April 20, 2025 • 47 mins
Andrea Zonn and John Cowan have been making music for decades. Whether John is performing with the Doobie Brothers or Andrea playing with James Taylor, both keep busy with their own projects. The two joined forces to create The HercuLeons. Andrea and John join me to talk about their debut album which featuresMichael McDonald + others. We have a great chat about their project as well as their time with performers including Alison Krauss.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning or afternoon or evening wherever you're at. Thank
you for joining me. I am so glad that you
have taken the time to listen to TFTC with yours
truly here. This is Tales from the Corners. This is
a website that I had had for many moons, and
I'm not sure if anybody really understands that I named
(00:22):
the podcast Tales from the Corners dot com because I
had this domain for years. I did a blog, and
I'll still contribute to that blog every now and then,
but for the sake of consistency, I have called it
that long before. Other others have used the word corners
in their titles, and some of them know who they are.
(00:44):
So I've had Tales from the Corners for a very
very long time, probably more than a decade. And if
you want to go their Tales from the Corners dot
com you could see the great amount of people who
I have spoken with on this podcast. And before the podcast,
I was on blogspot dot com where I was doing
a lot of entries there as well. Just had this
(01:06):
domain for many many years, and I have been calling
the podcast as such for consistency. It's an arts podcast.
I speak with all kinds of wonderful people, leaders, creators,
artists of all stripes. We started this during the pandemic,
where I'm speaking with those who couldn't perform live, and
(01:27):
they were doing all these Facebook concerts as such. But
the pandemic has been pretty much over. We do get
COVID here from time to time. It has mutated down
to very little, like it's actually the flu. But when
I started this thing, you know, it was pretty scary stuff.
It just never felt like it was going to end.
(01:48):
For some reason, I was like, this can't how could
we get out of this? You know? But I do
believe that the vaccines definitely brought those numbers down and
got business back in order, and thanks to really a
great thing called Operation Warp Speed, which some people should
be very proud of, it really got I think the
(02:08):
whole goal of it was was to just get the
world back, get the economy back and humming along, which
it did. I believe it did. And it's a wonderful
thing in our history. And we'll read about how great
Operation Warp Speed was. It definitely helped and got people
to where they are. But I'm still keeping this going,
(02:29):
and I'm really enjoying it. So anyway, Sara, I am
this is Spring twenty twenty five. I started this in
twenty twenty. It's been a little more over four years
as we speak in counting. It's a lot of fun
this week or today, or on this new episode. I
am speaking with a wonderful duo. Andrea Zhon and John
(02:52):
Cowen are longtime musicians who've been in the business for
a very long time. Collectively, it's many moons, many decks,
gates of experience. Andrea is an accomplished musician, most notably
for playing the fiddle, and we get into a bit
of that. And John Cowen has worked with many greats,
(03:13):
including the Doobie Brothers. We get into that a little
bit here. But they join forces and they have a
wonderful collection of amazing songs on a collection called andreas
On and John Cowen are the Herculeans, and we talk
about how they came up with that name as well
for their duo, their outfit as such, and they have
(03:37):
a great cast of characters on this record. We're filled
with many great songs. The most notable song is an
ode to those in the Asheville area in western North
Carolina that they were victims of Hurricane Helene, and they
put together a wonderful song, great music video that goes
(03:58):
along with it as well. So I really hope you
enjoy this. They have just so much musical experience and
had a great time. So here goes, good morning. How
are you doing?
Speaker 2 (04:12):
You know what? I'm fine. I have had the crud though,
and I'm a little hol Oh.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Gosh, yeah, what do you do to deal with that
before performances? Do you have tea ready?
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Luckily I haven't had to do anything except talk this week,
but usually, you know, honey to me is the go
to just because it really soothes everything. But it hardly
ever happens, So I don't know. I flew to California
over the weekend and I think they were just cooties
on the plane.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Sure, I call you. I'm doing great. This is the
afternoon here in the Atlanta metro area.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
And it's beautiful day.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Yeah, yeah, it's good.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
We're a little overcast today, so you probably have this tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Yeah, everything you get, we get like that much later on.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Hours later, Hey, I listened to one of your episodes
this morning with Jonathan Lerner. Yeah, that conversation I wanted
to be in the room with you.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
I just was like, oh, I know exactly what you're
talking about. Oh, I remember that too. And I have
a seventeen year old son, So when you guys were
talking about those awkward teenage years, it just hit home.
It was wow, it was terrific. I loved it.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
I appreciate that. That's really cool. That's what he's looking
me up. He lived here in Atlanta for a while.
I didn't know him so much while he was in Atlanta.
We just had somewhat connected because we've been writers for
a long time. I did a lot of freelance work, right.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
And you've been in Atlanta for a long time.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Yes, yes, many more years than I care to admit.
It's most of my life. Actually, I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio.
That's where I'm originally from. I know, John, you welcoming.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
John You, I have long suffering Browns and exactly. Yeah,
I'm from Solon, Ohio.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Yeah, my sister ended up moving to Solan Like a
lot of people did. I grew up in South Euclid Wow. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
I grew up on the other side of Indiana and Illinois.
So we're all Midwesterners at heart.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
They pronounced it Urbana, Urbana, everybody Bana yep, yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
As you can say it. That's how they said it.
Because it's right there where there's no hills, no landscape,
no nothing.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Yeah, where the twisters can come right through, and.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
They just come right through. So do the ice storms,
the blizzards.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Oh, I don't miss that. I got a bad back
from shoveling snow most of those years up there in
South Oh my god, I remember in seventy eight.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
I think we had this blizzard where just feet and
feet and feet of snow, and we had a state
rep that lived on our street, so the snowplows never
missed us, and the snow was piled like above our heads,
and we were building like two story ice towers, you know.
Somebody we'd get the everything kind of mapped out, and
then somebody's dad would come out with a bucket of
(07:10):
water and pour it over so it would freeze over,
and oh my god, it was so much fun. We'd
go outside untill we couldn't move our hands anymore than
we'd come in and run run them under tip at
water till we could feel them again, and then right
back outside.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Yeah, I don't miss that for anything. I you know,
being here in the Atlanta area. We did get snow
this year, which was really like, oh, it's.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Like, yeah, it's like an apocalyptic and crazy.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Yeah, it's very weird, Like it was like beautiful balmy
and then the next day's snow and was the smoke
most we had probably in over five years.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
It was really just shut the town down.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Always does. I don't want to go anywhere. I don't
want to drive anywhere.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
That's how it is here too. Just everybody, you know,
clear the stores out and then stay home. Yeah, because
you're teenager, and then you think I can drive in this,
you can't.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Oh, no way, no way. I don't trust anybody out there.
It's it's terrifying, really, even with all the experience I
had growing up there and driving in that, it's.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Just it's other people.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Yeah, it really is. Oh, just just terrifying. But yeah, anyway,
So gosh, you guys are well known musicians. This is amazing.
I'm so glad you joined me here. And uh, just
what a history and just leafing through the stuff that
you've done. And Andrea, I I've listened to your solo
album that you did ten years ago, and can you
(08:34):
believe that rise? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Yeah, record every ten years, whether I need to or not.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
It keeps you in shape, like yes, like exercise.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
So you have a great new project out and you're
just releasing it now as we speak. It's being released
on March twenty first, twenty twenty five. And as we're speaking,
it's uh, I'll release this in a bit here in
the spring of twenty twenty five. But great new project.
How did all this come together?
Speaker 3 (09:05):
This started in the pandemic. Now, Andre and I she
moved at Nashville in eighty seven, I think eighty six.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Wow, it changed to wats since then, I'm sure.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
So I must have met her in eighty seven and
our path would just cross continually over the years. And
we were and I was a huge fan of hers,
and I think she was could say she was a
fan of mine as well, But but we never actually
during when the pandemic hit, she and I got hired
(09:39):
to go sing on this custom Rocket recording project. And
most of those most sessions you do, you might go
in for three songs. This this was like ten songs.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
What's that? We got a lot.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
But the thing that occurred to me, is because I
don't think we've probably had jumped up on stage together before.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
We've done a few things, we'd sung on each other's records,
I think by that point, and we had done some
solo with some of your solo shows, and yes we
jumped around on we've sung another projects.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
But so after we did that, on the way home
from that session that night, we both picked up our
phones at the same time to call the other one
and just to say, I love you so much. Is
we have to sing together? We have we have to
do this, whatever this is, we have to do it.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
So we had the same thought at the same time,
I mean literally picked up the phone at the same
moment just to say it, Gosh, I adore you and
I love singing with you. What are we going to
do about this?
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Yeah? This kind of also reminds me on a much
different scale with Elton John and Brandy Carlisle. People are like,
how these two getting together? But there was this passion
you could really feel that you could feel in this
new project that you're you've put together definitely.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
So you to say, yeah, you know who your kindred
spirits are, right, I mean, we recognize each other.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Yeah, totally totally. So how does uh I know the
organic nature of the name Herculeans for those who don't know,
I love this because it's like my band is so
strong like Hercules. But you know, then there's a little
bit of Leon Russell influence and there that's how the
spelling of the.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Musical heavy heavy lifting with with some soul.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
I was just I was describing when we started this.
When Andrea and I started this doing Facebook live shows,
we didn't even have a name. It was John Collen
and Andrea's on. But we had these three young bluegrass
hotshot guys playing with us, and they were just like unbelievable, right,
And someone was asking me about what are they like,
(11:49):
and I was just like, their skills are Herculean, yeah,
you know. And then then of course that at some
point we thought, I thought, I we thought that would
be a good nice play on words to call it
the hercuy Leons. And then of course I had a
lifetime friendship and worked in Leon Russell's band in seventy eight,
(12:12):
seventy nine, in nineteen eighty and we remained lifelong friends.
So it was just an obvious thing to me.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Yeah, you could feel that influence and how Leon has
really had that impact on you have such a great
musical journey in a history which you know shows up
on this project as well. Your track The Lucky One
is one that really gets to me. It's just how
strong that is, the acoustic in the way that that starts.
(12:41):
How did that vibe generate for you?
Speaker 2 (12:45):
You know, it's interesting because that song was written by
our producer, Wendy Waldman, and she and Carla Banav Andrew
Gold and Kenny Edwards had this fabulous project probably didn't
ever get enough attention called Brindle, and that song was
on that record, but John had actually sung a demo
of it, and I loved it so much when we
(13:06):
were kind of listening through and pouring through it, and
he said, but you said you should sing it And
I said, no, you should definitely sing it, and he said, no,
you should sing it. So we had a little moment
about that. But it's kind of you know, that is
one of those nucleus tracks just because because Wendy was
such a part of the creation of the song and
(13:27):
you know, us bringing our spin on it and bringing
our pals. We had John McPhee, who John works with
with the Doobie Brothers. We had him play electric guitar
and steal on it. So it was one of those
songs that kind of brought a lot of our worlds together.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Yeah. I like that that feel too. It's how much
of country really comes in to your inspirations. Did you
grow up listening to a lot of country?
Speaker 2 (13:55):
I did? I did, you know. It's funny. I had
been born in nineteen sixty nine, and and I grew
up playing classical music. But I had this little clock
radio next to my bed, and I would listen to
the rock station at night, you know, and sing along
with like Debbie Boone and like you Live My Life,
Oh gosh, and like all these great you know, boy,
(14:19):
you probably.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Were around the same age. I remember, Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
In nineteen eighty. Remember like we'd stay up. We couldn't
go out and celebrate New Year's Eve, but we'd stay
up and we'd watch, you know, we'd watch uh, the
ball Fall and the you know, the Rock and Eve
kind of thing, and Dick Clark the whole thing. And
and I remember in nineteen eighty it's like, you know,
there was oh, there's like this switch to punk rock.
(14:47):
They made a big deal about it, and I was like,
but I don't want punk rock. I want I want
my seventies, like I want I want Donald and like
all this stuff. And so I started flipping around on
the radio and I heard Merle Haggard and I started
listening to country music. Yet at the same time, like
I'd been playing the violin for about five years, and
(15:09):
I knew that I wasn't accomplished enough far enough along
to play really great classical music, and so I felt
sort of almost embarrassed at the stuff that I was
able to play. My parents were both musicians, so their whole,
our whole life was full of these amazing classical musicians.
And I was like, yeah, well I'm playing you know whatever,
(15:30):
student level material. And I started playing fiddle music, which
felt like real music to me, you know, at that age,
it was like you could play old Joe Clark or
Sally Gooden or one of these simple tunes, but it
sounded like real music, and it kind of opened up
this whole leather other set of possibilities for me.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
It does gives it a really nice texture to a
lot of the songs we hear the fiddle throughout this
entire album. And it's just it brings me back. It's
kind of like comfortable, just like yacht rock. And I know, John,
you've had, you have some connection to that.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
The most delicious thing ever.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Say, doesn't it? It just it feels like home. It
brings you back. It's just that.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Absolutely, it's so great.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Yeah, because you know, John, you have that connection with
the Doobies.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
And of course, of course, I mean you know, it's
it's like I get to stand, you know, twelve feet
from Michael McDonald all night, every night, for two hours,
and he will be astounded and amazed by his singing
and who he is. He's such a wonderful person as well.
Anyone that knows him would tell you that. So yes,
(16:42):
that's and then of course Pat Simmons and Tom Johnson,
the other two founding members of the Doobie Brothers that
you know they are. They've written so many songs that
are just generational. You know, it's like Blackwater and Long
Train Running, and it goes on and on and on. Jesus,
just alright with me, all these Touchstowes from the seventies,
(17:04):
you know, it.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Does, and that's why those shows sell out. It's just
the soundtrack of so many lives and then they pull
in those newer fans. There's a lot of these legacy
acts are and you've been so a part of that
and it's so impressive. But you got Michael McDonald into
this project. I'm trying to survive. It's really it's just
so nice to have him involved in this. How did
(17:28):
that come about?
Speaker 3 (17:29):
That came about because when I wrote that song with
my writing partner, I said, I want to write a
Michael McDonald's song. And I had this riff on the
base that I was playing. It was a doodle doo
do do do, and then he started playing, my co
writer started playing piano. We finished the song. It got
(17:53):
put in the vault for about twenty five years. Oh
my gosh, twenty years. That's at and I I played
the demo for Andrea and Wendy and they were like
hell yeah. And then I thought, what if I could
get Mike Michael to sing the bridge on this song?
Since I wrote it for him, I wrote it with
(18:16):
him in mind that you know. So the bridge is
like father father, Susan bro.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
So it's just like, yeah, you're with him so much
it rubs off on you. It's in your head. It's definitely.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Yeah, it's he's a he's an icon.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
They all are.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
I'm just incredible.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
Yeah, I'm just a guy living pinch me moments every
two years.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Yeah. And you have a book out too, just like
Michael McDonald just put out a book with Paul Riser
helping him. That's really nice to be able to get
somebody that prolific to help you put up that biography. Yeah,
it's fantastic. And the Dobies are back out here in
twenty twenty five as well, celebrating how many years together.
My gosh, it's.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
Well now it's fifty. Now it's fifty, it's going on
fifty four. Yeah, as a band started in seventy yeah,
something like that. Anyways, this is our this is our
fourth fiftieth anniversary tour.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Four really every time you turn around, but you know,
it does so well. It's everybody's like, I love this.
The catalog is just incredible. So yeah, and to be
a part of that in doing your part in those shows.
Definitely playing places like Blossom Music Center, It's just those
(19:38):
are just iconic places to play. So yeah, I just
I love saying that. But back to this project, I
I love still I sing. It has that Lady Antebellum vibe.
I just I love Lady Antebellum. It's just so great.
It really reminds me of that it's stuck. How do
the songs come together for you like this? Like when
(19:58):
you are.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
You writing that song? You know, I had a writing
date with Tom Mutes and Tim Stafford. Tom and I
had written a ton together. We wrote most of my
last record together. But and I'd known Tim Stafford forever.
Tim has played with Alison Krauss over the years, and
you know, he's just a musical stalwart, just an incredible talent.
(20:23):
But we had never written together. And we were sitting
together in my living room and they both had their
guitars out and I had my violin, and we were
just looking at each other's instruments and going, Wow, that's
a beautiful guitar. What is that? And when was it made?
Blah blah blah. We were talking about wood. It was
like this, We had no idea what we were going
to write that day, but we started with this conversation
(20:43):
about our instruments and we started imagining. You know, how
the wood is selected, and you know, it's like there's
in musical circles in Luthier circles. You know, older wood
is really a gem because because the trees weren't grown
on purpose, they they're they're they're allowed more time to grow,
(21:06):
and the grain is grow closer together it changes the sound.
And so we were talking about all of that stuff,
and then we just sort of kept going down that
road and pulling the thread and decided we would tell
the story of a tree who grows tall and it's
like the plaything for children and a home for birds
and wild gritters, and comes down in a storm. While
(21:28):
it's alive, it never has a chance to sing except
when the wind kind of whips through its trees. But
then once it's felled, it becomes an instrument and now
it's like through you, I sang, like I get to participate.
Now it's I don't know. It was just one of
those things that's sort of spilled out of us.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
No idea, I bet shell, I bet shell Shell Silverstein
would like to song.
Speaker 4 (21:54):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, right, yeah, and you get a little
bit more topical with face of Appalachia that's.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Really really hits home with a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
We had no idea that was coming. Yeah, yeah, it
really changes about it talks about that changing landscape and
Appalachia and we had no idea. I mean, who could
have foreseen a hurricane hitting the mountains exactly.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
And that's something we were all concerned about when Hurricane
Helene came through in twenty twenty four and we're like,
oh my gosh, you know, we're so far inland, and
it's like.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
No, it's just like what get that far north to go?
Get that far north and that far northeast. But the
western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee had been a kind
of home for bluegrass music and acoustic music forever, so
(22:58):
it was only is the way this played out. We
made a really beautiful video for this where we took
we had footage of the devastation from the hurricane placed
with these lyrics in this song that that you were
talking about face of Appalachia anyways, so.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
We wanted to we wanted to do something, and John
and I traveled to Asheville in December and did a
benefit concert at a great acoustic club there called the
Great Note has been there Forever. But we had our
friends Daryl Scott and uh Ye and just Jeff Sipe
(23:40):
playing with us, and we raised a little bit of money,
but we really wanted to do something more ongoing, and
so we used the video and the imagery, most of
it from our friend Madison Thorne, who was there taking photographs.
We wanted to direct people to different charitable organizations that
are on the ground helping to rebuild and restore that
(24:04):
region because it's will take forever, and you know, the
nature of the world we live in. There was another
disaster on the other side of the country a few
weeks later, and we tend to forget the ongoing struggles,
you know, I mean the fires in LA it's the
same thing. They're going to be rebuilding for ages, ages
(24:25):
and ages, and you know, there will be another thing
that takes all of our attention. Meanwhile, people stay and
have to rebuild. So we wanted to do something that
would hopefully keep generating.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
Some help, attention and help. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Absolutely, and you did capture that by being in Nashville
and getting a sense of what's happened with the community,
because you know, you think, oh, you're in the mountains,
you're so protected, and then it's just it shows the
vulnerabilities of that landscape when that hits and you can
se roads washed away and you know, people who have
built so much up there, and I love that area
(25:06):
so much, and just a little you know thing for
their CVB because I've I've visited many times. I've been
a travel writer as I've written about Ashville many times
and definitely visit. It's coming back, it really is, and
they're they're working very very hard, and here where you
can and that information is at the end of that video.
Beautiful video they did.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Yeah, yeah, all black and white just really shows the
grittiness of something like that when it happens.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
It's just and you can still see the beauty of
that region. I mean it's even through the devastation. It's
just such a magical landscape.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
And yeah, it's kind of like it's a terrible beauty.
That video is, you know, horrific beauty. And I don't
know how you say that, it's got both.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think that is a very good
descriptor of something like that. You just you know, it
really is. It's magnificent. Definitely, fall time is really nice
when you see the different colors popping up, go leaf peeping. Yeah,
it's just yeah, yeah, as we call that down here.
That's exactly right, really really nice. Yeah, So how much
(26:17):
how many tracks on here, Andrea do you take the
lead vocals on? I know, John, you've got some vocals
on here to take me to.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
Yeah, I haven't counted up. I have not counted it up.
I think it's about and then there's several that we
sang which we feel like are kind of equally emphasized,
including trying to Survive as one of those, and where
we just are both singing together.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Throughout, straight up, straight up.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Yeah, Rolling down the Hill.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
That's a duet. Rolling down the Hill. There's three duets,
and then I guess the rest of it is broken
into songs Andrea sings and the songs that I sing.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
So yeah, take Me to the Alley really does that
well with me. Take Me to the Alley is just
definitely has that vibe to it.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
I am so proud of that. I think that we
That song is written by one of my favorite artists,
Gregor Reporter.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
And.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
You know it's you're taking a big risk or you're
bite of this landscape when you decide to do something
that's already been done so beautifully in the first place.
So that is a risk, but I feel like I'm
very proud of what we did on that song. It
came out when I have still listened to it today.
(27:39):
As soon as the piano starts playing, it's just like
I just my blood pressure goes down and I get
into space and then the message of the song is
so beautiful, which is, you know, when he returns, he
or she returns, this is what we think he or
she is going to do. They're not going to go
(28:00):
hang out with the politicians. You know, They're going to
be guided to go to help the people that are
in need. And that's what this whole thing's supposed to
be about.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Yeah, great lyrics in there. Yeah, come sit on my table.
I'm your friend. It's just yeah, it really feels good. Yeah.
Definitely good cast of characters on here too as well.
If you want to mention some of your contributors here,
especially on piano in the band, some really very good
talent hare.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Yeah, we had some excellent help we had in our
studio band. The first person we called was a fantastic
artist and friend of ours named Darryl Scott. So he's
throughout just playing all the acoustic guitars and mandolin's Mandola's
he sang a lot of the parts with us. When
(28:49):
we wanted to add apart, we had Daryl because we've
just all collaborated together over the years. We had Reyese
Winan's the great B three player played. I mean, he's
just legendary, played on.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
Well he was.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
Reese was in Stevie ray Vaughan's Double Trouble. That's how
most people know him. And now he plays with Jovon
and Massa.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
So yeah, yeah, who was just here as well? Who
came here on my birthday? Actually? And I saw Stevie
ray Vaughan back in the day at Ohio University he played,
he played there. Yeah, fabulous Thunderbirds opened up for the
early nineteen eighty six.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Oh wow, I want to show that must have been yeah, yeah,
I think I think he was sober then that by
eighty six.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Yeah, I really do. Yeah, he was just you know,
hitting his stride.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
Yeah, at least the last five years of his life.
I think he was totally in the good track. Oh.
Life can be so cruel in so many ways.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
It doesn't make any sense most of the times, No,
it really, I mean you just try to wrap your
brain around it and just it's full of you know,
you're talking about the what did you call it? Horrific
beauty in Appalachia right now? It's like I think about that.
It's like, we have all these beautiful things in the world,
but there's an equal measure of things that are just
(30:14):
so difficult and so hard, and they seem to go together,
they seem to require the company of the other. I
don't I don't understand that, but it just I see
that showing up over and over and over again.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
It's dark and light, young and young.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
That's right, Yeah, totally. So your fiddle gets quite a
workout on this album Resurrection.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
We were we did this in such an unusual fashion.
What do we spend two days in the studio John
cutting tracks or three? I can't remember two. But we
had Wendy and Town. Wendy Waldman, our producer, lives in
Los Angeles, so we flew into Nashville for a week
and that's all the time we have had face to
(31:00):
face with her, and so we were working fast, and
so a lot of the vocals that are on the
record were actually are tracking vocals. What we did live
in the studios, we were cutting the tracks. But then
when it came time to overdub, we went to John's
house and set up a little makeshift studio because he
had this beautiful sort of cathedral like space in his house.
(31:22):
And so I think we did all the lead vocals
in a day. We did all the harm vocals in
a day, like we did all the fiddle in a day,
We did all the bass in a day. Like that
was our time, and it was really fast for that
amount of work. We actually recorded fourteen songs, and so usually,
(31:45):
you know, I would blabor stuff so much more than
we did. But it was kind of fun, just like,
don't overthink anything, just go. And it was a really
different approach for me. I loved it. Actually, it's kind
of freeing even, you know, and I hear it and
go god. I would never play that rough on purpose
or leave some of the flaws, you know to what
(32:08):
I hear. I hear things that go oh. I would
have fixed that on a different project. But but I
kind of love the spirit of it.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
Yeah. I don't know how some people can like really
obsess over it. I think you could do it too much,
then you're going to make it like worse if you
keep going on and on obsessing over a little detail
in any kind of production, whether it's audio or video.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
Right, Oh, I know, it's like that. You have to
kind of get good at the macro and the micro
and just kind of zooming in and out, and really
it's hard to be objective. It's really hard to be
objective in that. And like you said, any creative endeavor
when you're you know, zoom in and work on a
little thing and then go, wait a minute, what's that
like in the hole?
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Yeah? Yeah, it does. When I stop loving you, I
have to ask you about that too. I love you
these or piano, it's just bluesy. Oh my god, really
you got your bluesy moment there. I really just felt
like it was in that track.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
That was written by Larry Campbell and William.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Oh that's right, William.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
Hell, who's the legendary, legendary R and B singer. William's
got to be in his seventies or not even maybe
in his eighties. I'm not even sure he's still with this,
but anyways, this was written by our dear friends. And
what a song. It's you know, it's it's, it's it's
(33:37):
it's basically a shout out to the sixties, mid sixties,
late sixties R and B songs.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
You know, I John Cowen. I just have to say
this interrupting you know if you know John Cowen's voice,
Oh yeah, this is so far and deep down his
ali that it had to be done. Like when you
think about John Cowen doing his thing, this is it crooning, letting,
(34:10):
like soaring vocal owning that I'm not going to say
bad words, but I could he is. So this is
so down your alley, thank.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
You written for you. Yeah, definitely and something you know,
it's got to fit that that person. Certain songs just do,
certain songs just don't. And you know when you feel
it and it's definitely crafted in that way. Yeah, definitely.
So you're going to do a live performance. This is
the album album release.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Part tomorrow. We're actually not playing. We're going to.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Party.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
It's like a cocktail party. Yeah, and we'll show both
the videos, which I don't think you haven't seen the
one for barbar Our Boys, but we will make sure
that you get a copy of that.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
Bob the Boys actually, uh who are they?
Speaker 3 (35:06):
Theyre all they're all the farmers from my dad's generation. Yeah,
I came from five generations of farmers that ended during
the Great Depression. That was the last. My grandfather actually
kind of a sad situation. He was afraid of losing
the farm, so he went and tried to get money
from the bank to save himself through the through the
(35:30):
stock market crash, and and they wouldn't give him any money.
He went home and I think he thought that if
he died, that insurance would cover save his farm for
for my mom, my grandma and anyways. But he ended
up killing himself, which is terrible. A lot of people
(35:50):
did during the Great Depression.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
Yeah, just awful, awful. Yeah. I remember the first time
I heard something similar to that was like when Don
Henley did a month the Sundays, and it reminded me
of the farmers and the struggles that they've had throughout
you know, really all of our history really, and they're
still struggling to this day. Yeah, different ways. Gosh, Yeah,
(36:14):
it's every time you turn around now, we're dealing with
a whole bunch of different issues.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
So yeah, right, it's not still not getting better. I mean,
it's just it's always been a really difficult way of
life and so incredibly necessary to all of us survival.
You know what would we do without them?
Speaker 1 (36:35):
Oh, it's so true. And you know, like big corporations
have totally like taken over in so many ways, and
you've got to work harder to find the organic farmers,
the people who really it's really.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
Tough, right, Yeah, You've got to really seek out those
family farms and yeah, it's it's tough, and they're working
as hard as they ever have.
Speaker 1 (36:59):
Gosh, you both have really wonderful careers. On Andrea, you
remember winning that fiddle contest going way back in Goingois.
What was that feeling like?
Speaker 2 (37:10):
I loved it? Well, you know, that was when I
was making the transition for well, that transition, but I
was learning fiddle music in addition to my classical music.
I assume you're talking about.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
When you were about ten years old.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
Yeah, ten years old. That's when I met Alison Krause,
who lived in the same town. She lived in Champagne
and I lived in Urbana, and we met at the
Champagne County Fair at the fiddle contest, and we were
I was ten and she was eight, and we had
just been learning our little tunes, and you know, it
(37:44):
was it was so it was it was unlike anything
I had experienced to that point, because when my dad
kind of talked to the local luth here about fiddle
music and about trying to keep me interested. We had
a few records at home and were listening to tunes
and I was learning. I learned three songs for that contest.
Speaker 3 (38:07):
Do you remember what they were?
Speaker 2 (38:08):
I think one of them was the Floppyard Mule. One
of them was a waltz, Yeah, I can't remember which one.
And then the other one was There's a Hole in
the Bucket. Remember that. Oh, no, there's a hole in
the bucket. Dear Eliza, Dear Eliza, remember that one. That
(38:29):
must have been my waltz. I can't remember what the
other one was anyway, But there was this whole community
of like fiddlers and guitar players and everybody who'd say, hey,
let me show you this tune, and then you started
I started understanding the oral tradition of that kind of
music in that community. And there were all these kids,
(38:50):
because there was I was in the junior division, Allison
was in the novice division, and they were just all
these kids playing music, and it was so much fun.
It was unlis like anything I had experienced. It was
great it's.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
So cool that tradition, that tradition is still going on,
thank goodness.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
Yeah, that's the beauty. It's one of those unchanged things,
untouched by the corporate thing that seems to be everywhere.
Speaker 1 (39:17):
Yeah, yeah, Do you ever think you'd be playing fiddle
for some pretty big names you're talking about, like Vince
Gill and people like that.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
Yeah, you know, I didn't know what. I didn't know
where it was going to go. I knew I started
college early, and I had a teacher who was really
encouraging me to choose, to make a hard choice between
classical and everything else. She felt like everything else was
taking away from my classical attention and my classical studies,
(39:48):
and I just never wanted to choose, and I just
felt like Nashville was a place where I would be
able to pursue both things. And this was back in
the eighties when I don't think there were as many
people kind of mixing and genre bending, at least in
the classical world. There was a real stigma if you didn't,
(40:08):
you know, if you played anything else unless it was jazz,
and that was okay. But I felt like Nashville was
the place where I could continue to do both things,
and I always wanted to be able to collaborate with
with other people, John being one of them, because when
I moved here, I had not yet met John. But
(40:30):
I was definitely a fan, a serious fan of new
grass Revival. So I think, you know that envisioning who
you might get to work with was a slow process,
but it, you know, things started becoming I could, I
don't know, I could see the possibilities once I was here.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
I think, Yeah, Nashville's a great community. I've had many
guests on here and they just rave about it. How
supportive everybody is of one another.
Speaker 3 (40:59):
Yeah, this kind of it's interesting in that regard. The
musical community is very open, it's very supportive. It's not
a lot of cutthroat stuff. It's like, I mean, andre
Will could attest to this. I mean, how many nights
a year do we all go to play for somebody's benefit?
Thirty twenty twenty five and it's always somebody with cancer,
(41:23):
somebody whose house is burned down, whatever, And the musical
community just coalesces and gathers and does what we need
to do for whoever's suffering.
Speaker 1 (41:34):
You know, right, Yeah, Yeah, So and as far as
touring is going this year. It looks like you're pretty
busy with all of that, just getting out there and
just the different acts. I know the Doobies are going
to be overseas for a bit and coming back here
to the States for some dates. And in addition, are
the two of you going to be doing a lot
of touring together, a lot of live shows together.
Speaker 2 (41:58):
We were looking at the fall. Yeah, both get off
of our legacy gigs, aren't they jobs? We'll be able
to circle back around. So we're looking forward to please
September October, starting to book some.
Speaker 1 (42:12):
Things very good.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
Well, we have to kind of let the stars align. Yeah,
the tour buses park and then then we can get
in the van.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
Still like touring after all these years, I mean, John,
you definitely have gotten your share of your time on
the road and planes, trains, automobiles. I'm sure I don't.
Speaker 3 (42:34):
I always tell people I don't know how to do
anything else. So I'm kind of stuck.
Speaker 1 (42:39):
Trying to retire. But I can't but to.
Speaker 3 (42:42):
Be perfectly honest that traveling gets harder as you get older.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
It just does.
Speaker 3 (42:48):
Lots of sleep, time zone changes, a and bus sleep
is not real sleep, No matter what they tell you,
because you can be a sleep in your bunk. But
if you're boy, he's being pitched to and fro it knows.
The party is like dog ears. No poice might be
dead in a couple of minutes, get knocked around.
Speaker 2 (43:12):
I always feel like it's dog ears. Like an hour
of sleep on the bus is like about fifteen minutes
of sleep in a real bit.
Speaker 1 (43:23):
Yeah, are you amazed when you go overseas the how
is it different there? And how you're received over there too?
That's got to be an interesting feeling. How audiences receive
these songs from the US. It must be fascinating in
some places where they don't speak our language.
Speaker 2 (43:38):
I always find that like it you can. The character
of the audience is what I noticed, Like an Irish
audience is so different than like a Scandinavian audience, which
is so different than a New Zealand audience. It's like
they all you know when you go to Ireland, it
can it's in a lot of places. Actually very different
(43:59):
from the US is that they will listen in stone
silence to everything you say, everything you play, but then
when there's a break, they erupt in thunderous applause, and
you just but but we're so not used to a
silent crowd. We used to quiet crowds sometimes, but not silent,
(44:19):
and it's really interesting, you know, it's like you have
to kind of be okay with that. It can be
a little you know, when you're not used to it.
Speaker 3 (44:30):
But the same with the pan Asian. You know, you
go to Japan anywhere over there, and it's first you
don't know what to think because they're kind of sitting there.
But what they're doing is there, as Andrea said, they're
focusing on you and what you're doing, and they're really
(44:50):
their consciousness is aimed towards you, which is you're not
just entertainment. I guess.
Speaker 2 (44:58):
Yeah, yeah, that's very respectful. It's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (45:02):
Yeah, oh for sure, Yeah, definitely. And this is little Nuggets. So, John,
you participated in a movie about the life of Billy Graham.
How did that work?
Speaker 3 (45:17):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (45:17):
That was Billy Graham And look that one.
Speaker 3 (45:20):
I just saw that Nuggets and Armie Hammer was the
playing Billy Graham. The actor. Oh wow, And what's funny.
I went out you know, I got a call to
go do this thing, and I went out there and sure, enough,
I get there and I know four or five other
(45:41):
people that have gotten the same call, and we're like, oh,
you're doing this too. Yeah, we're going to be the
choir today. So that's that kind of I think I
saw both Ronnie and Robbie McCrory that day.
Speaker 1 (45:56):
Anyways, Yeah, goes back to two thousand and eight. That's
just one of those little nuggets in anybody's catalog your career.
It's just that's really amazing. Well, best of luck to
both of you as you embark on your legacy touring
and then coming together to do your duo and getting
(46:19):
out there and we'll see definitely, and definitely I see
the dB brothers this summer for sure here us.
Speaker 2 (46:27):
Thank you so much for having us.
Speaker 1 (46:29):
Definitely take care.
Speaker 2 (46:32):
Thank you too.
Speaker 3 (46:33):
Please stay in touch, Bob, and thank you for your
time and your attention. And that's all I can tell you.
Speaker 1 (46:38):
Thanks for stopping by. I really appreciate you guys taking
the time out of your very busy schedules to speak
with me. So take care. Thanks you have a good one.
Wasn't that wonderful? Oh gosh, you know, it's so funny
how John conjures up his inner Michael McDonald, How could
it not. As I was saying in this podcast, it's
just that voice. You could hear it in your head,
(47:01):
and so many try to replicate that or have fun
trying to replicate that, as you might even see in
the yacht Rock documentary that's streaming on nas as we
speak here in twenty twenty five. It's it's a great
documentary if you haven't seen it, about yacht rock. So
(47:21):
I love that, and this is so cool that he
gets to play with Michael McDonald. Oh my gosh, I
just floored. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed our conversation and
hope to see you all again soon. Take care,
Good morning or afternoon or evening wherever you're at. Thank
you for joining me. I am so glad that you
have taken the time to listen to TFTC with yours
truly here. This is Tales from the Corners. This is
a website that I had had for many moons, and
I'm not sure if anybody really understands that I named
(00:22):
the podcast Tales from the Corners dot com because I
had this domain for years. I did a blog, and
I'll still contribute to that blog every now and then,
but for the sake of consistency, I have called it
that long before. Other others have used the word corners
in their titles, and some of them know who they are.
(00:44):
So I've had Tales from the Corners for a very
very long time, probably more than a decade. And if
you want to go their Tales from the Corners dot
com you could see the great amount of people who
I have spoken with on this podcast. And before the podcast,
I was on blogspot dot com where I was doing
a lot of entries there as well. Just had this
(01:06):
domain for many many years, and I have been calling
the podcast as such for consistency. It's an arts podcast.
I speak with all kinds of wonderful people, leaders, creators,
artists of all stripes. We started this during the pandemic,
where I'm speaking with those who couldn't perform live, and
(01:27):
they were doing all these Facebook concerts as such. But
the pandemic has been pretty much over. We do get
COVID here from time to time. It has mutated down
to very little, like it's actually the flu. But when
I started this thing, you know, it was pretty scary stuff.
It just never felt like it was going to end.
(01:48):
For some reason, I was like, this can't how could
we get out of this? You know? But I do
believe that the vaccines definitely brought those numbers down and
got business back in order, and thanks to really a
great thing called Operation Warp Speed, which some people should
be very proud of, it really got I think the
(02:08):
whole goal of it was was to just get the
world back, get the economy back and humming along, which
it did. I believe it did. And it's a wonderful
thing in our history. And we'll read about how great
Operation Warp Speed was. It definitely helped and got people
to where they are. But I'm still keeping this going,
(02:29):
and I'm really enjoying it. So anyway, Sara, I am
this is Spring twenty twenty five. I started this in
twenty twenty. It's been a little more over four years
as we speak in counting. It's a lot of fun
this week or today, or on this new episode. I
am speaking with a wonderful duo. Andrea Zhon and John
(02:52):
Cowen are longtime musicians who've been in the business for
a very long time. Collectively, it's many moons, many decks,
gates of experience. Andrea is an accomplished musician, most notably
for playing the fiddle, and we get into a bit
of that. And John Cowen has worked with many greats,
(03:13):
including the Doobie Brothers. We get into that a little
bit here. But they join forces and they have a
wonderful collection of amazing songs on a collection called andreas
On and John Cowen are the Herculeans, and we talk
about how they came up with that name as well
for their duo, their outfit as such, and they have
(03:37):
a great cast of characters on this record. We're filled
with many great songs. The most notable song is an
ode to those in the Asheville area in western North
Carolina that they were victims of Hurricane Helene, and they
put together a wonderful song, great music video that goes
(03:58):
along with it as well. So I really hope you
enjoy this. They have just so much musical experience and
had a great time. So here goes, good morning. How
are you doing?
Speaker 2 (04:12):
You know what? I'm fine. I have had the crud though,
and I'm a little hol Oh.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Gosh, yeah, what do you do to deal with that
before performances? Do you have tea ready?
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Luckily I haven't had to do anything except talk this week,
but usually, you know, honey to me is the go
to just because it really soothes everything. But it hardly
ever happens, So I don't know. I flew to California
over the weekend and I think they were just cooties
on the plane.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Sure, I call you. I'm doing great. This is the
afternoon here in the Atlanta metro area.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
And it's beautiful day.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Yeah, yeah, it's good.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
We're a little overcast today, so you probably have this tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Yeah, everything you get, we get like that much later on.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Hours later, Hey, I listened to one of your episodes
this morning with Jonathan Lerner. Yeah, that conversation I wanted
to be in the room with you.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
I just was like, oh, I know exactly what you're
talking about. Oh, I remember that too. And I have
a seventeen year old son, So when you guys were
talking about those awkward teenage years, it just hit home.
It was wow, it was terrific. I loved it.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
I appreciate that. That's really cool. That's what he's looking
me up. He lived here in Atlanta for a while.
I didn't know him so much while he was in Atlanta.
We just had somewhat connected because we've been writers for
a long time. I did a lot of freelance work, right.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
And you've been in Atlanta for a long time.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Yes, yes, many more years than I care to admit.
It's most of my life. Actually, I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio.
That's where I'm originally from. I know, John, you welcoming.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
John You, I have long suffering Browns and exactly. Yeah,
I'm from Solon, Ohio.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Yeah, my sister ended up moving to Solan Like a
lot of people did. I grew up in South Euclid Wow. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
I grew up on the other side of Indiana and Illinois.
So we're all Midwesterners at heart.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
They pronounced it Urbana, Urbana, everybody Bana yep, yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
As you can say it. That's how they said it.
Because it's right there where there's no hills, no landscape,
no nothing.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Yeah, where the twisters can come right through, and.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
They just come right through. So do the ice storms,
the blizzards.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Oh, I don't miss that. I got a bad back
from shoveling snow most of those years up there in
South Oh my god, I remember in seventy eight.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
I think we had this blizzard where just feet and
feet and feet of snow, and we had a state
rep that lived on our street, so the snowplows never
missed us, and the snow was piled like above our heads,
and we were building like two story ice towers, you know.
Somebody we'd get the everything kind of mapped out, and
then somebody's dad would come out with a bucket of
(07:10):
water and pour it over so it would freeze over,
and oh my god, it was so much fun. We'd
go outside untill we couldn't move our hands anymore than
we'd come in and run run them under tip at
water till we could feel them again, and then right
back outside.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Yeah, I don't miss that for anything. I you know,
being here in the Atlanta area. We did get snow
this year, which was really like, oh, it's.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Like, yeah, it's like an apocalyptic and crazy.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Yeah, it's very weird, Like it was like beautiful balmy
and then the next day's snow and was the smoke
most we had probably in over five years.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
It was really just shut the town down.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Always does. I don't want to go anywhere. I don't
want to drive anywhere.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
That's how it is here too. Just everybody, you know,
clear the stores out and then stay home. Yeah, because
you're teenager, and then you think I can drive in this,
you can't.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Oh, no way, no way. I don't trust anybody out there.
It's it's terrifying, really, even with all the experience I
had growing up there and driving in that, it's.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Just it's other people.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Yeah, it really is. Oh, just just terrifying. But yeah, anyway,
So gosh, you guys are well known musicians. This is amazing.
I'm so glad you joined me here. And uh, just
what a history and just leafing through the stuff that
you've done. And Andrea, I I've listened to your solo
album that you did ten years ago, and can you
(08:34):
believe that rise? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Yeah, record every ten years, whether I need to or not.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
It keeps you in shape, like yes, like exercise.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
So you have a great new project out and you're
just releasing it now as we speak. It's being released
on March twenty first, twenty twenty five. And as we're speaking,
it's uh, I'll release this in a bit here in
the spring of twenty twenty five. But great new project.
How did all this come together?
Speaker 3 (09:05):
This started in the pandemic. Now, Andre and I she
moved at Nashville in eighty seven, I think eighty six.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Wow, it changed to wats since then, I'm sure.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
So I must have met her in eighty seven and
our path would just cross continually over the years. And
we were and I was a huge fan of hers,
and I think she was could say she was a
fan of mine as well, But but we never actually
during when the pandemic hit, she and I got hired
(09:39):
to go sing on this custom Rocket recording project. And
most of those most sessions you do, you might go
in for three songs. This this was like ten songs.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
What's that? We got a lot.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
But the thing that occurred to me, is because I
don't think we've probably had jumped up on stage together before.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
We've done a few things, we'd sung on each other's records,
I think by that point, and we had done some
solo with some of your solo shows, and yes we
jumped around on we've sung another projects.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
But so after we did that, on the way home
from that session that night, we both picked up our
phones at the same time to call the other one
and just to say, I love you so much. Is
we have to sing together? We have we have to
do this, whatever this is, we have to do it.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
So we had the same thought at the same time,
I mean literally picked up the phone at the same
moment just to say it, Gosh, I adore you and
I love singing with you. What are we going to
do about this?
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Yeah? This kind of also reminds me on a much
different scale with Elton John and Brandy Carlisle. People are like,
how these two getting together? But there was this passion
you could really feel that you could feel in this
new project that you're you've put together definitely.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
So you to say, yeah, you know who your kindred
spirits are, right, I mean, we recognize each other.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Yeah, totally totally. So how does uh I know the
organic nature of the name Herculeans for those who don't know,
I love this because it's like my band is so
strong like Hercules. But you know, then there's a little
bit of Leon Russell influence and there that's how the
spelling of the.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Musical heavy heavy lifting with with some soul.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
I was just I was describing when we started this.
When Andrea and I started this doing Facebook live shows,
we didn't even have a name. It was John Collen
and Andrea's on. But we had these three young bluegrass
hotshot guys playing with us, and they were just like unbelievable, right,
And someone was asking me about what are they like,
(11:49):
and I was just like, their skills are Herculean, yeah,
you know. And then then of course that at some
point we thought, I thought, I we thought that would
be a good nice play on words to call it
the hercuy Leons. And then of course I had a
lifetime friendship and worked in Leon Russell's band in seventy eight,
(12:12):
seventy nine, in nineteen eighty and we remained lifelong friends.
So it was just an obvious thing to me.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Yeah, you could feel that influence and how Leon has
really had that impact on you have such a great
musical journey in a history which you know shows up
on this project as well. Your track The Lucky One
is one that really gets to me. It's just how
strong that is, the acoustic in the way that that starts.
(12:41):
How did that vibe generate for you?
Speaker 2 (12:45):
You know, it's interesting because that song was written by
our producer, Wendy Waldman, and she and Carla Banav Andrew
Gold and Kenny Edwards had this fabulous project probably didn't
ever get enough attention called Brindle, and that song was
on that record, but John had actually sung a demo
of it, and I loved it so much when we
(13:06):
were kind of listening through and pouring through it, and
he said, but you said you should sing it And
I said, no, you should definitely sing it, and he said, no,
you should sing it. So we had a little moment
about that. But it's kind of you know, that is
one of those nucleus tracks just because because Wendy was
such a part of the creation of the song and
(13:27):
you know, us bringing our spin on it and bringing
our pals. We had John McPhee, who John works with
with the Doobie Brothers. We had him play electric guitar
and steal on it. So it was one of those
songs that kind of brought a lot of our worlds together.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Yeah. I like that that feel too. It's how much
of country really comes in to your inspirations. Did you
grow up listening to a lot of country?
Speaker 2 (13:55):
I did? I did, you know. It's funny. I had
been born in nineteen sixty nine, and and I grew
up playing classical music. But I had this little clock
radio next to my bed, and I would listen to
the rock station at night, you know, and sing along
with like Debbie Boone and like you Live My Life,
Oh gosh, and like all these great you know, boy,
(14:19):
you probably.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Were around the same age. I remember, Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
In nineteen eighty. Remember like we'd stay up. We couldn't
go out and celebrate New Year's Eve, but we'd stay
up and we'd watch, you know, we'd watch uh, the
ball Fall and the you know, the Rock and Eve
kind of thing, and Dick Clark the whole thing. And
and I remember in nineteen eighty it's like, you know,
there was oh, there's like this switch to punk rock.
(14:47):
They made a big deal about it, and I was like,
but I don't want punk rock. I want I want
my seventies, like I want I want Donald and like
all this stuff. And so I started flipping around on
the radio and I heard Merle Haggard and I started
listening to country music. Yet at the same time, like
I'd been playing the violin for about five years, and
(15:09):
I knew that I wasn't accomplished enough far enough along
to play really great classical music, and so I felt
sort of almost embarrassed at the stuff that I was
able to play. My parents were both musicians, so their whole,
our whole life was full of these amazing classical musicians.
And I was like, yeah, well I'm playing you know whatever,
(15:30):
student level material. And I started playing fiddle music, which
felt like real music to me, you know, at that age,
it was like you could play old Joe Clark or
Sally Gooden or one of these simple tunes, but it
sounded like real music, and it kind of opened up
this whole leather other set of possibilities for me.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
It does gives it a really nice texture to a
lot of the songs we hear the fiddle throughout this
entire album. And it's just it brings me back. It's
kind of like comfortable, just like yacht rock. And I know, John,
you've had, you have some connection to that.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
The most delicious thing ever.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Say, doesn't it? It just it feels like home. It
brings you back. It's just that.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Absolutely, it's so great.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Yeah, because you know, John, you have that connection with
the Doobies.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
And of course, of course, I mean you know, it's
it's like I get to stand, you know, twelve feet
from Michael McDonald all night, every night, for two hours,
and he will be astounded and amazed by his singing
and who he is. He's such a wonderful person as well.
Anyone that knows him would tell you that. So yes,
(16:42):
that's and then of course Pat Simmons and Tom Johnson,
the other two founding members of the Doobie Brothers that
you know they are. They've written so many songs that
are just generational. You know, it's like Blackwater and Long
Train Running, and it goes on and on and on. Jesus,
just alright with me, all these Touchstowes from the seventies,
(17:04):
you know, it.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Does, and that's why those shows sell out. It's just
the soundtrack of so many lives and then they pull
in those newer fans. There's a lot of these legacy
acts are and you've been so a part of that
and it's so impressive. But you got Michael McDonald into
this project. I'm trying to survive. It's really it's just
so nice to have him involved in this. How did
(17:28):
that come about?
Speaker 3 (17:29):
That came about because when I wrote that song with
my writing partner, I said, I want to write a
Michael McDonald's song. And I had this riff on the
base that I was playing. It was a doodle doo
do do do, and then he started playing, my co
writer started playing piano. We finished the song. It got
(17:53):
put in the vault for about twenty five years. Oh
my gosh, twenty years. That's at and I I played
the demo for Andrea and Wendy and they were like
hell yeah. And then I thought, what if I could
get Mike Michael to sing the bridge on this song?
Since I wrote it for him, I wrote it with
(18:16):
him in mind that you know. So the bridge is
like father father, Susan bro.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
So it's just like, yeah, you're with him so much
it rubs off on you. It's in your head. It's definitely.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Yeah, it's he's a he's an icon.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
They all are.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
I'm just incredible.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
Yeah, I'm just a guy living pinch me moments every
two years.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Yeah. And you have a book out too, just like
Michael McDonald just put out a book with Paul Riser
helping him. That's really nice to be able to get
somebody that prolific to help you put up that biography. Yeah,
it's fantastic. And the Dobies are back out here in
twenty twenty five as well, celebrating how many years together.
My gosh, it's.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
Well now it's fifty. Now it's fifty, it's going on
fifty four. Yeah, as a band started in seventy yeah,
something like that. Anyways, this is our this is our
fourth fiftieth anniversary tour.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Four really every time you turn around, but you know,
it does so well. It's everybody's like, I love this.
The catalog is just incredible. So yeah, and to be
a part of that in doing your part in those shows.
Definitely playing places like Blossom Music Center, It's just those
(19:38):
are just iconic places to play. So yeah, I just
I love saying that. But back to this project, I
I love still I sing. It has that Lady Antebellum vibe.
I just I love Lady Antebellum. It's just so great.
It really reminds me of that it's stuck. How do
the songs come together for you like this? Like when
(19:58):
you are.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
You writing that song? You know, I had a writing
date with Tom Mutes and Tim Stafford. Tom and I
had written a ton together. We wrote most of my
last record together. But and I'd known Tim Stafford forever.
Tim has played with Alison Krauss over the years, and
you know, he's just a musical stalwart, just an incredible talent.
(20:23):
But we had never written together. And we were sitting
together in my living room and they both had their
guitars out and I had my violin, and we were
just looking at each other's instruments and going, Wow, that's
a beautiful guitar. What is that? And when was it made?
Blah blah blah. We were talking about wood. It was
like this, We had no idea what we were going
to write that day, but we started with this conversation
(20:43):
about our instruments and we started imagining. You know, how
the wood is selected, and you know, it's like there's
in musical circles in Luthier circles. You know, older wood
is really a gem because because the trees weren't grown
on purpose, they they're they're they're allowed more time to grow,
(21:06):
and the grain is grow closer together it changes the sound.
And so we were talking about all of that stuff,
and then we just sort of kept going down that
road and pulling the thread and decided we would tell
the story of a tree who grows tall and it's
like the plaything for children and a home for birds
and wild gritters, and comes down in a storm. While
(21:28):
it's alive, it never has a chance to sing except
when the wind kind of whips through its trees. But
then once it's felled, it becomes an instrument and now
it's like through you, I sang, like I get to participate.
Now it's I don't know. It was just one of
those things that's sort of spilled out of us.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
No idea, I bet shell, I bet shell Shell Silverstein
would like to song.
Speaker 4 (21:54):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, right, yeah, and you get a little
bit more topical with face of Appalachia that's.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Really really hits home with a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
We had no idea that was coming. Yeah, yeah, it
really changes about it talks about that changing landscape and
Appalachia and we had no idea. I mean, who could
have foreseen a hurricane hitting the mountains exactly.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
And that's something we were all concerned about when Hurricane
Helene came through in twenty twenty four and we're like,
oh my gosh, you know, we're so far inland, and
it's like.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
No, it's just like what get that far north to go?
Get that far north and that far northeast. But the
western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee had been a kind
of home for bluegrass music and acoustic music forever, so
(22:58):
it was only is the way this played out. We
made a really beautiful video for this where we took
we had footage of the devastation from the hurricane placed
with these lyrics in this song that that you were
talking about face of Appalachia anyways, so.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
We wanted to we wanted to do something, and John
and I traveled to Asheville in December and did a
benefit concert at a great acoustic club there called the
Great Note has been there Forever. But we had our
friends Daryl Scott and uh Ye and just Jeff Sipe
(23:40):
playing with us, and we raised a little bit of money,
but we really wanted to do something more ongoing, and
so we used the video and the imagery, most of
it from our friend Madison Thorne, who was there taking photographs.
We wanted to direct people to different charitable organizations that
are on the ground helping to rebuild and restore that
(24:04):
region because it's will take forever, and you know, the
nature of the world we live in. There was another
disaster on the other side of the country a few
weeks later, and we tend to forget the ongoing struggles,
you know, I mean the fires in LA it's the
same thing. They're going to be rebuilding for ages, ages
(24:25):
and ages, and you know, there will be another thing
that takes all of our attention. Meanwhile, people stay and
have to rebuild. So we wanted to do something that
would hopefully keep generating.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
Some help, attention and help. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Absolutely, and you did capture that by being in Nashville
and getting a sense of what's happened with the community,
because you know, you think, oh, you're in the mountains,
you're so protected, and then it's just it shows the
vulnerabilities of that landscape when that hits and you can
se roads washed away and you know, people who have
built so much up there, and I love that area
(25:06):
so much, and just a little you know thing for
their CVB because I've I've visited many times. I've been
a travel writer as I've written about Ashville many times
and definitely visit. It's coming back, it really is, and
they're they're working very very hard, and here where you
can and that information is at the end of that video.
Beautiful video they did.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Yeah, yeah, all black and white just really shows the
grittiness of something like that when it happens.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
It's just and you can still see the beauty of
that region. I mean it's even through the devastation. It's
just such a magical landscape.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
And yeah, it's kind of like it's a terrible beauty.
That video is, you know, horrific beauty. And I don't
know how you say that, it's got both.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think that is a very good
descriptor of something like that. You just you know, it
really is. It's magnificent. Definitely, fall time is really nice
when you see the different colors popping up, go leaf peeping. Yeah,
it's just yeah, yeah, as we call that down here.
That's exactly right, really really nice. Yeah, So how much
(26:17):
how many tracks on here, Andrea do you take the
lead vocals on? I know, John, you've got some vocals
on here to take me to.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
Yeah, I haven't counted up. I have not counted it up.
I think it's about and then there's several that we
sang which we feel like are kind of equally emphasized,
including trying to Survive as one of those, and where
we just are both singing together.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Throughout, straight up, straight up.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Yeah, Rolling down the Hill.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
That's a duet. Rolling down the Hill. There's three duets,
and then I guess the rest of it is broken
into songs Andrea sings and the songs that I sing.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
So yeah, take Me to the Alley really does that
well with me. Take Me to the Alley is just
definitely has that vibe to it.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
I am so proud of that. I think that we
That song is written by one of my favorite artists,
Gregor Reporter.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
And.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
You know it's you're taking a big risk or you're
bite of this landscape when you decide to do something
that's already been done so beautifully in the first place.
So that is a risk, but I feel like I'm
very proud of what we did on that song. It
came out when I have still listened to it today.
(27:39):
As soon as the piano starts playing, it's just like
I just my blood pressure goes down and I get
into space and then the message of the song is
so beautiful, which is, you know, when he returns, he
or she returns, this is what we think he or
she is going to do. They're not going to go
(28:00):
hang out with the politicians. You know, They're going to
be guided to go to help the people that are
in need. And that's what this whole thing's supposed to
be about.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Yeah, great lyrics in there. Yeah, come sit on my table.
I'm your friend. It's just yeah, it really feels good. Yeah.
Definitely good cast of characters on here too as well.
If you want to mention some of your contributors here,
especially on piano in the band, some really very good
talent hare.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Yeah, we had some excellent help we had in our
studio band. The first person we called was a fantastic
artist and friend of ours named Darryl Scott. So he's
throughout just playing all the acoustic guitars and mandolin's Mandola's
he sang a lot of the parts with us. When
(28:49):
we wanted to add apart, we had Daryl because we've
just all collaborated together over the years. We had Reyese
Winan's the great B three player played. I mean, he's
just legendary, played on.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
Well he was.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
Reese was in Stevie ray Vaughan's Double Trouble. That's how
most people know him. And now he plays with Jovon
and Massa.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
So yeah, yeah, who was just here as well? Who
came here on my birthday? Actually? And I saw Stevie
ray Vaughan back in the day at Ohio University he played,
he played there. Yeah, fabulous Thunderbirds opened up for the
early nineteen eighty six.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Oh wow, I want to show that must have been yeah, yeah,
I think I think he was sober then that by
eighty six.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Yeah, I really do. Yeah, he was just you know,
hitting his stride.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
Yeah, at least the last five years of his life.
I think he was totally in the good track. Oh.
Life can be so cruel in so many ways.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
It doesn't make any sense most of the times, No,
it really, I mean you just try to wrap your
brain around it and just it's full of you know,
you're talking about the what did you call it? Horrific
beauty in Appalachia right now? It's like I think about that.
It's like, we have all these beautiful things in the world,
but there's an equal measure of things that are just
(30:14):
so difficult and so hard, and they seem to go together,
they seem to require the company of the other. I
don't I don't understand that, but it just I see
that showing up over and over and over again.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
It's dark and light, young and young.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
That's right, Yeah, totally. So your fiddle gets quite a
workout on this album Resurrection.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
We were we did this in such an unusual fashion.
What do we spend two days in the studio John
cutting tracks or three? I can't remember two. But we
had Wendy and Town. Wendy Waldman, our producer, lives in
Los Angeles, so we flew into Nashville for a week
and that's all the time we have had face to
(31:00):
face with her, and so we were working fast, and
so a lot of the vocals that are on the
record were actually are tracking vocals. What we did live
in the studios, we were cutting the tracks. But then
when it came time to overdub, we went to John's
house and set up a little makeshift studio because he
had this beautiful sort of cathedral like space in his house.
(31:22):
And so I think we did all the lead vocals
in a day. We did all the harm vocals in
a day, like we did all the fiddle in a day,
We did all the bass in a day. Like that
was our time, and it was really fast for that
amount of work. We actually recorded fourteen songs, and so usually,
(31:45):
you know, I would blabor stuff so much more than
we did. But it was kind of fun, just like,
don't overthink anything, just go. And it was a really
different approach for me. I loved it. Actually, it's kind
of freeing even, you know, and I hear it and
go god. I would never play that rough on purpose
or leave some of the flaws, you know to what
(32:08):
I hear. I hear things that go oh. I would
have fixed that on a different project. But but I
kind of love the spirit of it.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
Yeah. I don't know how some people can like really
obsess over it. I think you could do it too much,
then you're going to make it like worse if you
keep going on and on obsessing over a little detail
in any kind of production, whether it's audio or video.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
Right, Oh, I know, it's like that. You have to
kind of get good at the macro and the micro
and just kind of zooming in and out, and really
it's hard to be objective. It's really hard to be
objective in that. And like you said, any creative endeavor
when you're you know, zoom in and work on a
little thing and then go, wait a minute, what's that
like in the hole?
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Yeah? Yeah, it does. When I stop loving you, I
have to ask you about that too. I love you
these or piano, it's just bluesy. Oh my god, really
you got your bluesy moment there. I really just felt
like it was in that track.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
That was written by Larry Campbell and William.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Oh that's right, William.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
Hell, who's the legendary, legendary R and B singer. William's
got to be in his seventies or not even maybe
in his eighties. I'm not even sure he's still with this,
but anyways, this was written by our dear friends. And
what a song. It's you know, it's it's, it's it's
(33:37):
it's basically a shout out to the sixties, mid sixties,
late sixties R and B songs.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
You know, I John Cowen. I just have to say
this interrupting you know if you know John Cowen's voice,
Oh yeah, this is so far and deep down his
ali that it had to be done. Like when you
think about John Cowen doing his thing, this is it crooning, letting,
(34:10):
like soaring vocal owning that I'm not going to say
bad words, but I could he is. So this is
so down your alley, thank.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
You written for you. Yeah, definitely and something you know,
it's got to fit that that person. Certain songs just do,
certain songs just don't. And you know when you feel
it and it's definitely crafted in that way. Yeah, definitely.
So you're going to do a live performance. This is
the album album release.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Part tomorrow. We're actually not playing. We're going to.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Party.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
It's like a cocktail party. Yeah, and we'll show both
the videos, which I don't think you haven't seen the
one for barbar Our Boys, but we will make sure
that you get a copy of that.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
Bob the Boys actually, uh who are they?
Speaker 3 (35:06):
Theyre all they're all the farmers from my dad's generation. Yeah,
I came from five generations of farmers that ended during
the Great Depression. That was the last. My grandfather actually
kind of a sad situation. He was afraid of losing
the farm, so he went and tried to get money
from the bank to save himself through the through the
(35:30):
stock market crash, and and they wouldn't give him any money.
He went home and I think he thought that if
he died, that insurance would cover save his farm for
for my mom, my grandma and anyways. But he ended
up killing himself, which is terrible. A lot of people
(35:50):
did during the Great Depression.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
Yeah, just awful, awful. Yeah. I remember the first time
I heard something similar to that was like when Don
Henley did a month the Sundays, and it reminded me
of the farmers and the struggles that they've had throughout
you know, really all of our history really, and they're
still struggling to this day. Yeah, different ways. Gosh, Yeah,
(36:14):
it's every time you turn around now, we're dealing with
a whole bunch of different issues.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
So yeah, right, it's not still not getting better. I mean,
it's just it's always been a really difficult way of
life and so incredibly necessary to all of us survival.
You know what would we do without them?
Speaker 1 (36:35):
Oh, it's so true. And you know, like big corporations
have totally like taken over in so many ways, and
you've got to work harder to find the organic farmers,
the people who really it's really.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
Tough, right, Yeah, You've got to really seek out those
family farms and yeah, it's it's tough, and they're working
as hard as they ever have.
Speaker 1 (36:59):
Gosh, you both have really wonderful careers. On Andrea, you
remember winning that fiddle contest going way back in Goingois.
What was that feeling like?
Speaker 2 (37:10):
I loved it? Well, you know, that was when I
was making the transition for well, that transition, but I
was learning fiddle music in addition to my classical music.
I assume you're talking about.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
When you were about ten years old.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
Yeah, ten years old. That's when I met Alison Krause,
who lived in the same town. She lived in Champagne
and I lived in Urbana, and we met at the
Champagne County Fair at the fiddle contest, and we were
I was ten and she was eight, and we had
just been learning our little tunes, and you know, it
(37:44):
was it was so it was it was unlike anything
I had experienced to that point, because when my dad
kind of talked to the local luth here about fiddle
music and about trying to keep me interested. We had
a few records at home and were listening to tunes
and I was learning. I learned three songs for that contest.
Speaker 3 (38:07):
Do you remember what they were?
Speaker 2 (38:08):
I think one of them was the Floppyard Mule. One
of them was a waltz, Yeah, I can't remember which one.
And then the other one was There's a Hole in
the Bucket. Remember that. Oh, no, there's a hole in
the bucket. Dear Eliza, Dear Eliza, remember that one. That
(38:29):
must have been my waltz. I can't remember what the
other one was anyway, But there was this whole community
of like fiddlers and guitar players and everybody who'd say, hey,
let me show you this tune, and then you started
I started understanding the oral tradition of that kind of
music in that community. And there were all these kids,
(38:50):
because there was I was in the junior division, Allison
was in the novice division, and they were just all
these kids playing music, and it was so much fun.
It was unlis like anything I had experienced. It was
great it's.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
So cool that tradition, that tradition is still going on,
thank goodness.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
Yeah, that's the beauty. It's one of those unchanged things,
untouched by the corporate thing that seems to be everywhere.
Speaker 1 (39:17):
Yeah, yeah, Do you ever think you'd be playing fiddle
for some pretty big names you're talking about, like Vince
Gill and people like that.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
Yeah, you know, I didn't know what. I didn't know
where it was going to go. I knew I started
college early, and I had a teacher who was really
encouraging me to choose, to make a hard choice between
classical and everything else. She felt like everything else was
taking away from my classical attention and my classical studies,
(39:48):
and I just never wanted to choose, and I just
felt like Nashville was a place where I would be
able to pursue both things. And this was back in
the eighties when I don't think there were as many
people kind of mixing and genre bending, at least in
the classical world. There was a real stigma if you didn't,
(40:08):
you know, if you played anything else unless it was jazz,
and that was okay. But I felt like Nashville was
the place where I could continue to do both things,
and I always wanted to be able to collaborate with
with other people, John being one of them, because when
I moved here, I had not yet met John. But
(40:30):
I was definitely a fan, a serious fan of new
grass Revival. So I think, you know that envisioning who
you might get to work with was a slow process,
but it, you know, things started becoming I could, I
don't know, I could see the possibilities once I was here.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
I think, Yeah, Nashville's a great community. I've had many
guests on here and they just rave about it. How
supportive everybody is of one another.
Speaker 3 (40:59):
Yeah, this kind of it's interesting in that regard. The
musical community is very open, it's very supportive. It's not
a lot of cutthroat stuff. It's like, I mean, andre
Will could attest to this. I mean, how many nights
a year do we all go to play for somebody's benefit?
Thirty twenty twenty five and it's always somebody with cancer,
(41:23):
somebody whose house is burned down, whatever, And the musical
community just coalesces and gathers and does what we need
to do for whoever's suffering.
Speaker 1 (41:34):
You know, right, Yeah, Yeah, So and as far as
touring is going this year. It looks like you're pretty
busy with all of that, just getting out there and
just the different acts. I know the Doobies are going
to be overseas for a bit and coming back here
to the States for some dates. And in addition, are
the two of you going to be doing a lot
of touring together, a lot of live shows together.
Speaker 2 (41:58):
We were looking at the fall. Yeah, both get off
of our legacy gigs, aren't they jobs? We'll be able
to circle back around. So we're looking forward to please
September October, starting to book some.
Speaker 1 (42:12):
Things very good.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
Well, we have to kind of let the stars align. Yeah,
the tour buses park and then then we can get
in the van.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
Still like touring after all these years, I mean, John,
you definitely have gotten your share of your time on
the road and planes, trains, automobiles. I'm sure I don't.
Speaker 3 (42:34):
I always tell people I don't know how to do
anything else. So I'm kind of stuck.
Speaker 1 (42:39):
Trying to retire. But I can't but to.
Speaker 3 (42:42):
Be perfectly honest that traveling gets harder as you get older.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
It just does.
Speaker 3 (42:48):
Lots of sleep, time zone changes, a and bus sleep
is not real sleep, No matter what they tell you,
because you can be a sleep in your bunk. But
if you're boy, he's being pitched to and fro it knows.
The party is like dog ears. No poice might be
dead in a couple of minutes, get knocked around.
Speaker 2 (43:12):
I always feel like it's dog ears. Like an hour
of sleep on the bus is like about fifteen minutes
of sleep in a real bit.
Speaker 1 (43:23):
Yeah, are you amazed when you go overseas the how
is it different there? And how you're received over there too?
That's got to be an interesting feeling. How audiences receive
these songs from the US. It must be fascinating in
some places where they don't speak our language.
Speaker 2 (43:38):
I always find that like it you can. The character
of the audience is what I noticed, Like an Irish
audience is so different than like a Scandinavian audience, which
is so different than a New Zealand audience. It's like
they all you know when you go to Ireland, it
can it's in a lot of places. Actually very different
(43:59):
from the US is that they will listen in stone
silence to everything you say, everything you play, but then
when there's a break, they erupt in thunderous applause, and
you just but but we're so not used to a
silent crowd. We used to quiet crowds sometimes, but not silent,
(44:19):
and it's really interesting, you know, it's like you have
to kind of be okay with that. It can be
a little you know, when you're not used to it.
Speaker 3 (44:30):
But the same with the pan Asian. You know, you
go to Japan anywhere over there, and it's first you
don't know what to think because they're kind of sitting there.
But what they're doing is there, as Andrea said, they're
focusing on you and what you're doing, and they're really
(44:50):
their consciousness is aimed towards you, which is you're not
just entertainment. I guess.
Speaker 2 (44:58):
Yeah, yeah, that's very respectful. It's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (45:02):
Yeah, oh for sure, Yeah, definitely. And this is little Nuggets. So, John,
you participated in a movie about the life of Billy Graham.
How did that work?
Speaker 3 (45:17):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (45:17):
That was Billy Graham And look that one.
Speaker 3 (45:20):
I just saw that Nuggets and Armie Hammer was the
playing Billy Graham. The actor. Oh wow, And what's funny.
I went out you know, I got a call to
go do this thing, and I went out there and sure, enough,
I get there and I know four or five other
(45:41):
people that have gotten the same call, and we're like, oh,
you're doing this too. Yeah, we're going to be the
choir today. So that's that kind of I think I
saw both Ronnie and Robbie McCrory that day.
Speaker 1 (45:56):
Anyways, Yeah, goes back to two thousand and eight. That's
just one of those little nuggets in anybody's catalog your career.
It's just that's really amazing. Well, best of luck to
both of you as you embark on your legacy touring
and then coming together to do your duo and getting
(46:19):
out there and we'll see definitely, and definitely I see
the dB brothers this summer for sure here us.
Speaker 2 (46:27):
Thank you so much for having us.
Speaker 1 (46:29):
Definitely take care.
Speaker 2 (46:32):
Thank you too.
Speaker 3 (46:33):
Please stay in touch, Bob, and thank you for your
time and your attention. And that's all I can tell you.
Speaker 1 (46:38):
Thanks for stopping by. I really appreciate you guys taking
the time out of your very busy schedules to speak
with me. So take care. Thanks you have a good one.
Wasn't that wonderful? Oh gosh, you know, it's so funny
how John conjures up his inner Michael McDonald, How could
it not. As I was saying in this podcast, it's
just that voice. You could hear it in your head,
(47:01):
and so many try to replicate that or have fun
trying to replicate that, as you might even see in
the yacht Rock documentary that's streaming on nas as we
speak here in twenty twenty five. It's it's a great
documentary if you haven't seen it, about yacht rock. So
(47:21):
I love that, and this is so cool that he
gets to play with Michael McDonald. Oh my gosh, I
just floored. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed our conversation and
hope to see you all again soon. Take care,
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