Adam Shoenfeld has made a name for himself as one of the best guitar players in Nashville. He’s made a name for himself by creating a wave of hard-rock influenced country that changed the genre. He has played guitar on over 40 no. 1s songs including Save A Horse (Ride A Cowboy), Cruise, Hicktown and more! He stops by to talk with Bobby about his early days working with Big & Rich, Jason Aldean and being Tim McGraw’s guitar player for the last 9 years. Adam is also a singer-songwriter who just put out a solo album called “All The Birds Sing”.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This one's really interesting because this guy kind of changed
the sound of country music guitar wise. And it's episode
three thirty six. Adam Schoenfeld, which you may not know
his name, but you definitely know a lot of his work.
And these are some of my favorite ones to do.
So a few things. One he's played on over forty
number ones. UM, A lot of the audi and stuff,
(00:22):
A lot of the rock sound that has come to
country is because of Adam. He is now Tim mcgirl's
guitar player. He's been a guitar player for the last
nine years. He just put out a solo album. But
his sound is like the big, crunchy, loud opening stuff
for example, Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy, which before
(00:43):
this there wasn't a lot of that kind of rock
country infuse sound, UM, very aggressive, like Jason Aldean's Hicktown
Here you Go. So he's really made a name for
himself by I do, Jason, that's what we're doing this
podcast with Adam show Unfeld. I do like the way
that sounds. UM. So this kind of rock influenced country
(01:06):
that's changed a part of the genre. And so it's
it's a really interesting one here and then we'll talk
about his music too, and um, let's let's do it.
He just got back from playing the Houston Rodeo with
Tim McGaw. I think he got on a four a
UM flight to come back and do this podcast, which
I must say I'm very thankful for UM. And then
he's also written massive songs. So here we go, Adam
(01:30):
show Unfeld. I hope you listen to this one and
you learn a little something, and you learn a little
something about somebody you didn't know, and that's the deal,
and that's that on that all right, let's go. How
are you? I'm good man, how are you? Where did
you come from? Blairstown, New Jersey? Meaning like you were
born there? I was born Long Island, Okay, Long Island,
(01:51):
then moved the Blairstown at the ripe age of three.
I guess I meant, where did you come from before
you came literally over here? Yes, would be Blair's town
and Drew, Yeah, yeah, were you out? We're on the
road with McGraw this weekend right now. Yeah, today night
got the rodeo, got it? Got it? So you played
(02:12):
the rodeo with McGraw, got up at four thirty this morning,
Where where did you wake up a four thirty here
or in Houston? Houston popped on the place. Well, I
wanted to see you. Yeah, I appreciate that. It's just
like I wake up at four thirty, but I have
to do that norm It still sucks. Yeah, it sucks
every day I have to wake up a four thirty.
But so to play the Houston Rodeo, that's pretty massive,
(02:34):
like probably one of the more massive scenes, right, totally.
How many people they fit in there? I don't know
if it's fifty. I think it's a lot, right, Uh So,
so many questions, and I want to get to your
influence on the sound of today's country music. We'll talk
about your record, but just starting with the McGraw stuff,
since that's that's what we're here. You ever play and
(02:56):
you know you hit a wrong note and you look
around to wonder it, Well, I wonder if anyone else
noticed I hit a wrong note, because as good as
you are, even even Lebron misses, you know, a ten
foot or occasionally? Does that ever happen? Oh? Yeah? Well,
the thing is we have so many people up there
on that stage that most people in the audience, I
don't think notice. No, I don't even notice yet, but
(03:18):
the guys in the band, if they have you in
their mix, they notice, and we usually give a smile.
I usually raise my hand when it's me that I
commit of the foul? Do you does McGraw or is
he so into it? If, like say the drum or Dino,
who you know we've been friends with a long time.
Let's say somebody does something that's just slightly different or off,
(03:40):
will he look at you and be like, okay, I
caught that. Well? Yeah, I mean, whether it's good or bad,
he will turn around and give you one of those.
So if it's really good too, Let's say you're just
like feeling it one night. Yeah, if you're crushing it
and he notices, he'll he'll he'll give you that look.
And if you're crushing it in a bad way, it'll
give you that look. Yeah. But it's never that he
(04:02):
never finds you, like James Brown used to do, find
everybody you know in our studio on our radio show.
You know, we have my desk and everybody sits around me.
Similar environment where everybody's going. But if somebody's like really on,
you don't want to call it out and be like
you're killing it because you're almost Jinks in it. And
(04:24):
you also don't be like, hey, you're sucking today. But
there will be a glance if somebody's crushing it where
I'm like, hey, that's great. Yeah, probably the same thing
your team. Same thing is player on the team's killing it.
So you're a guitar story. Let's go back to where
you came from, uh to be such an excellent player,
because you've also played the drums or you do play
the drums a little bit guitar, Like, where did your
(04:46):
fascination with music and you know, instruments start? It started
with the records in my house as a kid, namely
like Peter Frampton comes alive, things like you have one
of the you ever played one of that? I do have.
I have one of those now, yeah I never For
years I didn't, and I always wondered what they look like,
how to use them, you know, and I still don't
(05:07):
even know if I know exactly how to use it
and put it in your mouth and your teeth start
falling out? What's it called talk box? Okay? Yeah? And
so for those that don't know, on Frampton comes alive,
he's playing and it's obviously live and he starts and
then like, I think about that too. When I think
like this, I guess the seventies that's the music. Frampton
(05:31):
Comes Alive as an album that I really think about.
So you were listening to that because parents were, well, yeah,
I was in the house. Um, you know, my brother
had l O's greatest hits. Def Leppard by Romania was
like the first vinyl I remember Beatles records, you know,
but the audience on the Frampton Comes Alive and Clapton
just one night record my dad brought home to me.
The audience spoke to me like that attracted me to
(05:53):
like I got chills from the sound of the audience,
and so that kind of kind of makes sense because
I love the in front of a crowd. Did you
have people in your house that also played music that
could um, you know, preliminarily leyt direction Not really, not really.
My brother was a drummer, but he passed away early.
I was eleven, he was fourteen, So I didn't really
(06:14):
have this ultra cool musical influence to keep me from
listening to some less cool music that I listened to
in the eighties. Unfortunately, you know, with your brother being
a drummer in him passing away, was your family at all, Like, hey,
maybe you don't do music. No, my my parents always
supported me. They got behind me every everything I wanted
(06:35):
to do. So when did you What did you get first?
You played drums or you played guitar? Guitar? Yeah? Did
you play so you could play with your brother and
have like a mini little house? No, I just I
mean it happened the same Christmas. He got his drum
set the same year I got a guitar. Is it
because he wanted drums more than so you got a guitar?
So yeah, I was always a yeah, yeah, you know.
Unfortunately I don't have many memories of my brother. I
(06:57):
was only eleven, so memories go away. You get to
look at pictures to have some of that stuff come back.
You know a lot when you first start playing, do
you because my story is not like yours at all,
because I am terrible. I played for comedy purposes, right,
But I went and bought a chord sheet at Walmart
from the post there should be posters the big box.
(07:18):
You slap them and said, I'll take that poster. But
there's a court seat from Walmart and I learned how
to do my hands. You where did it start for you?
As far as learning how to actually play. I took
lessons from a friend named Scott Pince at he was eighteen.
He was the he was the teacher in town and
I was five, So I took lessons from him till
I was five, started until about fourteen. Then when I
(07:42):
was fifteen or sixteen, I took from a Berkeley guy
for about a year. I should be way better at
what I do as a five year old taking lessons.
What I think of is when I was nineteen trying
to train myself even I was like, ow my fingers,
How are you five? And you're still bad at at something?
Yet you continue because playing guitar is not something you
(08:03):
just go, hey, I'm pretty good at this. Yeah, I
don't know. I I don't remember maybe five years old
sticking with anything at five? You know? So when did
you actually start to play music that people could understand?
I guess that would be chords, Yeah, well and be
my uh. I think by the time I was ten
(08:24):
or something, I was making sense of it. I was
in bands at the age of fourteen. That's wild that
you were ten and you're already pretty good at playing guitar. Yeah,
I was decent When I was fourteen. My first band
was with the seventeen eights and year old. Were you
the kid that was known as the musical Kid? Yeah,
I mean that was that kids athletic. Yeah, most of
the other kids were older. There weren't many my age
(08:45):
that I remember. Well, I guess there were a tunnel
vision man. I just went for it my whole life.
So electric guitar, acoustic, electric, Well, the first one was acoustic,
but the electric came real quick, like a year or
two after and thing with the electric when I started
to tinker, it's a different It's the same instrument, but
it's a different instrument because I basically only play acoustic
(09:08):
now because my shows. Who cares, I'm doing comedy. Um,
But the first couple times I picked up an electric,
I was like, wow, these notes will stay longer. Yeah,
like you hit it and it doesn't go away. And
so as a kid, did you I did it? Once
you started playing the electric guitar, is did you identify
with it more? As like this instrument speaks to me
a little more? I think so. Yeah. I think just
the fact that you could turn it up and crank it.
(09:30):
My first band, it was a metal band. You know,
we're playing Slayer and Metallica. First cover song I think
I did was Detroit Rock City and it was just
that that rush here in the drums and trying to
turn your amp up over the drums and all that.
It's just amazing. So what's the goal when you're sixteen
or seventeen years old to be an artist? You know,
do you want you want to lead a band, do
you want to be a solo artist? I just wanted
(09:51):
the rock man to be a rock star. So then
what do you do when? And when do you do it?
Do you move at eighteen nineteen? Pretty much? You know,
we were We were in a band that moved down
here because the manager wanted to make us stars. And
it was kind of a rock band, more like Billy
Joel meets a soul blues thing. The lead singer played
piano and saying but yeah, the guy wanted to make
(10:12):
us stars. And we didn't have any thought in our
head of well, it's Nashville. We can't go down there.
We're not country, So we just came down. You know,
So who is this guy? Where? How did he find
you guys. His name was Terry Sasser. I don't know
where he is um now, but he told me I'd
never work again in this town when I quit that band. Ok,
I want to get to that. But how does he
find you? Got? It was? It was a bass player,
(10:34):
um so a friend of ours, Justin Toccer, who was
a great producer down in Louisiana. He came up and
played bass on our first recording in our singers basement.
But where does this guy find? But who? Like, how
do you guys get together? Like, I'm just curious about
this first band. Oh the band? Yeah, Like, how do
you know these guys? Man? It was um I think
(10:56):
if I remember correctly, I met the singer Nathan because Scott,
who was my teacher, was also played with me at
that point. I don't think I was taking lessons anymore.
I think we're just playing together and he knew his father,
I think. And that's how we organically. Yeah, it was total,
total organic. And you want the singer I was not
(11:17):
Did you do background vocals? I did a little bit.
Did you have were you younger than the other guys? No,
we were all the same age that band. Did you
want to sing I always wanted to sing. Yeah, yeah,
I mean if I was like, yeah, I have always
for years, you know. Um, I just wasn't that good
at it and wasn't that comfortable with it. So when
do you guys start playing and making twenty bucks or so? Um?
(11:41):
Never really he didn't really. I mean we went into
New York City and played the Bitter End, but that
wasn't to make any money that I remember. Maybe Nathan's
dad pocketed it. I don't know. You know, so, how
does this sassir find you or here? So it was
just and he came up played on a recording, but
he had already moved down here. Um, and he was
road base player for an act and this guy was
(12:02):
managing her and he played him the recordings. Now was
this guy he's already in management. But do you feel
like he actually heard something or he just wanted to
expand his brand a little bit with the band? I
think he heard something. Yeah, we definitely had something, you know,
when we were young and good looking, and you know,
I will some of us were. So you all moved
(12:24):
down he lived together. Yeah, Shelby Street, East, Nashville. Five guys,
one house, less than a hundred dollars each in rent
Boy the five guys thing though, And I'm assuming that
you're splitting it five ways almost equally, I mean equally,
just depending on what the band is. Uh, not a
lot of money there, No five dollars a month. It
(12:47):
was great, you know, some of we were waiting tables
doing stuff like that, you know, bartending. You moved down
and do you go right to a studio? Um? You
know we did. You're talking about that band because because
you move we started playing. Um. I don't know if
we did any recordings. I jumped into recording with some
other people and my own blues stuff at the time
because I wanted to sing, you know. But we played
(13:09):
Jack's guitar bar. I don't know if you remember that place.
UM and Keith Urban used to play there, and I
think lusen to Williams, Kim Richie, Steve Earle, they were
all staples there. Bullet hole in the windows on Nolinsville Road,
right by four or forty. So this band obviously didn't
work out, yeah, or you wouldn't be here in this
capacity now. Um. And then so why does the guy
(13:30):
say you'll never work in this town again? I think
I was the second to quit, and he was frustrated.
I think, who says that though you'll never work in
this town again? That guy, I think I think he's
hiding out on an island. Yeah, I mean that's just
maybe that's just such anole thing to say. Um, yeah,
it was. Were you scared that you may never work
in this town again? So then what do you do?
(13:51):
You're here, you're here, and you've got to know some folks.
You kind of understand the culture a little bit. The
band is not you quit the band, So what do
you do? Well? You know, I played with everybody that
I could play with, whether it was for free or
paid twenty five bucks here and there, and then just
(14:11):
started to grab gigs and most importantly landed the job
at Woodland Studios in East Nashville. And that job was playing.
The job was answering phones. But but we could use
any of the three studios we wanted to on our
own music if we had an engineer with us. And um,
the owner, Bob Solomon, he had a publishing company, and
(14:34):
he used me and my friends as the band, the
house band. So that's how we cut our teeth as
session musicians. So he let you use the studio and
as long as you had an engineer and as long
as we answered the phone, but you still got paid money. Yeah,
Franks on the phone. Yeah he was pretty he was awesome.
He was a great gig. It was awesome for someone
in music that's starting out. It was the best thing
(14:54):
that ever happened to me. So you talked about the
publishing and you would be the house band. So somebody
writes a song doing demos, Yeah, exactly did you remember?
And again, I'm gonna kind of tickle the memory a
little bit. Did you ever cut any demos that turned
out to be something pretty cool? Way later? We there
was nothing of note in that batch. Unfortunately. I wish
there was for Bob, but but there wasn't that that
(15:15):
I remember. So you do that for how long? Um?
A few years? A few years, and then started to
grab little gigs here and there, and some of the
guys I met through there, UM started to hire me
and and um and then yeah, gigs. I'd take a gig,
I'd come back, I'd take a gig, I'd come back.
Then I worked at a music store for a little
while downtown that's not there anymore. And UM, gig World
(15:39):
midnight window. It was called gig gig World, and we
had a midnight window. Like I would stay there after hours.
If somebody broke broke strings drumsticks on Broadway, they'd come
running down to the window and give me five bucks
and a hand him there. You know. It was. It
was a cool little thing. You know, when you're saying
you're playing gigs, are you going out and playing guitar
for for people that need one pretty quickly? Local? Well locally? Um.
(16:02):
I never did like crazy fast pickup gigs because I
never did a lot of cover songs. It was usually
people's original music and you know, stuff with a couple
of rehearsals and a couple of shows. You know. One
of my favorite ones was Millard Powers. Um, he's Counting
Crows bass player. Now power pop dude, really really awesome.
That was fun. So what was he assault? Was he
(16:23):
an artist? He was? He was like he had this
he had this record. I don't think he ever put
it out, but he played every instrument in himself and
it was just really cool power pop stuff. At this stage,
you've worked in a studio and you've you know, introduce
yourself to that world. I mean, you kind of That's
that's you were more than introduced, Like I mean, you
(16:44):
were kind of running you know that spot because you're
you're getting to use it yourself, you're working with other people. Uh,
do you start to go, hey, maybe I want to
like really dial into be a guitar player more than
an artist. Yeah, I did, and and that kind of
swept me away him there, because I would get inspired
hearing these guitar players through the wall. You know, it's
the first time I heard Ja Joyce. You know, I
(17:06):
think I think he was working It was either Flaming
Ready he was working on, or Radney Foster See What
you want to See, both two of my favorite albums
ever Um And that's you know, the first place I
heard Jay and and I I hadn't even heard of
Iodine because I was a little late to Nashville for
that his his rock band, Um. But yeah, that that
place was definitely the launching pad. What do you remember
(17:28):
about seeing Ja Joyce before he became J Joyce the
uh was super successful producer. Yeah. I remember a lesson
he taught me, and that was, you know, after hours,
I'd go in and peek at the gear and see,
you know what he had and he was in the
kitchen one morning. I was like, hey, ja, miss, so
what are you using that pedal for? And this pedal?
(17:49):
He looks at me and he's like, hey man, just
get your own thing. And I was part partially a
little crushed, but I kind of took it to heart
and I was like, Okay, I'm cool to do my thing.
And I got to use that on somebody, a younger
player later in life, so that was cool. And him
saying do your own thing or use your own thing
was him saying, identify what you do and what you're
(18:12):
good at doing and what you can get better at
and do that. Yeah. And I think that's why I
kind of got where I went is I just did
what I do. And I think that's kind of what
gets new session guys in the door and girls too.
The session experience as wild because you guys are so
good and I'll remove myself and remove you from you know,
(18:33):
the McGraw stuff, And I do want to get back
to being a guitar player on a stage of playing
live music, but the session stuff is tough because you've
got to be the best of the best, because the
best is that on the road playing with pretty good acts.
The best of the best stays in Nashville. You don't
travel very far and go to studio to studio, and
(18:56):
they can do that because they are elite. Yeah, it's great.
I feel like I'm in an impostor. I was on
the phone with a friend the other day. He goes,
do you have imposter syndrome? Like I do? I'm like, yeah,
I do. What how did I get here? There's so
many guys that are brilliant, technically amazing, and you know,
I think I've heard the room. The secret of the
(19:17):
room full of the best musicians in the world is
they all think they're the worst, which for the most part,
I think it's true, except for a few guys I
won't name that. It sounds to this point like you
are living a musician life, kind of balancing around learning,
getting better, slowly climbing whatever the wild ladder is of
of a creative But when did this is a word
(19:40):
that doesn't really exist in either one of our lives,
But when did any sort of stability start to happen?
That would be the Big and Rich days, you know
a little before that, you know, John and John Rich
and Big Kenny started hiring me on all their demos.
I was in a rock band with Big Kenny called
love Joy met John to that start. He had his
(20:01):
publishing deal with Warner Chapel. They used me on all
their demos. I started getting on records because I was
on these demos of John's UM. And then they had
the big Enrich record, so the don and I'll play
it now here you go, so two thousand four to
(20:23):
Save a Horse Ride Cowboy now um. Having friends that
are are good guitar players, you know, tone is it's
like the it's the thing. You want to have your
own tone. You wanna have a specific tone. It's the
tone just slightly off. It ain't right, but there's a
distinct tone to this UM. And I don't think I
had heard it prior in popular country music. Yeah, I
(20:45):
think it was new for country music for sure. Yeah.
Did you come out of the box and go, hey,
I think this is the tone? Like what what's that? Man?
You know? John actually had that riff and that was
just me playing it, you know, And that was a
common tone for me that I used when I was
just playing rock and roll. You know. I hadn't really
(21:06):
done much country music at that time, But the riff
and the tone are different, meaning you can have the riff,
but you may not have the tone. You can have
something light, or you could have something uh, you know so,
but that is a it's hard to explain what that
tone is. But that's a little grittier then I think
(21:27):
I had heard leading up to that point. Yeah, and
it also gives that song. The riff is great, but
the tone of that that that opening riff gives that
song such texture. And you cut the song. Do you
cut the demo with that? I guess, or did it
change when you actually go into the studio. I think
that was the demo. I think that the demo became
(21:47):
the record. I don't think we ever did an actual
demoly Horse. You know a lot of those John and
Kenny songs were demos that were really the record. I think.
I don't think we did a version of that had time.
Like Redneck Woman, we did a demo and I didn't
play in the record, but and then like Hicktown jump
into another song I played on the demo, which is
(22:08):
why I played on that record. For al Dean, this
is like the baby that grows into the adult later. Yeah,
you know, because this is the first space you kind
of hear it. I'll play a couple more of these.
This is Mississippi Girl by Faith Hill and you co
(22:28):
wrote this with John Richard. Yeah, and we'll get to
some al Dean in depth later. But here is Hicktown
two thousand five um heavy rock influence. I think when
I think of al Dean without knowing it until recently
when I started to read more about you, I should
(22:48):
think about you more because a lot of what you
have done with him is what defines him. Yeah. I
mean a big percentage of the guitars on those records
or me, you know, and I do am the quote
band leader on the sessions, but you know, everybody puts
their input and it's at some of all parts for sure.
So let's see here a lot of Aldine give me lights,
(23:12):
come on, Mike. I mean that right again. You hear
that immediately. It's not just the riff, it's also that
the kind of dark rocky tone of it. When someone
hired like an Audi and says, hey, come back in,
we want you to do this, do they expect that's
what you're bringing now? Yeah? You think? Yeah? I mean
for a while I felt like people thought I was
just the guy that did power chords in country music,
(23:33):
you know, and and didn't think I did anything else,
you know. And granted I gravitate towards that for sure,
you know. Um, but yeah, it definitely you get known
for what you first do, I think, or you get Yes,
you definitely get known for what you first do, especially
what you first do that that works, that works wonderfully
(23:55):
right right. Um? But like J Joyce said to you,
you know, do your thing. Yeah yeah, So how would
you describe your thing as a as a player? I
think I just played for the song. Like, I don't
feel comfortable if I feel like I've played something before. Um,
if I'm doing a part, I know for sure i've played.
I try to change it and do something different. If
(24:16):
a songwriter or an artist sings me a lick and
wants me to play it, it's something I heard before,
I tell them, you know. And I think that's what
most of the session guys and girls do as they
played for the song, for sure, you know. So you
will say to an artist, I don't think so if
I really know for a fact I've heard it, or
(24:37):
or if I really have a deep feeling that there
might be a better thing or a cooler thing if
someone meets you with I do think so? Um, I
think so. But nothing too stressful. Yeah, yeah, nothing too stressful.
Let's run through some of these Aldine burning it down
(25:00):
and this song was again a slight pivot for Audine musically. Yes,
I mean, how responsible are you for being a part
of that that that brain No, I'm not. I mean,
that's Knox with his song picking and you know, and
a lot of times we do bass what we're doing
off the demo, that song in particular, if I remember
correctly that that mod part on the right, mamam, I
(25:24):
had I played that for the whole take, you know,
you could have looped it. But I think I think
that's Kurt doing the left guitar and then me on
the right through it. You can hear it left and
all right. I mean, yeah, yeah, but that's the thing.
Kurt and I have really gotten a cool magic thing down.
You know, it's like we've it's been him and I
(25:44):
since Hicktown was the only one I played electrical in
the first record, but record two through ten it was
him and I. It's typically him left me right, and
then I stay and add stuff you know, I'll add
extra beef or most of the solos. He's done a
couple of solos um, So yeah, I kind of know.
If it's left, it's you the main part. On the left,
(26:04):
it's sometimes him, usually him, you know, sometimes I'll double it.
You know, I feel like you can't enjoy music anymore.
I'll tell you why. That's why I'm singing my own
songs again. I know, because man, I'm kind of tired
of guitar, to be honest with you, Yeah, and also
having a world, but tired of it. Since you are
in that part of it, I think you probably hear
everything and you are listening to a little and switches
(26:27):
and right here, left here, that it's probably hard for
you to separate and just go I'm just gonna take
this whole blanket of music as is. Yeah, well, you know, yeah,
there's a construction to it, and I'm so aware of
it when it comes to this genre. You know, I
actually don't listen to the genre I play most that
that often, you know, I've listened to stuff that just
(26:48):
completely speaks to me. I'm more I'm more of a
more attached to like you two style of writing. Left brain,
you know, poetic kind of writing rather than a story
about a truck and no offense. Country music. That's just
what pulls me. And in that music, I'm more thrilled
with the things I hear because it's usually not of
the formula that we kind of use here in Nashville
(27:11):
and probably recreates or influence is what you do, which
is what makes you different and successful. I mean, I
don't listen to other radio shows, right, I mean I
don't and probably don't listen to your own radio show never. Never.
I mean I would not do you never, God, because
but what I do listen to. I listen to different
(27:32):
kind of podcasts that don't have to live the same structure.
And what I can do is pull things out of
what other people do wonderfully into what I do. I
think if I listened to other people do what I
do all the time, I would just stay doing exactly
what is being done exactly. And so I feel like
that's what you're doing as well, and what you have
done to kind of reshape you know, the music of
(27:54):
popular country music right now is that you never chased
being popular country music. No, and I never did. Man,
I think that's that's the key right with trend setters,
they're not trying to set a trend. They just are
so good at what they're doing that's a bit different.
It then becomes the trend. Do you hear people and
don't say, you know, I'm saying any names. I feel
like people are kind of joking your style a little
bit at times. Well, you know, it's inevitable in this town.
(28:18):
You know, you you'll take like, uh, for instance, she's country. Um,
I think Rob McNelly played on the demo I played
on the record. We changed the lick a little bit
on the record, partly because I couldn't figure out one
part of it. You know. So you get this thing
where you're playing one guy's licks from a demo on
a record, he's playing your licks from a demo in
(28:39):
a record. We all start playing each other's stuff, So
inevitably you're gonna start playing a little bit like your
your friends, don't you feel like though? There are some
producers that go, you should listen at them, and then
we're gonna do that. You're gonna do that today? Yeah,
I mean people will you know, people will tell me
they want like a Buka bac thing, you know, and
so it happens to all of us. You know, it's
(29:00):
just it's not It could be on purpose, but you know,
it is what it is. It's just if it works
and that person is not. There's an old saying one
of the first guys I worked with in town, Ronnie Godfrey,
piano player. I think he was in a Marshall Tucker band. Um.
He said. Right now, they're saying who's at him? And
in a little while they're gonna say, you gotta get
at him, And they're gonna say, you can't get at him,
(29:22):
he's too busy. And then they're gonna say, who's at him? How?
How how often are you doing studio work? Now? It's
a little less because you know, I'm balanced tour. Um,
I'm producing stuff. I'm doing my own records, my own projects. Um.
My kids are about five hours from here, and I
go visit them as much as I can. Um. So, yeah,
(29:45):
not as much as it used to be, but I'm
still working. I still get the calls, which is nice. Yeah,
you know, I mean you get the calls, and you
get those calls, you gotta be pretty freaking good because,
like I said, the elite gets to work in a
studio in the air conditioning. The elite and the impostors
like me. Well, I think we all have a little
bit of that. You're married to Katie Cook. I sure am.
I did not know lottery from CC. Yeah, I love
(30:08):
her too. I did not know that. Uh. I think
that's why you're most famous to me. Now, Cook, do
um you like you were influenced by jazz a bit? Yeah?
Do you feel like that, I'll just use the same word,
influence your guitar style at all? A little bit, because
(30:28):
I did learn a bit of improvisation from horn players
at my my high school that we had actual jazz
guys from New York and Delaware Water Gap as part
of our music department. So I did get a little
bit of that in my in my blood. Always fascinated
with people who like to play jazz, because you gotta
be good, and you've gotta be good at just rolling
(30:49):
with it. Yeah. I wish I was really good at it.
I'm I'm what I consider a faker at jazz, and
most people are unless they live it, you know, So
just play a couple of half note half steps and
you'll play jazz, you know, just end up on the
right note. And you're good, you're you know, first sense
of stability was big and rich. Do you go on
(31:10):
the road with him for a while? I did? Yeah. Yeah,
it was a party, but I signed a paper so
I'm not allowed to say that. Oh my god, No,
it was. It was a lot of fun. It had
to be so much fun that it wasn't fun because
you're tired of over stimulation. Well, I learned about whiskey, yes,
(31:32):
and uh, never mind, I just have I have other
friends or people that I know that app toward with
them or toward and it's just a lot. I don't
remember a lot, you know. I mean, it seems like
quite the party. Yeah, it was a party. It was great.
Are you with them until they break up? Well, I
(31:55):
kind of was. It was interesting, it was It was
two thousand and end of two thousand seven or the
beginning of two thousand eight. I told Kenny I was quitting,
and then Kenny kind of was going in that direction
to him and John were kind of falling apart all
at the same time. Um and uh. But then they
were still touring in in two thousand nine, they asked
(32:17):
me to go back out with him to cover that tour,
so I went back out for that one year. Um,
but yeah, I saw it all, every every part of it.
So you discontinue the playing with big, big and rich
Johnny Kenny. Um, when did the al Dean? When? When
did that happen? Well, that all happened kind of simultaneously. Um,
(32:41):
you know, because I ended up being in al Dean's
showcase band because Knox knew me from John's demo sessions
from Warner Chapel and by showcase for those and just
to make sure I'm right, al Dean was showcasing himself
for a record deal maybe or and he was. So
you guys were playing in front of a executives, Yes,
we were, And then we got offered a deal as
(33:03):
a duo, which I turned down. Huh Yeah, And Jason
likes to poke at me on that one. You and
Jason were offered, that's my claim the fame. You were
gonna be the original Dan and j and I know
we would. We would have been, you know, big and
Riches competition in Brooks and Done. I think we would
have won much better looking. So you and al Dean
are offered a deal as a duo, What did al
(33:25):
Dean think about it? He was ready to go. And
I had a rock band at the time, and I
think maybe I was. I'm trying to the timelines a
little blurry, but I had a rock band, a little
bit of the big and rich stuff, But I was
I just didn't want to do because I I wasn't
a country artist in my mind. I still I didn't
buy into me being a country musician. So was the duo.
(33:51):
I'm trying to think of who to compare it to
and nothing I like musically, But bear with me for
a second. In F G. L. Tyler sings, b K
occasionally sings, but mostly plays. Or were you you and
Jason both gonna be front facing singing? Who knows it? No,
it was literally I did this showcase with him as
a background singer, playing acoustic guitar, singing high vocals, and somebody,
(34:16):
I think it's Clay Bradley came back after that showcase
and offered us to deal. There was a try and no,
it was just it was just an offer on the table.
We got a deal for you on the table right now,
you know, And you didn't want to do it. No,
And and the funny thing is, I, you know, talked
to Jason, you know, Like I said, he likes to
poke at me about it. But we were on one
of the last records were working on. He brought it
(34:37):
up and I said, man, it would just be the
same as it is now. I should have I should
have taken it pretty much because you'd sing. I might
have sang some background vocals, but I'll just stay and
do all the guitars. That's the way. It would be
exactly the same, except we both be rich, you guys, Nope,
I'd be half as rich, may be less rich. Yeah,
(34:57):
so you've played on um I was trying account it
seems like over forty or fifty number one songs, just
as a player I was talking to. Was it Dan
he was talking about because he had played on so
many songs that he would just he would hear a
guitar part and go, yeah, that's a really good and go, oh,
that's mine, like he just played. That happened to me recently. Yeah,
(35:20):
he had played so many and he would and he
would play them without the rest of the song. And
I'm not sure if the story he was telling me
was Paula Abdul, but he heard it and he was like, oh,
that song is good. That guitar parts good, and it
was like, no, you played that? Yeah, how did that
happen with you? It was recently actually, because I did
go through a zone where I couldn't tell what guitars
were me anymore on stuff. But um, I was in
(35:43):
Florida at a water park, wasting time between a hotel
and a flight on vacation last year and I hear
the intro Do was a tennial Arts song and it
was her recent number one. I hear the guitar, I'm like,
that's actually sounds pretty cool, like rock man, like oh wait, wait,
wait what yeah, oh that's me. So it was nice
to have that happen again after so long, because it
(36:04):
was so exciting at first when you start hearing yourself,
and also you gotta feel like you're pretty good. I
doubt myself all the time with things I do. If
I were to hear something I didn't know I did
and be like that's good, I'd be like, well, maybe
I am good. Maybe that would be like a confident,
like a non egotistical car confident. It is it is, Yeah,
it's it's a reminder. Um. I see a lot of
(36:25):
nominations for Guitarist of the Year. Have you won any
of that seven nominations? Never won? What the heck, Nashville,
Come on, why are they holding it against you? What
you do? Listen? I get black ball from some all
the time, like, but I know what I did. That's
the difference. Probably turned down the wrong record deal. Probably. Um,
so you're with al Dean playing in his showcase band.
(36:48):
Does that ever mature into you going on the road
as part of his actual band? No. In fact, when
I quit Big and Rich, she asked me if I'd
go on the road with him, because I think Jack
could quit for a little bit or some the or
no who he had somebody else he I think he
had Danny radar Out. I can't remember. It was Urban now. No,
(37:08):
he's now out with Chesney. He's been session Google last years.
But um, yeah, So Jason asked me to go out
in the road with him when I get off the
road with Big Rich, and I said, now, man, I'm
just gonna stay home and work on my my session
career and you know, be with my kids. And he like,
all right. And then two or three years later, I
take the McGraw gig because I was bored and I
(37:30):
heard he was looking. I see Aldan backstage at the
A C m C. M Age goes, I thought you
were going to going to ruin Solve you jump in
with McGraw when that happens. Do you have to audition
for that? No? You know, it was cool. You know,
my our first tour with Big and Rich was opening
for him and and I wrote Mississippi Girl. So I
had a rapport with him, and and I had his email,
(37:51):
and I heard that he was looking, and I just
sent him an email and he said cool. And he
called me, he said cool, My people will call you.
I'm like, all right, rock on. It was that easy.
It was so awesome. What is it like being with
a A list country artist front man Alpha? Do you
(38:13):
do you guys roll together much at all? Or does
he kind of join you? Got No. I mean he's
so busy, you know, and he can't travel at a
regular airport or he be hounded, you know, So you know,
he he rolls on his own time. We get hanged time.
If it's a full tour, we'll hang every day working
out and do what I can work out. Yeah, I
mean every tour. At the end of the tour, I'm
(38:34):
in the best shape of my life. And then three
months later, I'm going, where did that guy go? You know,
does he ever go? You know what, I'm in a
good mood. I'm taking two of you and you get
on the jet and fly home with us. What he
took us all to his island which they don't have anymore?
I think, yeah, yeah, we didn't. Actually you do, I'd
love to man. Actually I buried something by the first
palm tree by the dock to the left. But man,
(38:57):
that was cool. We didn't all go together as a man.
I think we all went on three separate occasions. Um again.
And you know, once in a while, you know, if
something important comes up, he'll let you hop on the
jet with him, you know. But he's he's pretty private.
He's just you know, he works his ass off. Do
(39:21):
you still practice? No, not, not really. Occasionally I might
like put something on a song that I've never learned
the guitar licks from and just kind of see what
they are and maybe put that into my arsenal a
little bit. But I don't really practice that much. What
years where you're most formative, where you practiced all the time,
(39:44):
That would be the early teens, would you just go
into a room or and just and you just wouldn't leave. Oh,
a sleeve of saltine crackers and a tall glass orange
juice and a four track recorder. And I was up
in my bedroom every day, you know, just shredding. I
was into like Ingvy Malmstein and you know, like the progue,
(40:05):
progressive neo classical guitar playing. I don't know if you know,
I don't know, Steve all the two hands happen that dude.
I was like, I was making epic recordings on my
four track or your parents that were like, hey, um,
what'd you go do something outside? Really, they didn't even
yell at me when I listened to King Diamond, and
(40:27):
I don't even know if you know who that is.
I don't. But it's not it's not wholesome music. That's
all I'll say about that. Okay, So you've been extremely
influential on the sound of other folks music. You've toured
with some of the biggest names in country music. But
then you you're putting your own music out. So let
me play some of the Sky is Falling Down, just
(40:49):
because it's the first track, and I'll start there. Mike,
if you'll hit that, please. So when you go into
a project, are you thinking, Okay, it all needs to
and I hate to use the turn fit into a
(41:10):
certain box. But are you looking for some some overall
aesthetic like what it needs to look this way, feel
this way say? Or is every track just completely different?
It's different? And I finally embraced that. That's what kept
me from doing this for so long, is that I
didn't know what I did, and I wrote so many
different songs. I didn't think I could put them all together.
(41:34):
And this was finally the first time in my life
I went, oh, these are all different, but they're all
me and I can stand behind every one of these.
What's the ultimate goal with putting out your own body?
Or I just want to add add what I do
as an artist into what I do for a career,
you know, just ever so slightly if I can, you know,
(41:56):
as I'm coming down from being the guitarist for everybody,
lift up a little little bit as an artist and
add it all together. You know, Hey, maybe when I
retire and be able to play it a hundred people
in the club that know my songs, that'd be cool.
Do you want to know more I'll take more. Do
you want to not be the guitarist anymore? I crave that. Yes.
I like singing. I like singing the songs. And occasionally
(42:19):
it's more inspiring to shred to one of my own
songs out of the blue. And it's a little more
free for me to play a solo on one of
my songs because I'm so busy thinking about the singing
that when it's finally time to play, it's a little
more free, you know, it's a little less restrained. So
my theory is, because it's all about my theories, that
(42:39):
you're so good at something you're not bored with it.
You could say that, yeah, that you have in your
mind mastered what you set out to do. Yeah, and
you still gotta pay the bills, and you still love
playing music, and you got a wife and you got
kids and we got real world. But okay, I did it. Yeah,
I mean, and I want to keep doing it. It's
(43:01):
not the boredom doesn't keep me from want to do it.
Wanting to do it, but you know, you've got to
find ways to keep it exciting. And honestly, doing my
own stuff reminds me that when I'm playing on somebody
else's stuff that it means as much to them behind
the glass mind does to me. And that's that's kind
of It's really helped me in all aspects doing my
own music. That's a really cool thought, because I bet
(43:24):
when you do it, and I do things over and
over to right, but I at times have to be
reminded that it means something special to somebody the first
time they're hearing it, or they wait. Even though I
do it ten thousand times, they may only hear it twice.
And so you doing your music, remind you how the
artist feels exactly, which probably eliminates that Okay, here we
(43:46):
go again somewhat, No, it totally does it totally does?
I only get that here we go again feeling when
it's really a bad day, which is rare in this town.
It's a little lesson rare for me. Something. Let me
play and I'll ask you a question about the lyrics here.
But this is eleven. She takes it too in So
(44:22):
taking it to eleven to me is a spinal tap reference,
because you know, it's think is that it's not necessarily
but yeah, I mean it is for sure. You know,
if that's kind of what put that on the map.
But um, you know that that's you chose to. Dino Brown,
Katie Cook, Adam Schoenfeld written songs. Um, Dino and I
(44:43):
will go walking on the road every morning, you know.
Sometimes it's just me and him, sometimes it's other people too,
but it's nothing for one of us will say something
silly and all of a sudden we have a song idea.
And him and I were walking one day and I went,
when do three people with plastic seven eighte plassen? And
that came out, you know, and we went with it.
(45:05):
It was it's just weird with face songs. Did you
write them for yourself or did you write them to
write them? And they go, wow, I think this is
actually for me. Um wrote them to wrote them to
write wrote them to wrote them, wrote them to write them. Um, yeah,
but I kinda. I think by the time we were
writing eleven, I knew we were actually both of those.
(45:26):
I knew we were writing for me. I'm gonna play
her song, which we talked about Katie, But is this
about Katie? All right? Here you go, here's her song.
That's been a left time looking for you. I knew
if I found you had do you. Some people never
found it fast for long, and I never take granting
(45:51):
that's your man. I spent a life time that as
her song. Uh the album All the Birds Sing. You
can get it now everywhere. You can get it right
through my website. You'll be able to get CD s soon.
(46:11):
It was just a digital release. And what's your website,
Adam Schoenfield dot com? And will you sell? Will you
sign them? I will make an extra nickel, but I
will sign this fact. I've started setting it up that way.
You're a genius. Do you have do you hear songs again?
You mentioned the tennil Arts song Do you hear songs
at times? And go, oh yeah, I forgot I even
did that song? Oh yeah all the time. I would
(46:34):
imagine when you do so many because again we're talking
about the big hits, but I'm sure you've played on
tons of album tracks and a lot of cuts out
there that just weren't huge hits. Yeah, I mean that
would be crazy to be like, oh wait, oh yeah,
I did I did do that, or someone goes how
you played on this and you're like, I don't remember that. Yeah.
The people that got the brunt of that was my kids.
One of my last memories of being with my daughter
(46:56):
when I heard a song I played on. We walked
into the orthodonist set down. As soon as we sat
down at Jason song comes on and I look at her.
She looks over at me and she goes, don't how
did you and to bring this back full circle of it?
But how did you pass the information or the advice
j Joyce gave you down onto a younger player? Oh?
You know what? This guy was playing actually on a
(47:18):
big and rich record, a later big and rich recording
with me, and I'm literally getting ready to play a
guitar solo and he is looking over the other side
of my pedal board and he asked me a question
about the pedals. She says, what are you doing with
this this pedal and this pedal? And I just looked up, man,
just get your own thing. And he's like, man, the
(47:41):
guy has a douche thing to say, but it's really
going to create my future. Yeah, what if you play?
And the artist goes, you know what, I have second
thoughts about this solo? Does any matter call you back
in to fix Usually it's on the spot, Yeah, yeah,
Usually it's right then and there they kind of make
the decision, but they want to call, like, you cut
it on Tuesday and they call you next Monday and go,
(48:03):
you know, we changed our mind, would you come back in?
I don't remember that happening, but it's probably because they
called somebody else, you know. I mean a lot of
times I'll do that. They'll be like, well, he didn't
quite get what we wanted. Why don't we try someone?
So what happens to all of us? Do you get
paid more if it's a single versus a cut? Much
like well there are royalties now a little bit of royalties,
(48:24):
but not enough to change your life. Um on number ones,
it's it's a nice chunk. Yeah, that's pretty cool. So
you hope to get the big artist calling. Absolutely if
Aldine goes to the studio, do you expect to call
uh at this point? Yeah, I mean, but then again,
you know, going into the next one would be record eleven.
(48:46):
So you know, if I don't, I'd probably be like,
I get it. They might be doing something new. You know,
what's the most expensive guitar that you have ever played? Mm? Hm, Well,
at the time I play did it wasn't that expensive,
but it technically would be say sixty one strap, but
I was playing it in the early nineties, so it
(49:09):
probably wasn't worth as much as it would be. Now, yeah,
again you're talking. I need to get Rosetta now that
I know, But I don't know how why sixty cool?
Whether they're early sixties, late fifties, all those guitars those years,
or where they're really valuable. And I'm you know what,
To be honest, I couldn't really give you too much
detail on that. I'm I'm the guy that like, what's
(49:30):
the rough price on that thing? Though? Right now, right now,
sixty one all close to original. This is a guess
because I'm really not a guitarnard. I'm going to guess
thirty forty grand. Maybe I could be wrong, but I
mean burst less Paul's fifty nine palls or like three
hundred thousand, but I've never played one of those. Would
(49:51):
you if someone say this guitar is a million dollar guitar,
would you say, let me play it, or no, don't,
I don't want touch it. I would I would probably
play it and go it's not worth million dollars. When
you were working at the guitar store and you'd hear
musicians come in. We are with somebody ever really really good.
There was a kid You're like, dang son, keep going, No,
I don't like it. At one time I went in
and I did that. You didn't tell me anything. I
(50:13):
play and I really try to get your attention. You're like, man,
like get a court ye from Walmart, go into radio
read it is now time for your one question? Oh
(50:34):
what do we got? Bro? So, if you're in a
room riding with others, um, do they consider to you
as pretty much like the guitar guy to come up
with the licks and stuff or are you pretty predominant
in Wow? Yeah, that's a great question. Um, it's kind
of changed through time. Um. Now I would say I
(50:56):
would say when we're writing country music, I'm more of
the producer writer, you know, like I come at it
from that aspect a little more. Um, when it's something
like I would put on my record, I'm kind of
I kind of almost bull take the alpha role a
little bit sometimes. Yeah. You know, when you got the
(51:20):
van and the place to rehearse, you can alpha. You
can push people around and get up on your box.
You know what do you put You play guitar obviously,
but you still play drums at allay, so I play
a little drums. I played drums on a few of
the songs on on There. I tried on the two
songs Sky's Falling Down to Leven, I tried to play drums,
(51:41):
and at the end I realized I had to fix
them too much, so I couldn't put something I had
to fix on there. I got a real drummer to
lay them in there for me. Um. But so that's
kind of self taught through the years. So if it's
a simple groove, I played drums, I play some keyboards.
I played bass. You know, if you play guitar at
high level, can you play bass automatic? Lee? No, you can.
(52:03):
I mean you can keep a simple baseline. But there's
there's an art, you know, to doing a great bassline,
And sometimes I think great bass players do it all
the time. I once in a while come up with
a cool bassline for my own stuff. If you're on
the road and you're a bass player and McGraw's band
goes down, like we need you to fill in on
(52:24):
base the whole show tonight, could you get by? I think, so, yeah,
that's pretty cool. Yeah, that's pretty cool. Yeah that you
could just go and figure out everything. You don't have
to dominate like he would. But it's not Yes, absolutely,
what if the keyboard player went down? Okay, unless I
could transpose and put everything in the key of C. So, okay,
(52:45):
you have this rec are you maybe you're gonna go
play some shows? I would love to. Yeah. We were
just at that point where, um, we had to figure
out what's going on with McGraw's schedule. Once I know
exactly what's up with that, I know the holes that
I can look for myself for the or um. And
this is new for me, having a project that I'm like,
totally want to go out and tour if I could. So,
(53:08):
so working on finding help with that and and getting
some stuff booked. So has mcgar've been doing shows with
that big beard? We did a couple, Yeah, because he
was in the middle of filming. Yeah, pops out and
does the show? Does he ever go? I gotta go
to the bathroom. Just give me extra long solo. Maybe
in the old days before I was in the band. Yeah,
there are times if we're like doing some band stuff
(53:29):
with our comedy group, um, where there have been games
on and I would need to go check a score.
Or i'd come out late. I would be like, guys,
you gotta go kill you gotta go do do your thing.
This is your time to shine, and let's just act
like you're doing it. And it's not me back there
watching you know, the last three minutes of the game.
Magon never does that. Huh, he's never liked watch the
L s U game. You guys, Well, we've got a
(53:52):
guy that can talk to us in her ears and
I have her thirty four to twenty one. I've heard
that before for sure. That's pretty fine. Real time, I'm
rooting for you. I think it's really cool. Thanks that
you know, you go, I'm gonna make I'm gonna re
vulnerable myself. Yeah, it's different. It's a different feeling because
(54:14):
you're already king, daggling and playing the guitar. Yeah, but
now it's it's not that you're starting over. But to
some people, as an artist, they're like, Adam gonna do this.
I mean it's you kind of going. I do feel
like a kid again. Yeah, Like, here's kind of the
guts and art and what I'm thinking and I've put
it into this art and you get some time listen
(54:35):
to it. I've had a couple of times recently live
stream and a show where I was nervous like I
was fourteen again and I loved it. Yeah, because you're
you get to be exciting. Nerves are because it's important
right there, can you go to bad, but nerves are
because whatever is about to happen is important to you.
And you know mentoring on American Idol that the one
(54:57):
thing that they would come to me and go, hey,
how do I not be nervous? And I would go, well,
First of all, you should acknowledge the fact that it's
awesome to be nervous, but you don't have many times
in your life where you get to be nervous about
something that could possibly be amazing. That's a good point.
Most times you get nervous because something bad could happen,
but you get to be nervous because you're getting a
(55:17):
shot at something big. Worst case scenario, you end up
right where you are right now. That's worst case. You
don't go backwards. Worst cases, you're in the same. Best
cases your life has changed doing something you love, So
first acknowledge that pretty cool you get to be nervous.
Second of all, you don't just heal nerves you know,
nerves are are eliminated because you put yourself in that
(55:39):
same spot over and over again. But never forget how
awesome it is to be nervous at doing something you love.
And it's cool that you, a veteran, a guitar master,
get to be nervous again. Yeah, it's interesting, it's really cool.
How about that perspective? Drop that one? That's right? All right, Look,
(56:01):
you guys can follow Adam. Uh s, I'm gonna spell
it for people so they can find it easier because
your name is said different than it looks. Just go
to shoe in felled. Yeah, but yes, I'm spelling it
out on Instagram. Show the letter in felled. Boom, shoot,
(56:25):
and I can't spell shoe. Just go look at aal dimola.
There you go, what um Adam show unfelled. There he is.
Follow him on Instagram shoe in Felled, which is show
unfelled his last name. Hey, thanks for coming by, Appreciate
you and tell your your wonderful wife, I say, hello,
will kick on the balls for me. I will own
a couple of those. And uh, you guys, check out
(56:48):
the record. You know you heard some of it here,
but it's up he's proud of it. I think you'll
like it. All the birds sing, it's ten songs, and
it's him going all right, here I am again, let's go,
let's do this. I hope you get to go play
some shows. Thanks man, that'd be pretty happy to all right, Thanks,
I appreciate you. But that's awesome. H m hm
This one's really interesting because this guy kind of changed
the sound of country music guitar wise. And it's episode
three thirty six. Adam Schoenfeld, which you may not know
his name, but you definitely know a lot of his work.
And these are some of my favorite ones to do.
So a few things. One he's played on over forty
number ones. UM, A lot of the audi and stuff,
(00:22):
A lot of the rock sound that has come to
country is because of Adam. He is now Tim mcgirl's
guitar player. He's been a guitar player for the last
nine years. He just put out a solo album. But
his sound is like the big, crunchy, loud opening stuff
for example, Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy, which before
(00:43):
this there wasn't a lot of that kind of rock
country infuse sound, UM, very aggressive, like Jason Aldean's Hicktown
Here you Go. So he's really made a name for
himself by I do, Jason, that's what we're doing this
podcast with Adam show Unfeld. I do like the way
that sounds. UM. So this kind of rock influenced country
(01:06):
that's changed a part of the genre. And so it's
it's a really interesting one here and then we'll talk
about his music too, and um, let's let's do it.
He just got back from playing the Houston Rodeo with
Tim McGaw. I think he got on a four a
UM flight to come back and do this podcast, which
I must say I'm very thankful for UM. And then
he's also written massive songs. So here we go, Adam
(01:30):
show Unfeld. I hope you listen to this one and
you learn a little something, and you learn a little
something about somebody you didn't know, and that's the deal,
and that's that on that all right, let's go. How
are you? I'm good man, how are you? Where did
you come from? Blairstown, New Jersey? Meaning like you were
born there? I was born Long Island, Okay, Long Island,
(01:51):
then moved the Blairstown at the ripe age of three.
I guess I meant, where did you come from before
you came literally over here? Yes, would be Blair's town
and Drew, Yeah, yeah, were you out? We're on the
road with McGraw this weekend right now. Yeah, today night
got the rodeo, got it? Got it? So you played
(02:12):
the rodeo with McGraw, got up at four thirty this morning,
Where where did you wake up a four thirty here
or in Houston? Houston popped on the place. Well, I
wanted to see you. Yeah, I appreciate that. It's just
like I wake up at four thirty, but I have
to do that norm It still sucks. Yeah, it sucks
every day I have to wake up a four thirty.
But so to play the Houston Rodeo, that's pretty massive,
(02:34):
like probably one of the more massive scenes, right, totally.
How many people they fit in there? I don't know
if it's fifty. I think it's a lot, right, Uh So,
so many questions, and I want to get to your
influence on the sound of today's country music. We'll talk
about your record, but just starting with the McGraw stuff,
since that's that's what we're here. You ever play and
(02:56):
you know you hit a wrong note and you look
around to wonder it, Well, I wonder if anyone else
noticed I hit a wrong note, because as good as
you are, even even Lebron misses, you know, a ten
foot or occasionally? Does that ever happen? Oh? Yeah? Well,
the thing is we have so many people up there
on that stage that most people in the audience, I
don't think notice. No, I don't even notice yet, but
(03:18):
the guys in the band, if they have you in
their mix, they notice, and we usually give a smile.
I usually raise my hand when it's me that I
commit of the foul? Do you does McGraw or is
he so into it? If, like say the drum or Dino,
who you know we've been friends with a long time.
Let's say somebody does something that's just slightly different or off,
(03:40):
will he look at you and be like, okay, I
caught that. Well? Yeah, I mean, whether it's good or bad,
he will turn around and give you one of those.
So if it's really good too, Let's say you're just
like feeling it one night. Yeah, if you're crushing it
and he notices, he'll he'll he'll give you that look.
And if you're crushing it in a bad way, it'll
give you that look. Yeah. But it's never that he
(04:02):
never finds you, like James Brown used to do, find
everybody you know in our studio on our radio show.
You know, we have my desk and everybody sits around me.
Similar environment where everybody's going. But if somebody's like really on,
you don't want to call it out and be like
you're killing it because you're almost Jinks in it. And
(04:24):
you also don't be like, hey, you're sucking today. But
there will be a glance if somebody's crushing it where
I'm like, hey, that's great. Yeah, probably the same thing
your team. Same thing is player on the team's killing it.
So you're a guitar story. Let's go back to where
you came from, uh to be such an excellent player,
because you've also played the drums or you do play
the drums a little bit guitar, Like, where did your
(04:46):
fascination with music and you know, instruments start? It started
with the records in my house as a kid, namely
like Peter Frampton comes alive, things like you have one
of the you ever played one of that? I do have.
I have one of those now, yeah I never For
years I didn't, and I always wondered what they look like,
how to use them, you know, and I still don't
(05:07):
even know if I know exactly how to use it
and put it in your mouth and your teeth start
falling out? What's it called talk box? Okay? Yeah? And
so for those that don't know, on Frampton comes alive,
he's playing and it's obviously live and he starts and
then like, I think about that too. When I think
like this, I guess the seventies that's the music. Frampton
(05:31):
Comes Alive as an album that I really think about.
So you were listening to that because parents were, well, yeah,
I was in the house. Um, you know, my brother
had l O's greatest hits. Def Leppard by Romania was
like the first vinyl I remember Beatles records, you know,
but the audience on the Frampton Comes Alive and Clapton
just one night record my dad brought home to me.
The audience spoke to me like that attracted me to
(05:53):
like I got chills from the sound of the audience,
and so that kind of kind of makes sense because
I love the in front of a crowd. Did you
have people in your house that also played music that
could um, you know, preliminarily leyt direction Not really, not really.
My brother was a drummer, but he passed away early.
I was eleven, he was fourteen, So I didn't really
(06:14):
have this ultra cool musical influence to keep me from
listening to some less cool music that I listened to
in the eighties. Unfortunately, you know, with your brother being
a drummer in him passing away, was your family at all, Like, hey,
maybe you don't do music. No, my my parents always
supported me. They got behind me every everything I wanted
(06:35):
to do. So when did you What did you get first?
You played drums or you played guitar? Guitar? Yeah? Did
you play so you could play with your brother and
have like a mini little house? No, I just I
mean it happened the same Christmas. He got his drum
set the same year I got a guitar. Is it
because he wanted drums more than so you got a guitar?
So yeah, I was always a yeah, yeah, you know.
Unfortunately I don't have many memories of my brother. I
(06:57):
was only eleven, so memories go away. You get to
look at pictures to have some of that stuff come back.
You know a lot when you first start playing, do
you because my story is not like yours at all,
because I am terrible. I played for comedy purposes, right,
But I went and bought a chord sheet at Walmart
from the post there should be posters the big box.
(07:18):
You slap them and said, I'll take that poster. But
there's a court seat from Walmart and I learned how
to do my hands. You where did it start for you?
As far as learning how to actually play. I took
lessons from a friend named Scott Pince at he was eighteen.
He was the he was the teacher in town and
I was five, So I took lessons from him till
I was five, started until about fourteen. Then when I
(07:42):
was fifteen or sixteen, I took from a Berkeley guy
for about a year. I should be way better at
what I do as a five year old taking lessons.
What I think of is when I was nineteen trying
to train myself even I was like, ow my fingers,
How are you five? And you're still bad at at something?
Yet you continue because playing guitar is not something you
(08:03):
just go, hey, I'm pretty good at this. Yeah, I
don't know. I I don't remember maybe five years old
sticking with anything at five? You know? So when did
you actually start to play music that people could understand?
I guess that would be chords, Yeah, well and be
my uh. I think by the time I was ten
(08:24):
or something, I was making sense of it. I was
in bands at the age of fourteen. That's wild that
you were ten and you're already pretty good at playing guitar. Yeah,
I was decent When I was fourteen. My first band
was with the seventeen eights and year old. Were you
the kid that was known as the musical Kid? Yeah,
I mean that was that kids athletic. Yeah, most of
the other kids were older. There weren't many my age
(08:45):
that I remember. Well, I guess there were a tunnel
vision man. I just went for it my whole life.
So electric guitar, acoustic, electric, Well, the first one was acoustic,
but the electric came real quick, like a year or
two after and thing with the electric when I started
to tinker, it's a different It's the same instrument, but
it's a different instrument because I basically only play acoustic
(09:08):
now because my shows. Who cares, I'm doing comedy. Um,
But the first couple times I picked up an electric,
I was like, wow, these notes will stay longer. Yeah,
like you hit it and it doesn't go away. And
so as a kid, did you I did it? Once
you started playing the electric guitar, is did you identify
with it more? As like this instrument speaks to me
a little more? I think so. Yeah. I think just
the fact that you could turn it up and crank it.
(09:30):
My first band, it was a metal band. You know,
we're playing Slayer and Metallica. First cover song I think
I did was Detroit Rock City and it was just
that that rush here in the drums and trying to
turn your amp up over the drums and all that.
It's just amazing. So what's the goal when you're sixteen
or seventeen years old to be an artist? You know,
do you want you want to lead a band, do
you want to be a solo artist? I just wanted
(09:51):
the rock man to be a rock star. So then
what do you do when? And when do you do it?
Do you move at eighteen nineteen? Pretty much? You know,
we were We were in a band that moved down
here because the manager wanted to make us stars. And
it was kind of a rock band, more like Billy
Joel meets a soul blues thing. The lead singer played
piano and saying but yeah, the guy wanted to make
(10:12):
us stars. And we didn't have any thought in our
head of well, it's Nashville. We can't go down there.
We're not country, So we just came down. You know,
So who is this guy? Where? How did he find
you guys. His name was Terry Sasser. I don't know
where he is um now, but he told me I'd
never work again in this town when I quit that band. Ok,
I want to get to that. But how does he
find you? Got? It was? It was a bass player,
(10:34):
um so a friend of ours, Justin Toccer, who was
a great producer down in Louisiana. He came up and
played bass on our first recording in our singers basement.
But where does this guy find? But who? Like, how
do you guys get together? Like, I'm just curious about
this first band. Oh the band? Yeah, Like, how do
you know these guys? Man? It was um I think
(10:56):
if I remember correctly, I met the singer Nathan because Scott,
who was my teacher, was also played with me at
that point. I don't think I was taking lessons anymore.
I think we're just playing together and he knew his father,
I think. And that's how we organically. Yeah, it was total,
total organic. And you want the singer I was not
(11:17):
Did you do background vocals? I did a little bit.
Did you have were you younger than the other guys? No,
we were all the same age that band. Did you
want to sing I always wanted to sing. Yeah, yeah,
I mean if I was like, yeah, I have always
for years, you know. Um, I just wasn't that good
at it and wasn't that comfortable with it. So when
do you guys start playing and making twenty bucks or so? Um?
(11:41):
Never really he didn't really. I mean we went into
New York City and played the Bitter End, but that
wasn't to make any money that I remember. Maybe Nathan's
dad pocketed it. I don't know. You know, so, how
does this sassir find you or here? So it was
just and he came up played on a recording, but
he had already moved down here. Um, and he was
road base player for an act and this guy was
(12:02):
managing her and he played him the recordings. Now was
this guy he's already in management. But do you feel
like he actually heard something or he just wanted to
expand his brand a little bit with the band? I
think he heard something. Yeah, we definitely had something, you know,
when we were young and good looking, and you know,
I will some of us were. So you all moved
(12:24):
down he lived together. Yeah, Shelby Street, East, Nashville. Five guys,
one house, less than a hundred dollars each in rent
Boy the five guys thing though, And I'm assuming that
you're splitting it five ways almost equally, I mean equally,
just depending on what the band is. Uh, not a
lot of money there, No five dollars a month. It
(12:47):
was great, you know, some of we were waiting tables
doing stuff like that, you know, bartending. You moved down
and do you go right to a studio? Um? You
know we did. You're talking about that band because because
you move we started playing. Um. I don't know if
we did any recordings. I jumped into recording with some
other people and my own blues stuff at the time
because I wanted to sing, you know. But we played
(13:09):
Jack's guitar bar. I don't know if you remember that place.
UM and Keith Urban used to play there, and I
think lusen to Williams, Kim Richie, Steve Earle, they were
all staples there. Bullet hole in the windows on Nolinsville Road,
right by four or forty. So this band obviously didn't
work out, yeah, or you wouldn't be here in this
capacity now. Um. And then so why does the guy
(13:30):
say you'll never work in this town again? I think
I was the second to quit, and he was frustrated.
I think, who says that though you'll never work in
this town again? That guy, I think I think he's
hiding out on an island. Yeah, I mean that's just
maybe that's just such anole thing to say. Um, yeah,
it was. Were you scared that you may never work
in this town again? So then what do you do?
(13:51):
You're here, you're here, and you've got to know some folks.
You kind of understand the culture a little bit. The
band is not you quit the band, So what do
you do? Well? You know, I played with everybody that
I could play with, whether it was for free or
paid twenty five bucks here and there, and then just
(14:11):
started to grab gigs and most importantly landed the job
at Woodland Studios in East Nashville. And that job was playing.
The job was answering phones. But but we could use
any of the three studios we wanted to on our
own music if we had an engineer with us. And um,
the owner, Bob Solomon, he had a publishing company, and
(14:34):
he used me and my friends as the band, the
house band. So that's how we cut our teeth as
session musicians. So he let you use the studio and
as long as you had an engineer and as long
as we answered the phone, but you still got paid money. Yeah,
Franks on the phone. Yeah he was pretty he was awesome.
He was a great gig. It was awesome for someone
in music that's starting out. It was the best thing
(14:54):
that ever happened to me. So you talked about the
publishing and you would be the house band. So somebody
writes a song doing demos, Yeah, exactly did you remember?
And again, I'm gonna kind of tickle the memory a
little bit. Did you ever cut any demos that turned
out to be something pretty cool? Way later? We there
was nothing of note in that batch. Unfortunately. I wish
there was for Bob, but but there wasn't that that
(15:15):
I remember. So you do that for how long? Um?
A few years? A few years, and then started to
grab little gigs here and there, and some of the
guys I met through there, UM started to hire me
and and um and then yeah, gigs. I'd take a gig,
I'd come back, I'd take a gig, I'd come back.
Then I worked at a music store for a little
while downtown that's not there anymore. And UM, gig World
(15:39):
midnight window. It was called gig gig World, and we
had a midnight window. Like I would stay there after hours.
If somebody broke broke strings drumsticks on Broadway, they'd come
running down to the window and give me five bucks
and a hand him there. You know. It was. It
was a cool little thing. You know, when you're saying
you're playing gigs, are you going out and playing guitar
for for people that need one pretty quickly? Local? Well locally? Um.
(16:02):
I never did like crazy fast pickup gigs because I
never did a lot of cover songs. It was usually
people's original music and you know, stuff with a couple
of rehearsals and a couple of shows. You know. One
of my favorite ones was Millard Powers. Um, he's Counting
Crows bass player. Now power pop dude, really really awesome.
That was fun. So what was he assault? Was he
(16:23):
an artist? He was? He was like he had this
he had this record. I don't think he ever put
it out, but he played every instrument in himself and
it was just really cool power pop stuff. At this stage,
you've worked in a studio and you've you know, introduce
yourself to that world. I mean, you kind of That's
that's you were more than introduced, Like I mean, you
(16:44):
were kind of running you know that spot because you're
you're getting to use it yourself, you're working with other people. Uh,
do you start to go, hey, maybe I want to
like really dial into be a guitar player more than
an artist. Yeah, I did, and and that kind of
swept me away him there, because I would get inspired
hearing these guitar players through the wall. You know, it's
the first time I heard Ja Joyce. You know, I
(17:06):
think I think he was working It was either Flaming
Ready he was working on, or Radney Foster See What
you want to See, both two of my favorite albums
ever Um And that's you know, the first place I
heard Jay and and I I hadn't even heard of
Iodine because I was a little late to Nashville for
that his his rock band, Um. But yeah, that that
place was definitely the launching pad. What do you remember
(17:28):
about seeing Ja Joyce before he became J Joyce the
uh was super successful producer. Yeah. I remember a lesson
he taught me, and that was, you know, after hours,
I'd go in and peek at the gear and see,
you know what he had and he was in the
kitchen one morning. I was like, hey, ja, miss, so
what are you using that pedal for? And this pedal?
(17:49):
He looks at me and he's like, hey man, just
get your own thing. And I was part partially a
little crushed, but I kind of took it to heart
and I was like, Okay, I'm cool to do my thing.
And I got to use that on somebody, a younger
player later in life, so that was cool. And him
saying do your own thing or use your own thing
was him saying, identify what you do and what you're
(18:12):
good at doing and what you can get better at
and do that. Yeah. And I think that's why I
kind of got where I went is I just did
what I do. And I think that's kind of what
gets new session guys in the door and girls too.
The session experience as wild because you guys are so
good and I'll remove myself and remove you from you know,
(18:33):
the McGraw stuff, And I do want to get back
to being a guitar player on a stage of playing
live music, but the session stuff is tough because you've
got to be the best of the best, because the
best is that on the road playing with pretty good acts.
The best of the best stays in Nashville. You don't
travel very far and go to studio to studio, and
(18:56):
they can do that because they are elite. Yeah, it's great.
I feel like I'm in an impostor. I was on
the phone with a friend the other day. He goes,
do you have imposter syndrome? Like I do? I'm like, yeah,
I do. What how did I get here? There's so
many guys that are brilliant, technically amazing, and you know,
I think I've heard the room. The secret of the
(19:17):
room full of the best musicians in the world is
they all think they're the worst, which for the most part,
I think it's true, except for a few guys I
won't name that. It sounds to this point like you
are living a musician life, kind of balancing around learning,
getting better, slowly climbing whatever the wild ladder is of
of a creative But when did this is a word
(19:40):
that doesn't really exist in either one of our lives,
But when did any sort of stability start to happen?
That would be the Big and Rich days, you know
a little before that, you know, John and John Rich
and Big Kenny started hiring me on all their demos.
I was in a rock band with Big Kenny called
love Joy met John to that start. He had his
(20:01):
publishing deal with Warner Chapel. They used me on all
their demos. I started getting on records because I was
on these demos of John's UM. And then they had
the big Enrich record, so the don and I'll play
it now here you go, so two thousand four to
(20:23):
Save a Horse Ride Cowboy now um. Having friends that
are are good guitar players, you know, tone is it's
like the it's the thing. You want to have your
own tone. You wanna have a specific tone. It's the
tone just slightly off. It ain't right, but there's a
distinct tone to this UM. And I don't think I
had heard it prior in popular country music. Yeah, I
(20:45):
think it was new for country music for sure. Yeah.
Did you come out of the box and go, hey,
I think this is the tone? Like what what's that? Man?
You know? John actually had that riff and that was
just me playing it, you know, And that was a
common tone for me that I used when I was
just playing rock and roll. You know. I hadn't really
(21:06):
done much country music at that time, But the riff
and the tone are different, meaning you can have the riff,
but you may not have the tone. You can have
something light, or you could have something uh, you know so,
but that is a it's hard to explain what that
tone is. But that's a little grittier then I think
(21:27):
I had heard leading up to that point. Yeah, and
it also gives that song. The riff is great, but
the tone of that that that opening riff gives that
song such texture. And you cut the song. Do you
cut the demo with that? I guess, or did it
change when you actually go into the studio. I think
that was the demo. I think that the demo became
(21:47):
the record. I don't think we ever did an actual
demoly Horse. You know a lot of those John and
Kenny songs were demos that were really the record. I think.
I don't think we did a version of that had time.
Like Redneck Woman, we did a demo and I didn't
play in the record, but and then like Hicktown jump
into another song I played on the demo, which is
(22:08):
why I played on that record. For al Dean, this
is like the baby that grows into the adult later. Yeah,
you know, because this is the first space you kind
of hear it. I'll play a couple more of these.
This is Mississippi Girl by Faith Hill and you co
(22:28):
wrote this with John Richard. Yeah, and we'll get to
some al Dean in depth later. But here is Hicktown
two thousand five um heavy rock influence. I think when
I think of al Dean without knowing it until recently
when I started to read more about you, I should
(22:48):
think about you more because a lot of what you
have done with him is what defines him. Yeah. I
mean a big percentage of the guitars on those records
or me, you know, and I do am the quote
band leader on the sessions, but you know, everybody puts
their input and it's at some of all parts for sure.
So let's see here a lot of Aldine give me lights,
(23:12):
come on, Mike. I mean that right again. You hear
that immediately. It's not just the riff, it's also that
the kind of dark rocky tone of it. When someone
hired like an Audi and says, hey, come back in,
we want you to do this, do they expect that's
what you're bringing now? Yeah? You think? Yeah? I mean
for a while I felt like people thought I was
just the guy that did power chords in country music,
(23:33):
you know, and and didn't think I did anything else,
you know. And granted I gravitate towards that for sure,
you know. Um, but yeah, it definitely you get known
for what you first do, I think, or you get Yes,
you definitely get known for what you first do, especially
what you first do that that works, that works wonderfully
(23:55):
right right. Um? But like J Joyce said to you,
you know, do your thing. Yeah yeah, So how would
you describe your thing as a as a player? I
think I just played for the song. Like, I don't
feel comfortable if I feel like I've played something before. Um,
if I'm doing a part, I know for sure i've played.
I try to change it and do something different. If
(24:16):
a songwriter or an artist sings me a lick and
wants me to play it, it's something I heard before,
I tell them, you know. And I think that's what
most of the session guys and girls do as they
played for the song, for sure, you know. So you
will say to an artist, I don't think so if
I really know for a fact I've heard it, or
(24:37):
or if I really have a deep feeling that there
might be a better thing or a cooler thing if
someone meets you with I do think so? Um, I
think so. But nothing too stressful. Yeah, yeah, nothing too stressful.
Let's run through some of these Aldine burning it down
(25:00):
and this song was again a slight pivot for Audine musically. Yes,
I mean, how responsible are you for being a part
of that that that brain No, I'm not. I mean,
that's Knox with his song picking and you know, and
a lot of times we do bass what we're doing
off the demo, that song in particular, if I remember
correctly that that mod part on the right, mamam, I
(25:24):
had I played that for the whole take, you know,
you could have looped it. But I think I think
that's Kurt doing the left guitar and then me on
the right through it. You can hear it left and
all right. I mean, yeah, yeah, but that's the thing.
Kurt and I have really gotten a cool magic thing down.
You know, it's like we've it's been him and I
(25:44):
since Hicktown was the only one I played electrical in
the first record, but record two through ten it was
him and I. It's typically him left me right, and
then I stay and add stuff you know, I'll add
extra beef or most of the solos. He's done a
couple of solos um, So yeah, I kind of know.
If it's left, it's you the main part. On the left,
(26:04):
it's sometimes him, usually him, you know, sometimes I'll double it.
You know, I feel like you can't enjoy music anymore.
I'll tell you why. That's why I'm singing my own
songs again. I know, because man, I'm kind of tired
of guitar, to be honest with you, Yeah, and also
having a world, but tired of it. Since you are
in that part of it, I think you probably hear
everything and you are listening to a little and switches
(26:27):
and right here, left here, that it's probably hard for
you to separate and just go I'm just gonna take
this whole blanket of music as is. Yeah, well, you know, yeah,
there's a construction to it, and I'm so aware of
it when it comes to this genre. You know, I
actually don't listen to the genre I play most that
that often, you know, I've listened to stuff that just
(26:48):
completely speaks to me. I'm more I'm more of a
more attached to like you two style of writing. Left brain,
you know, poetic kind of writing rather than a story
about a truck and no offense. Country music. That's just
what pulls me. And in that music, I'm more thrilled
with the things I hear because it's usually not of
the formula that we kind of use here in Nashville
(27:11):
and probably recreates or influence is what you do, which
is what makes you different and successful. I mean, I
don't listen to other radio shows, right, I mean I
don't and probably don't listen to your own radio show never. Never.
I mean I would not do you never, God, because
but what I do listen to. I listen to different
(27:32):
kind of podcasts that don't have to live the same structure.
And what I can do is pull things out of
what other people do wonderfully into what I do. I
think if I listened to other people do what I
do all the time, I would just stay doing exactly
what is being done exactly. And so I feel like
that's what you're doing as well, and what you have
done to kind of reshape you know, the music of
(27:54):
popular country music right now is that you never chased
being popular country music. No, and I never did. Man,
I think that's that's the key right with trend setters,
they're not trying to set a trend. They just are
so good at what they're doing that's a bit different.
It then becomes the trend. Do you hear people and
don't say, you know, I'm saying any names. I feel
like people are kind of joking your style a little
bit at times. Well, you know, it's inevitable in this town.
(28:18):
You know, you you'll take like, uh, for instance, she's country. Um,
I think Rob McNelly played on the demo I played
on the record. We changed the lick a little bit
on the record, partly because I couldn't figure out one
part of it. You know. So you get this thing
where you're playing one guy's licks from a demo on
a record, he's playing your licks from a demo in
(28:39):
a record. We all start playing each other's stuff, So
inevitably you're gonna start playing a little bit like your
your friends, don't you feel like though? There are some
producers that go, you should listen at them, and then
we're gonna do that. You're gonna do that today? Yeah,
I mean people will you know, people will tell me
they want like a Buka bac thing, you know, and
so it happens to all of us. You know, it's
(29:00):
just it's not It could be on purpose, but you know,
it is what it is. It's just if it works
and that person is not. There's an old saying one
of the first guys I worked with in town, Ronnie Godfrey,
piano player. I think he was in a Marshall Tucker band. Um.
He said. Right now, they're saying who's at him? And
in a little while they're gonna say, you gotta get
at him, And they're gonna say, you can't get at him,
(29:22):
he's too busy. And then they're gonna say, who's at him? How?
How how often are you doing studio work? Now? It's
a little less because you know, I'm balanced tour. Um,
I'm producing stuff. I'm doing my own records, my own projects. Um.
My kids are about five hours from here, and I
go visit them as much as I can. Um. So, yeah,
(29:45):
not as much as it used to be, but I'm
still working. I still get the calls, which is nice. Yeah,
you know, I mean you get the calls, and you
get those calls, you gotta be pretty freaking good because,
like I said, the elite gets to work in a
studio in the air conditioning. The elite and the impostors
like me. Well, I think we all have a little
bit of that. You're married to Katie Cook. I sure am.
I did not know lottery from CC. Yeah, I love
(30:08):
her too. I did not know that. Uh. I think
that's why you're most famous to me. Now, Cook, do
um you like you were influenced by jazz a bit? Yeah?
Do you feel like that, I'll just use the same word,
influence your guitar style at all? A little bit, because
(30:28):
I did learn a bit of improvisation from horn players
at my my high school that we had actual jazz
guys from New York and Delaware Water Gap as part
of our music department. So I did get a little
bit of that in my in my blood. Always fascinated
with people who like to play jazz, because you gotta
be good, and you've gotta be good at just rolling
(30:49):
with it. Yeah. I wish I was really good at it.
I'm I'm what I consider a faker at jazz, and
most people are unless they live it, you know, So
just play a couple of half note half steps and
you'll play jazz, you know, just end up on the
right note. And you're good, you're you know, first sense
of stability was big and rich. Do you go on
(31:10):
the road with him for a while? I did? Yeah. Yeah,
it was a party, but I signed a paper so
I'm not allowed to say that. Oh my god, No,
it was. It was a lot of fun. It had
to be so much fun that it wasn't fun because
you're tired of over stimulation. Well, I learned about whiskey, yes,
(31:32):
and uh, never mind, I just have I have other
friends or people that I know that app toward with
them or toward and it's just a lot. I don't
remember a lot, you know. I mean, it seems like
quite the party. Yeah, it was a party. It was great.
Are you with them until they break up? Well, I
(31:55):
kind of was. It was interesting, it was It was
two thousand and end of two thousand seven or the
beginning of two thousand eight. I told Kenny I was quitting,
and then Kenny kind of was going in that direction
to him and John were kind of falling apart all
at the same time. Um and uh. But then they
were still touring in in two thousand nine, they asked
(32:17):
me to go back out with him to cover that tour,
so I went back out for that one year. Um,
but yeah, I saw it all, every every part of it.
So you discontinue the playing with big, big and rich
Johnny Kenny. Um, when did the al Dean? When? When
did that happen? Well, that all happened kind of simultaneously. Um,
(32:41):
you know, because I ended up being in al Dean's
showcase band because Knox knew me from John's demo sessions
from Warner Chapel and by showcase for those and just
to make sure I'm right, al Dean was showcasing himself
for a record deal maybe or and he was. So
you guys were playing in front of a executives, Yes,
we were, And then we got offered a deal as
(33:03):
a duo, which I turned down. Huh Yeah, And Jason
likes to poke at me on that one. You and
Jason were offered, that's my claim the fame. You were
gonna be the original Dan and j and I know
we would. We would have been, you know, big and
Riches competition in Brooks and Done. I think we would
have won much better looking. So you and al Dean
are offered a deal as a duo, What did al
(33:25):
Dean think about it? He was ready to go. And
I had a rock band at the time, and I
think maybe I was. I'm trying to the timelines a
little blurry, but I had a rock band, a little
bit of the big and rich stuff, But I was
I just didn't want to do because I I wasn't
a country artist in my mind. I still I didn't
buy into me being a country musician. So was the duo.
(33:51):
I'm trying to think of who to compare it to
and nothing I like musically, But bear with me for
a second. In F G. L. Tyler sings, b K
occasionally sings, but mostly plays. Or were you you and
Jason both gonna be front facing singing? Who knows it? No,
it was literally I did this showcase with him as
a background singer, playing acoustic guitar, singing high vocals, and somebody,
(34:16):
I think it's Clay Bradley came back after that showcase
and offered us to deal. There was a try and no,
it was just it was just an offer on the table.
We got a deal for you on the table right now,
you know, And you didn't want to do it. No,
And and the funny thing is, I, you know, talked
to Jason, you know, Like I said, he likes to
poke at me about it. But we were on one
of the last records were working on. He brought it
(34:37):
up and I said, man, it would just be the
same as it is now. I should have I should
have taken it pretty much because you'd sing. I might
have sang some background vocals, but I'll just stay and
do all the guitars. That's the way. It would be
exactly the same, except we both be rich, you guys, Nope,
I'd be half as rich, may be less rich. Yeah,
(34:57):
so you've played on um I was trying account it
seems like over forty or fifty number one songs, just
as a player I was talking to. Was it Dan
he was talking about because he had played on so
many songs that he would just he would hear a
guitar part and go, yeah, that's a really good and go, oh,
that's mine, like he just played. That happened to me recently. Yeah,
(35:20):
he had played so many and he would and he
would play them without the rest of the song. And
I'm not sure if the story he was telling me
was Paula Abdul, but he heard it and he was like, oh,
that song is good. That guitar parts good, and it
was like, no, you played that? Yeah, how did that
happen with you? It was recently actually, because I did
go through a zone where I couldn't tell what guitars
were me anymore on stuff. But um, I was in
(35:43):
Florida at a water park, wasting time between a hotel
and a flight on vacation last year and I hear
the intro Do was a tennial Arts song and it
was her recent number one. I hear the guitar, I'm like,
that's actually sounds pretty cool, like rock man, like oh wait, wait,
wait what yeah, oh that's me. So it was nice
to have that happen again after so long, because it
(36:04):
was so exciting at first when you start hearing yourself,
and also you gotta feel like you're pretty good. I
doubt myself all the time with things I do. If
I were to hear something I didn't know I did
and be like that's good, I'd be like, well, maybe
I am good. Maybe that would be like a confident,
like a non egotistical car confident. It is it is, Yeah,
it's it's a reminder. Um. I see a lot of
(36:25):
nominations for Guitarist of the Year. Have you won any
of that seven nominations? Never won? What the heck, Nashville,
Come on, why are they holding it against you? What
you do? Listen? I get black ball from some all
the time, like, but I know what I did. That's
the difference. Probably turned down the wrong record deal. Probably. Um,
so you're with al Dean playing in his showcase band.
(36:48):
Does that ever mature into you going on the road
as part of his actual band? No. In fact, when
I quit Big and Rich, she asked me if I'd
go on the road with him, because I think Jack
could quit for a little bit or some the or
no who he had somebody else he I think he
had Danny radar Out. I can't remember. It was Urban now. No,
(37:08):
he's now out with Chesney. He's been session Google last years.
But um, yeah, So Jason asked me to go out
in the road with him when I get off the
road with Big Rich, and I said, now, man, I'm
just gonna stay home and work on my my session
career and you know, be with my kids. And he like,
all right. And then two or three years later, I
take the McGraw gig because I was bored and I
(37:30):
heard he was looking. I see Aldan backstage at the
A C m C. M Age goes, I thought you
were going to going to ruin Solve you jump in
with McGraw when that happens. Do you have to audition
for that? No? You know, it was cool. You know,
my our first tour with Big and Rich was opening
for him and and I wrote Mississippi Girl. So I
had a rapport with him, and and I had his email,
(37:51):
and I heard that he was looking, and I just
sent him an email and he said cool. And he
called me, he said cool, My people will call you.
I'm like, all right, rock on. It was that easy.
It was so awesome. What is it like being with
a A list country artist front man Alpha? Do you
(38:13):
do you guys roll together much at all? Or does
he kind of join you? Got No. I mean he's
so busy, you know, and he can't travel at a
regular airport or he be hounded, you know, So you know,
he he rolls on his own time. We get hanged time.
If it's a full tour, we'll hang every day working
out and do what I can work out. Yeah, I
mean every tour. At the end of the tour, I'm
(38:34):
in the best shape of my life. And then three
months later, I'm going, where did that guy go? You know,
does he ever go? You know what, I'm in a
good mood. I'm taking two of you and you get
on the jet and fly home with us. What he
took us all to his island which they don't have anymore?
I think, yeah, yeah, we didn't. Actually you do, I'd
love to man. Actually I buried something by the first
palm tree by the dock to the left. But man,
(38:57):
that was cool. We didn't all go together as a man.
I think we all went on three separate occasions. Um again.
And you know, once in a while, you know, if
something important comes up, he'll let you hop on the
jet with him, you know. But he's he's pretty private.
He's just you know, he works his ass off. Do
(39:21):
you still practice? No, not, not really. Occasionally I might
like put something on a song that I've never learned
the guitar licks from and just kind of see what
they are and maybe put that into my arsenal a
little bit. But I don't really practice that much. What
years where you're most formative, where you practiced all the time,
(39:44):
That would be the early teens, would you just go
into a room or and just and you just wouldn't leave. Oh,
a sleeve of saltine crackers and a tall glass orange
juice and a four track recorder. And I was up
in my bedroom every day, you know, just shredding. I
was into like Ingvy Malmstein and you know, like the progue,
(40:05):
progressive neo classical guitar playing. I don't know if you know,
I don't know, Steve all the two hands happen that dude.
I was like, I was making epic recordings on my
four track or your parents that were like, hey, um,
what'd you go do something outside? Really, they didn't even
yell at me when I listened to King Diamond, and
(40:27):
I don't even know if you know who that is.
I don't. But it's not it's not wholesome music. That's
all I'll say about that. Okay, So you've been extremely
influential on the sound of other folks music. You've toured
with some of the biggest names in country music. But
then you you're putting your own music out. So let
me play some of the Sky is Falling Down, just
(40:49):
because it's the first track, and I'll start there. Mike,
if you'll hit that, please. So when you go into
a project, are you thinking, Okay, it all needs to
and I hate to use the turn fit into a
(41:10):
certain box. But are you looking for some some overall
aesthetic like what it needs to look this way, feel
this way say? Or is every track just completely different?
It's different? And I finally embraced that. That's what kept
me from doing this for so long, is that I
didn't know what I did, and I wrote so many
different songs. I didn't think I could put them all together.
(41:34):
And this was finally the first time in my life
I went, oh, these are all different, but they're all
me and I can stand behind every one of these.
What's the ultimate goal with putting out your own body?
Or I just want to add add what I do
as an artist into what I do for a career,
you know, just ever so slightly if I can, you know,
(41:56):
as I'm coming down from being the guitarist for everybody,
lift up a little little bit as an artist and
add it all together. You know, Hey, maybe when I
retire and be able to play it a hundred people
in the club that know my songs, that'd be cool.
Do you want to know more I'll take more. Do
you want to not be the guitarist anymore? I crave that. Yes.
I like singing. I like singing the songs. And occasionally
(42:19):
it's more inspiring to shred to one of my own
songs out of the blue. And it's a little more
free for me to play a solo on one of
my songs because I'm so busy thinking about the singing
that when it's finally time to play, it's a little
more free, you know, it's a little less restrained. So
my theory is, because it's all about my theories, that
(42:39):
you're so good at something you're not bored with it.
You could say that, yeah, that you have in your
mind mastered what you set out to do. Yeah, and
you still gotta pay the bills, and you still love
playing music, and you got a wife and you got
kids and we got real world. But okay, I did it. Yeah,
I mean, and I want to keep doing it. It's
(43:01):
not the boredom doesn't keep me from want to do it.
Wanting to do it, but you know, you've got to
find ways to keep it exciting. And honestly, doing my
own stuff reminds me that when I'm playing on somebody
else's stuff that it means as much to them behind
the glass mind does to me. And that's that's kind
of It's really helped me in all aspects doing my
own music. That's a really cool thought, because I bet
(43:24):
when you do it, and I do things over and
over to right, but I at times have to be
reminded that it means something special to somebody the first
time they're hearing it, or they wait. Even though I
do it ten thousand times, they may only hear it twice.
And so you doing your music, remind you how the
artist feels exactly, which probably eliminates that Okay, here we
(43:46):
go again somewhat, No, it totally does it totally does?
I only get that here we go again feeling when
it's really a bad day, which is rare in this town.
It's a little lesson rare for me. Something. Let me
play and I'll ask you a question about the lyrics here.
But this is eleven. She takes it too in So
(44:22):
taking it to eleven to me is a spinal tap reference,
because you know, it's think is that it's not necessarily
but yeah, I mean it is for sure. You know,
if that's kind of what put that on the map.
But um, you know that that's you chose to. Dino Brown,
Katie Cook, Adam Schoenfeld written songs. Um, Dino and I
(44:43):
will go walking on the road every morning, you know.
Sometimes it's just me and him, sometimes it's other people too,
but it's nothing for one of us will say something
silly and all of a sudden we have a song idea.
And him and I were walking one day and I went,
when do three people with plastic seven eighte plassen? And
that came out, you know, and we went with it.
(45:05):
It was it's just weird with face songs. Did you
write them for yourself or did you write them to
write them? And they go, wow, I think this is
actually for me. Um wrote them to wrote them to
write wrote them to wrote them, wrote them to write them. Um, yeah,
but I kinda. I think by the time we were
writing eleven, I knew we were actually both of those.
(45:26):
I knew we were writing for me. I'm gonna play
her song, which we talked about Katie, But is this
about Katie? All right? Here you go, here's her song.
That's been a left time looking for you. I knew
if I found you had do you. Some people never
found it fast for long, and I never take granting
(45:51):
that's your man. I spent a life time that as
her song. Uh the album All the Birds Sing. You
can get it now everywhere. You can get it right
through my website. You'll be able to get CD s soon.
(46:11):
It was just a digital release. And what's your website,
Adam Schoenfield dot com? And will you sell? Will you
sign them? I will make an extra nickel, but I
will sign this fact. I've started setting it up that way.
You're a genius. Do you have do you hear songs again?
You mentioned the tennil Arts song Do you hear songs
at times? And go, oh yeah, I forgot I even
did that song? Oh yeah all the time. I would
(46:34):
imagine when you do so many because again we're talking
about the big hits, but I'm sure you've played on
tons of album tracks and a lot of cuts out
there that just weren't huge hits. Yeah, I mean that
would be crazy to be like, oh wait, oh yeah,
I did I did do that, or someone goes how
you played on this and you're like, I don't remember that. Yeah.
The people that got the brunt of that was my kids.
One of my last memories of being with my daughter
(46:56):
when I heard a song I played on. We walked
into the orthodonist set down. As soon as we sat
down at Jason song comes on and I look at her.
She looks over at me and she goes, don't how
did you and to bring this back full circle of it?
But how did you pass the information or the advice
j Joyce gave you down onto a younger player? Oh?
You know what? This guy was playing actually on a
(47:18):
big and rich record, a later big and rich recording
with me, and I'm literally getting ready to play a
guitar solo and he is looking over the other side
of my pedal board and he asked me a question
about the pedals. She says, what are you doing with
this this pedal and this pedal? And I just looked up, man,
just get your own thing. And he's like, man, the
(47:41):
guy has a douche thing to say, but it's really
going to create my future. Yeah, what if you play?
And the artist goes, you know what, I have second
thoughts about this solo? Does any matter call you back
in to fix Usually it's on the spot, Yeah, yeah,
Usually it's right then and there they kind of make
the decision, but they want to call, like, you cut
it on Tuesday and they call you next Monday and go,
(48:03):
you know, we changed our mind, would you come back in?
I don't remember that happening, but it's probably because they
called somebody else, you know. I mean a lot of
times I'll do that. They'll be like, well, he didn't
quite get what we wanted. Why don't we try someone?
So what happens to all of us? Do you get
paid more if it's a single versus a cut? Much
like well there are royalties now a little bit of royalties,
(48:24):
but not enough to change your life. Um on number ones,
it's it's a nice chunk. Yeah, that's pretty cool. So
you hope to get the big artist calling. Absolutely if
Aldine goes to the studio, do you expect to call
uh at this point? Yeah, I mean, but then again,
you know, going into the next one would be record eleven.
(48:46):
So you know, if I don't, I'd probably be like,
I get it. They might be doing something new. You know,
what's the most expensive guitar that you have ever played? Mm? Hm, Well,
at the time I play did it wasn't that expensive,
but it technically would be say sixty one strap, but
I was playing it in the early nineties, so it
(49:09):
probably wasn't worth as much as it would be. Now, yeah,
again you're talking. I need to get Rosetta now that
I know, But I don't know how why sixty cool?
Whether they're early sixties, late fifties, all those guitars those years,
or where they're really valuable. And I'm you know what,
To be honest, I couldn't really give you too much
detail on that. I'm I'm the guy that like, what's
(49:30):
the rough price on that thing? Though? Right now, right now,
sixty one all close to original. This is a guess
because I'm really not a guitarnard. I'm going to guess
thirty forty grand. Maybe I could be wrong, but I
mean burst less Paul's fifty nine palls or like three
hundred thousand, but I've never played one of those. Would
(49:51):
you if someone say this guitar is a million dollar guitar,
would you say, let me play it, or no, don't,
I don't want touch it. I would I would probably
play it and go it's not worth million dollars. When
you were working at the guitar store and you'd hear
musicians come in. We are with somebody ever really really good.
There was a kid You're like, dang son, keep going, No,
I don't like it. At one time I went in
and I did that. You didn't tell me anything. I
(50:13):
play and I really try to get your attention. You're like, man,
like get a court ye from Walmart, go into radio
read it is now time for your one question? Oh
(50:34):
what do we got? Bro? So, if you're in a
room riding with others, um, do they consider to you
as pretty much like the guitar guy to come up
with the licks and stuff or are you pretty predominant
in Wow? Yeah, that's a great question. Um, it's kind
of changed through time. Um. Now I would say I
(50:56):
would say when we're writing country music, I'm more of
the producer writer, you know, like I come at it
from that aspect a little more. Um, when it's something
like I would put on my record, I'm kind of
I kind of almost bull take the alpha role a
little bit sometimes. Yeah. You know, when you got the
(51:20):
van and the place to rehearse, you can alpha. You
can push people around and get up on your box.
You know what do you put You play guitar obviously,
but you still play drums at allay, so I play
a little drums. I played drums on a few of
the songs on on There. I tried on the two
songs Sky's Falling Down to Leven, I tried to play drums,
(51:41):
and at the end I realized I had to fix
them too much, so I couldn't put something I had
to fix on there. I got a real drummer to
lay them in there for me. Um. But so that's
kind of self taught through the years. So if it's
a simple groove, I played drums, I play some keyboards.
I played bass. You know, if you play guitar at
high level, can you play bass automatic? Lee? No, you can.
(52:03):
I mean you can keep a simple baseline. But there's
there's an art, you know, to doing a great bassline,
And sometimes I think great bass players do it all
the time. I once in a while come up with
a cool bassline for my own stuff. If you're on
the road and you're a bass player and McGraw's band
goes down, like we need you to fill in on
(52:24):
base the whole show tonight, could you get by? I think, so, yeah,
that's pretty cool. Yeah, that's pretty cool. Yeah that you
could just go and figure out everything. You don't have
to dominate like he would. But it's not Yes, absolutely,
what if the keyboard player went down? Okay, unless I
could transpose and put everything in the key of C. So, okay,
(52:45):
you have this rec are you maybe you're gonna go
play some shows? I would love to. Yeah. We were
just at that point where, um, we had to figure
out what's going on with McGraw's schedule. Once I know
exactly what's up with that, I know the holes that
I can look for myself for the or um. And
this is new for me, having a project that I'm like,
totally want to go out and tour if I could. So,
(53:08):
so working on finding help with that and and getting
some stuff booked. So has mcgar've been doing shows with
that big beard? We did a couple, Yeah, because he
was in the middle of filming. Yeah, pops out and
does the show? Does he ever go? I gotta go
to the bathroom. Just give me extra long solo. Maybe
in the old days before I was in the band. Yeah,
there are times if we're like doing some band stuff
(53:29):
with our comedy group, um, where there have been games
on and I would need to go check a score.
Or i'd come out late. I would be like, guys,
you gotta go kill you gotta go do do your thing.
This is your time to shine, and let's just act
like you're doing it. And it's not me back there
watching you know, the last three minutes of the game.
Magon never does that. Huh, he's never liked watch the
L s U game. You guys, Well, we've got a
(53:52):
guy that can talk to us in her ears and
I have her thirty four to twenty one. I've heard
that before for sure. That's pretty fine. Real time, I'm
rooting for you. I think it's really cool. Thanks that
you know, you go, I'm gonna make I'm gonna re
vulnerable myself. Yeah, it's different. It's a different feeling because
(54:14):
you're already king, daggling and playing the guitar. Yeah, but
now it's it's not that you're starting over. But to
some people, as an artist, they're like, Adam gonna do this.
I mean it's you kind of going. I do feel
like a kid again. Yeah, Like, here's kind of the
guts and art and what I'm thinking and I've put
it into this art and you get some time listen
(54:35):
to it. I've had a couple of times recently live
stream and a show where I was nervous like I
was fourteen again and I loved it. Yeah, because you're
you get to be exciting. Nerves are because it's important
right there, can you go to bad, but nerves are
because whatever is about to happen is important to you.
And you know mentoring on American Idol that the one
(54:57):
thing that they would come to me and go, hey,
how do I not be nervous? And I would go, well,
First of all, you should acknowledge the fact that it's
awesome to be nervous, but you don't have many times
in your life where you get to be nervous about
something that could possibly be amazing. That's a good point.
Most times you get nervous because something bad could happen,
but you get to be nervous because you're getting a
(55:17):
shot at something big. Worst case scenario, you end up
right where you are right now. That's worst case. You
don't go backwards. Worst cases, you're in the same. Best
cases your life has changed doing something you love, So
first acknowledge that pretty cool you get to be nervous.
Second of all, you don't just heal nerves you know,
nerves are are eliminated because you put yourself in that
(55:39):
same spot over and over again. But never forget how
awesome it is to be nervous at doing something you love.
And it's cool that you, a veteran, a guitar master,
get to be nervous again. Yeah, it's interesting, it's really cool.
How about that perspective? Drop that one? That's right? All right, Look,
(56:01):
you guys can follow Adam. Uh s, I'm gonna spell
it for people so they can find it easier because
your name is said different than it looks. Just go
to shoe in felled. Yeah, but yes, I'm spelling it
out on Instagram. Show the letter in felled. Boom, shoot,
(56:25):
and I can't spell shoe. Just go look at aal dimola.
There you go, what um Adam show unfelled. There he is.
Follow him on Instagram shoe in Felled, which is show
unfelled his last name. Hey, thanks for coming by, Appreciate
you and tell your your wonderful wife, I say, hello,
will kick on the balls for me. I will own
a couple of those. And uh, you guys, check out
(56:48):
the record. You know you heard some of it here,
but it's up he's proud of it. I think you'll
like it. All the birds sing, it's ten songs, and
it's him going all right, here I am again, let's go,
let's do this. I hope you get to go play
some shows. Thanks man, that'd be pretty happy to all right, Thanks,
I appreciate you. But that's awesome. H m hm
Host
Bobby Bones
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