The Randy Ross Interview.

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Call in to join the mix at seven oh one
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(00:24):
like us on Facebook at Vigilantes Radio. We welcome all
enjoy the show. Ladies and gentlemen. Please welcome your host
Demitrius who Demi Black Reynolds. Enjoy the show.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Hey, Hey, Hey, what is going on? Guys? Welcome to
another incredible episode of Vigilantes Radio live right here on
iHeartRadio and I am your host Deanie. We have a
very special guest for you. Guys. You definitely want to
stick around for that. And as a matter of fact,
text your buddies, family members are even shared on social

(01:04):
media right now and let them know that we are
about to dive deep into another interview before I bring
my guests, do I do want to say, don't lose sight.
This is the frequency of the fearless. You know, life
has a way of teaching us that the best knights

(01:25):
aren't the ones we planned, They're the ones that just happened.
The kind where laughter mixes with heartache, where stories are
shared between strangers, and where the moment feels like it
might last forever even though we know it won't. That's
what country singer songwriter Randy Ross captures, those flating sparks

(01:47):
of connection that remind us we're still alive. He writes
the kind of songs that pour a drink for your joy,
raise a glass to your pain, and host to the
beauty of both. Because in the end, what makes a
good night is it the whiskey or the words, It's

(02:09):
the people. It's known that for a brief moment, life
made sense and it's chaos. You're not just here for
a talk show. And this isn't just radio. This is
a revival for your mind, body, and spirit. This is
Vigilantes Radio Life. My name is Coach Dini, and change
is possible. Are you ready?

Speaker 3 (02:37):
Are you ready?

Speaker 2 (02:43):
Are you ready? Ready?

Speaker 3 (02:49):
Are you ready? We'll let it go.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
They'll go all right, all right again. Welcome to the show.
You're listening to vr L. That's Vigilantes Radio Life right
here on iHeart Radio and I am your host, Deani.
Our interviews are designed to go beyond the music, news, books, art, acting, films, technology, education, entrepreneurship, entertainment, spirituality,

(03:18):
and sometimes even past that theme that we call the ego.
Our interviews are designed to go behind the scenes into
the minds of these brilliant people, you know, the ones
who are out there giving it. They're all for me,
for you, and for the world. Well, ladies and gentlemen,
Tonight's guest knows that a great country song isn't just written,

(03:40):
it's lived. Born in Phoenix and now rooted in Nashville,
Randy Ross writes with the soul of a storyteller and
the heart of a friend. His latest single, A Good Night,
reminds us that life's sweetest moments are often the shortest ones,
where you know, laughter meets alone and stories turn into songs.

(04:03):
From dusty barrooms to recording rooms, his music speaks truth.
So please join me in saying welcome friend to Randy Ross. Hey, Hey,
welcome to the show.

Speaker 4 (04:16):
Hey, how you doing man?

Speaker 2 (04:18):
Pretty good man?

Speaker 4 (04:19):
How are you? I'm doing great?

Speaker 2 (04:22):
Ye sounds good man like. For some reason, every time
I interview a country singer songwriter, I always want to
say howdy, or someone from Texas or in Nashville.

Speaker 4 (04:34):
Yeah, man, how do you work just as good? You know,
you hear that every once in a while, especially down
in Texas. They still say that all the.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
Time down there. Yeah, man. And I'm from Mississippi, you know,
home home of the blues country, honky tonks, Yeah, man,
hoot and nannies, all that type of stuff. So, you know,
howdy is a common phrase that most of us barroom
attendee would say to each other. If you're wearing a

(05:02):
big ten gallon had in some boots.

Speaker 4 (05:05):
Absolutely, yeah, man, how do you It's just you know,
it's a friendly way to greet somebody, you know for sure.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
Man. Well again, welcome to the show. And before we
dive into everything, Randy Ross, what's been on your heart
and mind lately?

Speaker 4 (05:22):
Well, man, I'm really excited that this new music is
coming out. We were in the studio working on there's
just a single out right now, but there's gonna be
a whole record behind it. We're in the studio working
on it in February and March, and since then, I
mean I kind of took the summer off from touring
just to try to get everything together to put the
songs out, and I'm just really excited that that, you know,

(05:44):
it's finally happening, because we really put a lot of
hard work into this music and got in there with
a lot of really great friends who are some of
the best musicians that I know as well, and man,
I think we really did a great job on it.
And I just couldn't think you know, everybody who is
a part of the process, and that for being there
with me through it all.

Speaker 2 (06:02):
Nice. So what did you do? What were some of
the first things you did when you came off tour?

Speaker 4 (06:11):
H Well, I mean at the end of last winter
that was my last little bit on the road, and
I'd had these songs and knew that it was about
time to get back into the studio and start start
making some new new records. And I had a plan
recorded at the great studio called the Bomb Shelter in
East Nashville with a good friend, Jack Tellman as the engineer,

(06:34):
and just got a good group of some of my
regular bandmates and some of my just good friends who
I was lucky enough to get a couple of days
of their time to be on the record. And yeah, man,
it's just it just really couldn't have gone any better,
to be honest with you.

Speaker 2 (06:50):
Yeah, all right, sounds good, man. So let's start with
a good night. It's such a vivid song, you know,
full of joy and also sadness at once. You know
that's a hard concept, you know, a thin line between
joy and sadness. I guess because good times are known
to come to an end. But what inspired that balance

(07:11):
between celebration and reflection?

Speaker 4 (07:16):
Really? So it was all written about this one bar
that me and a lot of good friends of mine
you to hang out at. The bar no longer exists,
but it was a known songwriter's hang out in Nashville,
and I played there a lot. And I wrote it
with a good friend of mine named Jack Sloan, who's
in a band called Talk Radio. And we just kind
of got together one night and he had a little

(07:38):
line and a piece of a chord progression and we
I just heard something that I liked and I was like, man,
let's let's go with that. Let's try to make something
out of that. So we just started talking about stuff
and reminiscing over nights we had had at this particular
place that kind of all ended up in this one song,
and that's that's sort of how it came about.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
Yeah, what happened to the bar?

Speaker 4 (08:02):
It closed down? I mean Nashville these days, you know,
it's definitely changing, sometimes for the better, sometimes for worse.
But a lot of places that used to be really
cool spots to hang out have kind of closed down
in favor of more places for bachelorette parties to go
and stuff like that.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
I see, I see. Did you guys replace this meet
up spot with something else?

Speaker 4 (08:28):
I would say so. I mean, there's definitely still a
good handful of cool places to hang for locals that
are musicians and songwriters and whatnot, But this particular place,
I don't know if you could ever fully replace it,
to be honest.

Speaker 2 (08:42):
Yeah, I get that. So you mentioned Jack Sloan, and
this is the person who you co wrote this song with.
He's also a friend of viewers. As you mentioned, how
long have you guys been friends?

Speaker 4 (08:54):
I think we met in twenty nineteen or so somewhere
around there. Yeah, just I think we met at this bar.
Actually I could be mistaken on that because it was
a while ago, but yeah, we met there and just
sort of, you know, we liked each other. Like each
other's music, even though it was sort of different. I mean,
he's got more of a indie rock kind of flavor

(09:15):
to his stuff. But I mean, one thing I do
really enjoy doing is collaborating with people who might not
be in the exact same genre as I am, because
I think you get a lot of cool a lot
of cool stuff that comes out of working with people
that do different things.

Speaker 2 (09:30):
You know, yeah, yeah, some different elements in there, absolutely
or influences. So how did this friendship began right before Covid?
How did this friendship shape the story and emotion of
the song?

Speaker 4 (09:45):
I mean, we had both witnessed and been witnessed to
a lot of a lot of things that happened in
that bar, and I think when we wrote it, it
was actually I think we wrote it in twenty twenty
two or twenty three, which would have been right after
that bar shut down and COVID was definitely a factor
and the reason why it closed. Yeah, we were just
kind of reminiscing on it, the good, the bad, and

(10:07):
the ugly. And like I said, I went over to
his house one night and he had this this core
progression and a couple of little lines, and we just
sort of pieced the rest of it together by just
sort of reminiscing on old times.

Speaker 2 (10:18):
Really yeah, nice, So that lyric the big stuff the
little things, but no one knew the difference his hard man.
What does that line mean to you personally?

Speaker 4 (10:32):
Well, for me, I mean one of my big like
philosophies I guess in life is that, I mean, when
you get right down to it, the little things kind
of all add up to be the big things. So
even though you know certain things might seem insignificant, you
put enough those little things together and you got you've
got big things to to reckon with, I guess. And

(10:56):
that's sort of that philosophy is sort of the driving
theme behind that that line and really the whole song.

Speaker 2 (11:06):
And you've said that, you know, the song itself is
a metaphor for life, you know, happy and sad at
the same time. When you look at your own life,
what are the moments that mirror that truth?

Speaker 4 (11:22):
I mean, you know, I've just just real life stuff. Man.
It's you know, there's times when when you got bills
you can't pay and you don't know how you're gonna
make it, but you figure out a way to still
meet up with your friends and have a good time.
There's times when you feel like you're on top of
the world, but you might have something in your personal
life that's bringing you down. So I mean, it's just
sort of taking it all in and trying to see

(11:44):
the bigger picture as opposed to getting too stuck or
bogged down on one one thing, whether it be good
or bad.

Speaker 2 (11:52):
Yeah. You know what, that's the most important part of
life is that community aspect on friends. You know, you
could be going through the worst time, but you meet
up with a group of friends that just make you
forget about your problems for a second.

Speaker 4 (12:07):
Absolutely, man, that's what it's all about. That's what hell's
get you through.

Speaker 2 (12:11):
Indeed, Man, you ever make it back to Phoenix?

Speaker 4 (12:15):
Oh yeah, Yeah. I usually go back there in the
winter because the weather's a lot nicer. But yeah, I
usually go home for the holidays and meet up with
old friends in Phoenix too and see family and all
that good stuff.

Speaker 2 (12:27):
Did you get a chance to play in Phoenix?

Speaker 5 (12:30):
Uh?

Speaker 4 (12:30):
Yeah, So I did a few shows in Arizona the
last winter and not actually in Phoenix, but I was
able to do a little mini tour around the state.
Played in flag Staff, a really cool town that's actually
down by the border called Disney, and then I had
a show in Tucson as well.

Speaker 2 (12:46):
Absolutely, I've heard that your grandma is from Messico. Have
you been able to sneak in any rhythms our heritage
into your songwriting or music.

Speaker 4 (13:00):
Absolutely. Man, I've always sort of always really loved Mexican music,
mariachi and nurtano or banda it can be called. But
I really think a lot of that stuff goes hand
in hand with the similar elements to honky tonk music,
American folk music, and a lot of other things. So,
I mean, I try to take influence from everything that

(13:22):
I think is good, and that's definitely one of them
that I try to try to pay homage to, as
well as keeping that sort of honky tonk sound going
at the same time.

Speaker 2 (13:32):
Yeah, so less we wanted a little bit. Man, How
did you discover music?

Speaker 4 (13:37):
I mean, I've been obsessed with music ever since I
was a little kid. I didn't really start learning how
to play guitar till I was probably seventeen or eighteen,
but ever since I was a little kid, I've always
loved music. When I remember when I was really little,
my family had a VHS tape of Garth Brooks Central
Park concert from the late nineties and I was like

(13:57):
four or five years old and I wore that tape out. Man,
m M.

Speaker 5 (14:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (14:03):
Man, So from the VH tapes, Randy Travis inspired you
to begin.

Speaker 4 (14:10):
Music or as far as as far as like making
music myself, And that didn't start till much later in
my life. But everything that I've ever heard and been
excited about has I would consider an influence and an inspiration.
But really, if you want to talk about what directly
inspired me to start making music, it was actually a
guy who by the named Mac DeMarco, indie rock singer songwriter,

(14:32):
And that was the first thing that when I was
in high school and sort of flirting with the idea
of trying to learn how to play guitar and make music,
I just saw him play live and I listened to
his records, and it was the first thing that made
me feel like I could, you know, probably probably learn
how to do it on my own too. And I
think that's a big, big step in the journey for

(14:54):
anyone who wants to be a musician. That first thing
you see that makes you think, oh, man, I could
I could probably do that.

Speaker 2 (15:01):
Yeah, how long did it take you to get started?

Speaker 4 (15:05):
Well, I mean it took a good couple of years
to where I could play guitar to the point where
I wanted to show anybody what I was working on.
But I mean that's part of the process too, And
I started playing guitar and just learning some of my
favorite songs from songwriters and bands that I was into.
And then probably a few years after that, I think
I was nineteen or twenty when I felt like I

(15:29):
had something to say and just started sitting down with
the guitar and writing down my feelings basically, and that
was sort of where songwriting began for me.

Speaker 2 (15:38):
Yeah, what about the studio part of everything.

Speaker 4 (15:41):
Well, early on, I was another big influence from Mac
de Marco, as he made all his records himself in
his bedroom. So being a young kid who wasn't even
out of college and I didn't have much money to
go into the studio at that time, I just started
buying cheap microphones and recording gear and learning how to
do it myself. So, I mean my first two records

(16:03):
are entirely self self made, self produced, and this one
was actually the first time where we went into a real,
real deal studio to make a record.

Speaker 2 (16:13):
So, yeah, what was your first doll?

Speaker 4 (16:18):
I actually, so my very first one. I bought a
like they have these things called Portas studios where it's
like a mixing board and you can record onto hardware
that's right on the board. So it was just kind
of all in all in the box and just sort
of messing around with stuff like that. And I've made
a couple of upgrades on that on those over the years,
but the first one I ever had was a foss
Tex DS sixteen that I got on Craiglist and.

Speaker 2 (16:43):
Good old Chrismist.

Speaker 4 (16:45):
Oh yeah, a lot of good gear on there.

Speaker 2 (16:48):
Oh yeah. Man, So A good Night this song feels
like a bridge to your next chapter. What can you
tell us about your upcoming EP to drop in next month?
Musically or thematically?

Speaker 4 (17:03):
I mean, I do think that this tune A good
Night really does kind of capture a broad a broad
team of the record. There's some songs that are on
the happier side, some songs that are on the sadder side.
I also got two songs that one was written by
a great mentor of mine by the name of Raymond Sith.

Speaker 3 (17:23):
Si s K.

Speaker 4 (17:25):
And then another one by my uncle Raymond who passed
away a few years ago, who was a career musician
and singer songwriter. And there are two completely different songs,
but those two one being my uncle and one just
being a mentor of mine that I met Nashville and
he taught me a whole lot more about how to
write a good song, and really just wanted to have

(17:46):
those two on the record pay tribute to two of
my biggest personal influences. And then four songs that I
wrote or co wrote with some friends that just sort
of I don't know if they all tell one story,
but they all certainly tell a story by themselves.

Speaker 2 (18:01):
So yeah, So speaking of racist or Raymond cisc and
and even Jim Martin, Uh, what's one piece of advice
that they gave you that you still carry into every
session or performance?

Speaker 4 (18:15):
Well, I mean, Jim taught me a whole lot about
how to perform live. Uh, playing that playing in bars
in Nashville with him, there was certainly an education on
how to work a crowd, how to you know, get
people on their side if maybe you got a night
where the crowd's and maybe not feeling that interested and
hearing something new. But ray Man, I mean, I don't

(18:36):
know if it was anything necessarily he told me, but
just from being able to hang out with him and
uh and watch what he did and in terms of
crafting crafting songs that were just incredible. I mean that
that alone, just being able to soak up that knowledge
was really really where I learned a lot about how
to write songs and how to perform. So I don't

(18:58):
know if I could point to any one piece of
the advice or anything, but just having that time to
spend with them was was huge in my own development
and writing and performing.

Speaker 2 (19:08):
Yeah, so this one's for our younger audience who listens
to the show who you know, knee Porters and such
talk about a time that you had to warm up,
warm up a crowd to a new song.

Speaker 4 (19:24):
I mean, in Nashville you kind of get the opportunity
to do that a lot. You play a lot of
writers rounds where you sit up there with two or
three people that you may know or may not know,
and sometimes you go into these places and there's a
great crowd that's eager to hear some new music, and
sometimes you just kind of feel like you're playing for
the other writers in the room. So I mean a

(19:44):
lot of people are testing out new materials. So it
makes it makes a very good environment to be doing
that stuff because everybody else is doing it too. I
don't know, it's just sort of sort of having that
environment where a lot of other PEO people are doing
the same thing kind of makes you feel more comfortable
if maybe you don't have a new song completely hammered out,

(20:06):
yet definitely makes you feel more comfortable and sharing something
new with a new audience. You know, got you got
you got you.

Speaker 2 (20:15):
So before we play the next well before we play
the single, it seems like you've built your career around connection.
What something your fans or even peers have said that
reminded you why you keep doing this music?

Speaker 4 (20:36):
I mean, to be honest, it's really just, uh, you know,
anytime when I'm when I'm hanging out with people who
I really respect in the music scene. I mean, there's
no shortage of people in Nashville who are doing great things.
So yeah, some people look at that like a competition,
but I choose to view it more as like, uh,
just just kind of being grateful for the opportunity to

(20:58):
be around a lot of other folks that are doing
the same thing. So anytime that somebody who I really
respect says something to me or goes out of their
way to say something that they really liked a new
song that I was playing that night, or or that
they could tell that, you know, I was working on
something with guitar playing or anything like that. Man, it
means a whole lot, and that makes it a lot

(21:18):
easier to keep going when it gets when it gets tough.

Speaker 2 (21:23):
Indeed, indeed, all right, listeners, it's time. We're some awesome music.
We have a good night by Randy Ross, and we'll
be right back. Stay tuned.

Speaker 6 (21:57):
Reason why summer night the first big snow in here,
folks sliding from left and right to get that selves
a big music floating on the crowd like snowflakes falling

(22:17):
off the ground, and everyone was looking round.

Speaker 5 (22:23):
He let just say.

Speaker 6 (22:33):
His back behind the ball and bean his on the boarder.
Usually by this damn time my head formed the door.

Speaker 7 (22:48):
Jenny's maid Hanes.

Speaker 6 (22:50):
Says, someone by as all out.

Speaker 7 (22:56):
And all in, broken off the knee.

Speaker 5 (22:59):
Say the refrain, and we talked to fixed up the
little things.

Speaker 7 (23:11):
But no knew the difference.

Speaker 6 (23:16):
Because love about road was its own deliverance. Delivery was
strong enough, I don't recall.

Speaker 2 (23:30):
And.

Speaker 7 (23:33):
It was good. It was good.

Speaker 6 (24:19):
Friend n't mind comes up to me, slaps me on
the back. He says, buddy, this is as good as
it's going on.

Speaker 7 (24:35):
I don't I.

Speaker 6 (24:36):
Heard him slur those words of thousand times people over
the first time.

Speaker 7 (24:44):
I knew just what he had been. And we talked,
the picked.

Speaker 6 (24:54):
Up the little things, but no one knew the differen
don't love mall? Was it song delivery? Everyone was drown enough.

Speaker 7 (25:13):
I don't recall. It was a good night.

Speaker 2 (25:24):
It was good, all right, all right, welcome back again,
such an awesome night, A good night. I'm over here
reminiscing all the good nights I've had with friends and connections,

(25:48):
and yeah, good times, good times. All right. So I
got me a little sad and a little happy, you know.
I guess that's the way the song works.

Speaker 4 (25:59):
All right.

Speaker 2 (25:59):
Let's go ahead and bring for Randy back. Hey hey hey,
welcome back, welcome back, hey hey, hey man. Before we
let you go, this is our mic drop moment. If
someone's first time hearing a good night, what's the one
feeling that you hope they walk away with?

Speaker 4 (26:23):
I guess it would have to be specific to the person.
But like you said, man happy or sad, it's it's
all going to be part of life in the end.
So whether whether it makes you feel good reminiscing on
on good times that you may have had similar situations
to the to the song, or whether it makes you
feel sad or melancholy. I hope that you can just

(26:43):
sort of take a step back and see the bigger
picture at some point. It can be hard to do
that in the moment sometimes, but but it's always good
to be able to take a look at the at
the larger scope of things.

Speaker 5 (26:56):
You know.

Speaker 2 (26:57):
Indeed, where can our listeners with you on the internet
and check out more music.

Speaker 4 (27:03):
I'm on Instagram and a little bit on TikTok. I'm
trying to get a little bit better about the whole
TikTok thing. But music is everywhere that you can stream
it Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, Title, all those streaming services. You
can find all my stuff, all right, cool deal?

Speaker 2 (27:22):
And listeners. Just in case you need those links, and
I know you will, I have them in the description
of this episode and in the show notes. So all
you guys have to do is just click the links.
Well tonight, Randy Ross reminded us that life isn't made
up of big moments, It's made up of good ones.

(27:42):
The kid, we might not even realize we're special until
the music fades, the lights dim, and the laughter becomes
a memory. Through his storytelling, he showed us that happiness
and sadness are not opposites. They're kind of like partners,
you know, because it could brew a sense of appreciation.

(28:04):
You can't feel one without knowing the other. I believe,
and Randy, thank you for sharing your heart and you're
honesty with us to our listeners. Go scream a good
night wherever you get your music and follow Randy Ross
on social media for his upcoming EP this November. I
had a good time stalking his igpage. I mean not stalking,

(28:25):
researching is igpage. That's a better word you And you know,
I'm excited for the EP that's coming next month. So
as always subscribed Vigilantes Radio Live, drop a rating and
support the show at buymeocoffee dot com. Formuslash Vigilantes Radio.
You're not just listening to a story, you were actually

(28:45):
a part of it. And this isn't just radio, this
is revival. So stay fearless. Family, take care of Randy.
It was a pleasure.

Speaker 4 (28:53):
Thanks Genie. Save here all right, take care you.

Speaker 3 (28:57):
By bye, he's too all. My name is Denie and
I am the host of Vigilantes Radio Live. I think
that we are beyond just asking cool questions and getting
cool responses. I think that we are here as creatives

(29:18):
to provide an example.

Speaker 4 (29:20):
That you can do things.

Speaker 3 (29:22):
Different outside of expectations, because some of us simply we're
not born into the club, but there is perhaps a
door window or backgate that.

Speaker 7 (29:37):
We can leave a clue for you to get into.

Speaker 3 (29:40):
Life is short, but there are plenty of moments to
try and get it right. And pursuing your dreams and
learning from mistakes may be tough, but regret it's tougher to.

Speaker 2 (29:53):
Book your interview.

Speaker 8 (29:54):
Email us at radio at only one video group dot
com that's a view as a victorious or visit only
one video dot Com.

Speaker 3 (30:07):
I count on you, Heaven, We all are counting on
you to step into your purpose and your passions. You
are listening to Vigilantis Radio Live on iHeart Radio, providing
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Speaker 9 (30:21):
An opportunity to dive.

Speaker 5 (30:32):
We deliver.

Speaker 1 (30:49):
You are now listening to vigil Lances Radio, the people's
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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}The Randy Ross Interview.

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