Chewing the Gristle with Greg Koch
Listen in on Greg Koch's conversations with his guitar-hero friends. Every episode Greg unleashes his fiendish humor and unique perspective as "one of the most famous unknown guitar players in the world", asking his often-famous musical friends the questions that we all want to know the answers to! Each episode is brought to you by Fishman and Wildwood Guitars
Chewing the Gristle with Greg Koch
Tyler Bryant
Tyler Bryant's musical journey embodies the purest essence of artistic dedication. From the moment he left his tiny Texas town of 1,700 people at age 17, armed with nothing but talent and determination, his singular focus has been creating authentic music that resonates. That unwavering commitment has evolved into a Grammy-winning career spanning performance, songwriting, and production.
What strikes you immediately about Bryant is his refreshing perspective on success. Where once it meant packed venues and non-stop touring, he's found deeper fulfillment in creating meaningful music while maintaining balance. His current rhythm of 50-70 shows yearly complemented by studio work represents not a compromise but an evolution—one allowing him to truly savor each creative moment.
Bryant's production philosophy is equally enlightening. Rather than imposing his vision, he describes himself as "a professional appreciator" who helps artists recognize their most magical moments. "Hold on, do you realize when you do this, that's super badass? I have goosebumps," he explains. This approach has led to collaborations with artists ranging from Ruthie Foster to Rodney Crowell, culminating in Grammy recognition that Bryant humbly downplays, insisting "the work is the reward."
The conversation reveals a musician who's grown not just in skill but wisdom. From building a professional studio from scratch to recovering his beloved pink Stratocaster five years after it was stolen, Bryant approaches each experience with both passion and perspective. Now preparing for fatherhood with a baby due in August, he's entering yet another creative chapter—one where music and family harmonize completely. As he puts it, success today means "getting to make cool music as much as I possibly can and provide for my family." For anyone navigating their own creative path, Tyler Bryant offers the perfect reminder that authentic art happens when you follow what truly moves you.
Ladies and gentlemen, it's time, once again for another season of Chewing the Gristle with yours truly Greg Kauk. Can you believe it's already season six? We've got so many cool interviews lined up. Are we going to talk about music, you betcha? But what else are we going to talk about? Well, quite frankly, anything that comes to mind. So stay tuned, doggone it. Let's chew that doggone gristle. Season six come this week on Chewing the Gristle. Not only do we have a guitar-playing potentate, an artist in his own right, but he's a producer, a Grammy award-winning producer. That's right, Tyler Bryant, this week on Chewing the Gristle. Can't wait, let's get involved. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome once again to another installment of Chewing the Gristle with yours truly Gregory Cochrie. I'm here with the mighty Tyler Bryant, performer, guitar slinger, Grammy Award-winning producer. Hell of a nice fella. What the hell's going on, Tyler? What's new, what's happening?
Speaker 2:Hey, man, just, I've been working on this studio for the last 18 months and I'm finally making music in here, and I think I was probably in the thick of it the last time I ran into you in Fort Wayne. Yes, but, man, I was tickled whenever I got a text message from you asking to hang out because I've been a fan of you for so long and I'm just. I was like, yeah, I want to hang out and shoot it with Greg.
Speaker 1:You know what I'm trying to think of. When we first met, it had to have been back in, I think, fender days for me, when I was, I think, maybe at that Fender University. Remember when we did that a couple times, mm-hmm, and you were a wee lad. Well, of course I was weirder than I am now, but you were a youngster.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think one of correct me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 1:Did you ever play the Dallas Guitar Show? Yes, but I think that's when I started playing the Dallas Guitar Show. I think that was after we had met for the first time Okay, many yarns ago.
Speaker 2:Okay, cool, yeah, I have a memory of you playing there, but man, yeah, it's great to get to hang out. I have a memory of you playing there, but man, yeah, it's great to get to hang out.
Speaker 1:And then I remember we talked at you were playing at Summerfest one year in Milwaukee and I saw you there as well, and we were like hey what's going on Was that the year Buddy Guy played. I think so.
Speaker 2:I just remember being so bummed because we had to play and then we had to run to make some stupid ridiculous all-night drive, as we do, as we do, and we didn't get to stay and watch Buddy Guy that night, and I just remember that was like one of a couple of experiences where I was like we're doing this wrong, we're saying yes to too much yes, you know.
Speaker 1:Well, you've been hitting it hard for a long time Now. When did you end up like you're not from, you're a Texan. So when did you end up saying, hey, I'm going to move to Nashville and make that my place.
Speaker 2:Pretty much the day I turned 17,. I moved oh you did.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it wasn't because I had a bad relationship with my family. My family has always been super great and supportive and and cool. It was more of like I. You know, I, my small town, was 1700 people at best and none of them played the music that I was into. I didn't have anyone to just like converse about. You know how great I thought Johnny winter was, or you know my favorite Jeff Beck records, or you know any of that. And I and I really wanted to like find some guys to play with that. We're going to get together with me every day and go out and hit the road and and um. And also I was really intrigued by Nashville and the songwriting community because I knew people who lived in Nashville based on just a couple of trips and visits, where it felt like people were just constantly collaborating and I wanted that in my life. So I kind of dropped out of high school and moved to Nashville to do it.
Speaker 1:And went to a school of a different sort.
Speaker 2:I know my mom's a teacher. My grandparents were like my grandma was a teacher and my grandpa was a principal, so they were a little bit just like golly Tyler, you're almost about to graduate, just finish. But so I moved to Nashville, started the shakedown, took my last little few credits online and then, the day before graduation, went and enrolled in high school in Honeygrove, Texas, and graduated. Oh nice, yeah. So I got a diploma, but my last year was spent, you know, getting a publishing deal to sustain myself and putting my band together Nice.
Speaker 1:And so your experience in Nashville up to this point. Obviously you've been successful. Is it everything you thought it would be, or is it? Obviously with anything there's ups and downs, but overall you're pleased with being a Nashvilleian.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love Nashville and I think, as probably a lot of artists do.
Speaker 2:I think the word successful is something that I have a different meaning for every year.
Speaker 2:Right, I mean, you know, success when I was 17 would have been like playing the biggest shows ever and doing, you know, this and that and always, and having people at every show.
Speaker 2:And then, and like now, as a 34 year old man, success is getting to make cool music as much as I possibly can and right, for my family and um, and enjoying, because I think what I, what I've learned over the years of doing it and I'd be curious to know how you relate to this too. You know, doing 200, 250 shows a year I don't think was necessarily the best thing for my happiness. Right, you know, you start to kind of get a little bit. I never didn't like playing, but sometimes the travel and the and all of that could can, when you're doing it as hard as as we did it in the beginning, was always a little bit taxing, right and what would you say your schedule has been like in the recent past as far as touring as it has it curtailed to a reasonable amount of road things versus producing and so on, and so forth.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's been like 50 to 70 shows a year, Nice, just because I kind of I don't know, I just follow wherever my passion is and the thing that was bringing me the most joy there. For well, still, I'm, I'm, I'm just obsessed with music, but being in the studio and working with other artists just makes me really happy. And um, and I'm, I'm kind of a professional appreciator in the studio to where that's sort of the stance I take when I'm producing with, with artists is trying to like go, hey, hold on, Do you realize that when you do this, that's super badass and I want to hear that over and over and I have goosebumps, so don't, maybe let's not do it again, you know, and pay attention to what that thing is. And I just kind of found a little. I found that I had a knack for paying attention to other people's music and what it made me feel and I just leaned in and leaned in, and leaned in and obsessed, you know, and Well, that's fascinating because I love.
Speaker 1:I love getting into people's production style, because you know, my experience over the many years is that there's a million kind of different ways of that people produce. Some people just kind of sit in the background and say, no, you're good. And then other people are like are managing the budget, are the engineer and do everything, and then there's like all points in between. What's your kind of process with a band in terms of are you very much picking the repertoire and the arrangements and the sidemen and so on and so forth, or does it depend on the artist?
Speaker 2:It totally depends on the artist. You know, like with the Larkin Poe records, you know, I've done their last two albums and those were co-productions and so it's working hand in hand with them, you know, and we decide exactly who we're going to use, as the players are very meticulous with the songs. That's one thing that I feel like Nashville has sort of drilled into me throughout my life, you know, as a staff songwriter for Sony for eight years and then wrote for Razor and Tide for a while, and you, you know, it was just all about song, song, songs, and so that's one thing that I that I love to pay attention to. Um, but then, like this, this record I just made with ruthie foster, it was like it happened so organically. So I just, I just, I feel like I'm at a point where I'm just trying to follow cool, inspiring moments right with her, her new album mileage.
Speaker 2:She spent nine, 10 days in the studio and came in and we wrote every song together and then I'd lay down like a drum beat and she, and just enough, just enough to get a killer vocal from her, which is not hard to do, because she just is great. She's like you. Everything she, you know, does just sounds intentional and and then and then it was. She goes back to Austin and I bring over a horn section, I bring over the people that I think would be able to contribute. So I actually just finished an instrumental record for Mike Seal, who's like oh, yeah, yeah, and saying and Toby Marshall, yeah, yeah, toby, yep, your homie played on it.
Speaker 1:He played great now, mike seal is your brother-in-law, right, my brother-in-law yeah, yeah, he plays great. I've seen some you know his uh carter vintage videos and yeah, he's, he's got a beautiful touch dude, he's, yeah, he's.
Speaker 2:He's just one of those guys. I watch him and I go. I don't know how you did that, but I'm glad you did.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm glad you did, but I don't know how you did it so yeah, and speaking of that, I mean his materials seems like they're very well crafted, you know melodic things with probably some improvisation involved, but but kind of set pieces. How are you with the process of you know, in making a record like that, as far as how much of it is loosely structured and how much it is meticulous? I guess it depends on the song, but is there for an instrumental record like that? What was your approach in that regard?
Speaker 2:Well, my approach with that was mike. Mike has just had a bunch of really great ideas, but they're all fragments of ideas and so, but he's one of those guys that just sits down and plays brilliant stuff. So it would be a matter of sketching and say, like this is your idea and it has to go somewhere, so where does it go? And then, gotcha, I would create a couple beats and just wait for something to click and then, ok, now check this out. This is what you did, this is really cool. And now, how does it lead into the next section? And what is that? And you know, and just and honestly, trying to hold on for dear life, because some of that music was so over my head, but still just listening to that voice of like, what moves the needle for me as I listen, what keeps me engaged, how do we change the scene? Once it? Once I know what's coming. Maybe it's time for a scene change or something like that. You know, um, but yeah, I, I do.
Speaker 2:I just, I think whenever there's, whenever there's people that are, they're brilliant, you gotta follow them. You know, like, working with this on this rodney Crowell record that just finished. He's such a great songwriter and arranger and composer that he would come up with these beautiful arrangements, but then and we would sketch them out and the band would have their charts, and the band is like of the highest caliber, and then he starts singing and he catches an emotional wave and all of a sudden the chart needs to. You can't look at it anymore, right, because he's on a wave and it doesn't make sense to look at that. You got to look at the singer and like follow him, because he's just added a few bars, right? And I just think that all that kind of stuff is worth paying attention to. Rather than the idea of what something should be, it's like follow what it is in the moment and that maybe that'll tell you what it's supposed to be. I can dig that.
Speaker 1:Now are a lot of the productions you're doing at your house, or is it kind of going to other studios as well, depending on what you're doing?
Speaker 2:Well, so I just I've just moved into a new studio and I've been working every day out of here. But I lived in this. My wife and I lived in a duplex and we lived on the top, which was unit A, and the studio was on the bottom in unit B, got it Over the last couple of years. It's like 15 albums made and released into the world out of that little duplex. And and God bless my wife she was like "'Dude, I love you and I support you "'but like I hear everything you do'". And you know, because it wasn't an intentional space. And and then this Rodney Crowell record. We actually went to Dockside Studios in Maurice, louisiana, to do that on this beautiful old Neve and it was fantastic. But we came home and finished all the overdubs in my studio. But now I'm set up to have full bands tracking in my space.
Speaker 1:So it's a detached space from the main part of the house.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I built it from the ground up over the last 18 months and and have all of my tools and we've got four isolation rooms and you know just anything you could want, really. So, all right, well, we'll be right down. Come on, man, I'm telling you, next time you come to nashville, just book an extra day and come hang out oh, we'd love to, I'd love nothing more than to have you over, to just be in the room.
Speaker 2:I just but that's the thing too. I just want to be in the room when cool shit happens, you know yeah, we're coming down there this summer.
Speaker 1:We're playing at analog on. I think it's sometime in june. You know where that place is analog? Yeah, it's a cool spot, very cool spot. Hopefully we'll get some humans in there At the Hutton Hotel. Yeah, there you go. Yeah, we're coming down to rock some brains. So you've got a youngin' coming, I got a little son on the way.
Speaker 2:Oh, bless you In August, august, yeah, oh, congratulations, that's awesome. Yeah, I've man, I've just been, uh, I'm. I'm kind of in like prep mode. Oh yeah, I'm thinking about like I've been thinking about all the things that I really respect about my father and going like, yeah, my dad had all the right tools. You know, like I gotta go. I'm like I find myself like in in home Depot going I need that tool, i'm'm gonna need this tool, when my son, you know, right, right, pick something. I need to have the tool you know what's that?
Speaker 1:are you, father? I am, yeah, I've got four of them. My son plays in the in the band big. My son is the drummer in the band oh nice, how's that?
Speaker 2:That's gotta be rewarding.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, yeah, he's a beast, uh, well, he's. He's my size, so we're the same height, but he looks bigger cause he's got this Robert plant hair, uh, but he's my oldest and he's he's 30. And then I've got, uh, two daughters, uh, one's 28, one's 24. And then my youngest is uh, youngest, 21, cool and uh. So, yeah, it's, uh, it's an adventure, as I like to say. I teach people. I was like, oh, you're having a kid. Well, next thing you know it'll be, it'll be new year's eve, when they're a senior in high school, and they'll come downstairs and go I'm dad, I'm on acid, but it's cool, oh, man, that's great.
Speaker 1:And it was, it's fun. You know, I really didn't get my act together until I had kids. So you know, we found out we were having Dylan and, yeah, about six months after he was born I gave up all my debaucherous ways. So I always say, if it wasn't for kids, uh, I may not be alive.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, that's uh, that's really interesting. I'm, I'm curious to you know, cause everyone, everyone I meet, is like oh, it'll change you. You have no idea, you won't be the same, and I'm kind of like, yeah, but you're it's, it's awesome.
Speaker 1:I mean it's you know, it's like, uh, you reprioritize things, but, as I like to say, it's like your highs are higher and your lows are lower. It's just the whole dynamic range of being, although now I kind of sound, now I kind of sound like Terry Katy Perry getting off the thing. You don't know what love is until you always did.
Speaker 2:Thank you, I did always think that you sounded a little bit like.
Speaker 1:Katie. Oh my Lord, we should mention that this is the day after Easter that we're, uh, we're, we're doing this. I just got done feasting like a warrior of the night. My wife made this whole thing of these, these lemon bars, and as much as we like usually I'm a sucker for the uh, for the whole, um, reese's peanut butter egg thing, which I think is the greatest iteration of all the Reese's products. But we, we were good about not getting any of that this year, and so now I just got this giant vat of these lemon bars and I've just been feasting. So I am, I'm just sugared out of my mind right now.
Speaker 2:I love it. Man, yeah, we, I have a. I have a little niece that lives nearby and, and, um, all of my wife's family was out of town, so it fell to me to hide the easter eggs and provide yes, provide the paint, the paint set and all the fun things for her to do. She's, she's tiny. So we, we had a little feast ourselves and it was fun, so let's call it feaster yeah, feaster this is.
Speaker 1:This is the first time my son, my youngest son, wasn't around. He joined the air force, of all things, and he's actually stationed down in um outside of phoenix and uh, yeah, it was kind of a surprise thing. I mean, all of my kids are artsy fartsy's. And then one day he's like, yeah, you know what? He was going to college, went to college for two years and decided that not quite sure what I want to do, but I think I want to go on the air force, maybe have a little adventure, save some dough, see a little bit of the world. I'm like, excuse me, what so? But he's there. But you know the final, even though he wasn't home yesterday we talked to him and all that kind of stuff and that's cool. But when it all sunk in it was like my youngest is now out of the house and I don't have to pay for college anymore. Tyler.
Speaker 1:So it's like I got a raise, A little more pocket jingle, exactly. So that is all well and good. He was a sax player. He was a pretty good sax player too. He was. You know, he had a nice touch in the whole nine yards. He's like yeah, I don't want to do that. My other daughter, or my daughter that's closest to him in age, is actually a singer-songwriter. Now we're finishing up a record for her, and then my other daughter is kind of an actress. So they're all kind of artsy fartsy and of course Dylan plays drums in the band. So that's, that's all well and good.
Speaker 2:So Is he a?
Speaker 1:good sax player he was. You know what. He had a nice touch, he had a nice vibrato, yeah, and and we'd hear him playing songs upstairs and he would play in the combo and he was in this at school. And then he was in this other jazz kind of group thing at the wisconsin conservatory and he was playing with some other kind of local hot shots or whatever and I thought he had a great touch and dylan, my other son, would be like dude, you should sit in with us, let's play the chicken or something like that. He just absolutely refused to do it.
Speaker 1:I think he's. I think he saw it's like dad and dylan are that's their thing, I'm gonna do something. So he was more like a chess champion and all this other kind of stuff. He was the, he was his, he was a biochem major, so he's a brainiac, but then he sounds intelligent, yes, and so he sniffed. He's been on some tours with us and I think he's sniffed it out. We're like did you enjoy doing that, john? He's like yeah, that was fun, but I'm glad I'm not going on. So I think he realized that the music thing was not for him, yeah, although I did introduce him to the delicious ways of the Waffle House and he is appreciative of that knowledge of the delicious.
Speaker 2:It's good to. Yeah, I mean, that's a staple. My wife and I went to a Waffle House just a couple days ago because we were going. That's a staple. My wife and I went to a Waffle House just a couple days ago because we were going. It's Sunday man, all of these breakfast spots in Nashville are just loaded.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're packed right, you know, and there's lines out the door and we go to the Waffle House and the chef was singing beautifully, of course, in Nashville, and there was no one else in there and we just had the best time. You know, yeah, it's me and my pregnant wife at the Waffle House.
Speaker 1:It sounds like a glorious time. You know, the waffles there are unparalleled, that's all I'm going to say. They're delightful.
Speaker 2:Man. We just recently we have like a little morning coffee ritual and we've been following along with this studio build on YouTube over the last like couple of years. This guy in Sweden who's building a studio and one of the the suggested videos that came up was your Rick Beato. Oh no, kidding and dude, we watched the whole thing. We sat there, we were just going to drink our coffee and launch into the day and we ended up watching the whole thing and I was just like this is so cool to see you on there. And honestly too, I always just get such a kick out of your, out of your like comedic ways, because obviously the playing we all know that that's great. But then I just get such a kick out of your personality and I was wondering do you have any favorite comedians or are you just naturally funny?
Speaker 1:Well, thank you, I mean I do, I do. You know, my whole family was pretty humorous. My dad was a card and my mom was as well, and all my brothers and sisters, especially a couple of my sisters, were out of their minds and still are. But you know, I'm of the mindset of. I don't get how people don't think Will Ferrell is hysterical.
Speaker 1:Every time I see that son of a bitch I think, especially the outtakes are my, are my favorite, and so, yeah, I'm a big fan of his and and everyone from you know, sam Kennison back in the day, to you name it I do enjoy, but most of the stuff is just, we're always riffing, like if my wife had a dime for every time that anything she says I'll turn into like a fucked up song at any given time.
Speaker 1:Right Drives her insane. But you know, the good thing is that she still laughs at my jokes after all these years. So I have to keep it fresh, keep it fresh. And so as, as a result, on the home front, there's, um, there is, uh, the bar is pretty high, so I have to, uh, that's great, man. Well, what's great too about the band you mentioned, toby. You know the organ player he's, he's a blast and his, his humor level is high and my son's humor level is very high in kind of a different way. And so there's times where we're driving and crying, but it ain't because we're sad, because the hilarity factor is glorious.
Speaker 2:That's good man. It's good for you to laugh, you know.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, especially in this business can be a little well you know any business, but this business in particular, that if you don't have a sense of humor, man, you're in for a long haul.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, that's an interesting. Interesting point too, because so much of you know like you're putting your heart and soul out there and like all the things that you like, truly believe in musically, whenever you do this for a living. And as soon as you get a door slammed in your face or someone says I don't like that you know I meet a lot of. I met a young musician the other day who was, you know, 22 and he was talking about he's like yeah, I was thinking about quitting and I'm like oh man, you can't listen to those Like just because I slam the door in your face doesn't mean there's not another door somewhere. Just because I slam the door in your face doesn't mean there's not another door, somewhere Exactly?
Speaker 2:correct. So I think that having a sense of humor about things and not taking it so seriously and there's not like one way to get to any destination, there's multiple ways and sometimes you've got to connect to a different train to get there no doubt I do think it is good to not take it all so seriously, because it can be a tough industry, because so much of your self-worth can get tied up into the art, you know.
Speaker 1:Yes, no doubt about it. No doubt about it. You know, it was interesting. We were just talking the other day to somebody about this and the whole idea of what you say to young people and some people are real jaded and they'll say don't do it under any circumstances. And then you got the more, which, of course, people said that to me. I mean my dad. I've told this story a million times.
Speaker 1:My dad talked to every one of my teachers along the way saying for the love of God, discourage him for doing this as a living, because he was not from the world of the arts. You know what I mean. So he thought that I'd be starving forever. And then you have more of the people like Zappa, who's you know. Zappa used to say two things never give up and don't stop. And never give up are his two things, but I think the best one. I think my daughter heard from somebody you know she's going into acting and it basically said if you can see yourself doing anything else, do that, because unless you have that singular vision of this is all I'm going to do. No one's going to stop me. You're kind of against the eight ball, would not you say?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's's, it's. That's interesting because I, when I was, I remember my dad was in his shop. We had a shop out behind our house where he, you know, would work on lawnmowers and kept all of his tools and you know dad, stuff, right, he was out there and I kind of, um, I was about to turn 17 and I had made my plan of moving to Nashville, and so I went out there with and I was like, hey, dad, I need to talk to you about something. Um, I want to move to Nashville and I'd like your support on it.
Speaker 2:And I'm not going to ask you for any money, I don't want any money, I'm just I got to do this, it's I. I just have feeling I got to do it. I got to follow my gut here and and he's like what are you going to do if it doesn't work out? And I said I don't know. And he's like, all right, cool, he's like you know, cause he was kind of like looking to see if I had a backup plan, because if I had a backup plan he was going to think I wasn't serious. Right, right, right, right.
Speaker 1:So and that's a scary thing, but it almost, you know, you almost just need that absolute.
Speaker 1:I think it's not almost. You absolutely have to have that singular focus of nothing will stop me. I'm giving this my complete and utter emphasis, yeah, and because if you're thinking well, maybe, maybe I could do this, and maybe, if it's like, because I'm sure you knew plenty of people along the way, they're just not doing it anymore because they decided that you know, any kind of other tangential thing that they could have done, they've done, uh, for any number of different legitimate reasons, but you know right, uh. But to your other point too, though, is, like you, once you're doing it and you've decided that you know I'm going to do this, make an effort to to be a musician and create my own music and do whatever it takes, you find all these little sidetrack things that are all related, but things you never would have thought of. But they present themselves and you're like, oh, I guess I'm going to do that for a while, and then that will supplement this, and so on and so forth.
Speaker 2:So things just kind of I hate to use that term manifest, but they do as a result of that absolutely singular focus yeah, no, I mean, I think about all the things that have like over the years where all of a sudden we're working on a record and we've got a record deal and there's. We've kind of used the music video budget to go out and tour shows because the shows didn't pay quite enough but we wanted to do them. So we have to come up with a music video and it's like, okay, well, I guess we'll just figure out how to do it. And I've always been the dude that's like okay, I'll download the software and learn how to do, learn how to do, learn how to edit a music video. Next thing you know, I'm editing five videos for my friends bands, and I think it's been.
Speaker 2:It's been interesting to see how just the situations I've found myself in have forced me to diversify and find just like, okay, this train isn't gonna get there, I have to connect. And then you get on there and you go, hey, this is kind of cool, cause it's. It's a just a different way of expressing yourself. I've got now, I've got a camera and I'm. You know, I'm like hey.
Speaker 2:Greg, you want to come over and not, I'll record you and film you and we'll have a good time. And you know, and I just love capturing moments, and's exciting, it's a fun business to be in, but it's certainly not for the faint of heart, indeed.
Speaker 1:We interrupt this regularly scheduled gristle-infested conversation to give a special shout-out to our friends at Fishman Transducers, makers of the Greg Koch Signature Fluence Gristle Tone Pickup Set Can you dig that? And our friends at Wildwood Guitars of Louisville, Colorado, bringing the heat in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains. So I see this phalanx of pink Stratocasters behind you. So that's kind of your thing, is the pink Strat? Now you did a run of Fender Custom Shop guitars, right?
Speaker 2:I did, yeah, which was super rad. Um, they had. So I got this, this custom shop pink strat that was like a 1960s version right when I was young and made the first shakedown record with it, toured with it, got to do shows with jeff beck with it and yeah, and he actually played it backstage one day and I thought that was so cool that he had touched my guitar.
Speaker 1:Yes, he sanctified it, Blessed it.
Speaker 2:Yes, Then it got stolen in Spokane Valley, washington, aw, missing for five and a half years. And in the meantime my parents took out like a little loan, borrowed some money from a friend and got me a guitar just like it oh nice, and they had like written some stuff on the inside of it and that kind of became my favorite guitar and Fender approached me about doing a custom shop guitar and that's what we did Awesome. Yeah, I think they made 65 of them or 70 of them, something like that, but they turned out really cool.
Speaker 1:So I was kind of detecting that maybe you found that guitar that got stolen, but you have not.
Speaker 2:It found it in a car dealership in Spokane. Somebody traded it. Traded it in because the owner of the car dealership played in Willie Nelson cover band and the guy was like, will you give me a thousand dollars off of this Corolla in exchange for this guitar? And the guy was like sure, and then took it into river city guitars or river city yeah, river city guitars in Spokane Valley, which I don't think is around anymore and they bought the guitar. They said we'll pay you what you paid for it. They bought it and mailed it to me and wouldn't even accept payment. Oh, you're kidding me. Class act dudes. And I've got it back. It's, it's.
Speaker 2:I don't know if you can see here oh, yeah, there it is, yeah, yeah, yeah that's the og, and then this is the one that my parents got me, and then this is the uh, the custom shop rock.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I was gonna say you know the say what you will about that thief, but pretty sensible choice on a used vehicle yeah, I, I just used that for the example.
Speaker 2:I don't know exactly know what the car was. It could have been something different. But you know the funny, the funniest part about that thief is on the back of the guitar. We had done, um, a show opening for Aerosmith and Steven Tyler had taken a Sharpie and wrote Pink, it's Like Red but Not Quite Right, and they sanded that off. And then we had done like a Steve Cropper songwriting Hall of Fame induction and I had to sing Midnight Hour, which I know, but I was really nervous about singing it in front of him, sure, so I wrote the lyrics on top of the guitar. So, not to mess them up, they sanded that off. One of my favorite guitarists in Texas, this guy named Alan Haynes oh yeah, sure He'd signed the headstock they sent. They sanded that off, but they never changed the serial number.
Speaker 1:Oh, you're kidding me.
Speaker 2:It's just a plate. All you gotta do is just put a new plate on. Oh, you're kidding me, it's just a plate. All you got to do is just put a new plate on. So I was able to identify it and you know just clearly see where they had sanded off the defining marks Crazy.
Speaker 1:Well, that's awesome you got it back. Yeah, I had a 335 stolen when I was I don't even know how old I was, probably 22 or something, 21, 22, up in Minneapolis, out of my car and I'm always hoping that I'll come across it one of these days. I can't remember the serial number, but it had this one distinguishing mark on it that when I see it I'll know if it's it or not. Yeah, but so far that has not transpired.
Speaker 2:Hey, man, you never know, one never knows. I had completely kind of just made peace with not seeing that guitar again and that was a terrible feeling to wake up and we left the guitars in the van because we were doing a drive from Vancouver to Nashville, which makes a lot of sense, with no shows in between. Oh, good God, and you know, it was about five or six in the morning and we thought we got to pull over and get a hotel room and sleep for a few hours because we were just toast and we were at the hotel for three or four hours and I I went out that night to get my toothbrush and about three hours later the drummer was knocking on the door going hey, you asshole, you have the band door open. And I was like what door he goes? The back door. I said I didn't go in the back door and we go out there.
Speaker 2:And I had a 62 SG that was stolen. We had all our amps, we had. We had a box of tim horton's donuts and there were 12 of them in there and they left one donut as just sort of a middle finger to us. Isn't that hilarious? The thieves just took all the donuts too.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's so weird because I had a dream last night that our van got broken into and they stole the Vista lights and they stole. They didn't steal my guitars, but they stole the drums and a couple of amps. It was a very vivid, weird dream that they stole that stuff. So hopefully this is not foreshadowing for me. I hope it's not In my trip coming up. Yeah, are you going to be at dallas this year? By chance, the dallas guitar show?
Speaker 2:it's in a couple weeks no, I'm not gonna make it this year. I'd love you. Are you gonna play?
Speaker 1:we are, we're heading down there, we're uh, we're routing down. On friday we're gonna be in evansville, indiana, then we're going over to old knuckleheads in kansas city. I love knuckleheads, I love that place and then, uh, mercury Lounge in Tulsa Great. And then we're going to the Continental Club in Houston Cool, which I have not been and then we do the Dallas Guitar Show, and then we're doing Saxon Pub, and then Sam's Burger Joint, and then we drive home.
Speaker 2:Oh man, that's awesome. It'll be a nice little.
Speaker 1:Texas trip. Bunch of great shows. Yeah, yeah, it'll be good, clean, fun and a good time to get out of here. The weather's been a little been a little dicey around here, has it cold, a little cold, you know. It's just like today. It's just kind of 40 and rainy. You know what I mean, but you know it's at least we're not getting you know untold pestilence like they do in most places.
Speaker 2:But be that as it may, Well, my wife and I were driving in Nashville. You know, we had a tornado scare where we had a tornado warning in the middle of the night and the sirens are going off, and all that. So the next day there was, or maybe two days later, they said oh, it's a tornado watch, we're expecting a tornado. I walk outside, I'm like it's a tornado watch, we're expecting a tornado. I walk outside, I'm like it's beautiful, it's not. You know, no rain, no clouds, nothing right.
Speaker 2:And her mom and made dinner. I said there's no tornado, let's go on. And by the time we get there it's like all right, 90 mile an hour wind incoming to nashville. I said I think I might have steered us into danger. We better head on home. Oh, and so we get, we, we um, get in the car and I'm listening to the live stream on nash severe weather and they say if you're downtown, you're out of time. And about that time this massive gazebo blows up through the air and lands like a foot in front of my truck. Oh my god, it was horrifying. And I was going. Oh my gosh, this was a bad move. I've led, I've led our family into danger oh, I'll tell you what tornadoes are.
Speaker 1:Nothing to nothing to toy around with. No way, no way. Nature is, uh, not to be trifled with. It's the bottom line, yeah that's true so are you a guitar collecting fiend, or you just have the stuff you like and you don't go too crazy, or or do you have the affliction.
Speaker 2:I'm not really a guitar collector. I have things. I have a lot of guitars, but I've accumulated them very slowly, got it. Well, I say I say slowly, it'd be probably fast for most people, but I do, I I have, I have a lot of. I collected guitars a lot more when I was younger. I used to work in a guitar shop, okay, and so I never got paid because I would just always put whatever money was owed to me down on a guitar and then work it off, you know. So I have a bunch of guitars that came just came into one Lamar Avenue in Paris, texas. You know where someone would come in and they'd be like I've got this 60s, you know Mustang bass, and I'd be like I will, I will buy it.
Speaker 2:I will take it Stuff like that. So, but lately my thing has just been buying microphones and preamps, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Got that bug. Yeah, I go deep down that bug with that bug.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So, now, how about amps? Are you? Are there certain amps that you like to use in the studio, as opposed to what you use live and that whole kind of thing, or is it? Is there pretty? Is there a consistency across the board?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've got, I've got a bunch of amp heads on a switcher here in the control room so some of my favorite heads are just all able to be and I can switch between cabs and amps. You know, really fast, and I I will say I did. I did do a signature amp with Supro recently called the black magic reverb TB, and it's it's. It's a very similar amp to their black magic reverb. It's just, you know, beefed up a little bit, a little higher power, more headroom, and I'm obsessed with that amp so I've been using that a lot. I just got one of those David Grissom, paul Reed Smith amps, that's a good amp, yeah, yeah, yeah, badass amp man.
Speaker 2:I love that. There's a guy in Nashville that makes, that makes amps called tyler amps and my wife bought me one for christmas one year just because it had my name on it and I've become obsessed with his amp. So I have a bunch of his amps around the studio. Um, but, yeah, I have, I have a ton of stuff laying around I, but yeah, I, you know, I don't. I don't really go out and collect, collect amps. I have more amps than I need and can am able to get just about any sound. Once you have like three or four things that you know really well, you can normally find the thing.
Speaker 1:Yes, what about you? You know, I'm kind of the same as you were saying. I accumulate things and every now and again I'll get something new. A buddy of mine that I went to high school with he got ahold of me and he's like, hey, you know my, my uncle I'm kind of in charge of his affairs. He's, you know, he's sick and he was a guitar player and he's got this old Gibson. You want to take a look at it? And I'm like, yeah, I'll take a look at it. So he brings it over and it's, it wasn't. It was a guitar.
Speaker 1:I wasn't all that familiar with it. It was a 57 ES I'm going to get it wrong, I already forgot it Not a two 55. Yeah, I think that might be right. Florentine the dog, your P nineties blonde. And I was like, yeah, this is pretty awesome. So I called my buddy Steve from Wildwood and I called Dave from Dave's Guitars. I said, what do you think this thing is worth? And put them on speakers so that my buddy could hear it. And I was like, oh, it really isn't all that much money. He's like, yeah, you know, if you sold it through us, you know you'd have to get like 25% and yada, yada, yada. He, oh, you know, this amount of money would be good. And I said to my buddy I was like, well, shit, I'll give you that for it. So I ended up buying that.
Speaker 1:That's usually, you know, with my Reverend deal, when they come up with a new color, I have to get one. So I've been accumulating guitars that way, but I just got kind of a fun little. You know I'm a Hendrix fanatic, but I got this new set of pickups that I did with Fishman, new Strat pickups that are in one of my new Reverends. But they're also making a preloaded pickguard that they're selling and I thought, well, it'd be cool to have a guitar to pop it on to see what it sounds like. So I just got one of these like Japanese 69 St strap type things and I popped my pickard in it and man, it sounds majestic, sounds sweet. So I've got that and then the little things will come along, like there's this uh, I had a thing for, like you know, the keith richards. It's a 74, but it was someone refinished it, this cool green and so I had to have that.
Speaker 1:So there's just little things like that. But I don't go too crazy and I don't, you know, I'm not obsessed with. I mean, I've got a, I've got a 53 Tele. That's probably the, the vintage guitar that I have.
Speaker 2:But I got that. That's like the. That's one of the best ones you could have.
Speaker 1:Right, right, and I, I lucked out on that. Someone had a guy passed away and his brother was put in charge of his, his stuff, and he brought the stuff into Wildwood and there was a 54 strat and that that went right away. And then there was this 53 telly and I, I, I toyed around with getting it, for it was still there for a couple of months and anyways, I, uh, I toyed around with getting it, for it was still there for a couple of months and anyways, I ended up driving out to Colorado with a van full of stuff custom shop guitars, of this, that and the next thing and I, I just unleashed a bunch of stuff in order to get that, and I'm glad I did, because that thing that's just sitting around the house playing that guitar is sometimes you got to sacrifice.
Speaker 2:You got to sacrifice a few to get the good one. That is correct. And I did that recently with a uh. I found this gibson country and western acoustic, oh yeah, and I a friend of mine called me and he was like, hey, will you go over to uh blues vintage, which is a nashville guitar shop, and will you go over there and play some acoustics with me and help me pick out an acoustic? And he fell in love with a Martin and I was like, dude, this is the guitar, right, this is the one. And I go home and I was thinking about it and I was like be quiet, mind you know, and the next next day I'm thinking about it, and the next day I'm thinking about it and I go back and I play it again and it's still the same feeling and I was like damn it. So I put like 10 guitars in my car and a bunch of pedals and went over there's like what do you want, right?
Speaker 1:make me an offer I can't understand. Yeah, well, that's the thing with acoustics. I mean it's. I don't know about you, but I always grew up as like, well, martin, I got to have a Martin, so I saved up my dough and I got a hd 28 and I used that on a bunch of sessions and whatnot and never really gigged with it all that much um.
Speaker 1:And then I got a hankering for like a triple o 28 and so I got one of those and I love the sound of that and that's actually I use that more these days, um, but then I realized it's like the way I play and gibson can take the banging so much better than a mark. And then it's like I love the sound of, uh, you know, the rosewood on the on the 28s and stuff, but it's really a d18 or a triple o18 is really that mahogany can kind of take the beating. I administer a little bit more, and that that's why the Gibson sounds so great, are you? Obviously they're both good for different things, but where do you? Where do you? Where do you gravitate?
Speaker 2:Well, I'm, I've, I had recently just got a, um, uh, martin super D. Okay, there have been a lot of jokes made about that. My wife, my wife, liked it so much that she started taking mine out on on tour and so I called martin, I was like please, god, help this woman get a super d of her own, you know, because she keeps taking mine and I want to play it, and so now she has the same guitar. So we technically have super double d's, you know, and we've, like I well, I say we liberally, we've been joking about that, I've been joking about it, um, but I do love that guitar. It's a very. It's like, basically, martin's take on what a j200 would be. It's an oversized.
Speaker 2:Martin got it and I I'm, I'm kind of obsessed with that low end, right, but like my, um, my gibson, it's got more of that, like you can dig into it and all the strings are real, even I can play it very hard and Townsend thing or whatever. Um, but yeah, I don't, you know, I just I love them all, they, they're, they all have. You know, uh, brian Sutton came over to my, to my place, to borrow a cabinet and I was showing him my martin that I'm into, and he was like do you want to see mine? And so he brings it out his like 30s oh, jesus e28. And he started playing and I've, and I understood. I was like, oh, I see, why these?
Speaker 2:why people pay the big simoleons right especially when you have a guy like that playing it, who just knows how to touch a guitar. Right, because when I played it it didn't sound like that.
Speaker 1:He's like the way everything he's doing holding the guitar, touching the guitar, the picks he's using it's all designed to make that guitar sing right, so I got you yeah it was really fun to hear him play, like sitting in front of the guitar yeah, I was gonna ask you what's it like having your wife be a fiendish guitar player as well? Is that, it's just gotta be wild.
Speaker 2:It's great, I mean I love it. You know there's a lot of music in our in our family but between my wife, rebecca, and her sister, megan is a crazy lap seal player and and I mean they're just, they're're so musical and and cool that it makes you know holiday jams really fun mike seal as well. Um, so we we do have a lot of jams at family gatherings. Um, you know, rebecca and I were introduced by an engineer producer here in nashville to write songs together and we ended up, you know, kind of striking up a relationship and never really writing a song until a couple years into the relationship. Honestly, um, but it's been really fun to to write tunes together and work out, work out parts on, you know, rock and jams and record them and yeah, yeah, yeah, they're, they're, they're killing it right now and I'm excited, excited for them.
Speaker 2:It's been a lot of fun and you know I got such a kick that whenever their Blood Harmony album won the Grammy for Contemporary Blues or whatever, because I'm just going, it shouldn't be this easy, you know, to make a record. Like with them it's just like stay out of the way because what they do is just so naturally cool. Yeah, it's like write the song, make it a good song and stay out of the way because they, what they do is just so naturally cool. Yeah, you know, it's like write the song, make it a good song and stay out of the way and I was just laughing, I'm going, man, it's neat to get a grammy for an album that was made in a basement. It's awesome. And like with the ruthie foster record, um rebecca, rebecca and I wrote nine of the 10 songs on that album with Ruthie just sitting in our kitchen, you know, and it was just, it was a lot of fun. It's fun collaborating with her. Awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what's it like? You know, at this point, you know you have two Grammys under the bell. I mean, for some people that would probably be like, oh my God, this is fantastic. Other people would just be like, yeah, well, it's just part of the whole journey, or so on and so forth. But it's got to be a moment where you're just like I've got that cred. Now I can branch out and do more because I've got this in the bank. Is that the way you feel about it?
Speaker 2:I don't know, man. I mean, I just feel like I helped facilitate records for great artists. I don't keep the grammys in the studio right now they're in the house because I don't want to look at that shit whenever I'm recording. Right, I hear you. I don't want to like think you know what? What can we win with this album? It's like I just want to.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I mean you know and I I I definitely didn't mean that, but you know what I mean Just just the idea of you know. There's people that probably that's their goal is, is that? But then there's other people who just like, like what you're describing, you just want to do the work and you want to have fun, and so on and so forth. But those things that so many other people take as the big gravitas you know what I mean people take as the big gravitas. You know what I mean. Yeah, allows you to just be like, oh okay, well, that's, that's, that's done for people that need to have that kind of validation in order to take me, however they want to take me. You know what I mean yeah, no man.
Speaker 2:and and I think this goes back to our what we were talking about earlier, about, like you know, kind of being able to have a thick skin and not be discouraged when doors get slammed in your face. The thing that I have realized more and more over the years is that the work is the reward, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Like if you were to come over and hang out and want to walk in the studio and just be like what's up, man, and if I had a jam to play for you that I felt like I could hang my hat on. That's, that's it for me. Um right, it's. Yeah, it's really cool. And it's cool especially for an artist like Ruthie, because she's been nominated for countless Grammys. It's cool to see her get artists who deserve it get their flowers right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I got you know, and it's also neat to like get a Grammy in the mail, you know. But like I got a Grammy in the mail and then immediately went to Home Depot and bought a new water heater because our water heater failed. I don't take it lightly, but it is the work, that is the reward for me, and getting to just be in the room with talented people and try to capture it to the best of my ability. Yeah, I don't know. I dig it, I dig it all.
Speaker 1:It's a head trip, so what's on the docket coming up here? What's the next series of things other than, of course, the impending arrival of the man-child?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've just been working on some music for myself.
Speaker 2:You know we're going out on the road doing shakedown shows in June and July. We're going out with Clutch Ah, what good tour. In June and July we're going out with Clutch. That'll be a great fun tour. That's almost all of June and then going to Texas in July and other places and, yeah, then the baby boy comes in August and I think we're probably going to take well, I know we're going to take baby boy. Provided all goes well, which I'm sure it will He'll be going on the road with Larkin Poe and on their fall tour, which means I'll be going on the road with Larkin Poe on their fall tour. Just hang out with, hang out with my son and, you know, make sure he's not getting up to anything. You know any bad behavior on the road, fantastic. So, yeah, just just I'm out here working in the studio all day so what's your current lineup with your band?
Speaker 2:it's the same dudes, it's same guys, same dudes. Man, I've I've been playing with, uh, caleb crosby on drums since I was 17 years old, and Graham Whitford, I think, joined two years afterwards and then, uh, it's base base. Actually, we have a Diego Nevada who's been playing with us for a couple years now, or a year and a half or so. Um, I think that you know Caleb. Caleb is in an interesting position right now because he just got hired on by Kelsey Ballerini to go out and do these massive arena shows. Oh, good Lord. So he's not going to be able to make all of the upcoming Shakedown gigs, but we're glad that he's getting to travel in the big leagues and, you know, have a cushy gig and make his money, because he deserves it.
Speaker 2:Money is you know, it's's not everything, but it is a little bit he's got a second child on the way as well, so you know it's been, but it's been fun having, you know, having he's got a little son that's three years old, who's like basically on fire when he comes over and he comes into the studio and he's like, you know, to hell with your settings, turns all the knobs and pretty fun.
Speaker 1:So obviously you know your way around studio how. What was the learning curve like for you? Were you kind of intimated that you were the person always downloading things and figuring the technical side of things out? So were you pretty studio savvy have you been for quite some time, or is it kind of a learning curve once you decided to get into the production game as it?
Speaker 2:were certainly certainly a learning curve. Um, I took my when I did. When I did my first publishing deal with sony, I realized pretty quickly that I would take an advance from them and then they would have like an allotted budget for songwriting demos. So I would go and write every day of the week with a Nashville songwriter and then I would spend 300 to 600 dollars making a demo and then that would just get tacked on to the bill that I owed them. And so the next year when I did, when it was time for my advance to come, I took just enough money I needed to survive and I spent the rest buying microphones and a working computer and a humble set of speakers. And over the years it just kind of became more of an obsession and anytime I would start a new project or have any disposable income I would buy a new preamp or a microphone.
Speaker 2:And so I was very lucky to have a couple of mentors who would just let me ask them questions, and they weren't guarded with the keys Right, because if you want to drive you have to do this Right and would show me stuff about parallel compression or why you would EQ certain things a certain way and how to capture stuff and not commit too heavily on the front end to box in a mix engineer or, if you want this to be the sound, don't be afraid to commit. And then, just working with a bunch of different people and through having the shakedown, we would work with Vance Powell or Andy Johns or some of these great producer engineers and I would just ask questions and take notes Cool and I would just use that when it came time to to make my decisions on what gear I thought could benefit me and the results I wanted to have.
Speaker 1:So so how are how? How much are you into the analog gear versus the digital stuff, and so on and so forth?
Speaker 2:I, I love, I love the analog stuff. I mean, I'm, I'm recording. I don't I'm not recording to tape in my, in my studio I have. But yeah, I've got, I've got an analog API console in here and then I've got, like you know, a bunch of old like ampeg stuff and gate stuff and you know probably 20 channels of tube analog preamps, um, as well as a bunch of great solid state preamps and tube compressors. You know all that kind of stuff. I'm, I'm obsessed with it. I've got the, you know, tape echoes and analog reverbs, um. But I do, I do like to, to, I like hitting analog on the front end. But with that said, I've made.
Speaker 2:You know, we made one record, just kind of as an experiment during the pandemic, using nothing but a Universal Audio Apollo and it sounds great to me. Yeah, yeah, we didn't use a single piece of outboard gear. So you know, I think I talked to Richard Dodd, who's this great engineer and mastering engineer, when I was first moving in Nashville. I remember calling him and asking what the best microphone was and he said the one that works when you need it to. So you know, for me it is just a matter of like being able to capture the stuff whenever people are ready to Perfect. What's your, what's your take on it? Like are you into the? Are you like doing a lot of modeling these days? Are you still using a real amp?
Speaker 1:Like no, I use, I make, I make loud noises, that's. That's the problem. You know, I've always been uh technically inane when it came to recording. I mean, the only reason why, you know, we got this live streaming rig was during the pandemo, when I needed to uh to do the live streams from the house and just gradually it went from. I was using. This fishman sent me a laptop with this usb microphone and that's all I used for the initial few live streams.
Speaker 1:The next thing, you know, my son's like dude, we should get some stuff so that we can interface and get some kind of like these are words, I don't know what you're saying. So then, next thing, you know we've got everything mic'd up and we've. You know we got cameras and all this other kind of shit. Yeah, but it's not good enough. I mean, I've recorded, uh, just guitar tracks here at the house, uh, but whenever we record we go into a studio. A buddy of mine's got a place that we go into, or uh, toby's got a buddy of his up in the twin cities we've gone to record with.
Speaker 1:But, um, yeah, you know, I use my amps and we we play a lot. I try to do everything as live as possible. Um and um. You know that's awesome. That's just kind of how we we've been rolling. We got a session coming up where, um, we're going down to sweetwater to do so. I think you guys are going down there to do something, or larkin pose going there to do a recording workshop like a master class song song from scratch.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that we're going down there to do that. We're there to do a recording workshop Like a masterclass song song from scratch.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're going down there to do that. We're going to come a couple of days early and record a few more tunes, and Jimmy Hall is going to come in and probably do a couple of tunes with us.
Speaker 2:I love Jimmy man. What a legendary voice.
Speaker 1:Yes, so we're going to record some stuff there and see what we get.
Speaker 2:And tell Jimmy, I have one of his hats. Man, I was just uh cleaning out the old studio and I have one of his hats that he left on the bus or something on that jeff beck tour that I was on, awesome because he was out there.
Speaker 1:Jimmy is a force of nature, that's something. I mean he's you know mid-70s and sings and gets on stage and plays harp. I mean the guy's a madman, I mean he's definitely an inspiring character ever.
Speaker 2:He always delivers, yes, he nails it, and then we did this cool we did.
Speaker 1:You know, he was on one of the the tunes from the last record and and, uh, we were going to do this music video for it down with devin allman. So devin brings us all into st louis to do this, this video, and of course I don't remember what the hell I played, and so I'm trying to listen to this song, like what am I miming? But you know, jimmy was so meticulous, taking notes, making sure he had everything ready to go. It's, like you know, so awesome that a person with that stature, that kind of a career at his age, he still just totally gives a shit Because, as you were saying earlier, it's all about the music and being in the moment and doing the best job you can at the at that point in time, and he's definitely all about that, which is which is awesome, because there are many who do not look at it that way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I know it's never. I don't think that and I think that's what's interesting too about like the way that people make records. Now so many I've I've worked with a lot of young guys who come in and they're like was that good enough? I'm like I don't understand that question. Like, right, was that good enough? Like, if you have a doubt, like you know, are we looking for good enough no, that is a.
Speaker 1:That is a strange way to say it. You want to people, was that the one? Is what you want here? Yeah?
Speaker 2:that's the stuff you want to play for your mailman when he walks by Right.
Speaker 1:Exactly.
Speaker 2:Man. Next time y'all are in town, though, I'd love to have you over, just to you know, hang out, because the studio that I've been building it's designed for live moments like that Excellent. It's been so fun to have people come by and the room just sounds beautiful to where, when you get the guitar and the bass amp and everything bleeding right into the drums, it just sounds yes, supposed to you know glorious.
Speaker 1:well, definitely, you know when we're going to be down there. We're going to be down there early june and then we're coming back in August to do a show with LA Guns of all people. So that'll be kind of fun and I think it's a solo show we're doing at the Analog, but I definitely would love to come over and cause trouble.
Speaker 2:I would love to come check out the show too. Yes, please Listen my friend. Thank you so much, friend, thank you so much, thank you so much that contraption of a pedal board that you had the last time I saw you. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, this beast that has I was just watching you use it going how, how in the world? Yeah, you know what is what it's got.
Speaker 1:Well, you know what I and I just gotten it. Then it was funny as that, here's the beast right here. Oh my gosh. You remember when I had that blue thing. I didn't realize that you actually take that off and it becomes transparent, but there was this plastic thing on the front of it which tells you what everything is. I had just gotten the pedal and I was like, why is that thing blue? I guess that looks cool.
Speaker 1:And then the greeks called me, who make this thing, like yeah, you take that off oh my gosh but you know, what's funny is that you know I go in phases where I just go straight into an amp and it's got reverb. I'm good, you know, turn it up and away. You go. And then during the pandemo, when you know we're doing a live stream, I was like, yeah, it's kind of fun to have a little delay, or you, you know, a little univibe here and there or a little flange or whatevs. So then I started using a paddle board again and then my buddies from Jam Paddles were like, hey, what if we did like a signature thing? And I'm like, okay, so we put together this stuff and I mean sometimes I'm not I'm using like one thing on it, you know, but it's nice to have all the.
Speaker 1:But what's interesting lately is that I haven't been using an amp with reverb. I've been using that Tone King Royalist, which is more of like a Marshall type of a situation. So I set it kind of like a JTM-45, and I set it so it's pretty clean. If I lean on it a little bit it starts to give, but it doesn't have reverb. So if I lean on it a little bit it starts to give, but it doesn't have reverb. So I've just been using a little bit of slapback, delay Cool Instead of reverb, and I kind of dig in that. So I kind of keep that on all the time. But sometimes I turn that off and just have it dry as a bone and you know what. That's a delight as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, hey, man, you eat beef every night. Sometimes you want chicken. Yeah, hey, man, you eat beef every night.
Speaker 1:Sometimes you want chicken, that's right, doggone it. Well, listen, my friend, you take care of yourself. I hope to see you soon. Great to see you, buddy. Likewise, thanks for doing this. We'll talk to you soon. Talk to you soon, man Later. Have a good one, bye-bye. Well, thanks for tuning in, ladies and gentlemen, to another episode of Chewing the Gristle. We certainly do appreciate you stopping by. Make sure you tell your friends all about us. I think they might enjoy themselves. So thanks again for tuning in and we'll see you next time.
