my skin at that point my clothes had started on fire I think
which woke me up you know just the the light of the flames on my on my t-shirt and my jeans

(21:40):
so I looked down and I immediately started trying to get out and trying to push myself
out took a couple minutes to do that and by then I was I was charred in a lot of spots
and and um my my right leg was was really burnt I had um river sandals on the time so
it saved the bottoms of my feet but the tops of my feet were really messed up my whole

(22:00):
right um pant leg had burned all the way off up to my knee um so that was you know third
degree burns all the way up there and then my right arm and hand which were um in the
fire when I when I fell in and trying to push myself out also burned uh to third degree
and my fingertips were burned into the you know almost into the bone from what they told

(22:24):
me by the time I got to the hospital um so I crawled out I tried to get help I was looking
around it was four four thirty in the morning something like that from what again from what
the sheriffs and everyone told me time frame wise um and I looked and it was starting to
get light out and I wasn't finding anybody and I could barely walk I could barely talk

(22:45):
from the smoke inhalation and and couldn't yell out and then I was just kind of stumbling
around and I found an older trailer that someone was living in it was kind of an rv park slash
uh campground area and uh kind of knocked on the door and no one no one answered but
the um the door was unlocked and uh I kind of crawled in there and I just kind of fell

(23:09):
on the ground and there was a blanket so I grabbed it and pulled it over me and um I
just kind of felt I'm you know just going to go to sleep and if I die then I die and
then about an hour later they said um the neighbor kept hearing me kind of moan and
and in pain came into the rv and pulled the blanket up off of me and saw me and and knew

(23:31):
that I needed help so he took me into town to get help and you know the sun was coming
out at that time and a little town of 100 people in the summer you know and and uh the
urgent care was closed so they kept calling the sheriffs and finally the sheriff started
showing up and first responders and and a lot of those first responders like I've always

(23:51):
told in the story where this you know it's such a small town they're the volunteers and
they're the guys I was drinking beer with that the night at at the bar and you know
they all kind of went home and had no idea and they're running to me with their eyes
wide open like oh my god and I looked at them and the fear in their eyes it just I was like
oh it's bad and I just blacked out I know that they said I stayed awake but I blacked

(24:13):
out and uh they got me to uh lifelight and they got me uh over to Boise which was the
closest place and they um they stabilized me as much as they could uh in flight and
Boise sent me to the burn the burn unit in university Utah and uh they immediately introduced

(24:34):
me into a coma from the swelling it was about six seven hours from the time I got burned
oh my god to the time I got to the burn unit in Utah so by that time swelling had taken
in and they um made sure that my air passage was clear enough to breathe and and then they
induced me into a coma and got me into the ICU and and started uh taking care of me and

(24:55):
stuff and and uh from then on it was just kind of a fight to stay alive and and um going
through the surgeries and stuff like that I was in there for three months almost to
the day and had uh nine different skin grafts and at least two major surgeries one on my

(25:15):
foot and one on my fingers to amputee amputee the fingertips and most people don't know
that either when I'm out playing and having known me for years they look and and hear
the story and have no idea that you know all my fingertips on my right hand my strumming
hand are are amputated down to the knee uh into the bone yeah into the first knuckle

(25:37):
so you know I got my fingernails back which they didn't expect um which is you know miraculous
because that's what I use to help kind of strum right right and I you know after I got
out you know I had to kind of learn to play guitar again it was frustrating took two or
three years of quitting you know after starting starting and stopping because I couldn't do

(25:58):
it and it was always in my mind that I used to be so good and I did you know I ruined
this for myself and you know I'm never gonna get it back but you know here I am right after
after so many times of trying and and the thing with the burn institute connection was
that I was I was not finding healing um emotionally from uh from the burn injury and because I

(26:21):
felt so guilty about it and felt that I didn't deserve healing because I had caused it to
myself drinking and going out and being crazy and and doing stupid stuff finally caught
up to me and and you know I deserve this because of that that was my my frame of thought someone
um talked me into getting sober uh a really good friend of mine and uh once I started

(26:44):
getting sober she said you should really reach out to the burden institute they could maybe
guide you in some different different areas and reluctantly I went in and and I found
the most amazing people that had been through so many similar stories like mine and a lot
of them just like me felt guilty because of this or that and and I started kind of on

(27:05):
the path to to healing myself emotionally and getting the help uh with them to do so
and um you know a couple years into that they invited me to the um camp beyond the scars
which happens every july it's a no charge camp for burn injured children from six to
18 and um it's all done by donations and they invited me to to be a counselor and a

(27:30):
and a mentor for that and I went to that and that completely changed my outlook on things
and and how I could help the kids as well as the other adults and the young uh young
people that are are out there that you know have this going on in their lives too and
are trying to find healing and trying to find acceptance in in how they look now and and

(27:52):
how they're feeling um in their day-to-day life and I try and pull that uh strength when
I'm having hard times and and sometimes it's hard and then I have to look at a a camp book
or or go and volunteer with a burn institute and it completely changes my outlook kind
of reset you yeah it really does and and it's it's so amazing how something simple like

(28:14):
that giving back can do so much good for my heart and it fills me up every single time
I love that yeah I love that well I what that's a that's a crazy story that's a crazy story
and you know it's I think all too often there's this mentality of you reap what you sow right
yeah and then and then you probably felt for a while that you know that's that's what I

(28:36):
get and you know I've talked to disabled vets and um you know people born with you know
whatever and and life and circumstances you don't have any control over that you know
and it is to what it is and and it could be hard to come get over that sometimes that
that that feeling like you did it to yourself right yeah absolutely that was the biggest

(28:58):
thing I think that held me back for so long was that I did not deserve healing I you know
I was destined to to suffer from this forever and that's not the case for any anyone going
through anything like that right you know well thank you for sharing that story with
me absolutely I really appreciate it and thanks for coming by yeah it was just cool to hang

(29:19):
out with you get to really a little bit better yeah I like you know Cassie and I we we spend
seven nights a week going to shows and it's not often we just get to sit down and get
to know you guys and and I really appreciate you coming by and hanging out give me one
more Michael Dean Goodrich song to take us out with I'd appreciate it um let's go with

(29:39):
uh from the first album the 2020 album unfold it's a it's a song about embracing the people
you love and it is kind of my mantra when I when I go out into the world and I'm feeling
a little you know a little anxiety and stuff I know that if I can embrace my friends and
my family and the people like you that I see out there as soon as we see each other that

(30:00):
embrace that warm embrace that we get to hug and and talk and and just you know it just
it's another thing that just kind of fills me up and I think if people did did a lot
more of that in this world we'd we'd be a lot closer together and we need that I think
more more now than ever I agree I agree Michael thank you I really appreciate it an honor

(30:22):
thank you
I imagine a waking to fit the show mist on my skin I've covered a lot of ground just
to be here now can't really describe the thought and the uncertainty it brings embrace

(30:45):
the moment but only for the moment arise and take the morning breeze embrace with me
I swear we can't unfold surprise this could be all we need come work with me yeah

(31:09):
I'm thinking about you now in every moment you're not here sit back and laugh at all
of the things we've done don't waste the time it always goes by so fast take hold of the

(31:31):
moments and let them be a moment arise and take the morning breeze embrace with me I
swear we can't unfold surprise this could be all we need come work with me yeah

(31:57):
I'm thinking about you now in every moment you're not here sit back and laugh at all

(32:23):
of the things we've done don't waste the time it always goes by so fast take hold of the

(32:44):
moment embrace with me