Slightly Famous Somebodies: Laura Slade Wiggins, Jonathan Spencer, and Vaylor Trucks In-Studio Chat E129

We’re joined in the studio by Jonathan Spencer, Laura Slade Wiggins, and Vaylor Trucks from Slightly Famous Somebodies, and the story starts with a simple ask: record one Kevn Kinney song as part of a living tribute. That one track turns into more covers, then a hard pivot into original music, and suddenly the “project” becomes a real band with momentum, a core lineup, and a sound that can stretch from heartfelt rock to something delightfully unhinged.

• Whether it's 'Shameless' or 'Pineapple Express' or guest appearances on multiple television shows or the son of an Allman Brother, it makes them all slightly famous
• how the name Slightly Famous Somebodies is born from trying to pick the “worst” band name
• why Just Pour hits so hard and how confidence changes after a song lives for a while
• how Vaylor Trucks joins through a YouTube album-review series and a mutual friend connection
• Pet Sounds vs London Calling and how background shapes what we hear
• the band’s wide influence map from country and Athens rock to jazz fusion and avant-garde
• AthFest, 40 Watt Club plans and what makes one-time lineups special
• the best feeling in music: recommending something and watching it click for someone else

Learn Something New or
Remember Something Old

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Transcript

Welcome And Who’s In Studio<br>

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Hey, I'm Laura Slade Wiggins.

SPEAKER_01 0:01

And I'm Jonathan Spencer, and I'm Baylor Trucks.

SPEAKER_02 0:04

And we're the slightly famous dumb bodies, and you're listening to music in my shoes.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

He's got to feel it in it out there growing.

SPEAKER_09 0:31

Hey everybody, this is Jim Vosh, and you're listening to Music in My Shoes, Podcasting Worldwide. That was Vic Thrill kicking off episode 129. I'm thrilled to be here with you. Let's learn something new or remember something old. So, Jimmy, about a year ago I went to Athfest and I talked about it on the episode a year ago, about seeing all these different bands, and one of the bands that I went to see was Slightly Famous Somebodies.

SPEAKER_03 1:00

Hey, I think I know who they are.

SPEAKER_09 1:02

At the time I had no idea who they were, but I had some communication with uh Jonathan Spencer and the band, and I ended up going. It was just like this kind of cool thing, cool vibe, you know, just kind of different. You know, wasn't sure about it, enjoyed it, brought some people with me. We all enjoyed the show. Well, here we are, a year later, they're getting ready to be at Athfest again. And not only are they getting ready to do that, they are here in studio with us. Well, some of them, because I think people on the couch right there. There's like 17 members or something. There's a ton of people.

SPEAKER_02 1:39

We are we are going around dark meat, you know. I think they were the most ever.

SPEAKER_09 1:44

So as you can hear, some of the people from slightly famous somebodies, we have with us, we're gonna start with you, Jonathan, because you're the first person I got in contact with. Jonathan Spencer.

SPEAKER_06 1:56

Well, thank you, but I insist you start with Laura Slade Wiggins.

SPEAKER_09 1:58

Oh, well, there you go. Laura Slade Wiggins. Now, as a matter of fact, talking about 17 people in the band, Laura Slade Wiggins probably has more names than anybody, also.

SPEAKER_02 2:10

Well, since I'm a woman, uh there's an automatic double name since I decided to, you know, walk down the hall of shame and get a wedding ring. So that's my second name. My first one is Laura Wiggins, but I don't know if y'all have ever been to the South and heard about our double names. Well, they didn't give me like a hyphen, they just said Laura Slade Wiggins. My mom calls me Laura Slade, my close friend's Lau Slade, but I'm Laura Slade Wiggins, but people are lazy, so then I have to go by Laura Wiggins. And I'm confused about my names too. So let's stage a revolt.

SPEAKER_09 2:42

I'm glad to hear that. Also, we have Valor Trucks. Valor, tell us a little bit about you.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

Hi, everyone. I'm Valor Trucks. Uh, I play guitar sometimes. Um if you've ever okay, so I don't I don't like uh makes me very uncomfortable saying hi, I'm related to people because that seems really weird. But it's true. If you know me or know the name Trucks, it's probably because you know my father was Butch Trucks of the Almond Brothers, or my cousin Derek, uh, who is with the Desky Trucks band, or my cousin Dwayne, who plays drums for widespread panic, or my second cousin twice removed Virgil Trucks, who played ball for the Tigers in the 50s, and is this the second pitcher to have two no-hitters in a season, or from my third cousin from uh Michigan, who um is uh an actor and was part of the Twilight series and had a regular recurring role on the show, SEAL team for a while, or maybe even my sister Melody Trucks, who's kind of killing it with the Fitzkey brothers and touring right now. And so there's a there's a goddamn lot of us out there. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:50

We got a lot of trucks on the road. Well, Jonathan. Jonathan, you roped us all into this. This was his idea.

SPEAKER_04 3:57

I don't rope you guys into the road. Just kidding.

Origins Of Slightly Famous Somebodies<br>

SPEAKER_07 3:59

We're happy to be here. I'm very happy. Jonathan Spencer, sometimes known as Jonah in Athens, but I'll go by all my names, Jonathan Walker, Spencer, etc. And yeah, this whole thing kind of came, it just it wasn't really conceived. It just kind of kept happening and happening and happening. And um, Anna Kinney, kept as you know, Kevin Kinney's wife, um, who who came up with the idea to uh to make a living tribute to his very much alive uh state of mind and his songwriting um that expanded into a hundred of Kevin Kinney's songs. She'd asked us in the early rounds, gosh, it's a little over two years now, to contribute a song of Kevin's, and she picked it. Um so Set in Stone was the one we did, and that was the very first one we did, and then it just kind of went so well we decided to keep going. We didn't really know how to keep going. We're like, well, let's do a bunch of covers of Athens bands, maybe. So that was just kind of like getting our training wheels together, and we released those as um digital singles, and then things got really serious about a year, year and a half ago, and we shifted to entirely original music, and the output has just been going, going, going. And um, Laura and I have been able to revisit some stuff that we wrote together, you know, 18 years ago and and rebooted it in just such a kind of brand new magical way with Valer and all of our people. So there's 37 people on the debut album, but there's only four of us that are on all of the original songs, and that's the three of us you're looking at here, and Kane Stanley, our drummer. So that's kind of like the core. If you take the original tunes, we're all on all of those. So um it's it's been such a blessing to have like every single big gun everywhere go, I want to be on your record album. What you want? I'm I'm you know, everybody's just game. They don't, there's not a lot of like taco stand dramas, I would say.

SPEAKER_09 5:45

So who came up with slightly famous somebody's the name?

SPEAKER_07 5:49

That was I was having a conversation, uh trying to cut we were trying to think of names, and one of my favorite things to do since I was about 12 or 13 years old is to come up with fake band names. And you know, the worse they are, the better, you know, like sandbag or you know, just like there's a long, long list under my bed when I had no friends of just coming up with fake, fake band names. I like the best, and like little log line zingers, you know, like little, like I guess what I know now, having been in LA previously for 13 years, like little pitches, little half-sentence, you know. Um, you know, it's it's like a rock opera with the new zoo review, but psychedelic, you know, something like that. You know, that's sort of describing our our gestalt or whatever. And I I love just like kind of creating those things. So uh uh Mackenzie Zimmerman, uh formerly of Rumors ATL and I were talking on the phone when Set in Stone first came up, and we were trying to come up with names, and we just did kind of the artistic thing of like thinking of the worst name possible. And I was thinking, like, well, it's kind of like a Laurel Canyon sound with two guitars, we'll be like Outpost, you know. Like, that sounds like a Tom Petty cover, but don't do that. All right, let's go worse, let's just make it as bad as possible. And and she goes, like, well, we're all kind of a little bit famous. It's yeah, I don't know. I mean, we're we're we're not nobodies, we're somebodies, but I guess we're like slightly famous somebodies. And she goes, That's it. That's same. There you go. So technically, I said it, but I wasn't trying to conceive of a band name. Right. And she pointed it out. So, you know, if you wanted to fight it out on the people's court, I'd probably split credit with her, right?

SPEAKER_09 7:22

There you go. So I know you and Laura have known each other a long time. East Coast, West Coast.

SPEAKER_02 7:32

Oh, I actually have a lot I do here. I'm the lead singer of the band, and I it's the least amazing, it's not least, but like the vocals are important, but it's just like I get lost in Valer and his cousins pulling their notes out of the heavens, and Jonathan giving us these bass lines, and we've got Kane. I mean, it's just it's a full sound. Um, I met him in Los Angeles, but my claim to fame was being Karen on Shameless. And um, I also play bass on one song and guitar on one song.

SPEAKER_07 8:08

You also wrote or co-wrote every single song, so that's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_02 8:12

And technically so did you. So good job. Yeah, good job.

SPEAKER_09 8:15

All right, so so let's get this out of the way. I'm not big into I'm not really into a whole lot of TV. I'm not into to movies, it's just it's not my thing. Music is my thing. So for me, when I heard you sing the song Just Poor, I just think that's absolutely fantastic. I look at the three of you through music. I've never seen Shameless. Thank you. I couldn't tell you one thing about it. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 8:43

It's a lot.

SPEAKER_09 8:44

Jonathan, you've you've mentioned some things. I've never seen it. And I don't mean that in a negative way.

SPEAKER_07 8:49

I just Pineapple Express, you've never seen it.

SPEAKER_02 8:53

Your applause, but we're okay with it because we've seen it, you know. You've got to get on the cruise, man.

SPEAKER_09 8:58

I I don't want you to take it the wrong way at all. We're not, we're playing. The show is music in my shoes. It's mostly about music. I love the music. Thank you. That's why I wanted you on. You know, I met you at the 41, you know, Jonathan. We went to see um Michael Shannon and uh Jason Nardocey.

SPEAKER_02 9:17

And he's in TV shows too.

SPEAKER_09 9:19

And so this I just I saw Jonathan a couple of weeks ago and I told him I just watched something.

SPEAKER_02 9:26

No, we couldn't up.

SPEAKER_09 9:27

Something that Michael Shannon was in. I just watched it for the first time.

SPEAKER_06 9:30

He always plays a bad guy. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_09 9:32

Yes. He does.

SPEAKER_06 9:34

Really well.

SPEAKER_09 9:34

Is what they tell me. Yeah. But you're you're here because of music. And you know, for me, and so I don't want to be like, oh, how could you not know who I am? I only really know a lot about music as compared to the knowing us for that.

SPEAKER_07 9:48

That we're like we're like respected for that.

SPEAKER_09 9:50

Were you guys ever in Jaws? Because I know that movie in and out, okay.

The Name And The Inside Story<br>

SPEAKER_02 9:55

I don't know if listeners would be like, oh, who Jaws Wiggins, or you know, just being like, that's that's the name ringing a bell. But we are here to talk about the music, okay? I've talked enough about TV. This is one of the most important projects. Like, even just poor was like a scenario where I was having very little faith in myself and didn't think I'd written anything all that amazing. And now, a year later, it's like hits me in such a powerful way, too.

SPEAKER_09 10:24

It's a great song. I love the song. And and you know, that's what I said to you, Jonathan, that night when I saw you at 41. I'm like, man, I just love that song, just poor. You know, and you're like, oh yeah, Laura's um uh, you know, I don't know, the bathroom or getting something, and you know, you came back.

SPEAKER_04 10:41

So I held I held you until she got back.

SPEAKER_09 10:43

You didn't hold me until I said you have to tell her that. I had to go to the bathroom so bad. I can't tell you how to know you were way too.

SPEAKER_03 10:51

He told me the story, and it was all about how bad he had to pee.

SPEAKER_09 10:54

Well, I would have let you off the hook. I really did, but uh yeah, I wanted to get it, you know, an opportunity to meet you. So, how do you guys know Valor? Where did Valor come into the whole picture?

SPEAKER_01 11:04

Uh I I can tell the story. You knew Valor. Okay. During the pandemic, um I decided not to take any gigs because I was doing okay with money, and there were too many of my friends who needed the few gigging roles out there in order to pay the bills. So I just decided I'm gonna step away from performing music until live music opens back up again. But I didn't want to be disconnected from music altogether. It's something I've done my whole life. So what I decided to do was listen to those albums I really should have heard by now, but for whatever reason I hadn't. You know, we've all got this list when you say, Oh yeah, I've never heard, I don't know, whatever it is. For my if in my case, it was things like Pet Sounds. You know, I'd never heard Pet Sounds, I'd never heard Ziggy Stardust. So I made a list of those albums, listened to them one per week, and I'd listen to it multiple times a day for a week, and then I went onto YouTube and talked about it. So I started this series called The Albums I've Missed. Three seasons later, the concept has morphed several times, and the concept for season four was all request. And so I just put out a uh a call. Hey, if you if you got an album you want me to listen to, let me know. Well, we have a mutual friend who is kind of big in the prog rock community. His name is Sean Tonar.

SPEAKER_06 12:23

We love you, Sean Tonar. Yes, we do.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

And Sean got me in touch with him. He recommended an album for me to listen to, which was a blue note fusion album, a funk fusion album from a trumpet player named Charlie Bird, uh, who is someone I know very well because his discography goes all the way back to like the jazz messengers. But um in this case, it was the album that came out right after his seminal album, Blackbird. You know, the next album he made was called Ethiopian Nights, and it's one I hadn't heard before, so we talked about that. And I figured that would be that. And then, you know, when um when uh the Kevin Kenny tune started its recording process, he said, Well, why don't you come join us?

SPEAKER_05 13:07

The timing was just a couple months.

SPEAKER_01 13:09

Yeah, I mean, there was already two fabulous guitar players on there, and I said, Well, I'll do what I can, but you know, and and you know, since then, every time they've gone into the studio, it says, Hey, we're playing this, cool, send me the tracks.

SPEAKER_07 13:21

I got something weird for you, Valer. It's not the family special.

SPEAKER_09 13:26

So, Valerie you mentioned about the podcast. So I was about 12 years old, and I got a 45 record out of my aunt's collection. We come on the sloop John B. My grandfather and me, around Nassau town, we did roam. So, first of all, I lived in Nassau County, New York. Oh, okay. Okay. So I grew up on Long Island, Nassau County. As a 12-year-old, I think the song is about Nassau County and Jones Beach, which is right by where I live. Yep. Okay? Only to find out later it was not.

SPEAKER_04 14:00

Right.

SPEAKER_09 14:01

I absolutely love that song. I still have the 45. I could go grab it right now. And I was so disappointed when I heard Pet Sounds. Yeah. I like the Beach Boys. I listened to your podcast, Jonathan told me to, and I did. And I do like the Beach Boys, but I don't think Pet Sounds is one of the greatest albums. Right. Okay. At all. But when I first heard Sloop John B, I was like, man, this is gonna be a great album. But you know that's not their song. That's I know, it's a traditional song that they did their take on. Yeah, the video is great. If you've ever seen the video, I absolutely love the video. They go, they're at like a house and they just start walking in the pool and they have like a little boat, and then they just start jumping in the boat and they're soaked and they do all kinds of crazy things. The album did not live up to what I thought it was gonna be. And I'm a Beach Boys fan.

SPEAKER_04 14:57

Right.

SPEAKER_09 14:57

So I just wanted to say that. And then the last thing I'm gonna say is that Jimmy and I, we think one of the best double albums of all time is London Calling by the Clash.

SPEAKER_02 15:10

I don't wonder you don't like pet sounds as much. Like if you're looking for that, then the melody's gonna be it's so it's interesting.

SPEAKER_09 15:18

It's funny how we all look at things differently, and that's what my point is. My point is coming from all different types of backgrounds and where I grew up, where I grew up, London calling was played on the radio regularly. Okay, that was something that you would hear. And and listening to you about growing up, especially when you were in um uh central Florida, you didn't get to hear a bunch of different things. Correct. I agree with you, it's difficult to go back and all of a sudden listen to something and understand what I felt like when I was 12 hearing something, or when I was 14 or or whatever, now that I'm much older, um, it's just a whole different approach. But Jimmy and I do agree, and we've said it many times on the the show that London Calling is one of the greatest double albums ever.

SPEAKER_02 16:11

I mean, isn't it also like kind of revolutionary though? They were really putting something new out there. Like, I don't know how new it is in this timeline, but when you're looking at these two things coming out around the same time, I could imagine that was emotional, that was empowering. I mean, I totally get it. Because I love the clash too. I'm not saying I love pet sounds.

SPEAKER_07 16:28

Jim, you're gonna need a callback note to the audience so they know which episode of Veilers you're responding to right now. So they could all go watch that one and then be like, oh, he's talking about episode 133.

SPEAKER_09 16:37

So you know so I know pet sounds was number one. Yeah. And and London calling, I don't know, maybe number four.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

Yeah, that's all season one. Yeah. I mean, I've I've done over 120 of them since then. So yeah. That's incredible.

SPEAKER_09 16:49

So you know, this is the one thing, and and we'll move on, but I definitely wanted to talk about that because I just enjoyed your honesty. Yeah. Not that I always agree with you on it, because we come you know from different places, but your honesty made me want to keep watching.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

Well, thank you. You know, no, I mean, even when something's not for me, when I when I listen to something and say, look, you know, uh, this this is not the kind of music I enjoy, I never say this is bad. I never say these guys suck. You know, it's always a situation of I don't get it, or I I grew up in circumstances that prevent me from aligning with what's going on here. And that's probably what happened more than anything else with uh London Calling, because I tell you what, the one song on there that rubbed me the wrong way more than anything else is Jimmy Jazz. I just heard snark, I just heard them making it was all the people who were making fun of me when I was in Tallahassee trying to figure out how to play difficult music, and all they wanted to do was play like the violin femmes and shit. And I was like, I'm trying, I'm you know, I hear you, I understand, you like this music, I don't get it. And they're you know, and it's just them kind of, yeah. I I I I don't I don't I choose not to learn theory because it depletes from my natural sound. That kind of stuff. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_05 18:01

Seven years later, the slacker McDonald's is actually taking pride in being not knowing.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

Right. So I it was a reaction to people I had known in the past more than it was a reaction to the music that was in front of me.

SPEAKER_08 18:14

That makes perfect sense.

SPEAKER_02 18:15

Well, I really appreciate your knowing your theory. So when I say, you know, it's that middle note, that's this, and Baylor's like, no, it's this. Thank you.

SPEAKER_07 18:24

That's Baylor taught me that I like add nines when I write. I have no idea. I've been doing that for 30 years. I like add nines. Now I know. There you go.

From Acting Credits To Songwriting Confidence<br>

SPEAKER_09 18:32

Yeah, you definitely know your stuff. Like you started talking about things, and I thought I was gonna have to get a thesaurus or something. I just didn't even know. I appreciate it. Oh, no problem. So, Laura, what are some of your musical influences? Who did you like growing up?

SPEAKER_02 18:48

Oh gosh, growing up in Oconee County, so Athens adjacent, you know, there's R.M., of course. That was right there. But you know, I mean, I like I guess they're called the chicks now. You know, I liked a lot of country music, a lot of western music, a lot of you know, Dolly Parton and you know, some of working nine to five some Jerry Reed, and um my dad liked uh the Doobie Brothers and ELO, just that kind of stuff. Um, and then as I got older into high school, of course, I love some of my post-hardcore music, like Koean Cambria.

SPEAKER_07 19:24

Um we we have a secret um uh uh row with Elephant Six that they're not aware of. We just have an ongoing.

SPEAKER_02 19:31

And I also I love them too. I love them too. I grew up being like, they're the coolest ever, and they're like, we are too cool for our fans. And I was like too cool for us. All right, never mind, never mind.

SPEAKER_07 19:40

We have like a 30-year row with E6 that they're not aware of, but we can battle it out at Taco State.

SPEAKER_09 19:45

Jonathan, what about you?

SPEAKER_07 19:47

Well, I was gonna say, Laura and I, that can kind of segue to like you and I kind of started writing music together in 2008 in LA, and that what I loved about that was like our worlds were like, you know, 18 years later, we've kind of grown together a lot in our music, but at that point we were from completely different worlds of music, right? Like a half generation's worth. So she was turning me on to all kinds of stuff that I was like, in my brain, I was not cool enough for, but I was loving like getting to know, and I was turning her on to Ween and all these other kind of just kind of ridiculous, but we both had like this tie for musical theater, right? Like this.

SPEAKER_02 20:22

Do y'all remember Little Red Rocket with Maria Taylor? No, big Athens. Okay, that was like an Athens of that time. Well, Jimmy do, yeah. So the stuff I was kind of obsessed with at 18, I guess, and 19. So you were brilliant. Got me into ween, that was a good thing for my life.

SPEAKER_09 20:41

You were pushing the little daisies and watching them come up.

SPEAKER_07 20:44

And we were like, you know, we would like meet in the middle of like radio head, you know. So we both had this Athens, even though we're like a half generation off, we had we both had Athens and then we both had LA. We were both missing Athens, and we both had musical theater. You know, however many years later, all of that is in our writing and our music in pretty much everything we do. So we're not afraid to like fall forward and be silly. That's like not even afraid, we look forward to it.

SPEAKER_02 21:07

Like, yeah. It's kind of an Athens tradition to have like we were kind of mean about like REM for no reason in high school. We're like, whatever, whatever we want, they suck, and then like you grow up and you're like, Well, we're sorry we did that. But to be honest, like Michael Stipe wasn't in his nice era either.

SPEAKER_06 21:24

That's true.

SPEAKER_04 21:24

You know, he's too cool for us.

SPEAKER_02 21:25

So we were we Athensed him back. We threw a little sassy.

SPEAKER_07 21:28

Athensed him back. We threw Athens back. We talk our standard him just a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 21:32

Not really trained kids, but we thought we were trained kids.

SPEAKER_07 21:35

And our our brand new song that we're almost finished with, Sausage Man with the Comeback Sauce, even has a little sass to RM. Not R E M. Yeah, they know about it.

SPEAKER_02 21:42

They know about our sass. At this point, it's a tribute. That's right. So I I listened to that song today.

SPEAKER_09 21:49

Jonathan, you sent the song over. I listened to it multiple times. Unreleased, unfinished, close. It is, you know, because it's it's just different parts. You know, the song's different parts. So it reminds me of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the David Bowie fame like 75 era. That's a good one. The B-52s, Kate and Cindy when doing the background vocals. But Frank Zappa also hits me when I'm listening to it, that it's all these different things, and I just had to keep listening to it. I just kept putting it back on. I enjoyed it a lot. Well, thank you.

SPEAKER_07 22:29

As far as the Zappa, I would say I would narrow that window to Joe's garage. But the ridiculous of that, yes, yes, yes. Hopefully out the without the misogyny. But yeah, all the fun and the all the fun and the sass, though. Yes.

How Valer Joined Through YouTube<br>

SPEAKER_09 22:43

So for me, you know, just poor, which is really the song that grabbed me, then to go and listen to the the sausage song, which is so different. It just was it was cool because I do like when people are able to do multiple things and that's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_07 23:05

The next one has been the greatest thing ever, and then the next one has been the completely opposite of what we just recorded from hidden track on.

SPEAKER_02 23:11

It's like Yeah, it's been interesting because there's still somehow a fluidity and a through line, whether that's Chris Byron engineering and producing these all of you know, it's been, you know, Jonathan Valer and Kane on all of the tracks, but it's just it still sounds like the same band, even though um within the or a tugboat. It's like a totally different song.

SPEAKER_06 23:37

Completely different songs.

SPEAKER_02 23:38

It's like the maybe that youthfulness of our band, the like inner child of it, I don't know.

SPEAKER_07 23:44

Yeah, the inner child in the musical theater and the funness of it and just being willing to be silly. I think back to like REM's whole deliberately, like when they did uh uh New Adventures in Hi-Fi, they were like uh they would rehearse their new bits, and if it sounded like REM, they're like, uh, it sounds like too R put it down if we're not doing that. It sounds too much. So we're not like deliberately trying to be contrarian, but it's just like life, I've been on a veiler where you think life is more fun when like you don't aren't always doing what you expect, you know, you're trying to find your like what's my sound or whatever. Like, let's do the most ridiculous opposite thing we can do. Like, do we do next?

SPEAKER_01 24:17

I do want to shout out Chris for just a minute, though. Yeah, because in addition, in addition to being a great technician, he's like the exact opposite of most engineers I've worked for in that he likes what he's doing and he's engaged with you rather than just being the sour guy who pushes the buttons and patches the cables. Um, yeah, he's he's he's a great engineer.

SPEAKER_07 24:34

So Chris Byron Audio, he's he's our engineer or co-producer, he and I kind of produce all the stuff together, but he teaches mix at UGA and takes all the students to the 40 watt to record the bands. And I mean, he's the God.

SPEAKER_02 24:46

When I was in school there, I couldn't imagine anything cooler than yeah, he's like the cool adult in the room that's like, y'all can do that, but wait a second, okay? Time out. That's getting crazy.

SPEAKER_07 24:56

And we need that. We're the Laura and I are the chaos, but we say that without apology. Like, we need to throw paint at the walls, that's how we operate.

SPEAKER_04 25:04

And then we need some help from from Chris Byron and Valor Trucks to be like, you know, like let's put some little bit of walls around here just enough to get the thing into a piece.

SPEAKER_06 25:12

So yeah, it's great. I love that. That's it.

SPEAKER_09 25:16

I mean, it really works because, like I said, you know, you have just poor, which is just like a straight-up song, and then you, you know, the sausage manifesto or whatever it is.

SPEAKER_02 25:27

JB JB is the 41.

SPEAKER_09 25:30

Okay, it is just it's so bizarre, but you have to keep listening to it. I enjoyed it a lot. You know, I just really did.

SPEAKER_07 25:40

I feel like now we have to get JB to write a sausage manifesto.

SPEAKER_08 25:43

Like we actually need to write a manifesto.

SPEAKER_02 25:45

He said he'll write a blues song with us, which is gonna be good because his story is like I don't have a job, I don't have money. They took I mean, he that man is ready for his redemption plan. It is coming.

SPEAKER_09 25:56

Well because that is a blues song, right?

SPEAKER_02 25:58

His oh, and he has a good he sang with Kevin Kenny. Yeah, Doc on the Bay. Like he's you know, and if Kevin Kenny sees something good in you, you're doing something.

SPEAKER_07 26:07

Oh, I think we can announce that. We can make a world premiere announcement right now if we are so bold to do so.

SPEAKER_02 26:12

So we will be at the 40 Watt Club at Athfest. We'll be playing after Elf Power and Kevin Kenney and Friends.

SPEAKER_07 26:19

We'll be there.

SPEAKER_02 26:20

That's right.

SPEAKER_09 26:20

And that that's June 27th.

SPEAKER_07 26:22

That's correct. Saturday, June 27th, closing out Athfest. Uh we're going on at midnight, uh, doors at nine, elf power at 10, Kevin Kinney and Friends at 1045. And a lot of the Kevin Kinney and friends are gonna be a lot of less.

SPEAKER_09 26:36

Yeah, so I saw you a couple of weeks ago, and I remember you saying to Kevin, hey, who's uh Kevin Kinney and Friends? And the next thing you knew, you are you are and making this, you know, as it goes along.

SPEAKER_04 26:48

Because you and Laura figured it out.

SPEAKER_02 26:50

I think I wasn't fully comprehending of that because I'm still like, you know, I still think I'm like 25 years old, like going with him and Peter and being like, Yeah, whatever y'all are doing, I'll figure it out. I'm like, oh, I guess like now that I'm 37, I do know because I start as the backup or one of the backup singers in the band, and with things life happening, that's why I'm the lead. But now I'm like, oh, I know how to sing harmony for you, Neil Kathy.

SPEAKER_07 27:15

Laura and I in 2011-12, um, Laura well for many years in LA, we had kind of like a little comedy rock duo called Don Swar, where a lot of these original songs premiered.

SPEAKER_09 27:24

So you guys did comedy and rock?

SPEAKER_07 27:26

Well, we just kind of were silly duo that would play acoustic out and about all over LA, but these serious songs were We're a triple threat, man. We're a triple threat, man. We're singers and dances and comedy acts, you know. Of course. So a lot of these songs originated there, but Kevin Kinney and Peter Buck did a small West Coast tour of Seattle, Portland, LA, etc. Um, and uh Laura and I we we didn't open for them, we were in their band. So Kevin called up and said, Hey, I want Laura to sing all the harmonies, and you're gonna have to learn 63 songs on 12-stringed bass because Peter plays whatever he wants, and I can't tell you in the moment you're and he used to really furrow his bow.

SPEAKER_02 28:02

Like, I was like, Oh, what am I doing wrong? And he's like, give it a serious look. But then I figured out like that's just how you be a rock star. That's how you rock star.

SPEAKER_07 28:11

So we well, uh, I mean, it was an amazing experience for us. It was uh 2011, 2012, and I think that's on SoundCloud. We have the whole Tractor Tavern Seattle show. Oh, really? Peter Buck and Kevin Kenny were kind enough to play on our original songs as well, and we played Cowboy and Thomas, which is now just poor. So Peter Buck's on Just Poor when it was called Thomas 15 years ago. Um, and that's on SoundCloud.

SPEAKER_09 28:36

It's funny how things work out like that. So this is how funny things are. So, Jimmy, you were telling me a little story before our guests got here.

Music Taste Debates Pet Sounds Clash<br>

SPEAKER_03 28:45

Why don't you oh yeah, I played with your dad. Oh my goodness. Yeah, so it was in like 1993 or four, and there was a tennis tournament down in Miami called the Lipton Tournament, and my buddies were professional tennis players, and they got contracted to play a rock and roll show at the Hard Rock Cafe. And so I was like the musician in the band, and they had, you know, like another guy from a sports drink company on drums, and the two guys on bass and guitar, and I was the one guy that that kind of knew a little more about music. And so we play our first set, and then they come up to us and say, Hey, um, you know, Butch Trucks from the Almond Brothers is in the audience, and we might be able to get him up there. Yeah, and there's also this kid who's a really good guitar player, uh, but he's got to get home soon because he's got school. His name's Johnny Lang. Oh, okay. And so your dad and Johnny Lang got up and we we do have a lot of people.

SPEAKER_07 29:44

Yeah, Butch Trucks, Johnny Lang, and the Lipton T-Band.

SPEAKER_03 29:47

That is the one.

SPEAKER_01 29:47

Lifton T band, yeah. Well, I'm clear as a bell.

SPEAKER_07 29:51

No.

SPEAKER_01 29:51

When so when I when I was in college, uh graduated high school in 1988, hint for how old I am. Um graduated high school in 1980.

SPEAKER_02 30:00

18 years ago.

SPEAKER_01 30:02

Uh moved to Tallahassee, Florida, and my dad had just opened a recording studio in a little town adjacent to Tallahassee. Um one of the first acts that was booked to record at the studio was a series of pro golfers that wanted to record a parody album. And they hired like the Stax Rhythm section, so it's like Duck Dunn playing bass and John Daly singing. No way.

SPEAKER_02 30:28

Are they like talking about their balls getting dirty and stuff?

SPEAKER_06 30:31

Oh shuffle. Yeah, that's like very Super Bowl shuffle song. About the ball wash.

SPEAKER_03 30:37

We're rinsing it up. We're rinsing up on whole 18. You sound more like rap and Rodney then.

SPEAKER_01 30:43

Oh, yeah. So the you know, what came of that is John Daly wanted me to give him guitar lessons in exchange for him giving dad golf lessons. And I said, Well, what do I get out of it? And dad said, My eternal gratitude.

SPEAKER_04 31:02

That's awesome. Good stuff. Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_09 31:04

You know, uh, one time Jimmy mentioned the Kevin Kenny, he's like, Yeah, you know, I was in a band called the Violets back in Athens. We opened up for you one time, and Kevin, yeah, I don't remember that.

SPEAKER_03 31:15

No, but when I did tell him about what gig it was, because it was on Halloween like 90 or something, and he's like, Oh, I remember that. We had just gotten off the road. They were at that like ascendant rock star stage, you know. Right.

SPEAKER_07 31:27

We're we're all picking our personal arrows whenever you drop a oh 2012. We're like okay, I know where I was.

SPEAKER_09 31:33

So it's really funny, you know, you talk about LA. I had a job, I worked in Los Angeles, um, second half of 2007, 2008, some into 2009, and I commuted. So I would leave on Monday morning, I'd fly to Los Angeles, and then I'd get the three o'clock flight out on Friday, and I'd come back to Atlanta, and I'd spend the weekend, and then and I just did this over and over.

SPEAKER_02 31:57

It was a fun town. Like I remember going to Burbank and like just singing karaoke with you know with Mr. Bell. You know, that was Hollywood too, you know, and and Mali. There was just so much. There was like Prince. I saw him play with several of my friends like four different times, where he'd just sneak in with his little self, grab a guitar, make us realize that like there is heaven on earth, and then he'd be like, Where do you go?

SPEAKER_07 32:24

Or only in LA moments. The baked potato or just all these just like valley moments when we lived in the valley that just not planned, no tickets just happened, just all of a sudden. And yeah, it's just one of those things where one thing we really I think we both kind of sensed about about from moving from Athens to LA was like once we got to LA, everybody was good, right? So it wasn't there wasn't this like well debating about what the essence of good was because everybody was good. So you just all kind of hopped up there and played each other's music and acting and whatever creative arts you were in there. If you if you lasted any amount of time there, you were probably could could cut your mustard. So I I got in a in a little um I think called the Beachwood Canyon Rockers, which was just kind of an Americana roots. It was a bunch of songwriters that we played every other Tuesday at a piano bar in Hollywood, and everybody learned each other's shit. You know, and then Laura and I started having guests sit in with us that kind of eventually many years later led to this band where we would just have somebody like kind of not rehearse and just kind of like sit in with us. Your your friend on you know, and so it just had that just kind of like loose each event was gonna be something special and never happen again thing. And I've always loved that kind of thing, like it's all happening right now. And um, so yeah, our Athfest gig with Kevin Kinney, we've got a unique lineup that will probably never happen again, and it's gonna be fantastic, and I'm so thrilled. And we've got Natalie on flutes and and Valor front, but yeah, I'm jumping all over. Go ahead, Laura.

SPEAKER_02 33:50

Oh no, that was we need to talk about you know about the band lineup because I mean our flutes are you know pedal steel, like they are other voices in the band fully.

SPEAKER_07 34:04

Like when you listen to Jess Poor, you're just hearing, and then there's John Neff like adding some little like sparkle that and the Valor's got guitar and mandolin there, so there's like little blon-da-da-da. That's his mandolin, and you know, these little bits that we just kind of shined and moved around.

SPEAKER_02 34:20

Am I the only one that sees rainbows when Valor's playing? I didn't take anything, I promise.

SPEAKER_01 34:26

You're very kind, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 34:28

I think I just have sensory issues, obviously, but no.

SPEAKER_07 34:32

Rainbow's a pretty great name. We keep trying to come off with great, you know, the Well, there's already a band called Rainbow. Yeah, it was Redbow. That's true.

SPEAKER_04 34:38

He wants to nickname you.

SPEAKER_07 34:39

Right. You already rainbow. Great nicknames that are like, you know, nicknames gotta sting a tiny bit. You can't name yourself, you can't love it.

SPEAKER_04 34:46

You know, like it's just gonna have all that.

SPEAKER_09 34:48

So like I agree with you on that.

SPEAKER_07 34:50

Our beloved JB, the sausage man, uh JB himself, Mr. James Brown. He he and Kevin have a long, long relationship, 30 plus years, and he calls him Kale then. Oh belovingly. There you go.

SPEAKER_02 35:05

JB can do whatever he wants to, whatever he wants.

SPEAKER_07 35:08

You're lawing.

SPEAKER_02 35:09

He told me that he's getting into stand-up. I'm like most people at retirement age, I'd say no. But JB, I said, you do it, it will work out for you.

SPEAKER_07 35:16

He is a hilarious man who connects with the people, and I would not stop him or deny him going for anything.

SPEAKER_02 35:22

I'm gonna drive him and open for him because that'll really help him out. I'll go first and they'll be like, huh? And then he'll go and then be like, oh, that's a comedy.

SPEAKER_06 35:32

Open Mike in Athens.

SPEAKER_09 35:34

Excellent, excellent. I like it. I'm looking forward to it. I think it's gonna be a great time. I think all of Athfest, that whole weekend is gonna be fantastic. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_06 35:43

Did we talk about music? I don't know if we did.

SPEAKER_02 35:48

Did you ever uh listen to PM Dawn when you were in Long Island? Did you ever hear them?

SPEAKER_09 35:53

Yeah, I know who PM Dawn is.

SPEAKER_02 35:54

Yes! Okay, I just have to I have to mention them. It's it's my religion to mention them arbitrarily on things because I love them.

SPEAKER_09 36:03

Yes, I I know who Yes, I do. Yeah, yeah. That's right. That was good. Valor. Yes. Some of your musical influences. Because I get a feeling they're gonna be a little bit different than all of ours.

SPEAKER_01 36:18

Well, I mean, the the first and most obvious one is I grew up listening to the Allman Brothers. I mean, I I found my baby book the other day. You know, I was born June 21st, 1970. July of 1970, I was at Love Valley, North Carolina with the Allman Brothers. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 36:32

So does that make you a Leo? You were born on my first baby. I think that makes you a Leo.

SPEAKER_01 36:35

Maybe you're really cuspy. June 21st is Cusp of uh Gemini and Kansas.

SPEAKER_03 36:40

I'm born the same day.

SPEAKER_01 36:41

I'm one year earlier than the year.

SPEAKER_07 36:43

So there's like not July. So there's like bootlegs of the show that you were a baby at? Yes.

SPEAKER_01 36:47

Wow. But growing up, the what I heard the most was a lot of early 70s Progressive Soul. I listened to a lot of I'm still a huge fan of Stevie Wonder, uh, Marvin Gay. Um I I I'm a fan of the early days of fusion, Miles Davis, uh the Ma Vision Orchestra Return to Forever, Tony Williams' Lifetime. Um love that stuff. I love Lou Note jazz, I love ECM jazz. We just lost Ralph Towner. Fabulous, fabulous guitar player uh Ralph Towner. If you know him from anywhere, he had a band called Oregon for a while with Paul McCandless and Colin Walcott and Glenn Moore. Um and he also appears on one track on the Weather Report album I sing The Body Electric. Um his solo album called Solstice, there it is. Um wonderful. I I just I love that. I love 20th century classical music, right? I love Schoenberg and Berg and and all the weird music. Uh I I'm a fan of uh the experimental avant-garde stuff, you know, throbbing gristle in the residence. I mean, it it really honestly it comes from everywhere. I love Johnny Cash. I mean, it really seriously comes from everywhere.

SPEAKER_09 38:02

So I listened to Johnny Cash as a kid. Yeah, like my father liked Johnny Cash. We listened to Johnny Cash, and I remember when I moved, I was 23 when I moved to Georgia, and people are like, How do you know who Johnny Cash is? You lived in New York.

SPEAKER_02 38:16

Yeah, and I'm like, Yeah, what are you doing down here? But how did you get here in your car?

SPEAKER_04 38:22

New York City.

Influences And Old Writing Rebooted<br>

SPEAKER_01 38:23

Yes. New York City. Yes. Live in Folsom Prison and B.B. King's Live at the Regal. Those two were my favorite live albums of all time.

SPEAKER_02 38:31

Did y'all know that Cheryl Crow has a Johnny Cash song?

SPEAKER_01 38:36

She does.

SPEAKER_02 38:37

It just blew my mind. I think it's called Redemption Day, or I might I get that R word wrong sometime. But yeah, I was like, this sounds good. And I was like, oh, what is so different? I was like, where is Cheryl Crow's song? I don't not like, oh, it is Johnny Cash and Cheryl Crow. And you can totally tell.

SPEAKER_07 38:52

Yeah. Just a quick double back on your uh on your fusion in Prague, you were talking about. I forgot to mention the story. Our best, our best buddy, good friend, our mutual friend Sean Tonar, uh, who Lawrence played with as well. Also, our good friend. His birthday is May 17th at the Red Light Cafe on Amsterdam Avenue here in Atlanta. And we are doing I'm playing Pontius Pilot in Jesus Christ Super Smash.

SPEAKER_02 39:17

And I will be there with my camera phone.

SPEAKER_09 39:19

I was I will be there with my camera phone. I would be there to make sure that mama gets all that on top.

SPEAKER_02 39:29

They'll give it all away for free, baby.

SPEAKER_01 39:32

I had friends in Tallahassee who had a punk band called Ted Bundy Revival, and they used to do a cover of 39 lashes. We're doing that.

SPEAKER_07 39:42

We're doing Pilot's Dream and 39. They're not doing the entire thing because it would take like two and a half hours, but they're doing about 75%. They're doing all my gosh, we're doing the best songs. I'm I'm only up for Pilot's Dream and 39. He's like, we can't do all 39 lashes. I'm like, wait, what? We can do like 12 lashes? That's a totally different story then. Yeah. But in the overture, they only do like a third of the lashes. One. Which is Andrew Lloyd Weber, when he wrote that overture when he was 19, freely said that he stole that from a Duane Alman Lick.

SPEAKER_03 40:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 40:12

Crazy.

SPEAKER_03 40:13

He said that really?

SPEAKER_02 40:14

I mean, don't you like? I was kidding now. It's too late now. It's too late.

SPEAKER_07 40:20

Well, with a phantom, it's a half step off from Echoes Pink Floyd.

SPEAKER_02 40:28

And Gethsemane and House of the Rising Sun. You can pretty much just sing Ghessemini over this a month ago of the Rising Sun.

SPEAKER_07 40:36

Gethsemane and Jesus Christ Superstar, I will be doing it matter anymore. Is you can get away with anything if you're like 19 years old.

SPEAKER_03 40:46

Which one was first?

SPEAKER_02 40:47

Note that 19-year-old. House of the Rising Sun was first.

SPEAKER_01 40:50

House of the Rising Sun goes back to the 1910s. Oh, right, that's right.

SPEAKER_03 40:54

It's a traditional.

SPEAKER_02 40:55

I wrote it.

SPEAKER_07 40:56

I mean, with the right legal buzzes, you can fit any song into any song, basically.

unknown 41:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 41:01

In my opinion. It's true. Unless it's my sweet lord and he's so fine. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 41:06

Well, John Fergerty got sued for right.

SPEAKER_09 41:08

He got sued for sounding too much like himself. Yes. Which is crazy.

SPEAKER_07 41:12

Zans can't dance when he rock and roll.

SPEAKER_02 41:14

That is the problem and the solution to the system. Yeah. I'm just sorry he was the lamb.

SPEAKER_07 41:20

Yeah, that's true. But he did get to get up on the witness standard, plug in his guitar and go, this is the first one, and then this is the second one.

SPEAKER_02 41:30

They're not the same. I want to read it.

SPEAKER_09 41:32

So, Valor, let me ask you a question. Yeah. Obviously, Jonathan and Laura are like high energy, always going. You're over there, you're more reserved, sitting back. How does it all work?

SPEAKER_01 41:46

Oh my goodness, I love being around these guys. They're hilarious. Um, it's it's when you're playing music, it's just like with anything else. Laws of Newtonian motion. There's there's the principle of ent of entropy. A system cannot have more energy than you put into it. So if they're there putting in energy, I am going to absorb it and reflect it. You know, that's that's the thing. If they were if they were low energy, it would it would be reflected in what I play. So no. I get excited. I've I'm I'm older than everyone. Allegedly. Things hurt me when I move too fast anymore. You're a reader close, though. You're a reader very close. So yeah, no, it's not, it's not, it's not that my brain is not going a million miles an hour. It's just that I don't want to suck up all the oxygen in a room when there's hilarious people saying hilarious things. I'd I'd rather sit back and listen.

SPEAKER_02 42:42

So that is a mistake because Valer says some like I can tell that he's got all his cousins, because that's how my grandma was. She'd not talk, and then I'd be like, come again. Come again. That was should write that down.

SPEAKER_07 42:55

Valors also are like genius glue that keeps us so you know, if all the electrons are going to be.

SPEAKER_01 43:02

One does what one can.

SPEAKER_09 43:05

There you go. So I saw widespread panic. Well, I've seen widespread panic multiple times, but I saw them in 2003. I'm gonna say it's December 30th, 2003.

SPEAKER_07 43:15

Now you know in Athens you're not allowed to like widespread panic and REM unless you're John Keane or me.

SPEAKER_09 43:20

No.

SPEAKER_06 43:22

It's against the rules, no.

SPEAKER_09 43:24

Yeah, I don't have rules. You know why? Because it's music in my shoes. So I don't know. There's no rules. There's no rules.

SPEAKER_08 43:30

From New York.

SPEAKER_09 43:32

So the first time I saw REM was in 1982. Oh wow. They opened up for the English beat who opened up for Squeeze. Ah it was squeeze. Squeeze is one of my favorite bands. Yeah. The Grateful Dead is one of my favorite bands. Wow. Um I'm I'm just kind of all over the place. I saw, and then in eighty three, I saw REM open up for Joan Jett, who opened up for the police at Chase Stadium. Oh wow they played a show a couple of days earlier. There was like 200 people at the show, and then they played in front of 55,000 people at Shea Stadium. Oh wow. So widespread panic in 2003. It was December 30th. And it's one of my favorite. I collect posters and prints from all the shows that I go to. And one of my favorite is this particular one. But what also I remember about it is that Derek Trucks came out and Chuck Lavelle. I love Chuck Lavelle. I love Chuck Lavelle Alman Brothers band. I love Chuck Lavelle for the Rolling Stones. I love Chuck Lavelle for the Tree Guy. There's just so many different things. And that show was just so awesome. Like it meant so much to me. And I went with other people who didn't get it. It wasn't just about being at the show. It was about these people who came out and played with them that made it just everything that it was. And I look at that print, you know, I got it framed, it's in my basement, and I look at it, and it just brings me back there all the time. And it was just such a really super cool time. So I got to think like you've played with a bunch of different people, all of you have played with different people throughout your career. What are some of the highlights and things? Like I'm only talking about watching something. What are the highlights for you guys of actually playing with people? And what makes you feel the way I do at this moment?

Producer Chris Byron And Studio Process<br>

SPEAKER_01 45:23

Okay. When so my father passed away in 2017. Um one of the things that he was the most proud of later in his his life uh is there is a uh music camp that he started up in the Catskills called Roots Rock Revival. It was him, it was O'Teal Burbridge, and it was Luther and Cody Dickinson of the North Mississippi All-Stars. So the four of them would teach music to kids for a week. Uh when he passed away, I kind of became his surrogate to continue the camp. So it's now me, Luther, and O'Teal kind of run the thing. Um but that first year without him, for drums, we brought in two massive drummers. One of them was uh New Orleans legend Johnny Vadakovich, who's played with everyone. I mean, he's on he's on one of my favorite John Schofield records. Um but the other one, even bigger Bernard Purdy was there uh and was teaching drums. So I got to be on a stage with Bernard Purdy behind me. O'Teal is my is my uh bass player, the other guitarist is uh at that time was Jack Pearson. He would come up for for that, who was a former member of the Allman Brothers, and uh you know on keyboards was John Modeschi. Oh my god, wow, and uh Grant uh Graham Lesh, who is Phil Lesh's son, right uh was was singing and playing guitar on that, and we did a version of um China Cat Sunflower, but at the end of the song, instead of going into I Know You Writer, we went into Blue Sky. And it fits just perfectly. And with the double drumming of Johnny Vadakovich and Bernard Purdy.

SPEAKER_03 47:12

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 47:13

I mean, I just told me that one. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 47:16

Do you have a recording of that?

SPEAKER_01 47:17

There's it's on YouTube. You can find it. Oh, we'll go check that out tonight. Yeah, wow.

SPEAKER_02 47:22

I mean, they were really lucky to get to play with you, Valor. Oh my god. I was so out of my depth. Sorry, mama can't help a mama, even if I'm 25 still.

SPEAKER_07 47:32

So, Jonathan? By the way, Laura's great at that. Like, if you if you need an injection to know how great you are.

SPEAKER_02 47:39

And I won't do it though if you like aren't like that. Then I'll be like, I'm so happy for her.

SPEAKER_07 47:44

She knows that it's in her lyrics, it's in her person. Sorry to talk about you, and the third person sitting right next to me, but she walks the walk with that. Like making people feel I can say that first air.

SPEAKER_02 47:54

Like, I'm a good hype lady.

SPEAKER_09 47:56

Well, I feel that way because I knew who PM Dawn was.

SPEAKER_02 48:00

Like, you know, like you want to know the next connection. Yes. Other arcade studios is PM Dawn's son's podcast. Oh, wow. Studio. That's Prince Bees. Y'all should listen to him. He's totally different. He does puppets. He's awesome. He directed me in a Christmas movie. And I thought they were like a one-hit wonder. And then I put Jesus Wept on, and I became a different level of fan.

SPEAKER_06 48:24

And we'll say Shout out to Christian Cordett's.

SPEAKER_02 48:27

Yes, he's gonna be like, she's gotta quit doing that. Every time I'm like, have you listened to PM Dawn?

SPEAKER_07 48:33

And he's gonna be on your podcast, right? Coming up soon.

SPEAKER_02 48:35

Yes, he's gonna be on my podcast, The Not Ready Club, to teach me how to podcast. We're like, we're we're probably not doing it right because we're not ready.

SPEAKER_09 48:45

I I watched episode one.

SPEAKER_02 48:46

Yeah. Well, episode two is like this close, but we keep having like a headache and a migraine, and then we're this close, and then we're like, we have to put it out there.

SPEAKER_07 48:56

We must become y'all chase the monks up to up north, right? Yeah, all the way up to DC almost.

SPEAKER_02 49:02

This next episode is about going to find our inner peace with the monks, and my friend made a little 8-bit like the old Nintendo game, uh, you know, duck hunt, except for this is called Monk Hunt. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_09 49:18

Wow. Wow. Yeah, so I think our podcasts are like totally opposite. I'm like 3:30, I'm gonna be here, Jimmy, every Wednesday. Yes, I do, do, do. I do the same things after we record. I don't think about the podcast tonight, but then I start thinking about it tomorrow.

SPEAKER_07 49:36

We live in we live an improvised life in our own.

SPEAKER_02 49:39

We are learning that that is probably the structure. So we're asking Christian for his advice.

SPEAKER_09 49:44

Yeah. Yeah. You know, I enjoyed it. I was watching it and I was like, this is just so crazy. Like it but I'd love to get away.

SPEAKER_02 49:53

Did you get any it I just like hoping there was like some kind of synchronicity, but the step one of getting ready, I guess, is you have to become what you're asking to you have to be the person who can handle what you're asking for. So the second one is trying to hurry up and make sure, you know, like we we can be it.

SPEAKER_07 50:12

That's right. And you're your podcast.

SPEAKER_02 50:14

There might be a crash and burn coming for our podcast, but in a good way.

SPEAKER_07 50:17

Your partner in the Not Ready Club, our beloved friend Jen Davidson, is also the artist who painted the cover to Tugboat, our current single. Our current single that she painted the Tugboat and everything else.

SPEAKER_02 50:28

She brought me to Joker Joker, which that was well, like we have different people we partner with, so it's not always gonna be Joker Joker, but she does Sonic Tonic. And I mean, she is the calm, she brings kind of our veiler, like, okay, Laura, calm down. We have to ask the guests their name, and we're 20 minutes in.

SPEAKER_07 50:47

But Laura and I like well, you know, sometimes we say we're a creative duo or whatever. We have so many like ideas that are constantly bouncing our head. We have like no time to get to any of it, so we need as much help as we can. We've got the band, we've got she's got her podcast, and we've got acting stuff, and like it's like we just want to like we want Athena Studios in Athens to let us just like run it so we can just do like all 15 of our we got a Saturday morning cartoon, we got a multi-camera that's all about Elephant Six. I mean, we Yes, a lot.

SPEAKER_03 51:14

Is it all about the 30-year feud with Elephant Six?

SPEAKER_06 51:17

It only exists for us. Yes, yes, exactly. That's exactly right.

SPEAKER_02 51:20

It's always just fine.

SPEAKER_06 51:22

It's always it always opens at Taco's Tair with a debate, with a debate about what's cool.

SPEAKER_02 51:26

I was young enough to just say I don't understand. I was like, here's this cool widespread song, and I love neutral milk, and people are like, How dare you get out? Get out.

SPEAKER_07 51:36

You catch me neutral milk panic? No. Oh, I I I dig them both. There's nothing wrong with that.

SPEAKER_06 51:42

Neutral milk panic.

SPEAKER_04 51:43

That's why we're all three on this couch, right?

SPEAKER_06 51:47

I'm like, Abba, knowing me, knowing you is an amazing song.

SPEAKER_04 51:51

What?

SPEAKER_06 51:52

Try me, try me, try me.

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SPEAKER_09 51:54

Yeah, I listen to some ABBA. I do. I'm not gonna say I don't. I mean, I'll bring a song up because we have a whole different, you know, flow to the show when we don't have a guest on. And I'll mention a song, and Jimmy has no idea what I'm gonna talk about. He finds out as I talk, and sometimes he'll know more about the song than I did that I would thought he would never even know the song. And it's really cool when that happens that you find that you have a connection to something that you would never know it in a million years.

SPEAKER_07 52:26

I will say, Jim, on that note, before drugs and alcohol, and I'm mostly sober now, but mostly, but before before drugs and alcohol, I am eight and a half years without alcohol. The the thing that gave me the greatest buzz ever that still works every single day in my life is turning somebody on to some piece of music that I absolutely love. Yeah. And that they've never heard of. So I'm like, my latest obsession is the band Renaissance from the 70s, and I can't get enough of it. And anybody I can turn on to it, I'm just like, I have to tell you all about it. And it still works, it's still that tingle feeling of like, and Laura and I experienced that with Wien and with Sparks and with with Cohen Cambria that she turned me on with all these bands.

SPEAKER_08 53:04

Judy Silly.

SPEAKER_07 53:05

Judy Sill this weekend that we like we're still having these 18 years later, these like revelations of things that I should know about or she should, should not, but like deep dive love for them, and it works. It's the greatest feeling ever. And when they get it, you're like, oh my god, my friend gets it. Yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 53:23

I mean, I guess kind of going back to something you were talking about, that's something like being that person who's the the kid or the person who has a lifelong going to shows, going to venues, and you kind of like get midlife, and all of a sudden it feels like everyone went from like awesome job to like, what were you thinking you need to grow up? I don't know. Like, how is like growing up with like all these different like what is that like? You know, I'm asking, I'm so young over here at 37. No, but it's just how do you know I'm gonna like to hear about how do you know I'm not 37? I mean I'm not well you went somewhere in like 1982. You go somewhere in 1982, then you are reincarnated, and that's really cool.

SPEAKER_09 54:08

Yeah, you know, I I find people ask me, like, how do you go to so many shows? And I don't go to a lot of shows. You the first thing I said on the first episode, I'm not telling you I went to the most shows. I'm not saying I know the most about music. I'm just telling you what I know. I'm just talking about what I like, and that's it. You know, I think gold in here.

SPEAKER_02 54:28

There's like, I'm gonna look up the squeeze, I'm gonna look up all these bands, you know.

SPEAKER_09 54:32

Laura, you hit the nail on the head. I didn't realize until after the first episode that people do go and check out what we talk about. Oh, for sure. And the amount of people, whether they say it in person or they text me or they hit uh music in my shoes at gmail.com. A shameless plug. How is that? Um good name. You know, it's amazing. So the first episode, I just threw out the libertines. This first episode was October of 2023, and I threw out the libertines have a new single, Run Run, Run. I really like the song. And all these people, like I've never heard of them. Oh, hey, that's pretty cool. And then they released an album in 2024, which for Jimmy and I, that was our favorite album of 2024. Yeah, and check it out. It is so cool how many people will reach out and talk about that. Whereas, you know, the Yeti Trio, I never heard of the Yeti trio before, and now I have put some songs on my phone from the Yeti Trio.

SPEAKER_01 55:40

Oh, bless you. Well, you know, my drummer's from your part of the country, you know. He's from far rockaway.

SPEAKER_09 55:45

Oh, okay. Yeah, nice. So I like the show because I learn so much that I didn't know before. Like I thought I knew a lot, but the show has shown me I don't know as much as I thought that I knew. And again, it's all about me talking about what I like and having guests on to talk about cool things, but like just poor. Like, if I didn't have the show, I would have never met you, Jonathan. I wouldn't know who the slightly famous somebodies are. I'd have no idea, and that is what I like so much about it. Oh, thanks.

SPEAKER_02 56:23

And he's Sloane's sister. I don't know if we have it.

SPEAKER_04 56:29

And now the uh the dive bar podcast as well.

SPEAKER_02 56:33

Now she can put you to sleep with her. Anyways.

SPEAKER_09 56:35

And I talked to Sloan about that at the 41. Uh sleep with rock stars. Right. You know, and I only listened to it because I don't listen to podcasts. That's another thing.

SPEAKER_07 56:44

Her latest one is called Dive Bar Music Club. So that we've got to plug everybody. Sloan Spencer. There you go. That was good.

SPEAKER_09 56:51

But I listened to it only because, you know, only because did I listen to albums that I missed.

SPEAKER_07 56:59

There's nothing better than turning people on to something you love, whether that music or anything that you care about in your life.

SPEAKER_09 57:04

That's the best feeling in the world. If you enjoyed that, there'll be more slightly famous somebodies on our next episode of Music in My Shoes. But until then, that's it for this episode of Music in My Shoes. I'd like to thank the Slightly Famous Somebodies Who Came, Jonathan Spencer, Laura Slade Wiggins, Baylor Trucks, joining us today in studio. I'd also like to thank Jimmy Guthrie, show producer and owner of Arcade 160 Studios, located right here in Atlanta, Georgia, and Vic Thrill for our podcast music. You can reach us at musicinmyshoes at gmail.com. Please like and follow the Music in My Shoes Facebook and Instagram pages. This is Jim Boj, and I hope you learned something new or remembered something old. We'll meet again on our next episode. Until then, live life and keep the music playing.