Masters of Nashville Series: Eddie Bayers - A Musical Journey Through Decades :: Ep 240 The Rich Redmond Show

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Join Rich Redmond and Eddie Bayers as they dive deep into the world of professional drumming, music production, and the evolution of Nashville's music scene. Highlights include:

[0:05] Eddie's early career and move to Nashville
[0:20] How Eddie mentored Rich Redmond in the music industry
[0:35] The changing landscape of recording studios and music production
[0:50] Eddie's incredible discography - over 300 gold and platinum records
[1:05] Insights into being the Grand Ole Opry house drummer
[1:20] Advice for young musicians breaking into the industry
[1:35] The importance of networking and relationships in music
[1:50] Reflections on technological changes in music recording
[2:05] Eddie's philosophy on staying relevant and passionate about music

A candid conversation with one of Nashville's most recorded drummers, offering wisdom, humor, and insider stories from decades in the music business.

The Rich Redmond Show is about all things music, motivation and success. Candid conversations with musicians, actors, comedians, authors and thought leaders about their lives and the stories that shaped them. Rich Redmond is the longtime drummer with Jason Aldean and many other veteran musicians and artists. Rich is also an actor, speaker, author, producer and educator. Rich has been heard on thousands of songs, over 30 of which have been #1 hits!

We have MERCH! www.therichredmondshow.com

Follow Rich:

@richredmond

www.richredmond.com

Jim McCarthy is the quintessential Blue Collar Voice Guy. Honing his craft since 1996 with radio stations in Illinois, South Carolina, Connecticut, New York, Las Vegas and Nashville, Jim has voiced well over 10,000 pieces since and garnered an ear for audio production which he now uses for various podcasts, commercials and promos. Jim is also an accomplished video producer, content creator, writer and overall entrepreneur.

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@jimmccarthy

www.jmvos.com

 

The Rich Redmond Show is produced by It's Your Show dot Co

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Episode Transcript

Unknown (00:02):
Nick coming to you from crash studios in Music City,
USA, Nashville. This is the richRedmond show featuring special
guest Nashville studio legend
Eddie Bayers
and now rich Redmond.

(00:28):
What is up, everyone? RichRedmond here. Welcome to the
rich Redmond show. So excitedcoming to you live from crash
studio in Beautiful Music City,USA, Nashville, Tennessee. Of
course, I'm giant joined by mypartner in crime, Jim McCarthy.
Jim McCarthy, voiceovers.com andso excited to have this guest,

(00:49):
my good friend. Eddie bears, howare you? My friend? Great. Have
you brother? Good. Good to seeyou. Good to see you. It's a
real thrill to have you at myplace here, because if people
don't know our history, I movedto Nashville in March of 1997
and you were so instrumental inhelping me get started. You were

(01:11):
so kind to me. You were soencouraging. You were what they
would call nowadays, these crazykids, a mentor. Oh, yeah. And so
I sent you my my cassette demo,rich Redmond drums and
percussion in early 1997 youwere like, Yeah, kid, you sound
great. Get to Nashville. Andthen before I knew it, you were

(01:31):
throwing me showcases and littleroad gigs and and then same with
Lonnie Wilson, our friend LonnieWilson got me connected with
some cool stuff. And even youeven wrote me a letter
recommendation like Rich is agreat human being, and sounds
really great. If you need anyreferences, please call me Eddie
bears Jr. You know so, so justall these years later, nearly 24

(01:53):
years later, it's awesome tohave you 2424 years I think you
were my eight I'm in my late40s. I think you were my age
when I moved to town 24
years ago. So it
was so with your history. Let meask you something, yeah, and
somebody you got to get hit, hitup all the time from people
coming into town. You reallywanted to help rich out. Yeah,
for some reason, why was that?

(02:14):
You know, you can. It's almostlike a innate, intuitive
situation where, when somebodycontacts you, and, of course,
then you get a reference oftheir playing and their ability.
That's where you can pretty welltell with somebody's talent. And
you know that this is worth, youknow, supporting, right?

(02:39):
I can get behind this guy. Yeah,
thank you so much. I mean, you,you started, it was like the Big
Bang. It was like it was, it wasa slow grow. Go for me. In the
early days, Jim was surprised tohear our last podcast. I said,
you know, I had trouble gettingconnected. I mean, getting
really connected into it took methree years to get that Pam
Tillis job, right? But in thebeginning I was like waiting

(03:01):
tables and substitute teachingand parking cars and doing data
entry and teaching drum lessonsand playing down a lower
Broadway and doing free show,doing anything I could. So, you
know, three years what is that?It's about 1000 days before I
got that job with Pam, andsomeone was setting up my drums,
and they gave me a bottle ofwater. Here you go. Mr. Ribbon,

(03:22):
you know. And then after theshow that someone tore down my
drums. So cool, I know, I know.But um, to catch up, everyone
who might not be familiar, arethey sleeping under a rock that
they're not familiar with? Mr.Eddie bears, one of the most
recorded drummers in history.You've played on over 300 gold
and platinum records. 14 times,Academy of Country Music drummer

(03:44):
of the year, three timeNashville drummer, Nashville
Music Awards, drummer of theyear, and countless times you
won country drummer of the yearin Modern Drummer magazine. So
in back in my, you know, I'veread every issue of Modern
Drummer magazine, for folks thataren't drummers out there, this
is the most widely read drumpublication in the world, and I

(04:05):
remember seeing you Lonnie Jerrycroon Tommy wells, Owen Hale and
Milton sledge on the cover ofthe magazine at the Opry. And it
was so inspirational. So that'swhy I said, Oh, I've got to
reach out to these guys and seeif they'll give me any nuggets
of wisdom, any advice, and youtook it one step further, and

(04:27):
you get me some jobs aroundtown. You know, which was
really, which was great. Now,how many years have you been in
Nashville? I came in
Christmas of 73 Wow. But ofcourse, a keyboard player,
were you? Yeah, yeah, tell usabout that. You're from
Maryland, right, right, and youwere playing your classically

(04:50):
trained piano player.
Interesting, and yeah. Andthrough that, of course, as the
process goes, you know, andyou're in that mode, you. Uh,
and to make it really quick, isthat you know your travels
playing in bands, which I did,and I wound up with a band in
New Jersey, and we calledourselves the original cast. And

(05:15):
while we're playing around inJersey, there was a band that
was one of the top 40 bandsdiscovered by Nancy Wilson in
Las Vegas, called the checkmatesLtd. And they were pretty well
known, you know, but they camein where we were, and at that
time I was sliding off the drumstoo, you know, like, what? When
our drummer would go out and I'dplay, so he could do whatever he

(05:37):
did, and then I'd get back ontob3 they said, that's exactly
what we're looking for, for theCheckMate. So me, three of us
out of that band, left and wentwith the checkmates and moved to
Las Vegas and became theirbackup bands. Because they did
the same thing. You know, whentheir drummer, sweet Louie,
would go out, I'd get on, andwhen Sonny Charles got off the

(05:59):
organ, then I'd get on. So asthat went on and on, Joe Romano,
who was the trumpet player, wasalso a great orchestrator and
musical director, and he movedto Oakland, California, and he
called me when all this wasstarting to disperse, and said,
you know, you really alwayswanted to finish your college,

(06:19):
you know? I said, Well, I justwant music, musically. And so I
followed through. I moved inwith him at Oakland, and I went
to Laney College, you know,basically just double A, you
know, but through that process,I've got more into that network,
just the same thing as I alwaysadvise, like I do with you. So
networking around Oakland, I gotinto a guy named Tom Fogerty,

(06:42):
who was John fogerty's Brother,right? Who had a little group
that, when everybody was offtour, they would play around,
you know, like Keystone corner,and then go over to San
Francisco and play. And so Ibecame their keyboard player. I
was the piano. And MerleSaunders, who was a great b3
player. Jerry Garcia playguitar. Tom played, you know,

(07:04):
the acoustic and guitars. Sothrough that, then obviously it
became more mainstream ofknowing that music. So after
about three years there, I heardfrom some people in Nashville
who said, We're you need to comehere, you know? So I did. And

(07:26):
when I came sore as a keyboardplayer, I said, Well, I got to
sustain. So I heard aboutauditions down at printers
alley. So I went down. There waslike three other piano players
in front of me, and I'm waitingfor them to do their thing. And
then I got up and I played.After I played, this big burly
guy came over. He said, you'remy guy, hmm, it was a quartet,

(07:50):
and I want to he said, you're myguy. And he said, What are you
doing? I said, Well, I'm workingat an Alba fabrication plant
right now
here in Nashville. Yeah. Day
job, yeah, a job, a job andsomething, yeah, making album
covers.
Wow. At least you're in theindustry,
in a sense. But anyway, I gavehim, I told him my name. He

(08:13):
said, I'm Larry London. Wow. Ihad no idea until, of course, as
we friended and friended and Iworked with him. I mean, we were
really close. He was yourmentor. Oh, my God, he was so
when you use mentor, and I toldhim, I said, I would really like
to professionally get into this,you know, he goes, I've got a

(08:35):
little pad up between shows,because we were, like the
quartet in between main artiststhat would come into printers,
and so we go up, and he wouldshow me a few things. And then
after a while, when it got alittle more complex, I said, you
know, Larry, I just want to beathim, you know? I said, I I've
been in an interpretive mode allmy life, right? You know? So I

(08:57):
can read and I can do all that,but I just want to feel the
play. Yeah, so after about ayear and a half there, there was
a top 40 group downtown that wasthe most popular one in a club.
So I auditioned for them, and Igot that. So I spent probably
maybe more than five yearsthere, but then wanted to pursue

(09:19):
the studio, yeah, scene. And Iwas going around, and I was
hearing about studios and goingand checking out. And then I
heard about one. It was justopening, and it was called audio
media, and it was over off thevision. And I walked in, I said,
Man, I would really love to getinside here and know they said,
well, we can't afford to payanybody. I said, it doesn't

(09:42):
matter. I just want to learn andbe inside and I'll play. Yeah.
Well, simultaneously, somebodywho became my partner for 30
years, Paul whirly, who's aknown
producer, you guys owned themoney pit, right? Was this?
Well, we well, that wassubsequent, because this studio.
We were in was a productionstudio. So we never did

(10:02):
mainstream. We were doingNational Geographic albums
attributing somebody like wewould do an album that
of John Phillips, also
Susan marches, John Phillips,salsa.
That sounds let me tell you whyI say that, because that's like
a parody, yeah, when I wouldsay, you want to hear John

(10:24):
Philip salsa,
anyway,
so, but we would do that and allkinds of different things, from
Walt Disney, doing a lot of theMickey Mouse disco things like
that.
So you were in, you went andjust cold called. You stopped by

(10:48):
the studio. Said, This is what Ido. This is what I'd like to do.
Can you use me? Yeah, it's likethe Phil Ramone story of he
started sweeping the studiofloor and cleaning the bathroom.
Yeah, and you work your way up.Do you tell I got on the radio?
How do you do you see thathappening with today's youth? Or
no, no, I
don't, and I'll tell you why.It's because, let's face it,

(11:08):
right in your room here we couldcut a full blown album. Yeah,
yeah. So that pretty much is theway of the world. Most of the
facilities, as we know. Youknow, we knew sound shop went
away. We knew that condos now,yeah, yeah. But you know, the
only thing that I say, I mean, Iknow, I see all the squawk and

(11:30):
everything, what a shame.Historic Bubba, you know, Ray
Stevens a you know, 17 grandgone.
They leveled it. I saw it well.
But you know what, as abusinessman? Because the one
thing I know, even though we'redoing what we're do, you've
learned this is business music.Yeah, it's not music business.
So with that being said, as youhave your places and your

(11:54):
properties and stuff you get in,let's just hypothetically say
somebody came up to you, and youhad a iconic studio that
depended off the phone to ringso you knew what the way of the
world was at that point of howmany times are you frequented to
be doing sessions, you know, andmaking your nut and knowing what

(12:19):
it would take as Somebody comesin and says, I'll give you $3
million and I'll take it, yeah.I mean, you're going, Wait a
minute, I can secure me, mykids, my family. I think,
I think Ray sold that for 20million.
I because it's a prime spotright there on the corner, yeah.
I mean, wow,
it's just the way. I mean, it'shappening with all the creative

(12:42):
arts these days. That that thebarrier to entry is getting
lower, you know, like you'retalking about, you can do it
right here, in a studio, in ahouse. Make a great sounding
album. The only thing you missout on is, is there a difference
in how these albums are soundingnow? Oh, now that everybody's
not in the same room, tell youwhat I was feeding off.

(13:02):
I was just talking about thatlast night again, you know we
were reflecting on the recordstoday. Yeah. So we know that the
little wizards that are comingout, the Pro Tools wizards,
demeaning them. But when theyget in and they do all of their
plugins and everything likethat. The sounds aren't, I mean,

(13:24):
they're ones and zeros, right?So they're just a wall. There's
like that. You don't go inside.There is no dynamic. You know,
it's what it is. It might golouder and softer and have some
kind of verb on it, but it's notlike because somebody told me,
they said, Man, I listened to,and I was trying to think of the
recording they listened to. Itwas once something I did, and

(13:48):
they were commenting because itwas done back in the 90s. And of
course, you know, they were justlistening said, My God, it was
so big, and you could heareverything. And while you put
the phones on, you werelistening to landscape, you
know, you heard somethingthrough there, through there,
and Corey layers, yeah, it'smolecular, yeah. And I said
molecules magnetized ordifferent than ones and zeros

(14:11):
delegated to a frequency.
That's really, reallyinteresting. Because, I mean,
you know, when I moved here and,you know, 97 everyone was still
tracking in the same room at thesame time. And I will say that
about Nashville more than theother coasts. We are still doing
that. We're still doing it. Itis somehow being affected, like
I just did a session, you know,yesterday, where so many tracks
were on the grid, and I knewthat I didn't necessarily know

(14:35):
what drum machine fills theywere going to keep so to play it
safe, I played incrediblysimple. You know, I didn't do
any fills, and so you're justusing the colors on the kit.
Like I'm going to play a tighthi hat here. I'm going to go to
a loose hi hat here. I'm goingto go to a variety, making

(14:55):
choices, but knowing I probablyneed to figure out how to stay.
Out of the way to play it safeand make it easy for their
editing. And so like the musicalchoices we're making now are
different than when we wereplaying that big country and and
1997 eight guys on the floor atthe same time, I will say, Thank
God. Thank God to Michael Knoxand Jason l Dean and Pete

(15:17):
Coleman and all the folks overat treasure Isle, all the Aldean
records all at the same time.That's right on the floor at the
same that's
why they sound the way they dothis. Yeah,
they are. They're incrediblysounding. And they creep keep
the legacy, you know, from whereI started, back when, all those
records and everything that Idid and and you know, then my
year so far, I've been able toenjoy because Jim Ed Norman did

(15:40):
a record on Dylan Scott. We werea sound Emporium. We did that.
Kyle inning produced a three dayalbum on skip, Ewing everybody
on the floor, same thing, yeah,
let me ask you, this guy'sprofessional drummers and
players in the industry. You goback to an album like Van Halen,
1984 right? Love it. I put thatwhen I was in radio, I was

(16:03):
trying to actually do somethingwith it and beat, mix it with
other songs and put it alongwith metronome. He is all over
the flip and map. As far astempo,
it just feels amazing, right?But you don't feel so you don't
feel that, Oh, you don't want aband, and they're all doing it
together. I listen to
hear, hear some songs, yeah,that just have legacy to them,

(16:24):
you know, they're gonna bearound
for another 100 years. It'sgonna be cool. Time will tell to
see, you know, the lifespan of abro, a bro country record, like,
how long it's gonna be around?Like, are we still gonna be
spinning it in
10 years? Right? The same thing,you know, I mean, there's
artists that we know just likeJason now is one of our
treasures you look but overdecades, and that will continue.

(16:48):
And I guess hypothetically, youwonder about anybody in the new
that comes on and they're doingwhat they do, will they be there
in 25 years?
It's almost like the mid 90sright now, for country, mid 90s
rock, yeah, was kind of likethey were trying anything. You
know, it was before the activerock genre was really defined. I

(17:08):
was getting into radio at thatparticular moment. Yeah, they
were transitioning from grungeand Nirvana, and the Seattle
thing kind of was fizzling atthat point. 9495 96 was
happening because I was in acover band at the time, playing
drums. Jim also plays drums,yeah. And we were playing, you
know, Smashing Pumpkins. I don'tthink the Foo Fighters was out

(17:29):
by then, but ever Rage Againstthe Machine, ever clear. And it
was just really wonky music. Imean, they were literally just
throwing stuff against the wallto see if it sticks,
you know, but they're stillplaying a lot of it, yeah,
you go back. There's a lot ofnostalgia. For me, when I listen
to it, they call that classicrock. Now, is it classic rock?

(17:52):
Yeah, it's like, it's like, theyoung girls call it old timey
music, like, why are youlistening to this old timey
music when we could be listeningto Drake, his journey, old
times oldies class,
I'll tell you what the realityof that is. Just go on and check
foreigner journey, hmm, even VanHalen check their tour schedule.

(18:15):
Busy. Yeah, yeah, really. Andsome of them don't even have,
like, one original member. Someof them have one original
member, and they just get greatside guys, and they hang the
banner in the back, and it's anotable brand. And you the
people in 90% of the people inthe audience, 99% of the people
audience, just want to heardirty white boy in double vision
and cold as ice. They don't carewho's playing it. Yeah, you

(18:36):
know, but it, but there is somegod, there's, there's wings to
that music, and you'reresponsible for when Alan
Jackson says, we've gonecountry, yeah, you know that was
like, what, 9293 94 before that?Yeah, it was like, maybe, like
91 or something, yeah,
probably because straight was 84
now straight, I'm so sorry,straight has had, what, 60

(19:00):
number ones, and you've playedon almost
all of them, probably 90%
actually more than that. So youcan't, so folks, listen, you
can't put your you can't get inyour car and turn on satellite
XM or terrestrial radio anddrive down the road to the
Walgreens to do anything withouthearing Eddie bears on the

(19:21):
radio, right? That's prettythat's got to be does it still
fun to hear yourself in asupermarket elevator there on
the radio? Kind of over it? Doesit? Does it? Does it bring back
a memory of that session on thatday?
Absolutely anything like thatthat I hear and I'm going, oh my
god, yeah, that was so and so.You know, now,

(19:41):
have you thought about writing amemoir? I have,
but I just wouldn't know any ofthose fundamental beginnings of
how you do that.
So you need a co author. Yes, wegotta get you a co author. But,
I mean, we're just talking aboutthe 90s. I mean, look at this
track record, Jim. Check thisout. You being a drummer, you
can appreciate this. TanyaTucker, John Denver, Ricky

(20:04):
Skaggs, George Strait, almostall the stuff. Garth Brooks,
Glen Campbell, Kenny Chesney,Vince Gill so it goes on and on
and on. And talk aboutreinventing yourself, self,
continuing to work, stayingrelevant. You're the house
drummer at the Opry, right? Yesas well. And then our friend
Mark subs for you. Mark Beckett,yes. Now, when I see Mark
Beckett play, I say to myself,that guy was heavily influenced

(20:27):
by Eddie bears. I told him whenhe was 13. I mean, we're talking
about, he's a lefty, yep, thesame setup, like your brand. I
hear it not that he's not aunique and well,
you know her dad, the infamousBarry Beckett, yeah, famous
records that, yeah, producerthat we did, Barry would always
bring home the tracks andeverything that we recorded, a

(20:50):
great education, yes. So hewould get those to Mark, and
Mark would just play along,yeah, play along with those. And
that's what he did. So he'sactually now or once while he
go, man, do you remember this?And it'd be like, because
obviously Barry was diverse, sowe did a heavy metal artist,
Dora Pesh from Germany. So itwas like, double kicks, you

(21:11):
know, and Dan huff andeverything.
And I think a lot of peoplewould be surprised to hear you
play that style.
Oh, yeah, yeah, I know exactly.I mean, I've got when you put
the records on and they justsound for not, was it like a
speed metal kind of thing?
Yeah, it was like, there was afew cuts like that, yeah, oh

(21:33):
yeah. And the kick kicks, yeah.
Are you still playing with theplayers? That's your side
project.
Well, you know what? John Hobbs,our keyboard player. I started
that band in 2001 because therewas a friend I had from CMT at
CBS cable named Martin Claytonwho since retired, and he had

(21:55):
cornered me, we had met eachother, and I can't remember how
we ever did it. It might havebeen a nearest thing. But
anyway, we got to talking aboutideas and everything and
creating shows. So the firstthing we did was a Christmas
special which Glen Campbell. Andbasically our format was going
to be, yeah, we'll go on andrecord the record. We'll film,

(22:18):
you know, Glenn singing thesongs with Yes, or maybe not
yes, and then sell, which wedid, after that was done. He
said, you know, what about likea music based thing? And I said,
Well, I wouldn't want it to belike a American music shop
thing, you know, with themusicians. I said, What about if
we did a musician, artistrecord. So with that said, Yeah,

(22:44):
great. Put a band together. So Iput together Brent Mason, Paul
Franklin, Michael Rhodes andJohn Hobbs. And the premise of
that record was, we got webrought in Vince Gill, Peter
Frampton, Travis, tritt, SeanColvin. So that was a diverse,
yeah, but what happened afterthat show and DVD and everything

(23:06):
was done, it stuck. So we justbecame brothers in arms with
that. And we played around forlike, 11 years. And then John
since retired, and it wasobviously somebody would say,
even in a band sense, you know,what are you going to get
somebody to take us place? Isaid, No, this is it. The
players are it, right? And so wejust let that rest. And

(23:30):
everybody's kind of like intheir own world and what they
do. But of course, we're stillconnected, yeah, sure, very, but
very heavily. In fact, inOctober, will really be it?
I, you know, I used to come seeyou guys play at third and
Lindsley all the time. Ifthere's any Nashvillians that
listening, you guys know theoriginal third and Lindsley was
this small room. And that'sright. And then Ron knocked the
wall down and expanded, andlittle, small room was magic. It

(23:53):
really was. The man is in thecorner. Oh man, get the pinball
machines in the back by thedressing room. And, you know,
it's pretty good bar food. And,you know, you know, Ron, the
owner, is a he's a fan of music.You know, there's always great
acts in there, regional acts,national, local acts. Yeah, he
supports them. You know, peoplealways ask me all the time, I'm
coming to Nashville, whereshould I go? I say, okay, third

(24:14):
in Lindsley, 12th in Porter,Douglas corner, the Sutler, the
basement, lower Broadway. Andthey say, No, what's your
favorite spot on lower Broadway?Rich? I say, Well, you got to go
to World Famous tootsiesbecause, yeah, you just have to.
And I like Robert's westernworld because it's like the real
old school Don Kelly band, andthe old country guys played, and

(24:36):
they're wearing the nudie suits,and they're wearing the shirts,
and you can go in there and youget your crinkle fries and your
core is original. In the bottlefried bologna sandwich, let's
buy a pair
of boots. That's where we are.We are so health oriented. You
know, really go after the health
food fried bologna tofu. It's a
tofu. Welcome to the south. SoSo you it was. It's very well

(24:57):
known, for those of you who arelistening at one point. Like,
and probably still this way, itwas, like a handful of people,
like a fraternity of two orthree guys that you always heard
on the same stuff that was ascent, like, when in the
voiceover business, which iswhere I live, most of the time,
talking about the A team inNashville that Eddie was right,
right? Where did we referredwith true before for that, like,

(25:19):
you know, the movie trailer,guys who voiced all the movie
trailers, you know, in theworld, those guys, Don
LaFontaine, yeah, it was likefour or five people doing all
the, all the work. And you know,what was your kind of view on
that for somebody coming in?Because I remember hearing an
interview with Don LaFontaine.They said, Well, someone asked
him, I said he was, he was verytongue in cheek, funny guy.

(25:40):
Yeah. They said, You know, therewas only four or five of you,
from what I understand. He goes,Yes, as it should be, yeah. He
says, Yeah. There's only, like,five of you making all the
money. He's like, yes, as itshould be. That's great. I mean,
your attitude, I guess, was alittle different. I mean, did
you care and you were a part ofthat fraternity? Was that
something
that you know, the fraternityreally in that and that days

(26:03):
from the 80s to 90s, it wasreally under production, because
the way it was, which isdifferent today's world. Let's
say Brent Mayor produced an actthat we did, we did the demos on
the judge, and then they gothrough the roof. Well, then the
label Joe Galani or RCA said, Wewant you to produce this, and we

(26:23):
want you to produce that. Sounder one producer, I'd have
four major artists that I wouldbe playing on. And the same
thing, when Jimmy Bowen came totown, you know, he tested me
out, he said, you're going to bemy guy. And that talk about a
windfall. Now that was the samecrew for a good 1011, years. And

(26:47):
what it did not from my efforts,but because he just controlled
this world and producedeverybody here, because he ran
the label too. Yeah. So withthat. I mean, a good example
would be like, so this isAugust. I would be booked
through next August every week,

(27:10):
and you were doing two, threesessions a day,
oh, sometimes two sessions aday, yeah, and five days a week.
And then if they had squeeze up,man, it'd be a Saturday, but
again, it was every artist. Sobecause of that, you
have an amazing pension.

(27:31):
Let's hope it survives,
yeah, well, if it can, yeah, youknow. And I think it will. I
think it might get cut, butit'll be, it'll survive, yeah,
that, but I think the statswere, and for a lot of us that
were with Bowen for those 10years, because he controlled the
world, you know, I would havesee the top 11 singles for six

(28:01):
and a half months in Billboard,and the top 13 albums in country
in Billboard, yeah, for like,six months, you just look and,
you know, just be amazed. Youknow, the one thing I never did
was absorb it into like, yeah.You know, I was gonna ask. I
knew what it was, yeah. I mean,you know, if this guy that
you're working for is doingeverybody that's on those

(28:23):
charts. Well, obviously
that speaks incredibly to thepower of relationships.
Well, and I guess what we'resaying as far as the the nucleus
of every one of those camps, Ihad it with Brent mayor. I had
it with Jimmy Bowen BarryBeckett. When he left Muscle
Shoals came out, and he wasseeking out somebody for his
national rhythm section, which Iwas blessed to be able to be in

(28:45):
that so that was another 10years of him producing
everything internationally. Imean, we did from Seager and, I
mean, all these differentartists like Brendan croaker,
who was with the Nottinghamhillbillies and stuff. So it was
really good adverse music. But Iguess back to the question,
there wasn't a nuke this, it wasjust who was ever in those

(29:08):
production camps like
you were in with everybody,which really speaks to like,
wow. People have their faith inyour ability to show up and
deliver the job. And I'm surethey knew you. They like you.
They trusted you, and you showedup consistently. So for the
viewers out there and listenersthat that aren't in the music
business, a recording session isfrom 10 to 1:10am to 1pm and

(29:31):
then a short lunch break, andyou might have to go to another
recording session across townwith another set of drums set
up, and you would record from2pm to 5pm and this is all kind
of governed by the AmericanFederation of Musicians, which
says that you have to make thisamount of money in this amount
of time, and it adds up, andthey pay into your pension. And
it was, it was like the goldenage of the music. Just totally

(29:52):
where now it is the Wild West.There's so many things happening
off the card, yeah, and off thecard, you know? And, and. A you
know, what would your advice?Because I know you, you mentor,
you have you're involved withthe Grammys, and you go speak at
Berkeley. And so you have ayoung kid, his parents are
spending 250 $300,000 for thekid to go to Berkeley and

(30:15):
graduate with a piece of paper.And they go, Wow, now I'm gonna
go into the music business. Igotta pay back these student
loans. How am I going to dothis? What advice would you give
to a 22 year old kid graduatingfrom one of the top music
schools, or somebody that's justself trained and they know that
they have to be in New York, LAor Nashville?
Let me. Let me ask somethingreal quick. Are you still paying

(30:35):
off your student loans?
Actually, because of the Peraltacollege system, I went free.
There you go. If you were aresident around Oakland and San
Francisco, you could get yourdouble A
free. That's incredible. Yeah,you ever miss California when
your time there? Not now, yeah,
not now, not Oakland now. No,no, no. Oh no, no,

(30:57):
no, no, no. I watched itdeteriorate, yeah, I mean,
within years after I left, yeah,that was a shame, yeah, but,
but, you know, I and I get thosequestions a lot, because what I
do is I work with a couple ofprofessors at Berkeley. So every
year they bring down, like 125students. We have a week that we
program all the hierarchy herethat encompass every facet. I

(31:22):
mean, you can have publishing,label, management, legal, and in
musical, songwriting and allthat. And, of course, they all
have, you know, the samequestions, and as far as when
they get out and what they do.And I think it would be the same
thing. Now, even with yoursuccess of where you evolve to

(31:46):
where you are, you'd have to askyourself the same question. What
would you say? Yeah, you know,
roll up your sleeves. Find thepeople that are doing what you
want to do. Meet them. Modelyourself after that.
Emulate Emily.
The only thing I advice I givethem, as I said, I know
sometimes you guys can beseparate from each other in

(32:07):
whatever facet, and have yourown little core, your only core
group that you do. Yeah. I said,break that down, network with
each other. I said, because thatsongwriter or that guy who's
going to be in publishing, oranything like that, might give
you a call and say, you know,compassing our public company,

(32:30):
we're going to start aproduction studio, you know,
would you, you know, this is howa lot of my contacts happen.
Did you understand what you'redoing at the time, though, when,
when you were doing it, did youor just, you know, it just
happened.
No, you know, all I did is,after a while with, with the
experience, you put it together,you start saying, Wow, I mean
that he Don Cook, he called andtook me into Acuff rose, and

(32:55):
then moved me over to tree andDon Gant, buddy killing and all
that. And then you start going,Oh, I get it, you know. So this
is, and that's, and I guess thatthere's also when you talk about
lower broad, you know, andpeople who come down get into
the jams and stuff like that. Isaid, love those people who come

(33:15):
down and play. Sometimes they'realso in the network of the
studios doing the demos,whatever, whatever, they might
never know who's going to be andthey might hear you and go, Man,
let me have your
number. I mean, every time youplay your instrument or work on
your craft in public, you areadvertising your business. Do

(33:35):
you think they understand that,though? I mean, I remind you
you've been told I don't want toput I don't need to play lower,
broad. Well, there's a lot ofkids that are moving to town
that are just like, they maybethey save smartly, they save
money, and they don'tnecessarily need to work a day
job. So they just go out everynight and crash parties and meet
people. But they're like, youknow, I don't want to go play

(33:57):
for tips. I was like, Hey, Ididn't either, but I learned so
much, so quickly
and and again, that one personthat you might befriend through
that who goes, Man, let me haveyour number, and the next thing
you know, you get the call. Sureyou know. And that's that's the
beauty of in networking, andthat's what I always advise you

(34:22):
got to get in the community.
You know, relationships,absolutely. Oh,
that was your advice to me. Youknow, we'll see in town. Get
involved with the community. Youknow, looking forward to having
you here, which is great. And Ican't believe that was what's
365 days times 24 that was along time ago. You know, and
look at my band. The greatestthing that ever happened to me

(34:44):
was meeting those twoindividuals that introduced me
to a young Jason Aldean thatintroduced me to their producer,
and we're at five presidencieslater, we're still be in the
trenches creating, bringing themusic to the people. That was a
real gift. People always ask me,like, how did that? Happened was
in an audition, I was like,really, it was your same path.

(35:04):
It was relationships withpeople.
And to back that up, it's likewhen people come in and say, But
what I'd like to do is be ableto get in know some audition,
you know, and I would have totell them, I said, Let me tell
you something. Most core bandsof artists, if they have
somebody who's leaving, theother musicians know who they'd

(35:27):
like to they're calling afriend. Yeah, yeah, they'd like
to know who, who, who do you whodo you know? And everybody will
have their own little side oflet's get him and him and him
and try him out. So it's notgoing to be like a resume, your
artist auditions. We just knowsomebody, it's not going to
happen. You know. Which do youthink that could possibly happen

(35:49):
is if there's a new artist onthe horizon, and maybe their
management might reach out tosomebody like me, but like that.
Hey, do you know some peoplethat might want to blah, blah,
blah, any young drummers, anyyoung guitar player, stuff like
that. That might happen. Itdoesn't happen that much, you
know. But like you were talkingabout lower broad, yeah, it was

(36:10):
the same thing 18 years ago. Icouldn't be working any more
than I was. But then I got acall from John Gardner, who said
he's going out on the road withthe Dixie Chicks. He said, Would
you serve it for me at the Opry?He said, I'm going to be gone
six months. I said, Absolutely,I'll be happy to do that, which
I loved. It was legacy andeverything there. When I did

(36:33):
that, I enjoyed it. You know,what's interesting is the same
people that told you, is peoplekind of goes, Man, I don't know,
yeah, I mean, the opry has astigma there, you know, grand,
oh yeah, it was look, look,frowned upon
if you, if you played it, huh?If you played these, the house
draw, if you were in a house,but people know that you're

(36:56):
doing that. So anyway, when Johngot back, it turns out they're
going to do a three monthEuropean tour, and then at that
time, general manager came andthey said, We're not going to
have him back. If you want thegig, it's yours. I said, I do.
I'll take it. I said, but Ican't do every week, so I want
to hire somebody to alternateweeks with. So I hired Paul

(37:20):
lime, and he did it for severalyears, and then he said, I'm
gonna leave. And so then I said,Well, Mark Beckett,
so this was 18 years ago. You'vebeen doing that in addition to
all your other session work. Andwhat is the time commitment?
Tuesdays? And well, now we'reTuesday, Friday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Friday, Saturday.Wow. And starting September,

(37:40):
we'll go five, five nights,Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,
Friday, Saturday, but just likelast night. You know, I do these
young artists. I mean, they'reyoung, but they're incredibly
talented. Maggie rose, a newartist last night, which was
Haley Witter. I mean, that's thewhole thing about it, of course,

(38:01):
like you say, not as much brocountry in our way. But I mean,
it's intricately done, yeah, youknow, with a drum machine that
playing inhuman beats, right,right, right? And it's like,
okay, well, I don't have thatloop, but I can replicate as
close as I can, sure, you know,to it what you do, and it's

(38:21):
amazing. Some of the artists whoreally don't have that
production control appreciate itbecause of, wow, it felt so
great.
Yeah, and now, what like? Whatis, what is that typical Night
at the Opera? You might you'vegot a cast of characters that
are coming through. You got thisawesome house band. Of course,
you're reading charts, andsomeone sends you an mp three or

(38:44):
and then you reference it, soyou kind of know it's happening.
And then time to go,
yeah, it's usually within a day,like my, I won't know until
maybe tonight, what music I gotto learn for Friday and
Saturday, but it'll be uploadedto an opera band site with the
MP threes there, and then wepretty well delegate. Larry

(39:06):
Paxson, he is our chart.Meister, yeah, there's always
one guy that's the fastest manhe but it's so articulate, yeah.
And he charts everything out.You download the mp three boom,
boom, mark it up and go play.Sometimes it's within a 24 hour
period that you learn all thesongs. And like on Tuesday and

(39:28):
Wednesdays, it's what they calla non hosted like, maybe
somebody like announcer BillCody is the host. Every artist
gets three songs. So if you havefour artists, you've got 12
Songs to Learn.
Phil's such a cool guy
too. Man, hardly great.
He is nice guy. You're, oh,you're earning your you know,
and that you're working thatcraft. I mean, right behind this

(39:49):
very wall here, there's a closetand there's filing cabinets full
of every Nashville Number chartor phrase chart or drum chart I
have performed in the last 20OH. For a year. Seriously, I've
saved everything why that'sgood. I don't know. Just like a,
you know, I know for sure. Ieventually want to, it keeps you

(40:10):
humble. I want to do like an,like an Aldean songbook, where
it's like, here's the numberchart I was given at 10am this
is the marked up number chartwith the notes that I made on
it. And then this is thetranscription, oh, my God, of
the song, of what I actuallyplayed. You've got gold sitting
in there, man. Well, I tried, Itried to have a young student of

(40:32):
mine, like, sign up, like to putit together. And he's, like,
doing a lot of work, old man.And he abandoned the project. So
if there's any listeners outthere that want to be involved,
any interns, any intern collegestudents you want to put this
project together, I will giveyou full credit. It really will
cut you in on the profitauthorship, right? That's right,
well, because now, I mean,obviously everyone's schooled.

(40:53):
So Larry knows that if there'ssomething intricately
Incorporated, like synchronizedlicks and things that you have
to go with. Look at that. Hewrites it out. He writes all
that out and, and if it'ssomething between that
syncopation, that quarterly hasto be played to that, he writes

(41:18):
the number to each one of thosenotes, so that who's ever
reading it can learn it fromthat way. And know, oh, this is
where we go, you know.
And see, this is why I'm betteroff as a voiceover artist and
not a professional drummer,because you're speaking
hieroglyphics.
No, no, you know. Because ifyou've ever read the TED Reed
syncopation for the ModernDrummer, like page four, but and

(41:44):
there's a lot of, you know, bandleaders in town, chart guys that
write charts, and if there's anintricate lick, they just write
lick, right?
But then, you know, because someof the new artists who have a
band leader, yeah, they said,okay, the MP threes up there,
and they sent a chart, and youlook at
the chart, go, that's sad. Yougot to do my own.
Then I wrote, I write my own. Socharts are kind of open to

(42:06):
interpretation. They give yousubjective
Well, there's different types ofcharts. Say there's like a
there's like a cruise ship typechart, where it's it's Western
notation with drum set notation.Then we have the Nashville
Number System, which isbasically outlines the harmonic
structure of a song, which iswhat you're going to get on a
recording session in Nashvilleor at the Grand Ole Opry. And

(42:27):
then there's, you know,classical Western notation,
where it's the notes are all onthe staff. We don't really get
that very much in Nashville.They get that in New York and
LA. And then there's a drumchart, or a phrase chart, which
is where I like to live a lotbecause I can put more drum
information exactly, or there'sa hybrid, like on the Aldean
session, we're referencing awe're referencing an mp three of

(42:50):
the demo. We have the numberchart, and then any drum
information that I want, I writeabove the numbers. You could
do that, yeah, which isbasically what we do. But people
don't realize because theyalways claim, oh, so and so.
With whatever group it was, itcame up with the number system.
And of course, when I saw that,I went, No, because I knew in
college, there was a knowneducator, bass player named John

(43:14):
mcagan, and he came up with anumerical system, but it was
done in Roman numerals, and hecould spell out the chord, yeah,
with the Roman numerals, yeah.
You know, wasn't it Elvisbacking singers that came up
with the Nashville NumberSystem?
It was one of the, let me thinkthe Jordanaires. That sounds

(43:38):
right, so you're right, yes,you're right, exactly. Yeah. I
think one of those guys, maybehis name was Neil, escapes me,
but yeah, he, he may. I mean, hedid come up with it where you
just actually using the numberscomparatively to Roman numeral,
sure, you know. But it was stillan innovation.
On that thing, we talked abouthard truths, right? We talked

(43:59):
about what somebody needs toknow coming into town, right?
Yes, when I went to broadcastingschool, there was one teacher
that we had that laid down ahard truth that I'll never
forget. And he said, if you'renot willing to move in this
business, you might want toconsider not getting into it.
And it was one of those thingswhere all of us were singing,
and the dude is laid it on theline. I mean, moving to moving

(44:19):
to other markets, you know? Hesays, If you want to move up in
this business here, and you'renot willing to move, you might
want to find something else todo. And I was like, Holy crap.
You know, I've lived inConnecticut all my life, and I'm
sitting there at 22 you 21 yearsold at the time, going, Holy
crap, I'm gonna have to movefrom Connecticut. That's not
such a bad thing. But I neverreally thought I would have to
do that.
And that's interesting, becauseone of the things that I always

(44:43):
talk about when somebody saysthe advice, what advice? I said
White genre out of your mind.Because if you want to make a
living and work in his business,you don't know. I mean,
everything that you so uphold ofthis is, oh, this. This is the.
Brain music. This is so fargreater than blah blah. I said,

(45:04):
then all of a sudden you'recutting yourself out because you
don't know that that jazz fusiongroup that you were in, or rock
fusion grits, it breaks up, andall of a sudden there's a
country opening and a countryband. What are you going to do
if you have to make a living, ifyou're paying your bills with
that. And I said, overall, let'slook at the reality of this. I

(45:25):
said, you don't condescend tohumanity, you know, I'm sorry,
but interesting. The person whodelivers your mail, paves the
road, roofs your house, justfixes your plumbing, all I'm
sorry they're not privy to yourstate of art, so the simplicity
of what they want to listen tois either from fun or it's for

(45:47):
somebody, our craftedsongwriter, that is putting
words in that you will hear thatthat are saying what you would
want to say, Yeah, whether it'slove, whether it's you know, who
knows what it is,
we need songwriters in The wholeculture of Nashville, right?
And the whole thing is, itdoesn't need to be genre
Pacific, you know. So I alwaysreally want them to understand

(46:08):
that, you know, because youdon't know for sure. Let's just
say hypothetically, that youwere, oh, no, I just love this
big band. This is what I want todo, everything like that. And
then all of
a sudden, limited, limited.
But you had a very healthy openmind. You understood you would
have to be very
that's good. And you know whatyou can detect that? It's like I
could detect that even when wewere conversing, you know? And

(46:31):
again, it's the same kind ofthing. And I'm sure now, my God,
the network that you're doingnow, God bless you. Because I
came to one of those. It was adamn thing. Was it about two or
three years ago? Oh, we wereover at, uh, the sound check,
oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, the drummersweekends, yeah, drummers
weekend. And I just saw that,and I went, oh, it just is so

(46:52):
incredible, you know, so in asense, it is like passing on and
giving, you know, and nurturingand,
well, I was nurtured. So it'sour it's it's our responsibility
for any successful person tocontinue mentoring and to
inspire a future. Just sharewhat you've learned helping one
of our guests on our my otherpodcast pick rich brains, was my

(47:14):
student, Sarah cardille, andshe's the real deal, Sarah
cardil, and she's just like astudent of the drums, and so
focused, and so wants to do it.So she goes, Can you introduce
me to liberty Devito? Can youintroduce me to mark Shulman?
Can you introduce me to Kenny?
Like, of course, that's the onething I was gonna bring up
before the networking aspect ofit. She's actually asking for

(47:35):
warm referrals, which issomething and, you know, I do a
lot of business networking, andwe're taught on on how ways to
ask for warm, hey, could yougive me a warm introduction to
somebody I you know? And, okay,am I going to be able to put my
neck on the line for somebody?Yeah, ask him. Shall Receive,
right? But, I mean, she asksunapologetically, and that's

(47:56):
good, that's fair. It isfantastic.
Yeah, well, I guess my pointwas, is that still, there's
something innate. And you thatperson that is wanting to know
you pretty well have an idea,yeah, of who they are. You know,
that's just an innate Bible,because we're so energy
motivated, yes, and you couldtell if that person has

(48:18):
it, yeah, yeah. I ran into a guythe other day, an old friend of
mine, actually, and he does acertain blue collar trade. I'm
not gonna mention what kind itis, but he, you know, I said,
look, there, I've got a projectfor you that could hand off to
you. Are you interested inquoting this? He's like, Well,
what is it? I said, Well, it'sthis kind of a project.
Nah. Okay,

(48:40):
well, God, God bless him. Imean, you, you recommended me
the guy to get this sign made,and he came and he did it in
record time. And it's like, youknow, awesome. It's like, we
need these guys.
But the funny thing, what am Ipoint is, I do plot. I'm not a
plumber. But, I mean, ifsomebody you like, Hey, I've got
business. I want to give you, Iknow your capabilities, but I'm
not gonna give it to you all thetime. If you're gonna start
turning really, you know? Yeah,you're not even gonna look into

(49:03):
it. Take the work. Take it out.I mean, do you come across that
as well? From, from, you know,you guys come across that from,
from Pete, well, you know, I'm,it's not really my thing, you
know.
Or it's happening more oftenthese days. I mean, it's if,
when I moved here, when I was 27years old, and somebody offered
me a job playing the drums, nomatter what it paid. I did you

(49:24):
did it? No, that's exactly I didit. And no. Job was too small.
And if, literally, I'm playing arestaurant and the and the guy
wants me to learn 60 songs bythe next day, I'm going to learn
all 60 songs. I'm going to writethem out, because you never know
who's going to be in that band,who's going to walk in the room
and hear us playing, the guywith the yes, the cigar goes,

(49:48):
Hey kid. And that's what I washoping would happen to me in
Dallas, Texas, yeah, and itnever happened. So I knew I had
to go to New York, LA orNashville, and I got that
audition with Trisha. I got thataudit. Audition with Dina
Carter. I got that audition withBarbara Mandrell, and the
writing was on the wall. They'relike, kid, you sound great, but
you don't live here hard. Youmust be present to win. So like,

(50:11):
when you're talking aboutbroadcast, yeah, you realize you
would have to move to a market,but to play an instrument or to
be in the big leagues in themusic business, there's only
three cities. There's threecities and and New York is even
questionable, because you,you're going to be playing
Broadway, right, which is right,you know, you're going to play
13 shows a week of cats, andyou're going to live in New

(50:33):
Jersey or Connecticut and haveto commute in, right? That
doesn't sound like fun to me.And or you're going to be
playing in wedding and BarMitzvah bands, yes, and so,
like, I think a lot of peopleare moving to Nashville because
it is one of the last placeswhere the music business is
thriving and and I know a lot ofmy friends who have podcasts or
drummers who are creatives, theyalways want to talk a little bit

(50:54):
about this. And it's somethingthat a lot a lot of people have
talked about in the past, andthat is, you had all those years
of major earnings. What do youdo as a creative when you start
to make a little bit of money?What do you do with your money?
What do you do? Buy real estate.Do you do stocks? What advice
would you give to a 23 year oldkid that starts to make money?

(51:18):
Well, first, don't live beyondyour means, right? And try to do
it so that if, if what you'reearning at that point is just
maintaining, then that's fine.If things start when falling for
you. Yeah, real estate, there'snothing. They won't make any
more of it. Yeah, I love it, andthat's what I did fresh

(51:42):
waterfront property inCalifornia. Yeah.
So I'm probably like dining andor doing business at a bunch of
places that Eddie bears owns.
No, no. But one of the firstthings I did when I came in and
I could afford, I didn't buy ahouse, I bought a duplex, and I
rented out the other side,
perfect. You were such a you'reso far, you were visionary, if

(52:02):
you're thinking that way, yeah,a lot of that is our upbringing.
Yeah, no, because there's notmany people that think that way
now,
oh no, no. And unfortunately, Iknew some that when, oh, they
hit the big time. Yeah, youknow, triple six figures and all
like, that, and all of a suddenthey're building $700,000 homes.

(52:24):
Yeah, I said, Well, you know,you don't want to go ahead
unless you know you don't haveto go back, you know, make sure
that every move that you makethat you can do that, you know.
So or you can justify thepayment on it. Have something
that cash flows, the payment.
Well, you can justify it, butmake sure that you're you have a

(52:45):
mindset to say, I can make thepayment, because right now I
have this job.
And if anything, you see a lotof people, what if I don't?
Yeah, there's a lot of peopleout there that, you know, the
bottom falls out. Okay, nowwhat? And there's so you know,
people are selling
stuff. I know a couple of ourguys, certainly not Mr. Name,
but I know a couple of guys whoplanned on that they'd been with

(53:05):
major artists for 1718, years,and all of a sudden it's done,
yep. And you would only hopethat during that time, did you
put away? Did you save, did youinvest, you know, correctly,
yes, so that you can exist afterthis. Now you're talking about
John Hobbs retiring. Yeah,that's, you know, I think more

(53:27):
about that the older I get. I'mlike, a high energy guy. I'm
always going somewhere. I'mgoing you're the same way. Is
that gonna happen? Are you gonnaretire?
No, me, yeah, no. Why? What doyou like? I don't play
golf. I did retire and and theonly statement but he made, I
retired over 10 years ago fromthe union, yeah, but the only

(53:47):
thing I have a friend that justsaid, I'm glad you retired so
you can do all this work, butno, you know what, and people
even talk about longevity, andI'm sure both of you and every
facet can appreciate the onething about it. Every morning,
when you get up and you realizeyou know what, you either get to

(54:10):
do a voiceover, you get to dothis podcast, you get to go
play. You're going to be out anddoing and teach and do
everything like that. I get toget the call. I can go to the
Opry. I can do my session. Thereis not a given day that I am not
in love with, that never andthere's just no way that I could

(54:32):
ever envision myself getting toa point of going I don't want to
do that, you know. And I've seenthe adverse of that, where some
people, because work, diminishedto a certain point where they
become depressed.
Their identity is gone, yeah,and
they were living in that hightime and everything like that.

(54:53):
And it's not even that theycan't exist after that, but
they're depressed becausethey're not doing that anymore,
right?
Yeah. Yeah, you know, and it'stough to get a gig, yeah,
which I, you know, if that timecomes, I accept that, you know,
luckily, when I talk about thestigma the Opry, it was funny

(55:13):
people would, oh, man, you don'twant to do that. I'm telling
that people are going to startstigmatizing you about being an
Opry drummer and all that. Haveyou got the equity that's
building up to that? Well,what's funny is, in the past
three or four years, they're theones that call me, hey man, if
you ever need a sub,
yeah,
maybe you're changing yourshifting the perception of the

(55:35):
opry drummer. Well, I mean, Iremember when I well,
you know what the artistry, thegeneral management when Pete
Fisher took over, diversifiedthe artistry that came on
subsequent to him was SallyWilliams, who's now leaving, but
we got Dan Rogers, but theyalways brought in social media
stars. So there was such adiverse group. When you look at

(55:58):
the lineups at the Opry andyou're going, wow, you know. And
you look at even the opry stars,now we got Kelsey ballerina pro
medicine show, yeah, you know,yeah.
I remember when I used to playseveral times a month with Pam
Tillis, you know. And I would,you know, I'd have to, you'd get
up and, you know, for there'sany musicians out there, the
opry drum chair is sointeresting because, literally,

(56:19):
it's like, ladies and gentlemen,tonight's show is brought to you
by Martha white flower, andyou've got 30 seconds to get on
the drum set as a hydraulicthrone. You can't be precious.
It's like, you just got to geton and then, boom, the you got
your wedge, and it's justnothing but steel guitar, and
you can't hear the vocal, andyou're just like, All right, we
got to do this. We saw eachother there last year. Yeah? You

(56:40):
just got to do it like I'm highfiving you, yeah, and then I do
my thing, and then you get off,and you got to get on and get
the show. It's the longestrunning radio show in history.
Oh, yeah, yeah. And, and so, youknow, you changed, you know,
recorded history with your bodyof work, retired, you have
security, you have a legacy. Andnow you go into your second part

(57:05):
of your life for 18 years inthat seat, you're crushing it,
yeah, but changing historyagain. The funny thing is, is
that there was a time where,because I worked in Vegas for
four years and for CBS Radio,and there was a time that if you
took up a residency in Vegas asan artist. It was basically
where he went to die, right?Okay, and we're doing one this

(57:25):
year. But the funny, but here'sthe thing, Celine Dion, they
built her an actual or, youknow, space the the Coliseum at
Caesars Palace back in, oh, twoor so. And she did her show
there. She had a residency, butI think she shifted the
perception of that same way thatyou're doing because, hey, I can
make my own choices. I don'tneed to do this. I'm doing this

(57:46):
because I want to do this. Sothe perception of it is probably
changing.
And I think overall it's like,oh, now rich and Jason Odin are
going to take residency to fit.Well, no, that's been the lay of
the land there for years. Youknow, like you said, Celine did
it, Marie and Donnie did it.Olivia Newton did it. And she
would take one on and one offwith Diane, Marie, she'd do a

(58:07):
month. They would do a month atthe Flamingo, you know, and
alternate that. And like withme, the word retirement was just
a word, you know, because I'mnot doing anything different
than I've done for over 50years.
Well, you know our buddy, Russ,Paul, I do sessions with him all
the time. He's retired, yeah,but he's working every day.
Yeah. You know,

(58:27):
whenever I receive something,it's, it's interesting because,
and you know, you mentioned theplayers are, the five of us are
going into musicians Hall ofFame. That's incredible in
October. Congrats. But, but butthe thing about it is, is, when
I was put into the Country MusicHall of Fame Nashville cat
series, what cost my mind? Imean, there and your peers are

(58:48):
in there. It's an hour and ahalf, you know, and Bill Lloyd's
asking you're pulling things outthat you go, Holy macro. Where
did you find that? You know? Butas it's going on about
midstream, I start thinking,Hey, can I just say something? I
still, I'm still working. Yeah,yeah, this isn't a gold watch.

(59:12):
It's not a gold watch here.
It's really, it's really funny,like, you know, I have this
studio here, which is, it's niceto be creative and have a
creative space, even if it'sjust 500 square feet, to just
call your own, throw a Persianrug on the floor and play some
drums. This House that thisstudio is connected to, I have
three young drummers that arethat are in the place and and

(59:34):
when I moved out, I decoratedthe place with my memorabilia.
So like, all sorts of pressclippings and interesting little
things from my life, and Iframed them all. They're like,
Rich. This place is like amuseum. It's like, it's like a
red machine. Really weird. I waslike, yeah, it is kind of weird
now, guys, but it was just areally affordable way to

(59:55):
decorate. But, um, but yeah, we,you know, we're alive. We're
kicking, we're moving, we're. Iwant to stay relevant. I'm
changing, growing. Differentthings are happening. You know,
put right. That's your book. Iam so excited to give this to
you, and it's like, I'm tooyoung to write a memoir. You
need to write one, becauseyou're the right age to write a

(01:00:16):
memoir. We're gonna get you a coauthor, and you're gonna crank
out that book in it. People aregonna love it. But this is just
my take on what I know about theworld and drumming and people,
and we talked aboutrelationships, and that's a big
part of the crash philosophy.Totally. Big time.
Huge, wonderful.
So, um, is there any other thingthat you want to, just like,
leave out there in the world andjust say on this particular day

(01:00:36):
about the state of the musicindustry, or where you're going
with your
career? You know what I mean,
I guess, in perspective, becauseI know there's always a lot of
controversy when it comes to themusic today, comparatively to
that, you know, and whenever youtalk about, well, country music
isn't country music anymore. AndI said, well, guess what, rock

(01:00:58):
and roll isn't boogie woogieeither. Yeah. Yeah. You know,
there's been innovations on allgenre that comes through.
But I mean, you know, even backin the day with the train beats,
that was an adaptation of aprevious generation as well, of
course,
you know. And when you reallythink of so called rock and
roll, when they think of some ofthe people like Bill Haley,

(01:01:20):
Little Richard, stuff like that.I said, you know, I was doing
music for a play out of Canada,and it was about Hank senior.
And I started learning all thesongs and everything. And there
was one song when you thinkabout how long ago, called move
it on over, yep. And you knowthe song, but, but the the

(01:01:43):
structure of that song, movingon over, because the big dogs
moving in. I mean, that's rockand roll. Yeah, early rock and
roll,
yeah. I mean, talking abouttrain beats, you like, on the
Johnny Johnny Cash song, likedude, real light with brushes,
or light sticks on the edge ofthe snare drum. And then Eddie
comes along in the 90s, and he'sgot rim shots and gated reverb,

(01:02:06):
and the drums are like righthere in the mix. And then the
Shania Twain records comearound, and Paul limes got 80.
They choose 80 snare drums tofigure out the best snare drums.
And it's like a Def Leppardrecord. Things grow, change and
evolve, you know. So we just, wejust are either going to be left
behind or moving forward.
Well, and the innovations on ourour enhancements, you know, I

(01:02:27):
really started years ago, when Iwas with Brent mayor, and we did
the Judd records. We did MichaelJohnson actually record on
Richard Perry. But Brent and Istarted putting brains together
about triggering things, sure.So we basically took PCMS, and
when I first became aware of thelindrum, we were able to

(01:02:50):
innovate in there and fire thosesamples off with the piezo
triggers. Yeah. So, so the kickdrum and the toms on, like a
there's a song that I'm notedfor was called, that's that from
Michael Johnson. Then the Juddrecords, when you hear them,
it's the same thing. And so, ina sense, because when people

(01:03:14):
say, well, sample, samples, Isaid, Yeah, but that's like a
verb, you know, yeah, it isbecause I started using a
Simmons five without thestereotype, you know, just but
yes, and that triggering thosewas a unenhanced verb per se. So

(01:03:34):
all those things that I wouldinnovate on and come up with my
own method of doing anythingthat technically would come out.
And if I heard it and I didn'tknow it, I would learn it. Yeah,
you know where some people wereadverse going. I don't ever want
to get into that.
I remember buying my first drumcat. It was 1000 bucks. I was
like, Oh my God, that time. Itwas like, that could have been

(01:03:56):
$10,000 at the time, right? ButI guys like, I have a drum cat,
right? And then moving through aYamaha sampler, sequencer and
and now, like all this gear thatwe would learn with all the
knobs and everything, it's likethe same technology, and like a,
like a Keurig coffee
maker, you know, the drum forthe layman that I've never heard
of a drum cat, it was a, it wasa service that the rubber pads

(01:04:20):
had the shape of a cat's headexactly, and ears on it and
stuff. Well, there's the firstthing that comes to your mind.
I'm gonna ask a question. Wegotta we'll wrap it up, sure.
Just instant response, thefavorite song you've ever
played. I was about to say thatthat's gotta be pretty hard to
first one that comes to mind.
First one that comes to mind isthat's that, Michael

(01:04:41):
Johnson, Michael Johnson, that'sthat, can people, can people
find that? Oh, they can find itokay.
Because the way the song wasstructured, it was like a
deceptive you think you knowwhere the feel of the song is,
and by our inspiration at theend of it, when it breaks out, I
was thinking. Phil Collins, so Iwas doing those sporadic fills,

(01:05:03):
and then I got in because thefeel of the song was right.
That's what I did the wholething. And then when it got into
the end, I went boom, and it gotinto that, yeah. So it is a, it
is a, you know, where youcreatively are inspired. The

(01:05:26):
rest of things were, man, I itwould be hard to say that's the
first one that comes to mind,but there's so many more, you
know,
1000s. Well, you came on myradar when, when the Trisha had,
everybody knows record, yeah,boom, did the boom, yeah. And
that's a fill I used to thisday, shut that, that flam Baba,

(01:05:47):
and it's and then you are sorecognizable on the radio, like
all your little the transitionsthat do, dumps, cross stick. And
I think it's because you havethat musical mind of being a
trained piano player and knowingwhat to stay out of the way
musical, you know, have amusical mind, and that's
probably more important thanbeing a chop

(01:06:08):
Meister, like, like the guy fromDream Theater, right?
Well, he plays that music theway he sees way
supposed to be played, yeah?But, well, you know,
interestingly enough, because Ihad talked to him before, when
my wrist was destroyed and I wasput back together. It was like a
Les Paul syndrome, because theorthopedic that did it on the

(01:06:29):
ongoing he said, If you ever doplay again, I'll go, what? Yeah,
excuse me. He said, How are yougoing to hold your sticks? I
said, overhand. Yeah, I wouldbe. And so he put all this
together that way, because Ihave a rebuilt scaffold, your
bike, your bionic Yes,

(01:06:50):
you know, with that, there wassome technical aspects that went
away, unfortunately, but meatand potatoes,
you will always have your feel.You always have your heart. You
will always have your soul andyour recognizable approach to
things.
Barry Beckett always just said,it's about a groove, yeah, man,
that's
what I tell the kids. Can youchoose the right thing to play

(01:07:12):
quickly and do that for threeand a half minutes, and make it
feel good, make the band smile,make the artist smile, make
people dance. That's the goal,
and be able to honor the song.Honor the song, just like you
just said, when you got down,you simplicity went, boom, you
know you obviously, I know whatyou can do, because we had

(01:07:36):
talked about this before, whenall this was happening,
everything I talked to her, Isaid, you know, I would love to
get with you, because he's sucha technician, that I would love
to have innovations on how Icould enhance that. But I was
trying to think, what would Iuse it for?
Yeah, yeah. And it's funny for acase in point, you know, we're

(01:07:56):
talking about songs with legacythat let you know have they're
just good songs. Yeah, one ofthe best ones out there that has
tons of legacy is, don't stopbelieving by journey. All right?
When a song is played right,right, when a song is played
right, it just my brotherinstilled in me He's okay. He's
a piano player as well, and hesaid, do not change up how these

(01:08:19):
songs are played. I don't carehow Neil Pierce would play the
Fill from, you know, Carry on mywayward son. Play it like the
way the guy played, yeah, youknow, so in that song, with that
being hammered in me over yearsand years and years, playing
with my brother, yeah, if I seesomebody play, don't stop

(01:08:40):
believing the wrong way, andtheir drives me bonkers.
It was put together purposely.It goes right with the guitar
part. All that Dean got
played with the left hand lead,and he's playing everything with
his it's brilliant.
Yeah, that guitar players. Oneof the greatest stuff I heard.
Yeah, so fun. Sean, so fun tohave you here, buddy. What? Uh,

(01:09:02):
how can people find you? Eddiebears.com, Eddie bears.com,
what's your discography onthere? Is your just, is your
recorded discography on that? Itis, and my movie credits, I own,
plus, so probably can go to,like, all music.
Calm. That's, that's where mydiscography from my website
links to,
okay, perfect. That's smart. Sothat's, that's like 100 pages of

(01:09:23):
stuff. You know, there's, rightnow, there's 1080 something.
Albums, yeah, albums, albums,1081 which, ironically, we talk
about diversity right now. TheCenter for 2019 was a record I
did with Stevie Nicks.

(01:09:43):
Nice, yeah, what's,
what's one thing you would loveto do that you never had the
opportunity to do or play, styleof music or anything, style,
Yeah, boy,
I would have to get with richand learn it.
So, you know, it's so funny. We,you know, we train our whole
lives to be stylisticallydiverse and bend genres. And,

(01:10:06):
you know, people, people thatmight not know anything about
our history or schooling, theyjust go, oh yeah, he's that guy
that just gets up there andbashes those al Dean songs out.
You know, that's fine. You know,so much more to what you do.
That's how they that's how they
see. I know, yeah, only from hisbeginnings. I know. So you know,
when I, if anybody you know,tries to say, Oh yeah, he just

(01:10:28):
does that,
yeah. Then, yeah, you
try it, and he's got my backguys, back off. I know what it's
like to play that I can't playlike him. Well,
one on one, come on over here tothe studio here and sit down,
yeah, show you what he can do.And let's see if you can do
that.
11 years ago, when he and Ibecame friends, we used to put a
lot of videos up, and I did alot of video work for him. And

(01:10:50):
some of the comments we wouldget be like, Oh, anybody could
do that. I'm like, Oh, yeah.Well, you try it. Well, you try
cranking out a song in three anda half minutes, and have them be
happy with it and keep gettingcalled back, yeah, and play it
well. But see, that's thedilemma I was mentioned about.
These are the people who createthe state of art in our mind,
and they condescend to anythinglesser, you know, yeah, instead

(01:11:11):
of somebody who has that giftthat Why longevity is there, is
because, you know what I am withthis artist, and this is the
songs he doesn't I honor thosesongs. Yeah.
Yeah. You know the real,
I think the real skill in a livedrummer is to go out there and
say, I'm gonna play hick townfor the 10th 1,000th time, like

(01:11:34):
it's the first time. And that'sdo. That's really the discipline
that comes from that job. Andthen a session drummer, you're
it. You're almost like a jazzMuseum. You have to quickly
improvise in the moment, come upwith something that's perfect.
You're improvising, right?You're you're in, you're CR
you're improvising a part andthen being able to execute it

(01:11:55):
quickly with a click track.
Well, there's, there's more tothat, and that is, you'll be
given a basic format. Rightthrough that process, they're
going to go, oh, by the way, nowwe're not going to do that
instrumental now. Now we'regoing to go to here, and this is
going to be half and this isgoing to be going to three
occur, and we're going to startediting this down there. How
quick can you retain that? Yeah,and perform it. Yeah.

(01:12:18):
The your hick town. I was justthinking about that. That story
back in my cover band days, thatwas my Enter Sandman. So when we
used to play Enter Sandman, andit's like, my eyes would roll.
But you have, I've, I've watchedyou in the couple shows that we
saw you, believe is inCharlotte, and it was a band

(01:12:38):
opening up for you that thedrummer. This is like, just
phoning it in, you know, noenergy. You could read his face.
The whole band was kind of likethat. And it was like, wow, this
is really not fun for me, youknow. And then you guys, come
on. You guys, bring the fire. Ofcourse, just just, you're happy
to be there, you know, what yougot, you know, and the but the

(01:12:59):
guys who
proceeded, there's like, Man,oh, people are paying to be
there. You know, it's like, ithas an effect on the audience.
$20 an hour for a babysitter andthen $180 tickets and $20 beers
and then parking. You betterstep up to the plate, right?
Yeah, but,
but you but not everybodyunderstands that.
Yeah. You know, what a thrill.This is such a thrill. Thank you

(01:13:20):
so much for being here, yeah?Man, oh my god, good to meet
you, man, and we definitely haveto go out and get that Martini.
Eddie and I, we like ourmartinis. Man, real nice, real
cold. Ladies and Gentlemen,thanks for watching. This has
been the rich Redmond show. Besure to like, rate, share and
comment. We'll see you next timethis
has been the rich Redmond show,subscribe, rate and follow along

(01:13:42):
at rich redmond.com, forwardslash podcasts you.