Special: David Osborne - Perpetual Songwriter

Kurt takes a step back in this episode with an interview with David Osborne: Surfer, former therapist, history teacher, Bigfoot enthusiast, and perpetual songwriter. When David retired, he spent his days surfing down at the beaches of San Clemente, but quickly found himself growing bored with the lifestyle. So, he decided to reconnect with an old passion: songwriting. Since rediscovering his passion for composition and release, Dave has produced and released 6 albums at the time of this recording.

In this episode, Kurt asks David about his inspirations, history, and songwriting process. They show some cool music too!

Take a listen to Kurt's interview with David Osborne.

You can find his music on all streaming services:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/0uxppsLETBA0XIfCZADytX

https://music.apple.com/us/artist/david-osborne/1480090598

https://www.shazam.com/artist/david-osborne/1480090598

Find more of our stuff here:

https://justonesong.start.page/

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
On August eighteenth, twenty twenty four, I met up with
David Osborne, surfer, former therapist, retired guitar and history teacher,
bigfoot enthusiast, and perpetual songwriter. David lives in a lovely
ranch style home in Chino, California, with his wife Martha,
and their two black Labrador retrievers. I've known David since

(00:20):
high school. He was my junior year history teacher and
I was a TA in his guitar class. I had
always called him mister Osborne or mister Row, and although
he insists, I'm still finding it difficulty calling him David
even in this podcast. Despite many years passing since high school,
I still maintained contact with him. His son Jacob, and
I were closed for a long time, even after high school.

(00:43):
Until people do what they do, drift away, Jake, if
you're listening, what's up. When David retired, he spent his
days surfing down at the beaches of San Clemente, but
quickly found himself growing bored with the life style, so
he decided to reconnect with an old patty songwriting.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
It's been a minute. I've got six albums out now,
six albums.

Speaker 3 (01:05):
Yeah, that was one of my questions.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
Yeah, that was my last latest one. Jake help me
put it all together as far as like, oh yeah,
technical stuff. He not eat music. Stuff is technical stuff. Yeah. Yeah.
He released it early last summer. It's a four song
EP called one Horsetown. I saw it and I listened
to it and I like it. Oh, thank you very much.

Speaker 4 (01:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
Actually three out of the four songs I have actually
made it. All of a made it on the playlist.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
He began production on his first album and reached out
to me for assistance. I spent a summer driving out
to his home to assist in the development of his
home studio and then the production of this album Songs
for Oma. David pulled out all the stops and recruiting
former bandmates and current friends to perform on these songs.

(01:52):
In fact, you can hear some of my guitar playing
and a few of the tracks.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
On the first album.

Speaker 5 (02:01):
Yeah that so you so you so with Spotify? Did
you you ran a campaign to push it?

Speaker 6 (02:07):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (02:07):
You know what. I go through CD Baby through it
with all my stuff because you know they're the ones
who placed it. They put I don't know how familiar
are with CD Baby Oh, they place when you pay
them a certain amount of money, and then what they
do is, I'll take your songs, but there's an album
or single, and they'll put her on all the major
streamings and all the minor streamings and the YouTube, and
they ensure and also collect your royalties for a small fee.

(02:29):
Oh that's pretty cool. Yeah, And but they don't really
they put you out there a bit after that you're
on your own. So yeah, you know, I'd put out
six ounds, wasn't getting a lot watch of five album
four albums, actually hadn't gotten a lot of traction, you know,
as far as getting hits all my stuff, and so
I thought, well, there's got to be somebody to kind of,

(02:50):
you know, get things happening.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
I arrived at his home that evening and was greeted
by his excited lab Jane, and the kind man I
had known for many years. You'll hear Janey as well
as Dave. It had been about four years since I
had stepped inside of his home, but it was still
the calm and relaxing place it had always been to me.
David maintained an extraordinary garden in his yard. One could

(03:12):
call it an arboretum. Due to the variety of plant
life and the peaceful nature of his sanctuary. We sat
in his living room adjacent to the garden, with a
light breeze outside blowing the wind chimes, a reminder of
the peaceful locale where he writes much of his music.
I wanted to record his method and approach to songwriting.
He detailed his process in the interview, but also his

(03:33):
inspirations and history with music. Take a listen to my
evening with David Osborne, Perpetual Songwriter.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
I found out that the last album, I'm leaning more
and more towards an alt country.

Speaker 5 (03:46):
Kind of approach of like I was gonna say, it's
the alt country charts that you're showing up on haf Yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
And that was kind of my first five albums. I
was pretty much just kind of emulating why he Wrotes,
you know, Jay Yeah, a J Kaleh, John Fogerty.

Speaker 5 (04:03):
Definitely, John Yeah, Tom Petty, Neil Young, Uh, you know
they're rolling stones, Yes, you know.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
They were kind of all the people I was emulating.
So it kind of took me to like my fifth album,
the sixtyp was like finally started coming into my own
and kind of started getting my own sound. And some
of the artists that really hit me really because I
was with listening to older os. I you know, even
though I'm an older guy, try to listen to the
newer artists and get ideas from them. And two artists

(04:36):
really really she bothering you too much?

Speaker 3 (04:39):
No, fine, the.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
Two artists that I've lived that that their songs just
hit me. Oun't know where I even heard of it.
Steve you know Steve Earle, Yeah, was well, he had
a sudden passed away towns vans that earl oh and
he had a really great song called Harlem River and
it's just a three chord song that keeps I'm going
through the three chords, but it's a song that influenced me.

(05:03):
And another group that I've never heard about called the
Drive By Truckers.

Speaker 3 (05:07):
No I don't know them.

Speaker 2 (05:08):
Yeah, they're an all country group and they have a
song called My Sweet Annette, and it's about this guy
that basically it's it's kind of it kind of takes
place in like the nineteen thirties, you know, like, yeah,
the song does, but basically he's he's asked to take
his he's getting married the next day and He's asked

(05:28):
to take the Maid of Honor to our house and
drop her off because she doesn't to stop proper. For
her to going by herself won't make a long story short.
He ends up eloping with her, you know, leaving his
try to alter. But just the song itself is another
three chord song just kind of keeps rolling through. Yeah,
but just the themes, the ideas. I kind of thought, yeah,

(05:48):
this is my home because I'm not really a true
country guy, and you know, at my age, I really
can't be a true rocker. So you try to go
with where you think your strengths are, and more than anything,
where you're love for music is. And I've always kind
of liked what I call California country, which, when you
think about you, which is a really unique kind of
country when you go back to the roots. It's like

(06:11):
Buck Owens and Merle Haggard, and it was kind of
a stripped down sound, you know, where in Nashville had
all the lusher court arrangements, you know, the California country
coming out with Buck Owens was like really guitar driven, telecaster. Yeah,
maybe a little bit of pedalstill, but not much. It's
more of kind of guitar drive, and then after that
you had that late sixties revival with you know, Graham Parsons,

(06:34):
the Birds, the Flying Burrito Brothers, which in turn led
to obviously the Eagles. You know, So I would say,
you know, my roots are kind of in California Country,
and I'm actually kind of probably emulating that more than
anything of what I'm doing now.

Speaker 3 (06:49):
I've never heard that before. California Country like that, that's all.

Speaker 2 (06:54):
You No, no, No, California Countries is kind of I mean,
calif Forny Country is just California Country. But what makes it? Oh?
Dwight Yoakam on front of Dimension.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
Oh, there you go.

Speaker 2 (07:06):
He's he's kind of he's kind of a Yeah, he's
kind of a bridge there. Well, actually a later bridge
after the Eagles. He kind of was a bridge between
the country and rock and roll.

Speaker 3 (07:14):
Yeah, he was awesome. He's still killing it.

Speaker 2 (07:16):
Ah, I love light. Yeah, he's got some great music. Yeah,
but yeah, once again, you look at his music, I
mean he uh, he's got a strip down sound. Maybe
he might have a concertina playing, or he might have
a fiddle on occasion or something like that. In fact,
actually a little side note years ago when I really
got into the country, I did some early country recordings

(07:37):
and at the time, Dwight Yoakum's fiddle player, Brantley Kerns,
he had just left the group and Brantley was available,
and I actually got Brantley to Comorny Studio with one
of my songs. I laid down a fiddle part for
one of my songs called Honky Tonk Girl, So that
was kind of cool a half hands. So there's a
little connection there. In fact, one of the guys used

(07:57):
to fall in my punk band around in the eighties,
Henry Henry Boyle. Henry Boyle is actually for a while
he was Dwight's guitar tech.

Speaker 3 (08:10):
Oh really, yeah, that's cool.

Speaker 1 (08:13):
In the nineteen eighties he played bass in the Los
Angeles rock band The Flies. Though they reached considerable levels
of local fame, they never garnered significant commercial success, but
that seemed like it was hardly a concern for David Osborne.

Speaker 3 (08:28):
That's cool.

Speaker 2 (08:29):
You got some loose k yeah, the one the ones
with three degrees of separation. I've got a lot of
that with a lot of people.

Speaker 3 (08:33):
You know, You've had a lot of cool people playing
on your albums.

Speaker 2 (08:37):
Oh, thank you. Yeah, that's so fun. And like I said,
I'm one of the And one thing that's been great
with what I'm doing now is that with sound Campaign,
when they help you, you know, when they put your
songs out to people, it's not Paola at all. Basically
you're paying them. You're paying sound Campaign to basically be
that third person to get your music out to playlisters.

(09:00):
So sound Campaign does to kind of help you out,
is they tell the playlists, look, you know, you're under
no obligation to play this person's song, but if you
give them a good review, we'll give you a little
bit of money. So basically if you get so what's
really happened is like I've got a lot of reviews back, Hey,
we loved your music. It's on the playlist. But then
I'll get some other people that'll and you get all

(09:21):
kinds of reviews and will say, oh, you know, we
really like your songs just as a fitter format, which
is cool, I mean obviously, and then sometimes they weigh, well,
I really liked your song, I like the melody. Whoever,
I don't feel like your voice was really convincing enough
or you needed another one. Was a lot of stuff
I was getting all the drums aren't mixed right, So
I got a lot of stuff, real good professional feedback. Yeah,

(09:43):
so what I do if you go in my studio,
I've got a big chalkboard, you know, and I've got
all the songs. But I also have like all these
things to try to do on my next group of songs. Like,
for instance, i was in the studio today with a
bunch of my music, with my newer songs. I'm working
on my seventh album, which is at this point titled

(10:03):
Unassigned Territory, and I was, I've been I've found out,
you know, I've never been really good guitar lead guitar player.
I mean, have a good rhythm player. I could play
a bunch of different instruments, but I've never found any
instrument but I can really just jump out on leads.
But I've had a lap steel for years, and I
faly about some really nice ones and a nice superral amp,
and suddenly I found out I'm a pretty darn good

(10:25):
lead player on the lap steel. Oh yeah, So I've
been really starting to if you listen to my stuff,
you have my recent stuff, I've really been adding that
more and more of course, David Linley was a local hero,
you know, played with Jackson Brown. Yeah, passed away, and
he was a great so I kind of you know,
he's kind of I wouldn't see my hero, but you know,
I looked at his style because he kind of incorporated
more of a rock and roll influence, the busy style

(10:47):
with his stuff. On the other side, note, I used
to hang out. There's a guy named Friz Fuller who
Jackson Brown discovered a long top ago. It was a songwriter,
really interesting guy, and and Friz Fuller actually wrote songs
that David Linley Jackson around Sideman music and his individual

(11:08):
career and Fris and I were friends for quite a
long time. I got to hang out with Frison. He
was really a hoop. This is one of the I mean,
when you think about the crazy musicians and the musician life,
he was, you know, he was one of those guys.
But was back when you were in the Flies. Yeah, yeah,
back in the eighties. And he and Sparky McConnell, who
was the other lead singer with the singer when the

(11:29):
singers and the Flies kind of army, we all sang
and did we took turn to singing, but he was
kind of the image of the band, the front man,
really good, chrismatic. But both those guys are really good songwriters,
very simple, and their approach to most of their songsters
three chords, very simple. But they just had a lot
of passion and a lot of insight and just they
kind of wrote on the darker side and kind of
the poor side of live too. And although they never

(11:53):
really sat down and taught me anything about songwriting, just
being around him and listening to their music, you know,
kind of rubbed off on me.

Speaker 7 (12:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (12:00):
I would say my music today is kind of I
paid tribute to them, of course, because they're really simple.
But I try to keep my music really simple and
not too you know. I mean I I basically stay
with major minors and some sevens, but I you know,
which is kind of standard for you know, kind of
all country and stuff.

Speaker 3 (12:20):
But it works.

Speaker 2 (12:21):
It works. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (12:23):
What's so, I've always liked your approach to songwriting like whenever,
because I helped you for like the first half of
your first album. Yeah, you were married, life got in
the way, but.

Speaker 3 (12:37):
I remember you would have just pages and pages.

Speaker 5 (12:42):
Of like lyrics and they were I that's the part
of songwriting. I struggle with the most his lyrics, but
yours they were so I don't want to use the
word profound because that's cliche, but they were like really
good and insightful, and you never repeated a line unnecessarily
and it always you always had a point to get

(13:03):
across in the song, and I always appreciated how you
were able to illustrate that point or tell the story
you were trying to tell.

Speaker 2 (13:10):
Well, thank you. Yeah, And you know, that's kind of
where I try to come from my songwriting. It's like
I always tell people that, you know writing. We have
a songwriters group that kind of comes over here once
a month and hmm, and we just work on songs together.
If you ever wanted to come over, let me know
what I'd love to I'd let you. I'd vet the
group first. I'd say, this guy's cool. We haven't agreement.
Anybody comes into everybody has to say okay. So but

(13:33):
I know I could do a good job to convince
them to let you, Kevin, if you want to come
visit one time and hang out. But what was our
goal with all of that? But yeah, it's like we
talk about songs and stuff. It's like yeah. You know,
it's like it's all about you only have so many
words in a song. It's not like a book or
a novel, you know, where you could just really kind of,

(13:54):
you know, really stretch out an idea. You gotta get
your point really fast, and whether it's a story or
a feeling or a thought, you gotta I was in
tell Mee by Side. I mean, there's some We had
our song rin the other day and I had this
new song with the chorus, and I liked the whole song,
but at the very end of the chorus there's just
two words at the end, and that kind of drove

(14:16):
home the chorus. But I wasn't really happy with him.
I thought, they're okay, But and then everybody's sit around.
Nobody can go with anything better, I said it. But yeah,
it's like and it was just basically two words or
four soyllables, and I just couldn't And it's like, yeah, sometimes,
I mean, that's the difference between a good song, an
okay song, and a bad song. It's just into two
words or four syllables, and we just don't get the Yeah,

(14:36):
don't drive the point home, you've lost it, you know.

Speaker 5 (14:40):
Yeah, So it's funny to like, it's easy. It can
be someone easy to like find those songs where they
don't quite hit it, and I hear them all the time.
But then I'm like, I can't I haven't written anything
better than that, So I'm like.

Speaker 3 (14:52):
I can't say anything. But he still recognize it for
what it is. It's like, you know, I hear that
all the time.

Speaker 2 (14:57):
I hear songs like you know, it's I've been really
working on improving my craft. I try not to be
judgmental of people because everybody's at their different levels of
what they're doing. But I'll see a song sometimes I go, oh,
what did they do that for? You know, they finally
say that, or I'll the song will be come long ago.
I'll know exactly what we're gonna say, like, oh, come on,
he could have done better than that. Yeah, surprise us

(15:20):
a little bit more.

Speaker 5 (15:20):
You know, right, you're editing songs that have already been released,
it's already printed. Yeah, that's it's kind of a fun
exercise I like to do. And I hear a lyric
that doesn't work, I'm like, one of what could go
better in its play is like I could be a
pretty good song editor. But the original organic lyric. I
just I second guess myself all the time. Is that

(15:41):
something you've encountered, like guessing myself well from like your
early days, Oh yeah, earlier stuff.

Speaker 2 (15:47):
It's like I kinda go, there's a little gems and
all my albums that I kind of go, and now
that's a good song. You know, I wish I knew
now what I know. I wish I knew then what
I know now as far as mixed it and producing
and just approaching the song, because I know I could
have lifted that song much higher. But yeah, I give
myself grace because I kind of go. I tell people

(16:10):
I go, you know, I said, my last album is
really really good, said but my goal, and I think,
what's gonna happen? So my next album's gonna be better,
Not that the other one wasn't so good, but it's
all about self improvement. So the words. When I try
to write a song, and it's been this way for
a while, it's like if the song, I'll only use
a song and continue to work with it if it's

(16:31):
as good as the last one or better. If it's
not as good, I just scrap it. It's like I
mean it's there, and I can always pull it back
somehow I get a different angle on or whatever.

Speaker 5 (16:42):
At what point do you call it quit to the
song where you're like, I'm not getting anywhere on this if.

Speaker 2 (16:46):
I don't feel it. Really yeah, if I don't feel
the song, it's like because to me, I got to
get excited about it. If I'm not excited about you know,
who is going to get excited.

Speaker 3 (16:54):
That's a good point, you know. So how do you
how do you know? Like when can you.

Speaker 5 (16:58):
Describe your process like from step one to writing a song?
When you're like, Okay, I'm gonna release album eight and
I need to get a song out that. You know,
I'm sure you have a backlog of songs that you're
already planning. When you're like, I'm gonna write a brand
new song today, do you wait for that to come
to you or do you start? Do you just sit

(17:19):
down and you're like start cranking away until something comes
to you.

Speaker 3 (17:25):
Or any other way?

Speaker 6 (17:26):
It hits all.

Speaker 2 (17:27):
Different ways, I mean sometimes the greatest one, of course,
is when suddenly, just like a bolt of lightning. Tom
Petty talked about like Mojo is like it just kind
of hits you oh my god, I got a song here.
That's the funnest way and the easiest way, but unfortunately
that's not very often. So before you even came over,
I was sitting on my mark because I actually had

(17:47):
a little rift today I was working on I kind
of went, I kind of hummed it. I should have
sat down and played it, but I just hummed it,
you know, my tape recorder, and did it quite come
off like I did? But you know, sometimes I just
search for a riff, and if I get a nice
down on their rif, okay, okay, what goes for it?
Then sometimes I'll like somebody will just say a phrase.
There'll be some word I'll here, like two or three words,

(18:08):
like a common phrase. I go, I'm like, god, that's
a song right there, and so I'll take that phrase
and I'll actually start. I'll write the lyrics first, And
I mean, my cell phone's just probably it's got hundreds
of songs with lyrics that I've never used because I
never really found the music for him, or I just
felt like it wasn't really really strong enough, Like I'll

(18:31):
say words in here me I could pull out my
phone right now and kind of go through a list
of intermestic things, like the song of mine's doing really
good on Spotify's called Voodoo Alley, which is a friend
of mine who lose in Louisiana was did a video
on it, and I actually end up doing a using
some of the videos of my song. But it's about

(18:52):
this place where all the tourists go when they're outside
of New Orleans and they can have who do spellstuff.
So it's kind of a cautioning himself. But it's very
much a Rolling Stones kind of sound.

Speaker 8 (19:05):
Yeah, but I have wrote another song the day about this, uh,
this black lady who I don't know if she was
a former slave or not, but she cast a curse
on the swamp in Louisiana.

Speaker 2 (19:18):
My name was Aunt Julia. And then I had a
Then I've been doing some bluegrass stuff, like I wrote
a song the other day called played a bunch of
these songs some guys other day at the thing. But
Muddy Waters, which is about a guy singing about the
river taking his wife away, Dear Virginia. That's kind of
a bluegrass song about this guy that is telling his
girlfriend he has to lead a small town to get

(19:39):
a job in the city. Tell her he's gonna come
back and take care of her, and you know, it
goes on and on and on, this kind of stuff
like that. Just you know, I'll see something on TV
and I'll just had one song I wrote I haven't
been able to do anything with. It's a great lyric
great lyrics, I'm funny music. It's called Devil's My Door's

(20:00):
kind of a spin off of Robert Johnson's Crossroads, you know, yeah,
but I kind of did a different take on it.
This guy, it's like three in the morning, here's a
knock on his door, and he peeks out the side,
wouldn't to see what it is. It's the devil at
his door, and he's trying to figure out what the
devil's doing there because he hasn't as far as he
says here, he hasn't done anything wrong. So it's yeah. So,
I mean, I'm always you know, my ideas are all

(20:22):
over the place. And then I wrote a song. Somebody's
told me, you go, God, David, you're so lucky the
other day, and I thought, so. I wrote a song
called Guess I'm lucky. You know, I was about this
guy saying I'm like, yeah, I guess I'm lucky, so
I've been told, got a lot of dirt, but not
much gold. There's a whole lot of living. It's still
down the road. I guess I'm lucky, so I've been told.
So I mean, I'm always like that. I got a

(20:44):
zillion things going on.

Speaker 6 (20:45):
Yeah, you know.

Speaker 2 (20:46):
Then I have a friend of mine who his wife
of forty six years left him, and I guess she
messed around with it before and he was just devastated
by it. And and I got his side the store,
they didn't get her side. But I know a lot
of time as women leave man because they quit caring
or quit showing their love for him. And so I
kind of did a little bit of you know, I

(21:08):
tried to put myself not necessarily in his shoes per se,
or in her shoes, but kind of write a story
about a guy that lost his wife or whoever the
state wife specifically, but his long term relations.

Speaker 9 (21:19):
Yeah, and he's uh and here is the title here, see,
but basically.

Speaker 6 (21:31):
Shot isn't here.

Speaker 2 (21:33):
How Yeah, he doesn't want to be. Oh it's called
turn Back the Clock and it's got a great chorus
to it. But I I played it for the guys
other day. I love the chorus, but I don't. The
verses are still kind of weak. But the chorus is
guess I'm lucky. So I've been told that's wrong. I'm sorry. Yeah,

(21:58):
I'm lucky. Here I go, turn back to look clock.
Here we go.

Speaker 10 (22:03):
If I could turn back the clock, turn back the
clock today.

Speaker 2 (22:08):
I'd go back and I James, those little things of God.

Speaker 11 (22:11):
Wait, hmmm, I'd show you that I love you in
a thousand different ways.

Speaker 10 (22:18):
If I could turn back the clock, turn back the
clock today. If I could turn back God, turn back
the clock.

Speaker 2 (22:26):
Today, you know that's yeah. I'm all so good with
all my lyrics. I'm all, I'm everything from the devil
to guys lose my life.

Speaker 5 (22:39):
That type of flexibility with songwriting is I've discovered is
kind of a rare gift, at least like from my
from my perspective and some of the songwriters I talked about, like,
at least when it comes to lyric writing. I mean,
I've learned that when it comes to the propensity for

(23:00):
writing lyrics, you either have it or you don't. Like
sometimes it can be learned.

Speaker 2 (23:06):
But like.

Speaker 5 (23:09):
When I write, I write poems, I don't write songs.

Speaker 2 (23:12):
They're different. But a song is in a sense.

Speaker 5 (23:16):
I mean, it's it's trying to fit music to the
poem that I write. And like, I wrote a poem
the other day that I loved, and it's about a
guy who's worked a long day at work. He's in
line at the cafeteria and he's eyeing this chocolate chip
cookie and it's the last one there and this woman
like grabs it. She's like, I forgot to grab it
when I paid for it, and she just leaves and

(23:38):
he's just totally deflated. And that the poem's all about that,
and I'm like, mah, I was trying to fit music
to that. But as I'm writing the music, I realize, like,
oh my gosh, Like the rhythmic structure for the poem
is based on a Tears for Tears for Fears song write,
and so I'm like, now I have the song in
my head and I can't do it, but like or
it sounds too much like shel Silverstein. But when every

(24:00):
time I think I'm like I'm onto something and I
think I'm profound and I'm.

Speaker 3 (24:03):
Listening to music on my way to work, Paul Simon
song comes on.

Speaker 5 (24:06):
I'm like I'm never gonna be you know, Paul Simon's
one of those few, like a god given gift.

Speaker 2 (24:12):
But you know what I always tell people, and I
used to tell the kids from the guitar class, I said,
I said, anybody can learn to play guitar, and anybody
can write a song. Now, whether it's gonna be a
great song or every song you could, but you can
still you could write a song. I give people credit
for being able to do that. But I think I
think our experiences in life affect our songwriting. I know

(24:34):
it certainly does for me. And I like what Keith
Richards to talk about songwriting one time, and it's so choices.
He says, you know, it is one thing about being
a songwriter, says you're always the only thing outside looking
in because you're basically an observer, which is true. You know,
I'm very much an observer. I'm not a I'm not
a peeping tom. But you know, it's like I'll just

(24:54):
kind of pick up on stuff from people. You know,
it's like a little vibuk on them. That's you know,
that's kind of interesting. But yeah, I never know where
where an idea for a song is gonna come from.
Like I said, uh, once through all like on TV
that thinking about that, that that Voodoo Lady Aunt and Julia.
I was a story on TV. They're exploring these everglades
and and it was like kind of mystery thing and

(25:16):
they were talking about Aunt and Julia, you know, and
I thought, oh, that's a great song right there. And
I actually a pretty once again no music for it,
but some pretty good lyrics. And and like I said,
you write about your friends and uh family, sometimes it's
just a phrase, a cool phrase. It slipped through.

Speaker 5 (25:34):
And so it is it easier for you now than
like it was saying that the eighties when you were
with the Flies.

Speaker 2 (25:40):
Oh, hell yeah. But it's very easier for me for
I think real for real specific reasons. I think back
then I was kind of lucky to be in the
Flies because I was the go getter. I was the
guy at the PA, but I was by far the
weakest musician. I mean, I was a real rhythm player
at best. And the guy you ended up playing guitar

(26:01):
in the band was the bass player. And he we
did the switch ERU and he said, I'll teach you
how to play bass dage, so and we took off
after that, because we never have gone anywhere if he
was on bass and the on guitar. But and I
was trying to write songs in the bass, which I
couldn't do. But along the way, I think what really
helped a lot was when I was over at Ayella
High School and they've passed a law in California that

(26:22):
to teach outside of your subject here he had to
have some classes. I went back to college. I had
to get like a minor in music, to a ton
of music classes. But the one that really really helped
me out the most have learned how to play the piano.
And from learning how to play the piano, that opened
up me being able to play the mandolin, the laps steal,
the banjo, Golla knows what al sudden playing these days,

(26:47):
the Oregon, which is kind of liked a piano. And
but you know, I mean basically, when I go in
my studio now, the only the only thing I really
can't do is the drums. And I have a drum,
really nice drum program, which you know from the easy
drummer we put on there, and I am having a
guy I currently drums down. Because one of their criticisms,
I was getting from some of the sound campaign playlists
and these my stuff were sending. They thought that drums

(27:08):
sounded two mechanical, and I think on some songs they
did with other songs, I'm a big believer in using
a drum program, you know, for works. Yeah, so I'm
trying to do a little bit of both.

Speaker 3 (27:18):
Use whatever resources are available to you, right.

Speaker 2 (27:20):
But what's been really cool, it's been cool for me
to grow. I think I've grown as a songwriter because
of my musicianship. Is that the first album I hardly
did anything other than played acoustic guitar. I Do You
came in, Jeff came in, Jim Gilson came in, Russ
came in, a whole bunch of people. And then each
album I kind of had less and less people coming in.
And I think on my third album, I think I

(27:41):
did everything myself. So I did third, fourth, fifth album
all by myself and then some I never got any
direct critism about bringing other people, but just the way
some things a word, I thought, you know what, there
are some things that other people can do better than me,
even though I can do them. So I got to
bring in people that can do something better than me music,
So I've been bringing in people who can, say, play

(28:02):
harmonica a little bit better on songs that I needed
on or keyboard. Not for everything, but like on a
One Horse Town, I play harmonica, but it's really a
simple kind of Neil Young harmonica. So the guy who
played harmonica on another song on there, I didn't use
on that because I knew that would be too simple
for him, and it would be better that I did
because this is a simple sound. So I'm kind of

(28:24):
learning to kind of, you know, use my abilities where
they're appropriate. And if I think somebody else could lift
up my game now by bringing them in, I bring
them in to have them do it. It's been a
lot of fun, you know, it keeps me busy, you know,
I wake up every day like today, There's been a
lot of art when he's be done, but it's so
damn hot today. I've been kind of with the latest

(28:47):
group of songs. I've got four songs I'm gonna do
this last song was last EP was four songs And
I never knew exactly what an EP was, what made
a difference from EP and an album? And I went online,
it's actually under thirty minutes. Is an EP? Anything? Over
thirty minutes is an album. Yeah, so I'm gonna add
I want to have a six song EP this song,
but I've got four songs already. You're talking about new songs.

(29:10):
My goal is to try to write two killer, killer
songs that totally rise above everything else I've done. But
that's been the problem because that's a big, big lift.
That's a heavy lift. And I'm when you were doing
where you came here, I was actually kind of working
on some stuff like and I like, I said, I'm
that one song turned Back the Clock that has potential,

(29:33):
but it hasn't sold me on itself, Like that might
be one of the songs, you know.

Speaker 5 (29:36):
So I like how you speak about the songs as
if they're like they're their own entity.

Speaker 2 (29:42):
Well they are, like you're molding it.

Speaker 5 (29:43):
But it's like they have to sell. They have to
sell themselves to you, even though you're the one creating it.

Speaker 2 (29:50):
Well, yeah, that's funny thing. For every song I've got,
I mean at the time, it was like, oh my god,
this is a great song. You know. I'm like, I'm
at a little bit stone. I like to get a
little stone later night and work on music and just
kind of be creative and oh this sounds really good,
I'll go, well, I'll have to wait and see what
it feels like in the morning. But I mean, I
got a ton of stuff like that. But every so
often you'll hit a song and kind of go yeah.

(30:12):
And one thing that really helps me out is when
I get around other musicians and get to play my music.
I've always said that the band's gonna let you know
what your best songs are. And the guys in the
band like to play a song that's a good song,
because yeah, you know, musicians know a good song. So
just one song working on. It's kind of a fun song.
It's called a revenue man. And are you feeling with

(30:33):
billy strings? Not enough to continue to contribute to the conversation, Well,
billy strings, you know Seevie Vaughan, Right, Stevie Vand did
for the blues, billy strings is doing for bluegrass music.
He's just amazing and artists in the mid twenties. This
whole bands about that age group and he's just got

(30:55):
some killer songs. But the one song that I heard
of is I just loved. It's called dust in the Bag,
and it's about this young guy who gets strung out
on meth and fetamine by his friends and gets end
up thrown in jail for twenty years, and he goes, now,
I'm doing twenty years in prison. Folksome does the end
of Baggie. But I kind of got influenced, and I've

(31:15):
been Later on Friday night there's a couple of bluegrass
shows on. I've just gotten really interested in bluegrass. And
the reason partly is because I wrote the song off
of another TV program, you know, the Moonshiners. Every since
that showed the Moonshiners. Okay, Moonshiners is like on one
of those History channels, and what it is, it's like
a documentary, you know, a live documentary, and they document

(31:37):
these guys. They're going up with seven other illegal stills
up in the Ozarks, you know, and they show them
how they make everything and all their travails. I'm trying
to ditch the cops. And I thought one time, now
as was, I thought, what a great idea for a song,
you know, like this moonshining family. So I did a
little research. I was gonna call it the Federal Man.
I did a little research and I found out during

(31:57):
the Roaring twenties that the federal agents that used to
come and try to raise the Stills and throw eybuddy
in jail because there's prohibition, used to call them the
federal man. So anyway, I wrote the song Revenue. I
saw the revenue. They called the federal man the revenue

(32:17):
man because basically they call him revenue man because obviously
the Stills aren't paying any government revenue, right, they call
him revenue man. So I wrote this song, and it
was before this place closed down. We were playing at
every Wednesday night and I brought it in and the
other guys are really good musicians, so we had never
rehearsed anything. It's kind of real equip yourself. Okay, here's
here's the courtchions. If you know it's follow me, you know, yeah,

(32:39):
but uh it's It really took off with everybody really big,
and when they got done, they're going, man, you need
to you need to put a banjo on that song,
going yeah. So I started looking around for banjo players
and were the bando players are? I thought, you know,
what screwing about a banjo? And I wouldn't play the banjo.
But it's really kind of a cool song and it's
like starts off. It's like it's like this this kid

(33:01):
singing about his moonshining family goes, which is my Daddy
and me had a seecret pack going ahead of to
the highlands. I'm gonna drive it to the highlands, lots
of untouched land. We bring up corn of sugar and
we bring up some yeaes. Then we manufacture the ultimate piece.
And then of course, now I'm heading down the mountain

(33:21):
with my lip with gold for all the Thursday people
off the Cumberland Road staying out of prisons. My master
playing just two steps ahead at the revenue. Man, I
love it. Can you play it well? Probably usier playing
on the guitar than on the banjo.

Speaker 5 (33:39):
Take in would do the whole song, or you play
what you want to play well.

Speaker 2 (33:44):
You're in. This is why this is the one that
probably I think has at this point maybe the most
potential on the next group of songs. I'm not sure.
Drank here.

Speaker 6 (34:08):
Daddy and me had a secret path.

Speaker 11 (34:13):
I want to drop it to the hollow lots of
untouched lane, bring up card sugar and would bring him
some yees.

Speaker 2 (34:23):
Then we manufacture the ultimate piece. Now I'm heading.

Speaker 6 (34:28):
Down the bottom of Bunet to go for all the.

Speaker 11 (34:31):
Thirsty people off their number Land bro staying out of
prison as the master lane, just to start here the revenue.

Speaker 12 (34:41):
Mad you say, my uncle Buff did some tom in
the cane. Now they're after him again. Danny's out on
the lane. The best moon shut of this side of
the heel. Papa told me you learned to call his spears.

Speaker 2 (35:05):
Now I'm utting down the mountain with my leg with golf,
Oh the.

Speaker 11 (35:08):
Thirsty people off the Cumberland, staying out of prison as
a master.

Speaker 13 (35:13):
Plane, just too step ahead of the revenue.

Speaker 11 (35:18):
May It's a family tradition from the days of all
start around prohibition. If the truth be told, I'll run
in the sheriff. I've run in the line. Bring it

(35:38):
from the baker to your mom and Paul.

Speaker 2 (35:42):
Now I'm betting down the mountain.

Speaker 11 (35:43):
With my leguid off all the thirsty people off the
cover line, staying out of.

Speaker 13 (35:48):
Prison as my master plane, just two steps ahead of
the revenue. Made just two steps at the head of
the revenue.

Speaker 14 (36:03):
Eight.

Speaker 3 (36:08):
That's awesome.

Speaker 5 (36:10):
I love that. I love that song. That's gonna be
my head all night and like tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (36:16):
Yes, yeah, well a lot of bad song going to hooks.
I'm gonna I'm gonna stick there.

Speaker 3 (36:22):
When does that one come out?

Speaker 2 (36:25):
When is it gonna come out? Whenever I put the
the six songs together, So if I was to guess,
because I just put the other one out in early summer,
I don't want to wait a whole year. I'm hoping
maybe have this thing out maybe after the first of
the year twenty twenty five. That's my goal. But you know,
it depends on a lot of things. But yes, everybody

(36:48):
really likes that song on the banjo. Yeah, I've been
kind of learning how to do the banjo a little
bit here. Let me tell you, it's an interesting instrument,
so I don't I just play a little bit on them.
It's a real fast song. So, like I said, I'm
really just kind of I have to say, I'm really
a novice on the banjo. Is still what's interesting about

(37:09):
the band guitar we call it finger picking, and when
you do finger picking on the banjo, they call it runs.
It's called it run And I really don't quite have
my runs down yet.

Speaker 15 (37:17):
But m he said, I'm a novice at best, But

(38:02):
I'm I think about that.

Speaker 2 (38:04):
I practice every day, and every time I get a
little bit better, I redo the track on the song again. Yeah,
that's awesome. So yeah, it's kind of like a like
I used to tell my student's guitar class, kinda put
in a half hour day at least to get anywhere. Yeah,
that's just what I try to do. It is a
half hour day. And just like you guys, I closes
and always able to do it. But I give it

(38:24):
my boys shot.

Speaker 3 (38:25):
I'm sticking with guitar for now.

Speaker 2 (38:26):
Well, you know, it's interesting talking about what we're talking
about right now. It's like people, I was, I always
tell people I say no, And I said, I wish
I could get more gigs, and just gigs haven't coming
very wellly, I said, But I said, when I really
think about it, I said, if I had to say,
am I a songwriter or a musician? I would say, well,
as a musician, you know, I could hang with any

(38:49):
band on the bass, rhythm, and guitar, keyboard, mandolin. Laugh.
Steal I said, I'm really not a lead guitar player
or a drummer, but those other instructs I could hang
with any of all night long. I said, But even
spy of that. So I'm a decent musician, but I
would have to say I'm more of a songwriter than
a musician. I feel like my greatest strengths are as

(39:10):
a songwriter. Yeah, is as a songwriter. So and that's
kind of what I That's why because with recently the
last few years, I've been trying to put some stuff
to go with the band and all the guys I
know forever, Yeah, and it's a great band. I mean,
we just blow the place off, but we just ever
think any gigs. And I got really frushed at the
last few times, and I was telling my wife, I said,
you know, I said, I said, I really, I said,

(39:32):
I've always made in my whole life, I've always gotten
little you know. I always called your forks in the
road or certain times in your life where you get
a fork in kind of go which way should I go?
And and you know it's an important decision at the time,
you're not sure the and you just kind of think
about and you go that direction and ends up being right.
I've always felt like at the forks in the road
of my life, I've been lucky enough, smart enough, and

(39:54):
stiightful enough to take the right fork and I realized,
with what's going on with music online that the four
I should take is not trying to get live gigs,
but to pour all my time and energy into writing
my songs getting online. Just recently, I was odds online
looking at publishers and music people that kind of can
push your songs to other artists. So I'm actually going

(40:17):
to go in that direction. And some of the guys
are going, oh, you got to keep playing music. So
I want to keep playing music, I said, but I'm
not gonna put any more time in the booking gigs.
If you guys want to get shows, I'll play with you.
But this is, like I said, here's where my money's
coming in here. I said, you know, I'd much rather
have an audience throughout the whole world than the inland empire.
And some you know, I kind of I hope I

(40:40):
can say this online. But I have this friend who's
that calls me up all the time. He's a kind
of a retired musician, and I always make jokes, I said,
you know, I said, basically, I said, I said, I
don't want to take a gig at the Shithead Cafe.
You know it's the big deal. Oh, I got a
gig at the Shithead Cafe, you know, free drink dicats,
and it's like, you know what, who gives a shit?

(41:01):
You know, It's like, that's not where my That's not
the audience I want. I mean, it's like I would
like to win that audience. But the Illine empire is
the inland empire. I mean, the other some good musicians,
but the bookers I've talked to, they don't know. They're
ass from a hole. And as far as the music,
you know, but I can go online here and look
at my music and people are buying it, listen to
it and liking it, and so that's where the audience

(41:22):
is for me. So it's only natural that I'm going
to fall that path. I said. I always tell people,
you know what this age I'm at anyway, I'm not
a youngster anymore. But my fantasy, daydream slash goal is
to have my songwriting get good enough that suddenly people
will be wanting to come and hear my music. And

(41:45):
that's what I would have died trying to do that.

Speaker 5 (41:46):
And I think that's that's where I'm at. I think
that's the that's the more I call that the healthier approach.
I mean, it's not like your livelihood is based.

Speaker 2 (41:55):
On your music. I can see I'm very comfortable here
in my life style.

Speaker 5 (42:00):
Part of it, it's it's something we've noticed, you know,
on the show, like with a lot of young musicians.

Speaker 3 (42:07):
Something we talk about all the time is that.

Speaker 5 (42:11):
The ability to make a living performing and writing music
just isn't what it used to be, and it never
will be that way again once the record company has
got taken out of the equation. You're right, I think
that's part of it. And I think the other part,
like with the streaming, the good part of it is

(42:33):
music became more accessible, and you know, there's this smorgasboard effect.
There's no one alive who can viably say that there
isn't any good music out there. There's so much music,
and music has never been easier to create as far
as having the means to do so. But at the
same time, like the true value of music seems to

(42:55):
have come out where instead of spending you know, ten
bucks on an album and then you get as artist,
twenty five percent of every album purchased, that's a big
that's a lot of money for every unit. And now
it's micro pennies per stream, right, and it's like, well, okay,
but the same time, we can't afford to be buying
ten bucks an album, right because with inflation it'd be

(43:17):
twenty bucks an album nowadays. So the value of music's
come out and now it's like you got to have
a nine to five.

Speaker 4 (43:25):
You know.

Speaker 5 (43:25):
On the show Leo, he has a his band is
having your reunion tomorrow or Saturday for Castle Pines. They've
got about four hundred, five hundred people coming.

Speaker 2 (43:35):
That's a big gig. But he works for the City
of tigered Organ.

Speaker 5 (43:39):
You know, we've been doing this show for four and
a half, you know, almost you know, going on four years,
and we've.

Speaker 2 (43:46):
Made sixteen dollars off of it.

Speaker 3 (43:48):
So it's like it is.

Speaker 5 (43:49):
Unfortunately we gotta do it for love, right, Yeah, you
got And I think that forces you to be genuine
with your craft.

Speaker 2 (43:55):
Well two things. I find our cut of arrest almost
funny because like it the stuff all the time. Just
you know, increase your revenue through merch. I'm going what
we're by t shirt my picture on it right now,
you know, maybe my sold million albums, a million songs
that they buy it. You're buying a shirt and face
on it and buy your shirt. And the other thing

(44:16):
I always tell the people I say about what you
were kind of saying about the stream, I said, I said, Well,
the good news about music these days is anybody can
put an album out and put it online and have
people listen to it. Yeah. Now the bad thing, the
bad news is that anybody can put an album out
and everybody, yeah, listen to it. That's true. So it's
a bit a real equalizer where yeah, any and I said,

(44:39):
there's some guys that are on Facebook and want me
to listen to their music, and they're really nice guys,
but all this.

Speaker 3 (44:44):
Kind of gold, You're like, you don't want me to
listen to me.

Speaker 2 (44:51):
I do it because it's a professional courtesy because they're
so nice.

Speaker 3 (44:54):
To listen to my Yeah, that's a good point to me.

Speaker 2 (44:56):
That's all about like the community we have here that
people come over and work on song. Everybody's a different
levels and stuff. It's like, you know, I just point
my life. You know, I don't have an ego about
what I'm doing. I'm doing it because I love it. Yeah,
and it's something that keeps me alive and motivated. I said,
but you know, so I'm not going to poop on
anybody's music. You know, you're at everybody's a different stages.

(45:16):
But at the same time, you know, if you want
to be good, you got to put the time in
and you're yeah, and I kind of lost my thought
where I was going with all them. But it's like, yeah,
it's like, you know, it's a it's it's a tough
thing to do and you got to do it because
you love it. And but yeah, getting back to people
write music, there are some people that put stuff out
on Facebook and stuff, and you know, their voice is bad,

(45:38):
their lyrics are bad, but God bless them. You know,
I'm gonna support them because, just like me, they're doing
it because the love it and they care about it.
It's important it and it keeps them living, you know,
they and they put something out, yeah, and so like
you know, it's like so it's really I feel like,
you know, one time I was I'm not that I
sold a million hours or nothing either, because I have it.

(45:58):
But it's like I see myself kind of slowly working
myself up the ladder a little bit each day. Each
time I can kind of say I'm I'm making slow
incremental growth, and that's what I'm mostly interesting. It's like
it's all it's all about me from the standpoint. Its
like I'm not comparing myself. And I was telling somebody
the other day about I talking about local artist. I said,
you know, I said, I'm not comparing myself to anybody,

(46:20):
so because the only person I'm contemning myself too is me.
It's like I'm the only person I'm in competition with
for gigs or selling songs is me. I want to
I want to make myself a better product each time
I write a song, each time I record a song,
each time I put a song out, I want it
to be better. And and the other thing that I
really like is that when when the Germanism was grateful

(46:42):
to Mickey something or other, I can't think it was
last week. They were interviewing him, and I love to
read interviews with musicians. I talk about music specifically, and
he was saying, he is, you know, the greatest thing
for me is that I'm up there in the drum
kit and we started song, says, and I know, for
four minutes, I'm making that person forget about all the
problems in our life. I make and I'm happy. I'm
giving them an escape. And it's really that's kind of

(47:04):
what I want to do with buy music. It's not
an ego trip for me. I want to write songs
people like, oh, that's a cool song. You know, there's
some they losing, They're losing whatever cares and troubles they
have because they're hearing like, yeah, that's a cool song.
Day for I like that, you know, that's that's fun.
So that's kind of where I'm coming out with my music.
It's not really it's there's the gratification for me is

(47:25):
that I've written a good What I've done is I've
written a good song, mixed it, produced it well, put
it out, and the other gratifications of people compliment me
on it's.

Speaker 3 (47:33):
Like, oh, wow, everyone likes positive feedback.

Speaker 2 (47:37):
Yeah, well yeah, we all do positive feedback. Everybody gave
each other positive feedback in the.

Speaker 5 (47:41):
World would be in a lot better plays, I agree,
yeah yeah, and the words constructive yeah.

Speaker 2 (47:47):
And sometimes people ask me to create their create critique
their music, and I'm always real gentle with it. I
always I always go for the first part, which is
what can I find that I really like it here?
You know what what's the good stuff?

Speaker 10 (48:02):
You know?

Speaker 16 (48:02):
And then after that I kind of go, well, you know,
I was a little confused with this or why did
you do that? Or maybe you want to think of
you know, it's never like it's never a negative, even
when there's any when there's any like kind of red lining,
it's always a gentle.

Speaker 5 (48:16):
Red line, like what It's always as a question too, Yeah,
why did you make the decision to do this?

Speaker 2 (48:20):
Or like that, could you maybe use a better word
here or something like that. Yeah, that's kind of stuff
like that. Yeah, I like that. How do you think
how do you think you've improved since your first solo
album songs for Ohma and this album coming out.

Speaker 17 (48:39):
Undestigned Territory, Oh my god, improvements When I think about
it almost blows me away. It's like, like I said,
I started off. The only thing I did on first
almost play acoustic guitar, and I wrote. I think I
wrote every song except Jeff Harber. Yeah, he helped me
the music. I had a song called uh you Found Me,

(49:03):
and he came over and he helped me write the
music for it. And everybody says that's the best song
on the album.

Speaker 2 (49:10):
I think it is, too it's a great song. It
is a good song. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (49:14):
My favorite is the campfire version of Desert Breeze. And
I might be biased because I have a solo on
that you played on that but.

Speaker 2 (49:26):
One, two three four.

Speaker 6 (49:36):
Desert with in steering up distant memories, a.

Speaker 7 (49:53):
Casual name, angel sand my direction.

Speaker 6 (50:00):
It never would have been again.

Speaker 7 (50:09):
To tumbling weeds, generally touching forever changing this one's direction.

Speaker 6 (50:25):
In a starts sky.

Speaker 7 (50:26):
I can still feel your passion and spirit, your sweet
love haunt me till the day that I died. When
there's a wonton does it breeze, I can feel you
here with me asert brees thinking of one used to be.

(50:56):
Time doesn't give second chance to old faded dreams and
breathe from a encis you know, warm desert breese.

Speaker 6 (51:14):
I can feel you.

Speaker 7 (51:16):
Here as if it who was last night? Close my
eyes and your back again, holding me so tired. Now
you're here, just alive as you can be, to take

(51:39):
me away on that warm desert breeze. When there's a
warm desert breeze, I can.

Speaker 6 (51:49):
Feel you here with me wom desert breeze.

Speaker 7 (51:57):
Thinking of what used to be, Time doesn't give second
chances to old faded dreams and breathe from maces.

Speaker 14 (52:13):
You know warm doesn't breathe.

Speaker 7 (52:52):
Please come back to me.

Speaker 6 (52:59):
On this lonesome ride. I can resist.

Speaker 7 (53:03):
I still can't taste your kids. When there's a world
Desert Breeze, I can feel you with me, Coon Desert.

Speaker 6 (53:18):
Brees, thinking of what used to be.

Speaker 7 (53:24):
Time doesn't give second chances to old faded dreams and
breathe from ass you know, warm.

Speaker 14 (53:38):
Desert Brees.

Speaker 7 (53:41):
And second chances is you know warm Desert breet song.

Speaker 2 (53:49):
As I'm bringing back out of buff balls, I'm redoing
them again, either completely different or just adding to them.
But that's what's on off and on goes in my head,
like do I want to redo Desert bree It's kind
of one of those songs that kind of haven't pulled
it back up yet to possibly redo it. But yet
it's a that was really kind of very much an
Eagle influence song.

Speaker 3 (54:09):
You know, yeah, I hear it for sure, but yeah.

Speaker 2 (54:12):
I would say the improvement for me is is that
I and I thank you and Alan definitely for helping
me out. But it's like I was like just a
babe in the woods there that first album I mean,
you guys were having to do all the remixing and producing,
and I didn't even know how to punch and stuff,
so I was just waging over my head. I mean
I wanted to do it, but I didn't know where

(54:33):
to start. So I think what was happened with each
album is I took a little more control, not because
I wanted to have control, but because I wreck my
abilities got better that I was able to like, Okay,
first album didn't play an electric guitar. Second album picked
up the electric guitar, did some bass. Like each album,
I kind of kept on getting more and more involved

(54:54):
because one of the problems I ran into, but I'm
sure a lot of other musicians do this too, is
that you have an idea for your song how you
want it to be. So you have an idea of
what you want, say the bass to be, or the
keyboard to be, or the lead guitar to be, and
you bring somebody in and they're not doing what you
want to do and you try to explain it. So

(55:16):
part of my frustration was like the banjo, he was like,
I know what I hear in my head, That's what
I want to be able to do. So that got
me basically to get reinvolved again and improving my guitar skills,
especially electric guitar, pulling the bass out, playing the keyboards again.
In words, it was all about me wanting to make
the sounds that I heard in my head that I
couldn't explain to other people. So that's why of my

(55:38):
great improvements coming because basically it was for me getting
frustrated and not being able to, you know, get the
sound that I wanted from other people. Like one of
the guys that came in played guitar and one of
my songs, real nice guy. I want to pitch his name,
but nobody you wouldn't either, but he came in and
he used to play really good rock guitar, and he's

(55:59):
kind of was jazzy, just kind of playing this jazzy
stuff on this song and it's like we still put
it out. It's on the album. You can hear. It's
just like I'm going, that's that's not what I want,
you know, But I didn't know how to play it
at the time, so I thought I have to learn
to play the guitar. I always I always tell people
I'm not a lead guitar player, but I can play
lead inwards. I'm not one of those guys I'm gonna

(56:20):
sit with the band and they kind of look at
big gold, but give me the studio. I go on there, Yeah,
I got it. Two or three hours of my time.
I'll lay down a really great lead because I've got
all this time to plan it out and i can
overdub it and everything, you know. So I've been able
to do. And so I would say my growth has
been as a musician because I've taken on more and
more control ownership of my songs and the musicianship, and

(56:43):
that's just made me grow as a person. And on
top of that, I've listened to a lot more music,
you know, I would go back to my favorites. I
try to listen to newer artists and just kind of
take it all in and kind of synthesize it. Say Okay,
you know, what what can I do with all this
and kind of make my sound. And I think that's
what I'm really trying to do now with this one

(57:05):
I just put out and the next one, it's like
I'm kind of honing my sound. And I think my
sound is a combination of I would say country blues, folk, bluegrass,
rock and roll. As much I love R and B,

(57:27):
I have don't really put that, but basically it's.

Speaker 5 (57:29):
California folk America, a Smaricuna.

Speaker 2 (57:33):
Yeah, I'm really in Cajun. I would keep on free.
The mentioned cage of Cajun music was very influential. In fact,
one of the songs on my EP, Rochelle, basically it's
kind of a Cajun song. I wrote it. Originally. Rochelle
was kind of a spin off I love the Blasters.
Remember the Blasters, Okay, for the eighties they were like
a real rootsy kind of rock and roll band, kind

(57:54):
of really focused on the kind of fifties rockabilly, but
they weren't really true rockabilly. But yeah, they were very
big man in the eighties. And they had a song
called Marie Marie, and that was kind of the blueprint
I used for Rochelle. And it's just a real simple
kind of rockabilly song that's kind of got some Cajun

(58:15):
elements in it too. And when you.

Speaker 5 (58:17):
Say blueprint, do you mean like you borrowed elements from
the song?

Speaker 2 (58:22):
Well, I took the I didn't to take the chord progression,
but I recognize it. Was just two chords mainly, and
they go to a third chord, and I basically did
the same thing, but I had four chords instead of three.
Oh yeah, But I was basically kind of bounces between
the one and the five. I think they bounce between

(58:43):
the one and the five two, and then they go
to a four, and I think I bounce between the
one and the five, and I go the four and
then I go, I say, what do I do? I go, yeah,
I think i'd go a half step over what step
of the one? Just one real book part in the song? Hm? Hm,
you like to see what I'm way doing here? Oh

(59:05):
sets show.

Speaker 18 (59:10):
M Yeah, because listen to us. Why you go will
be because you're all last.

Speaker 4 (59:22):
See see there don't that about you.

Speaker 6 (59:35):
Well, I've just man on the fourth. I got myself
a plan.

Speaker 2 (59:42):
Okay, I'm going up to that the second, the second.

Speaker 4 (59:45):
Unity there there you got the five.

Speaker 5 (59:51):
Yeah, so I go up the two there, Yeah, I
got one five four one two five Yeah, So that's okay.

Speaker 2 (59:58):
Variation Yeah, Marie.

Speaker 19 (01:00:00):
Marie was something like this, you don't understand.

Speaker 2 (01:00:31):
Want to be your loving man? Yeah. See you can
see it's very similar, but it's not a it's not
a rip offer. I took the inspiration from that chord
progression and I wanted to write a song about a girl.
Why don't they helped me out a few of the
lyrics on it? Cool? But yeah the song because russ

(01:00:52):
shell my.

Speaker 11 (01:00:52):
Bell while you go out on me because you're all
I see you don't let this too hot?

Speaker 3 (01:00:59):
So Martha, it's a songwriter credit.

Speaker 2 (01:01:01):
Well she watches I think I think she led with us.
There's a words of life is these twos are dripping
on my sleeve and then I think, don't let this
too hot lead. So it's like that she obambos too.
That's awesome. Does she does she work with you on
music regularly? No, but she's my biggest fan. Good I

(01:01:24):
always the guy's always Marvel because they'll go, how come
you got all these lice guitars? Says, because my wife
fuss to be bought.

Speaker 5 (01:01:31):
Alena Alenta has a running list of all the guitars
I have. She's like, hurt, if you want to buy
a new guitar, you gotta get rid of one, and
I'm like, but I can't. And then someone actually broke
into my storage unit and stole one. Oh, I guess
I gotta get another guitar. No, oh yeah it was.
It was like an employee at the storage unit. It

(01:01:52):
was one of my dad's one of.

Speaker 2 (01:01:54):
Your dads guitars. Yeah, yeah, that is guitarist dude, didn't.

Speaker 3 (01:01:57):
He he collected. Yeah, he had a decent amount.

Speaker 2 (01:01:59):
It was an epiphone less Paul.

Speaker 5 (01:02:02):
Oh wow, it was actually really nice. It is one
of my favorites that he owned. But that was that
one was a hard That was.

Speaker 2 (01:02:08):
A hard loss. Hear that, that is what it is.

Speaker 5 (01:02:13):
They were like, file a police report and then we'll
do an investigation. I go, yeah, it's it's gone. It's gone.
There's no way you're gonna find that thing. And if
you did, it's sold. It's gone and sold.

Speaker 2 (01:02:24):
The best you can do is put out app at
the pollen shops.

Speaker 14 (01:02:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:02:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:02:29):
It would have been like two months since I put
that in and then went back and checked in.

Speaker 2 (01:02:32):
But well, you know what happened to me is that
I've always had a decent amout of guitars, nothing special.
But my father passed away. I didn't expect any money
from from his estate, and I got a ton of
money I wasn't expecting. So that's why we ended up
putting in Solar or New Pool, and I just thought,
you know what, I wouldn't I'd rather leave it to Jake.

(01:02:53):
I want to enjoy it myself. So I just started
outfitting my studio, you know. So every time I need
to do it's I got one. That's what of So
like since I've seen I don't know, I've got a
really nice Martin Dye eighteen. Now, No, I haven't seen
a Gibson hummingbird. And this is the one I've had
three years.

Speaker 1 (01:03:10):
When I was working with Dave on his first album,
I'd been struggling with my own songwriting capabilities. It's a
struggle that I still have to this day, but he.

Speaker 2 (01:03:19):
Offered me some terrific advices.

Speaker 1 (01:03:22):
Dave always tells a story with his songs, and so
long as you have a good story, you can make
a good song. His music reflects his life and the
stories he's collected and created. Songs about love, heartbreak, longing,
songs about folklore and creatures that may or may not
be myth and even one song about a mysterious disappearance

(01:03:44):
he wants witnessed at a public park. He has a
story to tell, and he crafts them into solidly written
pieces of music. In addition to his carefully crafted skills,
he is still open to growth and improving his craft.
Each album is better than the last, But for David Osborne,
the joy is in the creation and the shared experience

(01:04:07):
of good music. The stories are what matter, and I'm
glad to have been part of a.

Speaker 20 (01:04:13):
Good If you're fit up all same, be careful where
you string because.

Speaker 2 (01:04:31):
They're on course.

Speaker 6 (01:04:35):
That you can explain.

Speaker 7 (01:04:41):
Patrina and Sister stayed.

Speaker 20 (01:04:44):
Away It flo that goes me highway.

Speaker 2 (01:04:51):
Don't be crossing up with that.

Speaker 20 (01:04:52):
Weabi they can make you pay, Make you pay.

Speaker 6 (01:05:00):
You'll be dancing with the dog in Voodoo Lilly. You'll
be dancing with the dogs.

Speaker 2 (01:05:14):
In Voody Lilly.

Speaker 20 (01:05:20):
Be wherever n behind those doors, straight symbol, dawn on
a little floats.

Speaker 6 (01:05:29):
It's a fine night.

Speaker 21 (01:05:30):
That cuts between the pleasure and pains, or some fine
summer whiskey on the ground, Shake those rock us, then
dance you rack.

Speaker 6 (01:05:48):
Under sweet baby, back.

Speaker 14 (01:05:51):
On no thing, Easy night, easy night.

Speaker 11 (01:05:58):
You be descled with the in Voodoo Valley.

Speaker 6 (01:06:07):
You'll be dancin with the dog in Voodoo Valley.