Kory Caudill, Tyler Childers / Solo Artist

Kory Caudill is a keyboardist and composer from eastern Kentucky. After a musical journey with varied artists, he’s currently part of Tyler Childer’s band. He has also made a mark with his critically acclaimed solo projects, including the Grammy-nominated album “Tree of Life”. With special guest co-host Steve Nathan, we chat on all that plus...

The post Kory Caudill, Tyler Childers / Solo Artist appeared first on The Keyboard Chronicles.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
I still stand by today, one of the best musicians that I know and have ever worked with isa retired accountant from Floyd County, Kentucky.
Hello and welcome to the keyboard Chronicles of podcast for keyboard players.

(00:21):
I'm your host, David Holloway.
And as always, I'm super pumped to be here with you.
I've got a bit of a different one for you this episode.
The focus of our episode is the amazing Mr.
Caudill.
As you'll hear, Corey is a much sought after performer based out of Nashville.
Grew up in the area of Kentucky and particularly in the Appalachia area.

(00:44):
which has been a huge influence on his music and his upbringing and just his career todate.
And so we talk a lot about that, about some of the amazing artists he's worked with.
And we also had the privilege of being joined for part of that by Mr.
Steve Nathan.
For long-term listeners of the show, Steve Nathan, we had on the show quite a while agonow, probably two years ago.

(01:07):
And we did a two-part with Steve.
Steve was
part of the Muscle Shoals crew towards the latter stages of Muscle Shoals and cannotrecommend highly enough listening to Steve's interview as well.
Steve is the person that suggested Corey and I thought it was a great opportunity to havesomeone that is a veteran Nashville session player versus Corey, who is a more emerging

(01:30):
Nashville based player who's also had more of a focus on performance.
So it's a nice little mix of thoughts and discussion in there and I think you'll enjoy ita great deal.
So I'll shut up now, let you jump into it and I'll talk to you at the end of the show.

(01:54):
Cory, it's an absolute pleasure to have you on the show, sir, and thank you.
I know you're not in your usual home territory.
You're on the East Coast in the New York area at the moment.
How are doing today?
Thank you for having me.
I find myself rarely in my home territory.
We're doing great.
We are doing some shows with Tyler Childers at Forest Hill Stadium in New York today andtomorrow.

(02:20):
I've never been, I've heard nothing but great things.
We've got a few fellow musicians who are local coming out.
It's just going to be a big family time up here.
Excellent.
so there, let's look, let's talk about your last year or so.
And a lot of that's been with, with Tyler.
Just tell us about how busy you've been over the past year to touring, um, with Tyler andthen, you know, some of the highlights of that and, and yeah, just how it's been for you.

(02:47):
Well, thank you for asking.
It's really hard to talk about because it's so cool.
It's, I feel like I'm 15 and I got to join my favorite band, you know, and it's really apocket of the music industry.
And so that I didn't think would ever exist again.
And we're getting to do it.
And not only are we getting to do it, we're all for the most part, local boys from EastKentucky, West Virginia, and we found ourselves in Australia.

(03:15):
for the whole month of March this past year.
And we've been at Beach House recording records with Rick Ruthen.
And those aren't things that you expect to get to do when you grow up in the hills of EastKentucky.
And here we are.
So uh it's a really loaded question musically.

(03:35):
It kind of saved me.
I mean, I was always happy with what I was doing in the music industry.
But as far as Nashville goes in the studio scene,
that had turned into something that in hindsight was getting tougher and tougher to bepart of.
So when Tyler and a couple, J.C.
Wells, our fiddle player, when they called, I was just elated because this is, I fell inlove with country music at an early age, but I'm also, love classical and jazz and

(04:06):
bluegrass and fusion and all these things, like most musicians do, but we actually get toapply all those things.
out here.
So when you ever, when would I ever get to play country music?
Um, or set in a format where a set list is different every night.
There aren't click tracks.
If somebody is solo and you know, Tyler will turn around and say eat you a little moreright there.

(04:29):
It's kind of like I get to be part of the grateful dad except with my hillbilly friends.
I love it.
And so, so, so is that what you mean, Corey, when you said you're getting to do a pocketof the music industry that you never thought you would have?
It's that really organic, uh, family atmosphere.
Is that what you mean?
That's one way that I mean it, but uh a good way to explain it would be if you're familiarwith a national numbers chart in a session and you're going down and you're in there with

(04:58):
a group of your fellow musicians and you're in say a 10 to one session, the chart willread down intro verse chorus turn verse chorus break down course.
uh
It's just break because in Nashville and the Seward scene, it is that, it is a breakbetween what's happening in the vocal performance.

(05:22):
It's a dynamic break and everything.
Well, with, with Tyler, there aren't breaks.
Every little component is a part of uh a story and everything is thought out and, their,their guitar picker CJ, he'll say he's a thinker.
And so to get to play music live and record,

(05:44):
in a way where every little thing is part of the story as opposed to just, well, who wantsthe solo?
Okay, take it.
And that that's not a knock on that process too.
That's a really cool way of doing it.
But for me getting to actually compose solos after having conversations about what thesong is about and having Mr.

(06:06):
Reuben in there or Nick Sanborn in there say, I think here's what we're trying to go for.
Now, how do you tell this story for 20 seconds?
with whatever keyboard is at your disposal and that sound ain't weird enough.
You twist some knobs and stuff and you're just kind of pitching yourself going this iscountry music and this is so cool.
It's amazing.

(06:26):
I guess for me it's a pocket of country music that is still true to storytelling.
yet.
No, gotcha.
And so when you say you were part of the recording process in Beach Houses, are you sayingthe Rick Rubin recordings were in Australia or in Beach Houses over there?
Renovated a well renovated, we outfitted a beach house in Kauai and we hold up there for acouple of weeks and, you know, he'll be let's come to town for a little bit.

(06:55):
but it, that part was fascinating too.
Some of my, um, mentors, uh, it told me about their heydays of being in some of theworld's biggest bands.
And what it was like to record and be like, yeah, there was kitchens there and peoplewould, could you just stay on site?
And I'm like, no way.

(07:15):
And I just never left.
You just stayed in the music and recorded.
And I'm like, that is just, I can't find it.
And we did it.
It was too cool.
The other half of the record was recorded at Shangri-La in Malibu.
So it was the same, uh same concept is still a really nice outfitted house.

(07:37):
uh where you're meant to just be submerged in the music and kind of in a bubble away fromall the external factors.
And my gosh, what comes out of that is so much different than the typical naturalrecording process.
Yeah.
And so I can't let you get away with that asking about Rick Rubin.

(07:58):
Obviously he's an icon as far as a producer.
Behind me somewhere is sitting his book that I've obviously read.
What did you learn, if anything, from Rick during that process?
And did you actually get much interaction?
process is something that I've learned in my old age to, keep a lot of it personal becauseit's such an intimate thing.

(08:21):
And at the same time, I love talking about it because I got, you know, we got to go recordwith Rick Rubin.
Um, but some of those things were so special that it was, they're supposed to live thereand stay there.
think what I, there are things that I learned and then things I admired and appreciated.
One of the things that I appreciated was he had a really
deep admiration for Appalachians and Appalachian culture and for Appalachian music.

(08:44):
And I also appreciated how often he said, I don't know, let's go find out.
he never put us on the clock to find out what that was.
And he did a great job at setting the environment in way to where we, we weren't afraid tomess up.
And there, it was full of um inspiration, freedom.

(09:09):
creativity, just, he really set the tone of a room and there are parts of him that youjust can't describe.
uh of me is kind of convinced that some spirit from outside of earth hijacked his body.
is controlling him because sometimes they'll say and do the same things that other peoplemight, but it's different with him and that, yeah, I can't really go into any more detail

(09:35):
and make sense of it because it's just different.
But he was just a wonderful human to be around.
And for me as a growing producer, it was great to be around someone with his style becausemy style is a lot more technical.
It's a lot more arrangement based and details and, you know, scoring out parts and alittle bit of hands on gear and those kinds of things.

(10:03):
his approach was a whole lot more to do with.
setting the tone for a room and getting to the bottom of your why, what's your purpose?
Why are you doing this?
so I, living that hope has really filtered into my own approach.
Yeah, no, great answer.
And so you mentioned that Rick was very interested in sort of your history and yourupbringing.

(10:29):
So let's talk a little bit about that.
So just talk us a little bit about your, how you were raised in rural Kentucky and, youknow, living in the Appalachian area.
And obviously as an Australian, I'm a little bit ignorant on the exact geography of it,but I've seen some great documentaries and I know what a proud.
history with mining and the culture that exists in those areas and so on.

(10:52):
Just fascinated about your upbringing and what led you to music.
Yeah, well, I love the opportunity to talk about that.
And you're probably familiar with it as well with some of the coal mining areas inAustralia.
We got to see some of them and it kind of looked like being in Pike County for a second onthe other side of the world.
It was really nice.

(11:13):
you hear folks talk about their hometowns a lot and how it inspired them and whatnot.
I'm very biased.
I do like to think that the Appalachian in the East Kentucky upbringing is a little bitunique.
Um, musically, especially because I grew up there before social media was a thing and itwas still isolated.
Uh, geographically, it still is isolated.

(11:34):
Um, there's no major interstates running through there.
You're two hours from being connected to what we call the outside world really.
Well, because of that, the musical traditions have remained untouched and pure.
there's a spiritual connection, you know,

(11:55):
uh Religion or the details aside, there is a very tangible spiritual connection to musicin the area.
And a lot of that is church-based.
My grandmother and her dad, my great grandfather, they were church musicians, but I thinkone of the things that folks remembered about them a lot is they would go into kind of

(12:16):
trance states.
And they, my grandmother, people would say, yeah, she'd play in the spirit.
And that spirit is unique to that region.
And I think that what they've gone through in their way of life was vital in sculptingthat.
My grandparents came back from fighting World War II and went straight to the Comots.

(12:38):
So you're talking about generations of people who powered the entire nation with verylittle to show for it, often in unregulated environments.
So by God, when those folks took to an instrument to play, the stuff that come outreflected
those experiences.
And so you get a lot of angst, you get some beautiful storytelling, you get this bluegrassstuff that's got an edge to it and so on top of the bee while it grooves at the same time.

(13:04):
um translate all of that to my brain in the nineties and early two thousands when folkslike my parents were actually very active in making sure that the region had resources
that it typically wouldn't have.
access to performing arts centers, to state of the art recording studios.

(13:27):
And this is in areas that are in poverty.
You wouldn't expect to have these kinds of things.
And those facilities gave folks like myself, Tyler, and a lot of the musicians that yousee and hear out and about, it gave us a chance to discover who we are as musicians who

(13:50):
descend from
from that culture.
And so how hard was it, Corey, to move from that area to getting into musicprofessionally?
So your teenage years, and I do want to talk about your dad later too, because he plays apivotal role in your life and he's an amazing musician in his own right.
um So how did you move from being a child to a teenager and dealing with music and thendeciding to do that for a living?

(14:17):
Well, mentally I'm probably still, I would consider myself a teenager or a child, but, um,and that's really funny too, because we grew up around such great musicians.
I still stand by today.
One of the best musicians that I know and have ever worked with is a retired accountantfrom Floyd County, Kentucky.

(14:37):
And these were all folks who were part of big records at some point, but they didn't wantto leave home.
They wanted to raise their families.
where, where they were attached to back there.
And there's, there's such a strong attachment to it.
um we were fortunate to have access to very, very legitimate studio players in this littletiny 50 mile radius in Eastern Kentucky.

(15:03):
So I'll grow up around them.
And I remember thinking, my gosh, if that's how they are in Prestonburg, Kentucky, thereis no way I can hang in Lexington, let alone Nashville.
And everything.
honestly, musically, I was very lucky and I was equipped a whole lot more for the movethan had I been raised anywhere else.

(15:30):
Culturally is for the shock probably came in, you know, people tell me I talk like I haverocks in my mouth.
so that, but I.
Musically, the move was actually pretty seamless thanks to all of the opportunities we hadback there.

(15:51):
Yeah.
And so I've got to ask you mentioned one of the best musicians you've worked with was anaccountant.
What was it about them and what were they playing?
What instrument they're playing that just absolutely blew you away?
Yeah, it's a guy named James whited.
He's a guitar player and also a phenomenal keys player, phenomenal sax player in hisretirement.
Sign note.
I found out that he moves to Florida and he played in a band for, think two years and onlyplayed sax and they didn't know that he played guitar at all.

(16:19):
And he's the best guitarist I've ever heard in my life.
So, um, and it wasn't about, you know, once you hit that level, it's less about the, thelittle short.
snippets of things you see when somebody sets down and picks up the instrument.
It's about how he, how he drives a session.
And it's about how he's able to communicate with other musicians and inspire and makeother people better.

(16:43):
And if you're not up to his level, he will get you to his level or he'll be really pissedat you if you don't.
And there's nothing musically that he was not capable or is not capable of.
And there's no genre that he wouldn't be able to sound authentic in because he's been astudent of all those and he's highly intelligent and he has a mathematical brain.

(17:07):
So he processes things um differently than a lot of musicians might, but you couple all ofthat.
uh just high IQ, ability to communicate very directly and inspirationally.

(17:27):
With an Appalachian upbringing, you know, and he was always on top of technology too.
And I always appreciate there was a handful of folks back there who did not let thegeographical barriers keep them from having the hippest gear and stuff.
that was a big deal.
You being able to go into a session and watch somebody pull out the sounds that you hearon the radio and do the things that you hear and see on MTV or whatever.

(17:57):
So yeah, guess to summarize it was, it's always been less about how just ridiculously uhaccomplished he is with his facility and everything.
And worse about how much he knows and just becomes music when he picks up an instrument.
Corey, that's probably a good juncture to bring in the brilliant Steve Nathan.

(18:20):
Steve, it's wonderful to have you here, sir.
Good to see you again.
Good to see you too.
I'm feeling so far from brilliant at this moment.
I realize it's a cultural, it's a term used often uh in your neck of the woods, but rightnow I'm barely here.

(18:42):
barely here now.
We're very glad that you're here.
No, we're very glad that you're here.
And, I know you and Corey haven't met face to face, but you obviously are aware of eachother.
So we're just going to sort of you and I tag team with Corey as we work through the restof his career.
So Corey, you were just mentioning, you know, uh, about the transition to Nashville beingrelatively seamless.

(19:05):
And Nashville is such a melting pot of so many great, great musicians.
You didn't have to deal with any prejudice around the fact that you're from Appalachia.
And the reason I asked that is in Australia, in England, in Canada, in Asia, rural peopleand city people have stereotypes about each other.
I'm a country boy and I understand it only too well.

(19:27):
Did you have to deal with any of that moving to Nashville or it is so accepting thatwasn't really an issue.
Well, to me, the cultures weren't too terribly different aside from one being an urbanculture.
now there are a lot of assumptions folks make when they hear me talking.
A lot of them are probably right.
uh But I know it would be wrong me to talk about any sort of bias or prejudice or thosekinds of things that I would use because I've experienced none.

(19:58):
Now I do have some dear friends.
with very different backgrounds than me who have experienced that.
And that's a whole other, whole other thing.
and that, but thankfully for folks like myself, enough hillbillies had come before me andpaved the way that you can hear me talking.
He's probably safe.
Yeah, that's right.
Now I've got to ask this.

(20:20):
I don't mean this in a, in a funny way.
I'm actually fascinated.
What is your definition of a hillbilly?
Cause what I think of as a hillbilly in Australia is probably not even close.
What do you define as a hillbilly?
Um, hillbillies are the ones we'd be the ones in the wrestling match and a redneck wouldbe betting on the match.
love that.

(20:40):
That is seriously one of the best responses I've ever heard.
I just love that.
Thank you.
That's a great definition.
That might be going in the intro, No, great.
Great answer.
And so you'll move to Nashville.
Was that when you started your studies at Belmont University?
Was that sort of the segue for you moving from your home area?

(21:01):
Yeah, it was.
Some of the more influential people in my upbringing had always recommended to me to findthe teacher more than the school.
And I probably would have went to Morehead State.
There was a guy named Jay Flippen who was there who had taught a lot of folks who were outin the industry right now doing things that I had aspired to do.

(21:23):
I'm catching one of them while I'm here in New York, guy named Jeff Kazee.
I don't know if you ever worked with Jeff.
Jeff is it?
Yeah.
um
But Jay was a catalyst for a lot of those folks and Jay retired as I was entering collegeand enough people recommended I go down and link up with Bruce Sudley at Belmont.
So I went there and now when I did get to Belmont, the facilities were just night and dayhipper than anywhere else that I saw.

(21:49):
mean, just the studios, the keyword labs with all the outboard gear.
So everything about it was right for me.
There are also folks that I worked with.
at 18 when I moved to town who were probably better off diving right in and they were alot more prepared.
as a musician, I probably had some dexterity and some, some things that were hip enough toprobably got me a little foot footing in the scene, probably would have gotten me in

(22:21):
trouble.
So Belmont for me was a safe place to go and screw up a lot without it costing me, um,reputation or money.
Yeah, that's right.
And before I get some thoughts from Steve, I haven't asked the obvious question youmentioned in your upbringing, you know, working oh or seeing all these wonderful
musicians.
Why was it the piano or keyboard that you ended up choosing as your instrument of choice?

(22:44):
That's a good question.
We had a lot of instruments in the house.
My family actually owned a music store for a long time.
So I had access to everything, but the keyboard was what translated into all of those.
And my dad was a, he was heavy into rolling gear and sequencers and just, he was always atthe forefront of technology.

(23:06):
So to me, I think I fell in love with the sequencer on the keyboard that was in the housejust as much as I did the piano.
I also really liked the dynamic range of the piano quad, but I love being able to sit downand just play as soft as you could.
And then it would play that back to you if you're on an okay piano.
Same with the organ.
I was lucky enough to grow up with a Hammond in the house.

(23:29):
And Steve will probably tell you to have access to it and not just have to go when you'reat the studio and play.
Cause it's just a whole different style, you know, and to have access to that at a youngage was.
Your dad is a Hammond player, isn't he?
Yes sir.
Yeah.
Church Hammon player.
Also a unique musical upbringing too, because he didn't know until he said like latetwenties that you could cross your thumb under uh when you play.

(23:59):
So he was playing all these great things that hadn't really unlocked the cheat codes.
So, and that it's a cool style too, because they grew up Pentecostal.
And it's the funniest thing because they groove so well all while the timing is all overthe place.
My granny would start a song and she'd say, one, two, three, And just point at you andsay, stay with me, stay with me.

(24:24):
And just somehow it grooves great, but it's a really, really soulful, genuine, heartfeltapproach to the Hammon.
It's not the typical gospel thing you might see on YouTube with these cats that I reallylove to watch.
It's just a.
It's kind of almost a country approach to what I would otherwise consider a black gospelinstrument.

(24:47):
Now that double back to David's question about why did you choose keyboards over otherinstruments, I tend to think that the instrument chooses you, not that you choose the
That would make a lot of sense in my experience.
There's much better way to put it, but I'll fully agree with you.

(25:08):
Did something happen for you that makes you think that?
No, I, you know, my dad played piano and there was, there was piano in the house.
Um, and you know, that's obviously where I, where I started, uh, as a, you know, as ayoung player, but I think it's, at some point there is what I liked about the piano was

(25:30):
its ability to, to play everything in every range to, to, to cover all, you know, it couldbe everything and not just a part of, uh, of something.
Um,
I was decidedly not particularly interested in being a solo piano player.

(25:50):
I grew up way, way more fascinated by the sound of an orchestra than I did a single pianoplayer performing.
I think the keyboard lends itself to that mentality.
And Steve, I'm interested, as I said, I know you two haven't actually met, but it's thanksto you that we're actually talking to Corey tonight.

(26:12):
um and, and before we started recording, Corey alluded to the fact that not only is yourbackground on the call amazing, but your actual background in the industry is amazing.
How did you first hear about Corey?
And also what made you suggest him as a guest?
ah
Quite literally, somebody posted a video of Corey playing a solo on the keyboard forum, onthe keyboard corner.

(26:36):
I listened to it and I went, wow, who is this guy?
gotta need to go uh look for his records or something.
so I started digging and his story unfolded as I dove deeper, dove, dived.
uh Have
As I headed deeper into Google, I listened to some of his performances.

(27:01):
thought, I got to meet this guy.
He's clearly way talented.
um yet has, you know, there are lots of really, really great able craftsmen in our field.
uh It's finding a really, really able craftsman who understands taste and uh

(27:24):
and the role of a session musician, which is completely different from being a soloperformer or a live performer, an instrument performer.
So it was obvious from what I was hearing, I I gotta meet this guy.
Yeah, no, great.
so Corey, I mean, we've talked a little bit about Belmont University.

(27:49):
I'm assuming Justin Moore was one of the earlier artists you worked with.
So what was sort of the transition from university to actually making your way as either asession or a player or a performer in the area?
That's also a question.
I think like Steve was talking about, he kind of had his mind set on things that he likedabout the piano, like what he wanted to be and what he might not have been drawn to so

(28:12):
much.
I was actually pretty set that I wouldn't spend too much time touring as a sound man.
I kind of always wanted to do some piano artistry things in the studio.
I was always fascinated with the musicians.
I love performing live and I love country music.
So in hindsight, that made zero sense to not want to go on the road and do that.

(28:34):
But I, I heard enough stories from some of my predecessors that made the road not soundvery appealing.
Now in hindsight, there, I just don't think there's a way you can be the student musicianthat you need to be without at a young age, experiencing the music that is translating and
connecting with people.
Um, so I'm glad that I did it, but what got me.

(28:57):
my junior year of school, was just gigging on Broadway and he came in and said, Hey, Ijust signed a record deal and I'm going on tour with Skinner.
You want to come?
And I'm like, well, that sounds way cooler than math tomorrow at 9 a.m.
Sure.
Let's go do it.
So went, did it.
It was amazing.

(29:18):
Come back, finish school, somehow piece all that together.
We had a 12 year run on the road.
Those guys were all.
Wonderful.
One of my close friends from East Kentucky is in the band still.
And I learned a lot about Nashville, learned a lot about the radio scene.
I learned a lot about the studio from that.

(29:39):
I got to mimic parts from other great piano players that were on Justin's records.
I was on a few of Justin's records.
So it was a great learning experience.
how did you go balancing?
I'm pretty sure back in your interview, Steve, you mentioned this and I know Bobby Altondid in his, that when you do go touring for a significant period of time, you can lose

(30:00):
some traction in the session scene in Nashville.
I understand the session scene in Nashville now is radically different to what was 20years ago, but did you find the touring, did you lost some traction as far as the local
scene, Corey?
Um, when I was touring that extensively, there were a few moments where I was close tosaying, might make a bit more sense for me to take the leap and start doing the session

(30:27):
thing thing, bit more consistently.
So there were a few times when I started getting calls from probably a lot of Steve'scolleagues and I was like, wow, this is really cool.
know, Tommy Harden is calling me to go play a session.
This is when they start calling and you can't do it.
And you're just getting started.
That's when your gut just kind of hits the floor and is like, ah, they're probably notgoing to call back.

(30:51):
know, thankfully they, they, they still do.
And, um, it's nowhere near, I think the land of milk and honey for me in that scene that,uh, Steve is probably, uh, more in, but I think my experiences in the way it led to the
perfect spot for me in the way I'm wired.

(31:14):
Because I, I do have aspirations.
I still do.
mean, just a few days ago, I did a solo concert in Philadelphia at a cathedral, justpiano.
Well, there was a couple of musicians with me.
But for the way I'm um all those experiences brought me to right here.

(31:34):
And I get to use the studio and the creative part of me that makes me tick.
And it gets.
to tap into the little weird quirky stuff.
He gets to tap into some of the bluegrass chops and everything where I'm probably not asequipped as a lot of folks are for certain aspects of the recording industry.

(31:55):
Nashville has always been a little more forgiving of touring, of letting, of sessionmusicians touring than Muscle Shoals was.
Muscle Shoals, you absolutely, if you took a tour, if Rick Hall called you for a sessionand you weren't available, he moved on to the next.
You like what the next guy did, he had your seat from then on.

(32:16):
So you couldn't do, you just literally couldn't do it there.
But in Nashville, even 20, 25 years ago,
You had the, you know, Michael Rhodes toured as much as he wanted.
And because he was such a great musician, when he was not available, he was not available.
But when he came back and was off the road, he was back to work in the, in the studios.

(32:40):
And there are a lot of examples of that.
um I'm less familiar with, you know, the, the intricacies of, of, of session etiquette.
Nowadays being
You know, I like to say I'm about as retired as a studio musician gets now.
So it may be a little different, but I think it's still a little more forgiving, but it'smore forgiving once you're really sort of rock solid established.

(33:07):
um If you're still trying to break in, if you're still trying, you know, on the workingyour way into the session scene, then I can see how it could be a problem to not be, not
be available.
Yeah.
No, great answer.
And Corey, you just mentioned about playing, you know, with a couple of other musicians ina cathedral.
did want to cover some of the amazing sort of different stuff you've done.

(33:29):
So, you know, you, you created partnership with Wordsmith and, you know, Concert for theHuman family.
Just tell us about some of those, um, itches that those different collaborations scratchfor you and, and, you know, some of the highlights for you in those, those areas.
a good way to put it.
We started dreaming that up in 2018 and we were set to take off with it in March of 2020and we know how that went.

(33:56):
So, and that was part of what I think was going to be a catalyst for me taking the leapoff the tour with Justin, ultimately did.
And that also started at a time when just culture was in society and all the things we'reexperiencing.
was different.
in 2018, when I was collaborating with Wordsmith compared to when we finally got to do it,this is right after George Floyd was murdered.

(34:21):
And I don't mean to bring those things onto the truck, but what you're presenting withyour creative partner, you, and in those spaces, you can't ignore that.
And so for me, it was important that we kind of pivot to that being a platform forWordsmith to share his art and his feelings and everything.

(34:42):
Dab was there alongside us and the folks in the communications team at the EpiscopalChurch were really wonderful in all that.
I've got a partner in it also from East Kentucky.
He based out here out of New York, Philadelphia, New York.
And they took all these beautiful spaces in these Episcopal churches all across thecountry, big, small, know, the trendy Wall Street all the way to the little white church

(35:09):
on the hill.
They just wanted everybody from the community to feel welcome to come in and experiencemusic.
It scratched technical itches to be able to go into those spaces and actually find the wayto make the sound be something that would translate.
That was a big sense of accomplishment right there.

(35:29):
But to be able to go in somewhere and play quiet, play loud and flashy and have the thing,but to be able to sculpt a show and to create a set list that took people on a, on
on an emotional journey.
And for when you are playing in a choir, a lot of these places have these just gorgeousSteinways.
And to be able to open the lid, ask your sound engineer to turn the sound off and just tolet the instrument do its thing.

(35:56):
And to have other folks hear instrumental songs and interpret those notes into their ownpersonal stories, that was very fulfilling.
And I'm proud that my kids will get to see that,
This made no sense logistically and dad still felt strongly about it and did it.
And so, and we're still doing it.

(36:16):
It looks a little different now, but uh from where off here with Tyler, Aaron Drummer andbass player Rod and Craig, they joined us in a set just a couple of days ago.
And it was wonderful.
would imagine it would be something like in the heyday being able to go to a really nicejazz club where people are there for the music.

(36:37):
And they're tuned in.
They've kind of allowed us to turn those sacred spaces into that.
And so the concept for the human family format, just, I think you've explained it reallynicely, but you know, someone that comes to one of those shows, are they, they're seeing,
they're seeing, you said, spiritual or, or more nuanced music, um, with some it's, Ibelieve it's spoken words.

(37:01):
Yeah.
Just talk a little bit about the format.
Yeah, it's hard to sprout.
Thankfully somebody a couple of days ago actually said something that is may summed it upa lot easier.
The musical director at the church said, I didn't hear any genre tonight.
He said, I've just heard music.
And he said, after the first song or two, I stopped trying to analyze and I justexperienced music, which I rarely do.

(37:26):
for me, that's, that's the point.
And if you're
experience music like that, you're also not experiencing any boundaries with yourneighbors who's sitting beside you who might come from a completely different uh
background or is entering into the musical experience from a different spot.
it's definitely not about getting folks in and trying to cram a message down their throat.

(37:50):
There aren't altar calls.
There's not anything like that, but it is a deeply spiritual experience.
Now when I say it's also full of humor.
It's just not all heavy.
We did roll in on Sweet Baby's arms for 10 minutes the other night, just as as we could.
The hands were about to fall off.
But at the same time, it's a platform for us to talk about some things that might be justa little more difficult to talk about in a jazz flood and hopefully leave folks feeling

(38:19):
inspired to go out and just love their neighbor a little bit more than they did beforethey come in.
Yeah, great.
And as a player, you mentioned, you know, sometimes you get access to some great styleways.
Did you have to adjust anything in your playing style to meet the format of that show?
That was one of my favorite parts of that is that I did not.

(38:41):
So I come into it from this quirky Appalachian country gospel piano background.
Wordsmith came into it from this Baltimore hip hop spoken word uh theater.
He also does orchestral collaboration.
And when we bring in other musicians, they would come in from wherever it was.

(39:02):
were coming in for a lot of studio musicians would join us.
Everybody got to play like themselves, not for the sake of, but we just found that when wewere very true to how we play, ah it sounded the best and it made the most sense.
You if I'm trying to play like somebody from Baltimore who works with his use of playingfrom, you're going to sniff that out and it's going to sound stupid.

(39:24):
So thankfully me playing the way I play, um, and him doing things the way he, if he triedto be country or, know,
Thankfully we got to stay very true to ourselves and that was just the best version of theshow.
I do want to talk, Corey, about you've done some other amazing collaborations, Pam Tillis,and I apologize, this is my Australian, is it Blessing Offa or Offa?

(39:50):
Offa, yeah, of course.
So just tell us about both those as somewhat different, the human family too, just assomething a little different again.
Yeah, they joined us in that series a lot too.
And I, I've found myself, being just in the room with people who are less enthralled withthe Nashville, um, factory scene and like the, know, some folks that some things are a

(40:16):
product and some things are musical.
And I don't mean just, I'm not bitter towards either of my like being part of all of it.
And, but I've found myself more in the room with folks like miss pan.
who will come to the house and we'll go down rabbit holes of just the wildest records andsay, let's try this.

(40:38):
What if we did this?
And I would play something or a, you know, a funky jazz chord and she's, that's nice.
What if we did it here?
what it's just folks who are constantly pushing.
don't know, see if you ever got to work with.
Yeah, I did several records back in...
Yeah, she's a pistol.
She was always sweet and always fun to work Very cool.

(41:02):
Well, and Blessing is a wonderful piano player too.
A great songwriter.
He went to Belmont as well.
we, we met there.
So I'm working with folks and we recorded with both of them.
We performed with a lot of them and they're not folks who you can just phone in a hangwith.

(41:24):
You were challenged every time because they care so much about the music.
And they're okay to push the envelope and they're okay to try things and we'll go, thisPam is especially, we would go as far as you could possibly go until you're like, let's
take a step back.
And then that's where we're at.
I don't know if this might be different for this phasing or career.

(41:45):
I don't want to speak too much for her, but being around Pam, especially was, been justhuge for my musical mindset and growth.
And you've raised a good point there about being stretched at times.
mean, in your career to date, Corey, when have you felt the most stretched and how has itchanged, you know, how you've learned and evolved as a player?

(42:11):
A for Steve.
I'd to hear Steve's answer on this too, because it probably comes from a much moreexperience than I can imagine.
uh Well, honestly, one of the solos that I think Steve, somebody had asked about in theforum on the Tyler record that I was very stretched there in all the great ways.

(42:31):
And in hindsight, it's really fun to think about how much of your experiences, bothmusically and environmentally went into this little 15, 20 second.
snippet of something because like I mentioned earlier with Tyler, there aren't like breaksfor solos.
It's everything is part of this story.
And if you look at the lyrics to this song is called getting to the bottom.

(42:54):
They're hilarious, but they're also pretty deep about just some hangovers and it's chapterof life you don't want to go back to.
I'm not equipped to try and translate what the songs are about because they're just, buthe really
had a musical moment in mind that he wanted to help tell this story.

(43:18):
And his descriptors were like, you know, it was like, there's a spider on there and it'sgot all these legs and it's just doing these icky things and it's tense, but it's also got
some moments where you're like, you're, you're saying, but then you're screwed up again.
then all these, and, he's, Tyler's a brilliant musician, great guitar picker, great fiddleplayer as well.
So he's also able to speak the language.

(43:40):
For this one, he was using songwriter and Nick Sanborn, was there, they're also doing someproduction with Mr.
Rubin and everything.
He was the one coming out from, from behind the desk after a take and saying, that was alittle too out.
What about this?
So it was this team of people all for lack of a hell, no pun intended, getting to thebottom of the solo on getting to the bottom.

(44:05):
And after I go back and listen to it,
Had I not been on tour with Tyler and seen the visuals and lived with those guys andunderstood how they think about things, had I just gone into making that record, I would
have played something completely different.
I don't know if it would have been right or not, but having that understanding of folksand knowing that you're expected to stretch and you're encouraged to stretch.

(44:29):
And it's such a pivotal moment that I'm, and this is, I'm in no way making a comparisonwith a Steely Dan record in anything that I'm doing.
But you watch those documentaries and you see them, just the process of getting to pickthe solo on peg or something like that.
And the thought that went into it and in every little detail how important it was, well, Iapproached it like that.

(44:52):
I'm like, well, this is one of the cooler records that's going to come out in a long time.
There's Tyler, who I would consider the voice of our generation, honestly.
And Mr.
Rubin in there and they're like,
It's so low.
I'm like, okay, this can't just be Wix.
And there's a microscope on you.

(45:13):
you know, Steve has been there a million times, but for me, that one had very, it wasn'thigh expectations, but he really wanted something out of it.
And we figured it out.
that was cool.
And after we figured it out, I walked back in, the guy said, that's really cool.

(45:34):
Can you double it on harpsichord?
And of course I said, yeah.
But on the inside I'm like, Oh God, he's probably been there as well.
You know, you refer to it as being stretched as a keyboard player, but it's uh all mental,I think.
The stretch is mental.

(45:55):
um You're being asked to play something that might not have occurred to you on your own,uh for starters.
um And, you know, I mean, the essence of the job of a session player is to read theartist, to figure out what...
is this artist trying to say to a listener?

(46:19):
What is it they're trying to get across to whoever's going to listen to these records andthen do everything you can to not just move that along, but to help them achieve that in
perhaps an even better way than they would even imagine on their own.

(46:39):
Now, so when an artist wants a particular performance or type of solo, I've certainly been
challenged physically in terms of chops and playing on many occasions.
If I show up and it's a strict Southern gospel session, I'm in a fair amount of trouble.

(46:59):
Because I grew up a little Jewish boy in upstate New York.
That stuff doesn't come to me naturally.
It's the mental challenge of understanding why the artist wants this.
And sometimes
I mean, you're going to have plenty of stories like, you know, like I've had where you'rein the studio with somebody who's high or who's drunk.

(47:27):
I, you know, I got asked to reproduce the sound of an Appalachian French horn once.
I got asked, had an artist, Mink DeVille, looked straight at me he said, you know thatsound when you're laying in a field of poppies?
and the sun comes out from behind the clouds and he laid out this long story that made nomusical sense whatsoever.

(47:53):
You have to figure out what is it he's after.
He wanted the sound of a thousand Germans marching across Poland on one song.
You got to figure out, you know, if you're a session musician, your job is to figure outwhat are they wanting to hear and try and give it to them.
sure there's a general midi patch somewhere, Steve, for a thousand Germans marching acrossPoland somewhere.

(48:19):
You both raise really, really good points about interpreting what the artist wants.
And Corey, I'm interested that the polar opposite of that is when you're doing your ownwork.
And I know you did self-fund your own album, Tree of Life.
What was that like after, you know, spending so much time working with other artists andinterpreting what they're after versus doing...

(48:40):
basically what's an open sky for you doing what you want to do.
kept me in check.
if I had a chance to go back and do that record again, which everybody, you know, wouldsay, I would think less about the if-thens.
And well, if I do it like this, you know, here's who the label is, here's what they canprobably do with this.

(49:04):
So being around other artists helped me to be able to compartmentalize.
um
the sound of that record and to be calculated in why things were what they were.
But I don't think that the best performances or arrangements or textures came out as aresult of that mindset.

(49:26):
um but it, it did teach me how to stay in certain parameters.
Now, honestly, what we're doing with, with Tyler, I should note that
It's also pretty foreign from the Nashville getting to what artists want to express.
None of us would ever take advantage of this, but he also encourages you to be your ownartists.
And more often than not, he will say, do you, man, that's, what you're like.

(49:51):
How does this sound to you?
Do you like it?
That's, that's cool.
You know, so we, there's a, there's a freedom there and it's not, it's less a freedom andit's more of an encouragement to.
be yourself and that's why you're in that band at the time.

(50:12):
More so than the typical studio hired hand experience.
And I can't, I can't speak to the live performance aspects, but certainly as a studiomusician, there, if, if you're, if you're good at your job over time, people recognize,
people understand.

(50:32):
like what that guy does.
I, he, he's got better ideas than I do, or, um, I'm going to hire him because I like theway he played on this or that, or he or she played on this or that.
And you, you, you reach a point where.
You are left to be you.
I'm incredibly pleased to have, you know, at some point in my career, reached that pointwhere the people who hired me were hiring me because they wanted me to do whatever I

(51:00):
thought was the right
Yeah.
Yeah.
strictly as a session musician, that's a great point to read.
Absolutely.
I know I couldn't agree more.
Um, not that I'm a session player, but I do stretch.
Um, I'm interested in Corey.
I've mentioned a range of people you worked with, but I'm interested in if your call outof other artists I may not have talked about yet that have been a real inspiration for you

(51:26):
or again may have stretched you or changed your view on how music can be done.
Any of those that you would call out?
Yeah.
There's a gentleman named Chester Thompson.
I don't know if you've ever heard of Chester.
He's a drummer.
Chester was in uh Zappa's band, Weather Report, Genesis.
He's widely known for the drum duets with uh Joe Collins.

(51:49):
Chester, that's a hard one to answer because he is also so much to just in all thebeautiful ways to try to explain and describe.
He put me in touch with the significance of the opportunity to make music for a living.

(52:10):
And there were times I was working on some of my own music with him playing and mentoringand just, just being in the room.
Sometimes he'll be in there and he's not even the drummer, but he's in the room andeverybody just stops, lays down the red carpet and is like, I think it was cool Chester,
is it like, just guru.

(52:31):
And one time.
I was worried about a solo or performance and Chester says, well, you know, I don't knowwhy you think you need to do no more than that.
You know, those, those notes come from somewhere more important than us.
And those notes are good enough.
The notes are good enough.
You're just, you're, you need to get out their way.
And so seeing the value that he places on the opportunity to make music and how much heappreciates every note, every rhythm and how much gratitude he has.

(53:01):
for every single thing that he plays.
And this is a guy who's in some of the coolest bands that have ever existed.
And to him, he's humbled every time he gets to make music with anybody on any level.
he's been one of the more just monumental figures in all of our, my circle.

(53:23):
Yeah, no, say the least.
Do you ever run across chest to Steve?
I've not worked with Chester.
I think we met once.
I don't even remember where, but I haven't been lucky enough to be in a studio with him.
Yeah.
No, amazing guy.
And Corey, know you're only relatively early into your career.

(53:46):
You've got many years of career left, but I'm interested in your thoughts on any guidancefor younger players just starting out based on your experience.
As I said, the industry is constantly changing.
There's certainly some big challenges in its future with AI and other stuff.
Just interested in your perspective more broadly on the industry and how you would try andmake a living if you were just starting today.

(54:07):
Yeah.
I'm probably less equipped to give advice and more equipped to share the things peoplehave shared with me and pass those along the things that I've learned.
One of my old business partners, guy named Mark Costanzo said something one day, and theseare in no particular order.
He said, you don't give what you deserve in this industry, you get what you negotiate.

(54:29):
And really what he was saying was you have to equip yourself to be able to negotiate well.
So you can't just say, no, I want.
10 grand for this project instead of five, you have to position yourself in a way to havewarranted that.
And then you have to be aware of the fact that it's okay to negotiate and to kind ofleverage yourself in the industry.

(54:54):
Based on how you have stacked your own deck.
another, one of my favorite things I read it in a pat Matheny biography, uh, was he hadencouraged young musicians.
to not think of if I only had a record deal than this, I only did all these big things.
He said, what can you stop reading right now and go do in the next 10 minutes?

(55:15):
There's a little step towards your bigger goal and keep thinking in those increments.
Can I practice more?
When, what can I take control of right now while keeping this vision in mind?
I think probably the, if there's anything personal that I would.

(55:35):
would share, would be, don't lose the part of it that is fun.
In Nashville was too, so many times cats will say, well, I'm working today.
Yeah, I've got a lot of work coming in and that's great.
I've got a lot of work.
I'm like, man, we ain't working my Papaw mine Cole.
He was working.
We're, we're playing instruments, you know?

(55:56):
So I would just encourage folks to it.
It's cool to be busy and doing those things, but don't.
Don't forget we ain't really working.
We're getting to play something.
Well, I might say that sometimes we're working, but our tools were a lot more fun thanyour Pablo.
Yeah.
uh

(56:16):
That's great way to put it.
And I wasn't planning on asking this, but you just said something in the query thatprompts me to ask it.
And I can't emphasize, I'm not talking about dollar figures here.
I'm just talking about trends, definitely not mentioning dollars, but for both of you,have you seen the pay drop over the years as less records have been made?

(56:38):
Well, you know, you know what I mean as far as in studios and session work, but also theperformance side of things, Sideman gigs.
Without mentioning dollars, just are you seeing that the pay is about the same or it hasdropped off?
I'll start with you, Corey.
I'd prefer to start with Steve on this one if you're okay.
He's got a lot more years.
do have a perspective on it, but I'd like to hear.

(56:58):
Well, you know, I had the incredibly good fortune to have arrived in Nashville just as thepopularity of country music was skyrocketing.
And Jimmy Bowen sort of opened the door for the better or the, you know, the best of thestudio musicians to be paid.

(57:22):
Jimmy Bowen argued there's 400 guitar players.
trying to do sessions in this town, 10 of them deserve more money than the other 390.
And he argued that that sort of sums up his attitude.
And I found myself very quickly working on the records with all of the quote unquotedouble scale session musicians.

(57:48):
uh So I assumed, well, I'm clearly, I'm of the same value to this producer.
And so I was here at the time when record pay for sessions was higher than it's ever been.
without getting into the whole, started at Napster and LimeWire and all of that.

(58:13):
And we all know what happened to um the public's impression of the value of musicplummeted.
Double scale went away pretty much.
The union tried to keep up with the
sort of the downward slide of the value of music by creating lower scales that let peoplemake records still on a union contract.

(58:38):
It helped the union in that they still got to collect uh work dues and pensioncontributions, but it didn't help the musicians.
just kind of took the bottom out from under musicians on what record they paid.
This is a much tougher time to a living as a studio musician.

(59:01):
you know, in the, in the 1990s, late eighties, nineties, even two thousands, Tony Brown orJames Stroud was, was producing a record.
They would book all double-scale musicians for 10 to 15 sessions across five days to getto record the album.

(59:25):
Now, a uh typical recording session will record anywhere from two to five songs in threehours.
The rosters and the labels are much smaller.
it's a lot harder to make a living and feed your family as a session musician.

(59:47):
No thanks Stephen.
Corey, I assume that matches your experience as far as now?
Well, I never got to experience the double scale days and those kinds of things, but Ithink even I saw it coming.
And so I started to try to diversify and kind of put some stock into myself as an artist.

(01:00:10):
I saw how my music was sounding at the time.
So my manager and I, we also linked up with Yanni's manager at the same time to kind ofmake sure we had a footing in that world.
And I wanted to do those things regardless.
um But to Steve's point, I think in addition to the decrease that you're seeing in raceand everything, unfortunately you're seeing a decrease in quality too.

(01:00:37):
And that's just economics.
It's not because people are less talented, um but the culture is a little funny right nowbecause a lot of us in town, we're all kind of in this
industry bubble and we're all kind of lying to ourselves.
Like people will make a record and say, man, that, that was great.

(01:00:58):
And like, yeah, well, relatively for the last few years, maybe.
Um, but there's no way that you can draw out the best of people and get to the bottom ofwhat these songs are about and, um, get the performances that you want when you're
throwing it all together that quickly.

(01:01:19):
Now, if.
In fairness, if you're running a label, or if you're an artist or what it is, either dothat or do nothing because you can't afford to do, to do it.
So I don't blame anybody for, for doing that.
Thankfully, I just happened to have landed somewhere where we got to make records for you.
go and hold up and you do 20 sessions for the record and you stay in the house andeverything, but it is so rare.

(01:01:47):
I can't imagine that existing anywhere.
I do see a little hope that there are enough artists that we're around and I see that Ihaven't heard on the radio that I don't see doing publicity and enough people are buying
their tickets and buying their records.
And I'm like, it can still, we can still come out of this.

(01:02:11):
Yeah, know, yeah, no, think that's a good.
I think my experiences in Corey's are really two different tracks.
I wanted to be a session musician from the moment I started listening to records andanalyzing what is going on and how are these being done.
So I've strictly pursued being a session musician.

(01:02:32):
I see Corey uh as an artist who also plays on, uh who almost guests on people's records.
uh
And it is a different track.
But I agree that, you know, we've, I don't want to be the old guy who sits here and goes,the music was better when I, know, back in my day.

(01:02:57):
But, you know, we've had clearly a Titanic-sized shift in what youth perceives music tobe.
uh
You know, when I was young, music was something that came into your ears only.
And I think, you know, we're a couple of generations in now to people who think of musicas an accompaniment to a visual art form.

(01:03:25):
And it's just different.
It's people are looking at records.
They're watching the videos.
The route to a successful artist's career is often through visual media.
through TikTok and through eventually through videos.

(01:03:45):
It's a different time and I don't see it going back, but I do think it's had uh a negativeeffect on the quality of music released commercially.
And I just very briefly, Steve, I know you did a, in recent months, um, sessions withBrandon Flowers.
And again, I understand you may not be able to give details, but did you find the, theamount of time you spent on that session would have been overall lower than had that been

(01:04:14):
booked 20 years ago or because Brandon's obviously extremely well known internationalartists has probably, you know, some money to spend that it was sort of a little bit of
that more extensive involvement.
very much like the old days.
Nobody was watching a clock ever.
We took all the time we needed.

(01:04:34):
We ran the songs over and over and would stop because somebody would think this would bebetter if we moved this guitar amp over by the kick drum.
And we would do that for a while.
It was completely like the old days for me.
Yeah.
So you both had a recent experience of that more extensive recording process, which isgreat.

(01:04:58):
He was a, Brandon's a tremendous songwriter.
uh was, you know, I'm sorry to admit I was not that, I was not that familiar with theKillers record.
This is just a different, it was a different generation for me.
um But I got, we got in the studio, his ability with lyrics in particular, he's a greatsinger.

(01:05:22):
He writes interesting, uh appealing melodies, but his,
His mastery of lyrics just blew my mind.
I was just so impressed with him.
So Corey, do want to ask you, you know, you've done a lot of performances and tours now todate.
there a memorable on stage train wreck that you can look back on now and laugh about wherethings have gone spectacularly wrong?

(01:05:47):
Oh, but hundreds Lord.
uh One time I was at the bluebird and I was pretty young.
And, uh, first off I brought in this giant court Triton extreme 88, which I didn't realizewas just way too big for all that, you know, and it's great musicians and I'm there

(01:06:10):
because whatever singer was there, her manager was like, no, bring in this young guy.
got to have it.
So I'm already like the.
one they have to clear out space for them like, here's this, you know.
And I'm reading the charts twice as fast as they're written.
And that happens on the first song and it's just piano vocals.
So we kind of get through the band comes in, I mean, it just, it train wrecks.

(01:06:33):
And then, so you have to stop and then these casts you look up to are like, okay, we canall go home and talk about what happened at the Bluebird tonight.
Kid, you read them twice as fast.
four beats per thing, whatever.
And that actually hurts more than if you're in a stadium because in those little rooms,they're paying such close attention and you're a lot more accountable actually.

(01:06:58):
so I've had plenty of those.
oh The first show I did with Tyler in Rough Arena, guess I wasn't like fully in the band,but I sat in on an instrumental.
And there's this chicken picking big soul kind of thing.
And I had a, like a guest ears pack.

(01:07:18):
I didn't even know that it was my solo.
And so there's this arena full of people and there's this band and they're all.
And I'm like just playing and I'm smiling and I'd realize they're all looking at me like,hello, earth.
Corey.
I'm like, Oh dang.
And I had been sitting there like a knot on a log for a minute, not knowing that it was mysolo.

(01:07:39):
And then it ends and you did nothing.
I have to.
go back and tell these guys I'm sorry now and it was my first thing ever and I've got toapologize.
Good one.
Yeah, absolutely.
There are a couple of records.
I won't name them because it's embarrassing, but I have a little bit of spectrum.

(01:08:00):
I like to call it a little bit of spectrum.
My daughter who has a master's in clinical psychology, there's nothing little bit aboutit, dad.
Um.
I'm aware of two records where I was uh in the band and the vocalist said, take it, Steve.

(01:08:21):
And I didn't hear that.
And the record comes out with take it, Steve.
And I do nothing.
I had time Steve I'd be trawling through but you've had too many.
Oh man.
Love it.
Corey, we've got two final questions and this one's a hard one.

(01:08:42):
It's a bit of a crystal ball one, but what do the next 10 years of your career look like?
It was also fun to think about how I would have answered that 10 years ago.
I plan to appreciate every second of where I'm at right now with these guys.
see that, you know, I'd be fine to die of a heart attack on stage out here at 110 orwhatever.

(01:09:06):
um I see myself letting go of some music that I've been working on.
for about five or six years that I've just been too self-conscious to release.
And I'd see myself finally finishing those, being mindful of what it means for a listener,but not worrying about the implications of it.

(01:09:29):
I see myself starting to let go of music that had just been on my heart for a while andsharing it.
And from there, I'm not as hung up on what happens after that, as I would have been.
No good perspective.
That means flexibility.
And, um, I've got to ask the dreaded desert Island discs question, uh, to Corey.

(01:09:51):
So it's, it's partly selfish, but our listeners, have a massive playlist on Apple musicand Spotify of all our guests selection.
five albums that have really made a difference in your life.
Pat McAnegrute, The Way Up, if you're not familiar with that, and you hear something newevery time, I would stand by the fact that I think that is the most brilliant composition

(01:10:12):
in recording in the modern era.
I I really believe that.
It's 45 minutes of three chapters in an introduction based on a three note, Lyle May hascalled it a three note cluster.
And they just take it.
to places that just make you feel alive and reminded of just the human experience.
And I don't know how they do it live, but they did.

(01:10:36):
Oscar Peterson tracks.
it's his piano sound link was recorded this year.
It's an Oscar Peterson recording, but it's a very clean, warm, lush piano recording.
he's just, he, Oscar is Oscar on it.
There is a bootleg recording.
that somebody brought into my dad that we think is Billy Preston.

(01:11:00):
It's 10 songs, it's piano and organ.
I'm pretty certain it's Billy Preston.
um And it's just 10 gospel songs with the Hammond organ played exactly how a Hammond organis supposed to be played.
Nothing more, nothing less.
I don't have a name for the record.
I'm probably not at liberty to even share it, but I hear something new and inspirationalevery time I hear that.

(01:11:21):
This one might come with a stigma and I don't care, but Yanni Ly, The Acropolis.
uh I think that the whole thing was very pioneered something, something in that that makesme want to develop my own ideas more every time I hear that record.
And I want to collaborate with bigger ensembles every time I hear it.

(01:11:41):
And I want to approach the piano in a more lyrical way every time I hear it.
Cause the way he does the solo piano things on that, it's very Mozart like.
I've heard to a great mind that he doesn't like to turn new age and has been quoted assaying that's what you listen to when you vacuum your house.

(01:12:05):
So I think he is a much more brilliant musician than the um aura that we've kind of placedon him as society.
then here come the noisemakers, Hornby.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Great picks.
Someone just recently chose Here Come The Noisemakers too.
it's, I've, saw I've been listening to it recently.
I hadn't listened to that before.

(01:12:26):
Just an amazing album.
Um, look, I, Corey, I cannot thank you enough.
It's been an absolute pleasure speaking with you.
And again, Steve, can't thank you enough for making the suggestion.
It's always a pleasure talking to professional Nashville musicians, you know, sitting allthe way over here in Australia, even though most of our audience is in the US.
Canada, it's a real privilege hearing some of these stories and I can't wait to see whatcomes next for your careers.

(01:12:51):
I think you've got an amazing career yet to be lived out.
Well, it's honored that, uh, fan I can't believe I got to connect with Steve.
used to open up the CDs, go to Walmart and get them and like, who's on this?
Who are these people and stuff?
And here's one of them right here.
And we're at the talk shop.
So thank you for connecting us.
Thank you, Steve, for, um, linking up.

(01:13:14):
I'm adamant about taking you up on that, uh, that lunch date.
We have to do that.
you
And there we have it.
I hope you enjoyed that.
As I mentioned in the intro, that was something a little bit different.
What a privilege to have Steve Nathan back on the show, let alone hearing about theamazing career that Corey's had to date.

(01:13:38):
And he's, as we said, he's got lots more to come.
So I cannot thank both of them enough for joining us.
Obviously keen to see Corey down under again.
This little cover band keyboard player from Australia always feels a little bit in awe ofthese amazing musicians and rightly so.
because they're chops are to die for.
So you cannot thank them both enough.

(01:14:01):
And I also cannot thank you enough for continuing to listen and join.
We do super appreciate it.
And we're always keen to hear from you.
So you can always reach out to us at editor at keyboard chronicles.com.
We are on all the socials.
you know, we're on Facebook and we're on even Tik TOK.
We're on blue sky.
You name it.
we're obviously, um, on YouTube too.

(01:14:22):
You can obviously interact with the YouTube channel now there's a whole community sectionthere.
And we're also on Reddit.
So that's something new.
So if you look for keyboard Chronicles on Reddit, you will find there's a subreddit forthe keyboard Chronicles.
We've just started putting a few little bits and pieces from the vault on there.
So it would love to interact if Reddit's your thing as well.

(01:14:42):
Last, but most definitely not least.
I want to give a shout out to our gold and silver supporters.
The brilliant Dewey Evans from the Sunnylander Wales.
Thank you, sir.
As always, was listening to some of your music on a road trip on the weekend and it'salways a pleasure listening to it.
Tammy Katcha from Tammy's musical stew.
Thank you so much, Tammy, for your long-term and ongoing support.
It's always enormously appreciated.

(01:15:04):
And the amazing Mike Wilcox at midnight mastering.
Cannot thank you enough, sir.
And if you have your own creations, you want mixed and mastered in an extremelyprofessional way for a decent price.
Mike is the guy to reach out to.
And again, last but not least, Dave Bryce and the team at themusicplayer.com forums.

(01:15:24):
That's where Steve Nathan and I met and it's still a wonderful place to hang.
So highly recommend the keyboard corner and themusicplayer.com forums.
So we'll be back again in a couple of weeks.
And Paul does send his regards.
It's not as if we've thrown Paul off a cliff somewhere.
He's been incredibly busy and I'm very jealous actually.

(01:15:45):
He's living the life of an incredibly busy gigging musician.
He actually was in my hometown over the last couple of weeks and we caught up for a beerand I went to see his amazing show.
He's definitely still part of the team.
He's just so damn busy, but he'll be back soon.
So again, thank you for listening.
And until we talk next time, keep on playing.