HOLLYWOOD YATES ~ Taking MUSIC by the HORNS

We caught up with the multi-talented Hollywood Yates during the National Finals Rodeo while he was headlining the Rio Roundup at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Known for living a life that sounds like a country song, Hollywood shared stories from his days as a fearless bull fighter in the rodeo arena, protecting riders and working the dirt during some of rodeo’s biggest events. He also reflected on his time on television as a competitor on American Gladiator, adding another chapter to his already colorful career. Today, Hollywood has traded the arena spotlight for the stage, bringing that same grit and larger-than-life personality into his music career, where his songs and performances capture the spirit of the Western lifestyle and the road he’s traveled to get there.

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We travel coast to coast, chasing the heartbeat of live music - from dusty dive bars and historic honkytonks to major music festivals and intimate songwriter circles. Along the way we sit down with the artist, songwriters and storytellers who bring music to life, capturing their voices, journeys and behind-the-scenes truths in unscripted, real-deal conversations on the Musical Miles Podcast.

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Musical Miles Podcast welcomes all interested in being a guest on our show. Artists, Songwriters, Festivals, Concerts, Venues, Fans - Contact us to request an interview to promote your Band, new single, album, song, historical or new venue or to share your story with us and our fans. We only conduct in person interviews, so check with us to see where we are headed to next.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Hey music lovers, welcome to Musical Miles Podcast. I'm your host, Byron Duffin, and I am here with Mr. Hollywood Don Yeats. How are y'all doing? Glad to be. Thanks for joining us, man. We're at the Rio Roundup here at the Rio Hotel and Casino during the National Files Rodeo. This this is a great venue. It is incredible.

SPEAKER_03 0:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:17

Yeah, Bill Blanchard and uh Don uh and Mr. Willis uh CLN. Yeah, and CLN, they all stepped up and really turned this into something and uh bring in some great great entertainment, including yourself. So you're the main you're the main entertainment tonight after the rodeo on the main stage. Yes, sir. And uh well that's cool. Well let's let's talk let's talk a little bit about your career because you've got a very storied career and a very vast career. You you're a little bit like me, only your your career's been very cool, and mine's been just I've just done a lot of different shit.

SPEAKER_01 0:52

Well, that's I I feel, you know, I mean, I'm very blessed and that I've had uh that I've had been able to do like you do a lot of different stuff. Sure. Um and uh been fortunate enough to, you know, that God gave me the abilities and and uh the talent to be able to be, you know, at the high end of all those careers, you know. So like with the rodeo career, you know, I made it to the national finals twice as a freestyle bullfighter in the Ranger Bullfights. I came back uh the last year they had them as a barrel man for the bullfights, and you know, then TV, you know, I was fortunate enough. I mean, I had a lot of little deals, but then I was fortunate enough to get the American Gladiators and uh have a hit television show for a couple years, and then uh, you know, I wrestled with WWE, you know, um, and then you know, now my singing and and it's taken a long time. And and you know, everybody thinks overnight success on everything. And like, you know, like bullfighting. I mean, I fought bulls for five years, right, you know, in every practice pen I could find around the country and you know, all over, um, before I even got my PRCA card. Right. And then, you know, my rookie year in the bullfights, about two years after I got my card, I was able to get into the bullfights and um and made it to the national finals. So yeah, it it happened quickly, but I mean that was seven years into fighting bulls.

SPEAKER_02 2:14

Seven years into the game, right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, most people don't think about that, and they think about the the overnight success in the music industry. They think about artists like Lainey Wilson, overnight success, who lived in her trailer in Nashville for ten years. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that the you know, uh the the the TV show uh Yellowstone kind of put her on the map, right?

SPEAKER_01 2:34

You know, uh that was so fortunate for her, and I'm so glad she got it. Um, you know, and the thing is, you could have put a hundred other people on that television show and had them playing music, and they wouldn't have had a career. Oh no, agreed. You know, it's you know, people people think, well, yeah, she, you know, no. The girl's got talent. No, she's got extreme talent, she's smart, she's worked her butt off for it.

SPEAKER_02 3:00

So and I've seen her, I've seen her live, and she is incredible live, and she, you know, she they they gave her a little bit of a uh a hard time there for a while because she got a little bit of a booty, you know, and right, and then all of a sudden that disappeared, and they're like, What happened? She said, I worked my ass off. You know, I mean, literally, I see her dance on stage and she can she can get it and she she earned it.

SPEAKER_01 3:23

Yeah, you know, and and it doesn't matter, you know. I mean it doesn't matter, you know. It's like the fact is, you know, she is just who she is, and she's talented, and she had the talent, you know, when she was bigger, and she's got the talent when she's smaller. So, you know, people you know people look at you know, cover and everything, and and you know, I I did a post the other day, you know, I'd I dress wild.

SPEAKER_02 3:44

I'd you know I love it, I think it's cool.

SPEAKER_01 3:47

I had a pair of pants that I made with a bunch of fringe down the legs and everything, and I posted it, and it was just a good, nice post about be yourself, you know, unapologetically, yeah, and work hard, you know, for what you want. And, you know, I mean it was just uh that you're gonna have haters, you're gonna have, you know, people that are gonna be jealous, they're gonna hate on you, they're gonna, you know, and you know, my posts usually only get, I don't know, 135, 150 likes, you know, maybe 200 on a good one. And then, you know, they might get three or four comments, you know, because the algorithms, you know, you never know.

SPEAKER_02 4:22

I'm dealing with it every day.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

Oh, man, I've got over 670 some, you know, likes and you know, did stuff. I've got over 20, you know, comments, and I've got probably about you know, 30, 40 just shitty comments, you know, that are right that are just hating them and you know, saying that, you know, uh I should be on RuPaul's drag show and this and that, and you know, they're and they're like, I question your sexuality, you know, and I'm like, well, why are you thinking about my sexuality? I mean, if you're thinking about my sexuality so much, maybe you're actually questioning your sexuality, you know. But it's like people are gonna talk smack all the time, but those are people that will never reach the level of success that I've reached, that will never reach the success level that they won't even reach half the success level that Laney's reached. Oh no, no.

SPEAKER_02 5:13

So no, well, and and you know, it's it's just part of the game that we we we have to play actually, even with the podcast. I've got to be on social media. I put make posts every day here from Las Vegas, letting people know what's going on, who I'm meeting with. I made a post this morning that I was interviewing you. Uh we're we're we're lucky enough that I'm in uh unfortunately I'm gonna miss your show tonight because I get to go interview Sammy Kershaw. Oh, so cool. So, you know, we're that's what we're about, right? Is interviewing artists and we we we love live music though. That's what that's what this podcast is really about. And getting to share that and those and getting to share the personalities and the backstories, right? But but it's interesting because sometimes I wonder, you know, I make a post and nobody comments, nobody says anything, and you're like, what's it take to get you guys to engage? Yeah, and and and and I think but we're we're all guilty of it, right? You get on our phones and we go, yeah. Oh, that's cool. Oh that's cool. That's cool. But we don't stay, we don't take time to click the like button or even click the button and say, Hey, cool pants, Hollywood. Love your pants, love your style. Good on you. Right. And you know no, they gotta be hateful. Right. And and so, but those those guys they have no self-esteem. They they they couldn't they couldn't they couldn't put on a pink shirt and walk outside.

SPEAKER_01 6:26

Well, they you know, and I look at it like this, yeah. They couldn't they couldn't dress the way I can. No and and and walk around because I get the looks, I get the you know, I see it. Oh, yeah. I see it where people are, you know, just kind of you know, like that. You know, if some if these people that are making shitty comments to me tried to do the you know, walk, they would go home and cry themselves to sleep because they would be like, everybody hates me, you know, making fun of me. They can't lace up a pair of cleats and fight bulls like me. They can't, you know, go on a gladiator show and beat me. You know, they there's nothing they can do to beat me. And it's like this one guy just keeps coming back, and I keep going, you know, I didn't come to your page, but you keep you're a huge fan, man. That's awesome. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 7:06

Yeah, I'm just keeping fan of the car. You're a super fan.

SPEAKER_01 7:10

You're a super fan because you're here and you're coming. Yeah, I go, and you're helping my algorithms. Thank you so much. Absolutely. And it keeps coming back, so it's like you're not even smart enough to know that I'm I'm, you know, manipulating you to help my algorithms. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 7:23

Well, it's absolutely you know, people are funny. I mean I and I know when I started this podcast, people were probably thinking, Byron, what the hell do you know about music? Well, I know I'm a huge music fan, right? And I love music, love live music, and I and I play a little bit. I'm not very good, but I play, and I and I can and I have people tell me all the time, oh you know, I thought about doing that. Don't think about it, do it, do it, just do it. Pick up pick up the guitar, and and I went, I finally I've had a couple lessons, but I really am self-taught, right? And and so, you know, I I just but I I think it takes a lot of guts to go out and do what you do and even what I do. Yeah, you know, to to to s sit in front of a camera and and put yourself out there to the world.

SPEAKER_01 8:09

You're opening yourself up to a lot of hateful comments.

SPEAKER_02 8:12

Oh yeah, but you know, it's it's been interesting, they just don't comment. I'd almost rather have a few hateful ones because we don't get any. Right. Not any, we don't get we get you know what I'm saying. It I I want people to engage with me. Yeah, you know, I want them to say, Wow, that looks like fun. And I they'll do it, but people are funny because I think there's a lot of people that are afraid to comment because they're afraid somebody might say something. Why'd you comment? What do you have? Why do you got anything to say? Anyway, it doesn't matter, but but you've had a great career, and I love that, and I love that it's so vast and so broad, and you've done so many cool things. Tell me about uh um, because Cliff Willis asked me, he said, he said, ask ask Hollywood about the baddest bully ever fought.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

You know, I mean, gosh, there's been so many. Um, you know, I mean, I fought J10 of Harper Morgan's and uh Super Freak of Harper Morgan's, which was Frankenstein of Rex Dunn's before he was super freak of Harper's. Um, you know, I mean, uh the Borba Pen, you know, Freddie Kay, everybody's nightmare, you know, all that Borba Pen, they were all, you know, double ranked. Now is that Borba, is that out of California, Ross Borba? Uh yeah, that was uh Frank B. Borba. Frank B. Yeah, he had all the deals. And and now, you know, Dennis Borba is still keeping the going. And and Clarence Borba was, you know, like, I mean, there's a whole bunch of brothers, you know, then uh Clarence Mike, you know, uh Lawrence, you know, um, just great family. And they they had, you know, some of the rankest fighting bulls, you know, in the world. And they were big, mean, muscular, you know, big, muscled up Mexican fighting bulls. They, you know, the one that they turned out at the NFR the other night, you know, he he was uh, you know, a little more like the size of what the Borbas had, you know. Okay. A lot of the bullfights now, the Mexicans are much smaller, you know. But um but they're still ranking, they're still you know, they're still quick, you know.

SPEAKER_02 10:10

Yeah, so well I remember, I remember when when you did the Wrangler Bullfights, I was here at the NFR. I've been here, I've been in the NFR 25 years in a row. Yeah. I haven't been to I don't go to air a performance every year. Some years I go and it just depends. But I remember my my mother-in-law and father-in-law came the very first year, 40 years ago, the very first perf, and they had tickets for years, but my father-in-law would stay because I always had the bullfights at the end, right? Yeah, yeah, right after the bull ride. He ain't leaving. You know, everybody's getting up and walking out, and he's going, we're staying for the bullfights, and and they were they were cool.

SPEAKER_01 10:43

Yeah, they were, you know, and that's it, it was a fun time, you know, to be in the regular bullfights and and to come to the national finals and get to compete for a world championship, you know, just like all the other cowboys, and you know, earn your way here, and then step in in front of those golden chutes, you know, like it it was it was an honor and it was a pleasure and it was a lot of fun, and I got to do it with a lot of my you know good friends, yeah. So sure.

SPEAKER_02 11:07

Yeah, so let's talk about some of those guys that were fighting bulls back in then.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

Smetz and uh uh Smetz, Donnie Ronnie Sparks, great rumor, um, you know, Dwayne Hargo, yeah, Lloyd Ketchum, uh Ford Britt, you know, you you can go back to uh Jeff Cobza, you know, Rick Chapman, you know, I mean there were some great bullfighters and they were amazing. Yeah, and I, you know, I'm I'm just very fortunate that I was, you know, got to be one of the ones that made it here, yeah, you know, before they quit doing them. Yeah. And you know, and then I got to come back in the barrel for the very last one, you know, and so that that was cool, you know, to be able to come in. What year was that? That was 2000. Yeah, that was the very last year of the Rango Bullfights, and Ted Kimsey and I were the barrelmen that were chosen to be here for the bullfights, and so you know, that's this episode is sponsored by Close.

SPEAKER_02 12:02

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SPEAKER_01 12:45

That's pretty cool to know that I w I was one of only two guys to make it to the NFR in the bullfights as a bullfighter and as a barrel. Barrel man. Yeah, that is cool.

SPEAKER_02 12:56

That's cool. Well, cool. Well, let's talk about uh the American Gladiator. How'd that whole deal come about?

SPEAKER_01 13:02

You know, I was actually here in Vegas uh spray tanning a bunch of the competitors for the uh w uh Mr. and Miss Olympia bodybuilding show. Oh, okay. Uh a friend of mine, Jantana, she was tanning all the competitors and called me and asked me if I would come help. And I was like, Yeah, I'll come up, you know. And uh I had just come back from she had taken me to Spain to do the world bodybuilding championships over there. And so I was just here and my wife and I were walking around. I had a break and uh we were walking around the Fit Expo, and the casting director from NBC saw me and uh approached well, saw us and approached both of us to become gladiators, and my wife didn't want to be on TV. And uh sounds like my wife. Yeah, so she walked away. I talked to them for a little bit. They I told them I couldn't do it because I was negotiating a contract with WWE at the time, and uh they kept after me for four days, and you know, and it was a long drawn-out process. I finally went and you know, auditioned and uh and then then you know another long drawn-out thing after that, you know, where I was out there training for a couple months, and then they weren't sure if they were gonna use me. I mean, it it's a long story, but I ended up getting the the job and you know came up with the name Wolf, you know, right uh and just kind of built that character up and you know had a blast doing the show. It was a lot of fun. How long did you do that? Oh, we we did our group only did two seasons. So yeah, we were there uh basically we filmed at the end of 2007, so it aired the beginning of 2008, then we filmed again in 2008, and it aired at the end of 2008, so two seasons in one year.

SPEAKER_02 14:39

Okay. Well, that's cool. That's a that's a whole nother deal.

SPEAKER_01 14:42

And then you you were in the d uh WWE as well Yeah, I wrestled. I was a jobber, you know. They would they would just call me for one-offs where I would go out and then wrestle, and then they finally uh Shane McMahon and I were talking one time about my bullfighting. I had kind of quit wrestling, and you know, I had made a comment to Shane, you know, I kind of called him old, and he kind of looked at me and I was like, I don't have to kiss your butt. I go, I'm not trying to get a job. Right, right, right. Well, what are you doing now? You know, I'm like, I'm I went back to fighting bulls, you know. I mean, I I never quit fighting bulls. Sure. I go, but I'm just focusing back on that. And he's like, You're a rodeo clown? And I was like, Yeah, I'm a rodeo clown bullfighter. I've been doing this for my whole life, and so we got to talking, and he wanted to see a video of it, so I sent him my demo reel, you know, of all my bullfight stuff that I give to committees to try to book rodeos. Right, right, right. And two weeks later, uh I get a call from Nova, uh Mike Bucci, who was uh working for the uh WWE as a you know talent relations, and he called me up and uh was like, hey Hollywood, I'm sitting here in Vince's office with Vince and Shane, and we're watching your you know promo deal about your bullfighting, and I hear Vince in the back going, You're effing crazy, you know. And uh so we got to talk and they're like, we want to bring in, we want you to do this gimmick, you know. And so they were flying me back and forth to Kentucky out to OVW, and we were working on the character, you know, they wanted me to be the rodeo clown, and and it just wasn't working because the way they were trying to do it, it was very hokey, it was very 80s doink the clown. And I go, You're just trying to make me doink 2000, you know. I was like, look, I go, give me a couple weeks, bring me back, I'll show you a different character that still goes along those lines. Sure. And so I came back where I was, you know, leather pants, cowboy boots, you know, more of a kid rock Brett Michaels type look, the rodeo rock star look. Sure. I mean, that's me, the rodeo rock star. Yeah. And so I came back with the rodeo rock star look and you know, said, Look, I'll I'll cut promos and everything, no makeup and everything, but then when I get ready, you know, to go out, I'll put my war paint on, basically. Right. And then you can show the video of me fighting bulls, you know, as my entrance video. That way people piece it together that oh, this is just a badass cowboy, right? You know, that's gonna come in and I go, and I'm not gonna do a lot of wrestling stuff, I'll do just a lot of bar brawl type, you know, be the be the tough guy. And uh, and they liked the idea, and I I gave them a whole list of merchandise items that we could do. So they're you know, I'm bringing them a lot of ideas on how to make money, you know, how to market this. Yeah, and uh so that's that's why we were n negotiating the contract, and then you know, they thought I was trying to pull the power play with the American Gladiators. Oh so they're like, Well, good luck with that, you know, and I went and did the gladiators, and then they, you know, uh Johnny Ace was like, I went back to one of the WWE shows just to see the boys and say hi, and right Johnny came up and was like, Man, you got he goes, he hugged me, you know, and he goes, Man, you got that character over when a hundred other guys couldn't have. He goes, When you're ready to come home, you always have a home here at WWE, you know, and and I was gonna go back, but I just uh I just decided to focus more on music and try to get the music thing going. Cool.

SPEAKER_02 18:02

Well, that's a good segue into the music s deal. So, so let's talk a little bit about that. You say you're like me, self-taught. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 18:09

Picked up the guitar at what age? Well, I mean, I I picked it up at a young age, but I never could play. Like I I you know, I just couldn't learn. I just couldn't figure out, you know, I got ADD and you know, like, and I played sports and I did, so I never learned. Then I could grabbed another guitar, you know, later in life and still wasn't really learning. And uh finally when I started playing out bars and stuff, you know, and I had uh, you know, a good band behind me. I didn't need to play guitar because I had good band members, but then it was getting to where you know I couldn't find a guitar player, you know. I had a lot of I call them the hit excuse me. I call my band the hitmen, you know, like Hollywood and Hitmen, but I mean um because they're all hired guns, you know. They would come in, they would play a gig or two, and then they would leave and you know go play for somebody else. So I was like, man, I better at least learn how to play rhythm, you know, so that if I can't find a guitar player, I can still do the gigs and get paid. Right. And so I just started picking it up and I would look up songs that I already liked. Sure. And I would look, you know, I would just, you know, look on ultimate guitar for those songs, and I would go, oh, well, there's only three chords.

SPEAKER_02 19:18

Three chords, three chords in the truth, right?

SPEAKER_01 19:20

So I just started picking it up.

SPEAKER_02 19:21

And you knew and you knew the rhythm, you knew the you knew the the the the way that record or that that song sounded, right, that it was meant to where they played on the radio. So you could I did the exact same thing. I'm really I've had two lessons. Yeah.

unknown 19:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:36

And that's I I think I had I think I took some lessons from a guy when I was doing mesquite rodeo for about seven weeks. Uh-huh. You know, after a after a week or two, I found a guitar center and I went and I, you know, I think I took three or four lessons, and yeah, you know, and I was he was trying to teach me how to play one song, but my strumming pattern was backwards, and it sounded like another song, you know, and so he's like, Well, you you kind of already know that song, you know, right because you're playing it backwards, so why don't we just work on that song? Right.

SPEAKER_02 20:05

You know, and uh so you know Well, that's what's really interesting, and you know this because you play, you did the same thing I did. There's you know, C G D E A minor, they're they're in about uh 10,000 songs, right? So if you don't play the if you if you don't strum exactly the right, you know, because I'll be I'd be playing to my wife and go, hey, is that this song? And I'd go, No, you're close, it's got the same chords, you know. But anyway, it's just fun. But I I love the guitar, and so I I I I play every day. I'm never I'm I've been doing it for two years, I'm still no good, but I but I love to do it.

SPEAKER_01 20:42

I need to play every day. I get I just I get busy, and then when I'm not busy, I'm tired, so I you know, and I should just at least take an hour every day and play with it, you know. That was my goal. Yeah, I well, but not huge, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:56

Yeah, I my I I I've maintained my calluses and I play every day, whether it's 15 minutes or you know, I might play through one or two songs and then put it down, but but I'm this damn podcast takes a lot of time. Oh, it does.

SPEAKER_01 21:08

You know, see we post three episodes a week. Yeah, and see, that's you know, everybody always asks me, and they're like, why don't you do a podcast? And I go, that's a lot of work.

SPEAKER_02 21:16

Do you know that the average podcast doesn't get beyond six episodes? Oh, really? Yeah. And and uh so when in our first year, we had posted 97 episodes. Wow. And so I did a little research, and we're in the top one half of per 1% of nobody, I mean, very few people ever get anywhere near a hundred episodes in one year. I mean, if they do, they get you know 30, 24, or 30, or you know, I mean, it's just but so we we've we've gone over the top. We've done over 200 interviews in 16 months. But but there's but there's a ton of great people out there and great stories to tell and share. And our whole goal with this one is it's this podcast is really truly about life. Music. We've kept it really music focused until the Hondo. And then we went out and we interviewed some of the Cowboys and Cowgirls there. But I'm I'm an old calf roper team roper, so I I I I love the rodeo deal anyway. But and you can I was a rodeo announcer. You can't have a rodeo without music. Yeah, no, you can't. You can't have the NFR without having a big watch party and a great music party to go with it, right? Yeah. So so that's that's the cool thing about this. And Vegas is so covered up with so much great music all the time, but this week as well.

SPEAKER_01 22:31

This week is crazy. It's like you can't even there's not enough time to see all the good all the great people that are here, you know. It's like Well, I I have to sleep at some point. I'm an old man, you know, so I need a little rest. Oh, and and so I have not woke up since I've been here. Like I've I you know and I'm and I quit drinking about 55 days ago. Oh, really? And you know, thought, well, I'm gonna I'm gonna get through Vegas, you know, feeling like a champ, you know, because I'm not drinking, you know. Right, right. You know, because I was a heavy drinker, and uh and man, I wake up every day still just exhausted, and you know, and I've I've I still feel kind of drunk, you know. And my wife goes, it's called muscle memory. True. Well, you get around this, right? She goes, your body knows you're in vegas and you're used to being a certain way when you're in vegas. Yeah. And she goes, it's called muscle memory. She goes, your body's just uh, you know, acclimating to where it's supposed to be or where it thinks it's supposed to be.

SPEAKER_02 23:25

Where it thinks it's supposed to be, yeah. Well, it takes it takes a lot, and we're here. Well, we spend we spend an average of 20 plus nights a year in this city. Oh, yeah. And so because we're here for a lot of other different things, we were here in August for a big songwriter festival. Oh, very good. They had they had 50 songwriters here with with 300 number one hits amongst them. Oh, that's awesome. So we got to interview Dean Dillon and and what a great guy, and uh Eric Pazley, and and uh just uh just so many Paul Jenkins and and uh uh Paul Overstreet.

SPEAKER_01 23:59

Oh yeah, you know I've got a picture of me and Dean Dillon from gosh, I think it was 1988. Oh, you're kidding. 1989, yeah. Oh wow, yeah, him, and then I got another one, you know, another one with uh um uh T Graham Brown. Oh really? You know yeah, T Graham Brown was a great one, you know. Like he would come to Phoenix and do shows and so I would go hang out with him before. We were supposed to go skydiving together years ago and just never did. You you a skydiver? Uh I like to. I'm I've only done it like three or four times, but I love doing it.

SPEAKER_02 24:32

I interviewed a kid here yesterday, I met him here at the watch party the other night, and he's a free base jumper. Oh, very cool. 24 years old. Yeah. And he he's from Queen Creek originally. Oh, okay. But he's got a hundred jumps out of airplanes and 70 free base jumps. Wow, that's awesome. He's jumped off the Prine Bridge there in Twin Falls, Idaho, which is crazy to do that.

SPEAKER_01 24:52

Yeah, we've we've stopped a couple times and watched them from when I was going through to do rodeos.

SPEAKER_02 24:58

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's a crazy, crazy sport. Well, do me a favor, would you grab that guitar and play me something? Uh this is a uh it's called close. That's a carbon fiber. That is a carbon fiber, they call it carbon timber. Yeah, there's a cable, there's a pick if you need one. Um you writing much music or are you doing?

SPEAKER_01 25:24

I am writing. Matter of fact, here, I was gonna do one song, but I can do this one. And uh use your pick. This is one I wrote a few years ago uh that I need to record.

SPEAKER_00 25:46

Sure to stone and well worn. Blood stain from bone horns, scars underneath these pads, they look like road mass, and diving them barrels, running on dirt, they get on fast in this line of work. I ain't out here looking for glory. The pain that smile doesn't tell the whole story. No matter what, I got a job to do when the game man cracks open. That's too. Two things happen when they drown out the noise. God saves the so I saved the cowboys. Living out of a busted pickup, from old granddaddy to let a buck. Broken bones and lonely, you hit embowling the whiskey, and it ain't an easy life to live, but it's the life I chose to give. I ain't out here looking for glory. The pain that smile doesn't tell the whole story. No matter what, I got a job to do when the game man cracks open that's too. Two things happen when they drown out the noise. God saves a stone, I save the cow ones. From the eight seconds to the re-rights, from the county fairs to the bagg's lights, a man around seeing them all, and now we there will ride or fall. Cause I ain't out here looking for glory. No matter what, got a job to do when the gang man cracks over the next dude. Two things happen when they drown out the God saves the stores. I save the cowboys. I save the cowboys.

SPEAKER_02 28:29

That is a great tune. Thank you, man. I appreciate it. That I mean that's what music's all about, right? Telling a story. That's a great story.

SPEAKER_01 28:37

So it's it's I wrote that with Arlis Albritton a few years ago, and uh uh he's such a great songwriter. He's had so many hits, you know, out there and very fortunate to uh play with him, and then uh you know, I got to write with um um shoot, I just went blank on it. Bobby Pinson. Oh I I met Bobby here at the songwriter. Bobby's a great guy, has written so many hits, he's written, you know, fifteen or twenty of them with you know Toby. Right, right, right. But uh we wrote one, and we wrote it. I was hoping that he would send it to Toby and Toby would put it on an album for me, you know, and uh and you know justify me as uh one just to justify me as a songwriter that Toby would you know cut something of mine, uh, but also to make me a little bit of money. Sure. Yeah, yeah. You know, he uh Toby didn't put it on, so I put it on my uh last EP. Okay. You know, and it's uh it's a little dark, you know, but it's uh I think it's a cool uh song called What's it called? Ghost.

SPEAKER_02 29:37

Ghost. Okay. Yeah, we'll have to check that out.

SPEAKER_01 29:40

Yeah, it's uh it's on well what we'll do is so so tell us where can we find your music? You can find my music on Apple, you know, on iTunes. Uh I've got 14 songs on there because I've got my first album and then a bunch of singles. Perfect. Um, and then uh Spotify. I've got four songs on, just the last four, because they didn't have Spotify when I put my first album. Sure, sure. And I'm not in control of that first album. My old producer is, so I'm just like kind of whatever. I kind of forgot about that. I'll read I'll redo that album live someday. There you go. And then that way it'll be mine and then I can put it back out.

SPEAKER_02 30:14

Well, cool. Well, that's been interesting because you know, you bring that up, and we talked I talked with a lot of the songwriters and and artists about streaming platforms, and they've done an amazing thing for the industry, but they've also done some really damn serious damage to it.

SPEAKER_01 30:30

There's just, you know, it's made it hard for guys to make money off their music, you know. The only way to really make money is to get out and tour and and sell merch, you know.

SPEAKER_02 30:41

Well, I tell everybody look, go buy the tickets, go to the shows, buy the tickets, go buy a t-shirt, yeah, and put twenty bucks in the bucket. It doesn't kill you.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

Yeah, right. And and that twenty bucks is two hundred thousand percent more than what we're making on Spotify and all that. Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 30:59

Well, people don't realize, and and and I didn't even realize until I really learned this business, and I still know this much. But it's it's very uh it's very humbling, you know, when I talk to a to a songwriter who's had multiple number ones and they're they're out touring because they need the money. Right. You know, it's not this is not this is like being a rodeo cowboy, right? Being a musician. You've you're you're double you're double trouble right there. Yeah. Buddy, you're still fighting goals.

SPEAKER_01 31:28

The good thing about uh rodeoing and everything, you know, for as long as I have, I'm I'm a road dog. I'm a road warrior. You can't, you know, I'm happier on the road than I am at home. Now, you know, I love my home, I love my wife, I love my animals, you know, but uh, you know, from the time I was seven, I wanted to be Elvis. I wanted to be out there touring. I I mean, come on, you know, I mean it's obvious it's obvious where my influence comes from.

SPEAKER_02 31:53

You got the you got the style, you got the class, I like it. You got a great voice. You you kind of a got a cool raw dog voice, and it's just you're unique and I and I love it.

SPEAKER_01 32:03

I appreciate that. And that's you know, I kind of joke around a little bit and I go, man, there's no men on the radio right now. You know, it's like they all sound like boys. Well, they all sound like boys exactly. Uh you know, they're talented, don't get me wrong, you know, but yeah you don't have a lot of you know, but you know you know Shane Smith and the Saints, don't you?

SPEAKER_02 32:20

Uh I don't. You don't know Shane Smith and the Saints. You need to look him up. Shane's got a very unique voice. Once you hear him, you'll never forget him. But he has a very, very raspy, kind of a manly sounding voice. And and uh we we go to festivals all over, and and I've seen him live, I don't know, 15 times. But uh and met him multiple times, and he's agreed to be on the podcast. We just never got it done yet. But but anyway, but he has this voice that's so distinct, and I'll tell people, Oh, you're gonna love Shane Smith, and the next day I see him and they go, What'd you think? And they go, We hated it. He we don't we don't like him. And I'm like, Oh, you you need to pay attention, right? So, but anyway, he he has a very, very unique voice. And there's certain things I why I saw him, I saw him sing on social media yesterday. I saw him sing uh uh a Christmas song, and that his voice is not suited in Christmas songs, right? So, but anyway, um no, this this music deal is a lot of fun, and we we really truly enjoy it, and it's so cool to get to meet guys like yourself and hear your story, right? One more story you gotta share with me because I interviewed Matt uh Ferris this morning. Okay. He said, Ask ask Hollywood about Sturgis.

SPEAKER_01 33:28

That was Sturgis. So Matt Ferris and I have become pretty good buddies over the years, you know, and uh and it's cool because you know it's like he and I kind of have that Nashville thing going, you know, where we support each other and we help each other. And sure, you know, we haven't written together yet. I um I'm looking forward to doing that. It's just we're both so busy. But uh every now and then we would get to run across each other. I was gonna try to get over here last night and jump up on stage and do a couple songs with them. Um, but I've just I've been here a week and I was so busy and I had a you know a couple of things that I needed to do, and and uh I was just like, you know, by the time I got finished, I was like, I could probably make it over there, but I'm just gonna rest, you know, rest my voice for tonight. Sure. Um but we were in Sturgis and I hadn't booked my band there that year. I'd been I'd been to Sturgis, you know, for about six to eight years, and I finally I was just like, you know, it there's not a lot of money in it, you know, and going all the way out there to Sturgis, and and it's a workhorse. You gotta I mean if you're gonna make any money. I've been to Sturgis, yeah, you've got to you've got to work, you know, 10, 12, 13 shows while you're there in order to make any money because it's so far to go out and so you know, so much fuel money for the bus and all that, and to pay your musicians, and so I uh I didn't book my band at anything that year, but I had a bull riding that I was working at Full Throttle Saloon, and they were paying me enough that I got an Allegiant Air, you know, ticket for like, I think it was a hundred and twenty-five bucks you know, round trip. Right, right. But I had to stay there for four days, you know. And I called one then one of the guys at uh full throttle that hires you know all the bands, and I was like, Yeah, hey Mark, you know, is there any way you can help me out? I'm coming into Full Throttle to work that bull riding on Saturday, but I need a place to stay. And he goes, Yeah, I'll get you a cabin for nothing. You know, you can have my cabin because I'm gonna be staying in my uh trailer or whatever. So he gave me the cabin for four days. So I got there a day early and I went in, and one of the other bands hadn't shown up that afternoon. So Matt had to go in, sing that afternoon, then he had to sing that night again, you know. So we had to do two four-hour sessions. And he's like, hey man, can you come, you know, get up and sing a few, you know, and so I did the first night and we had fun and we had a blast. Well, then the second night, you know, after the bull riding, I went in and he called me up again. And we ended up doing four hours that night, non-stop, no breaks, and we were having so much fun. And at one point, he had gone up, walked up onto the drum riser, and was, you know, just playing guitar looking at the drummer. Well, I just walked up and stuck my head between his legs, and I picked him up. He was he was about 245 at the time. I was not expecting him to be that heavy. But I picked him up and I walked back out to the mic, you know, and I grabbed the mic and started singing while he was playing guitar on my shoulders, and then I handed the mic up to him so he could sing the next deal. That is, and then, you know, and then when we were going back, I was gonna take him back to the drum riser. Well, he let go with his legs, you know, and like we almost fell. And I caught him, you know, and so then I just went all the way down to one knee, you know, and and put him down on the ground. But yeah, it was it was a fun time. We had a blast.

SPEAKER_02 36:43

I said, Yeah, I'm gonna interview Hollywood after you today, and he goes, Ask him about Sturgis. Yeah, because he told me the story.

SPEAKER_01 36:49

That's a pretty cool story. It's a lot of fun. I have a lot of fun with Matt, because he's he's one of the few that I think is a great performer as well. He's a great songwriter, sure, you know, great singer, uh, but he's a performer, and you don't see a lot of performers, you know. A lot of guys get up there and you know, they just you know, they just want to, you know, sit there and you know. Yeah. Yeah. You know, we already have George Strait.

SPEAKER_02 37:21

Yeah, you know, yeah, we can have George and I like if George George has his style.

SPEAKER_01 37:26

Yeah. Yeah, we don't we don't need to, you know, if I just wanted to listen to music, I would listen to the radio. But I want to come see a show. Right. I want to see somebody that's singing, that's dancing, that's moving, that's grooving. Well, there's no Hollywood, there's no replacing live music experience. There is no replacing. That's the good thing about AI can do a lot, you know. Like right now, you know, we know AI just A an AI artist, you know, just you know, charted number one on a billboard. And, you know, so yeah, AI can go write a song, and it can write a good song, you know, but nothing will ever replace a live music performance, you know, where somebody's actually up there and they're you know giving their heart and soul into it into the songs that they wrote, and covering other people's songs and having fun with them. Sure, you know, and moving that's like somebody said something about it, and they're like, I'm worried about AI. You know, we might be out of a job, and I go, I won't be oh no. I go, AI can't perform.

SPEAKER_02 38:22

They can't they cannot perform, they can't do this. No, and guess what? This is what we all crave, right? Yeah, we all want that live music experience. And I I mean, I I and I love all genres of music, and I've been here to see uh Andrea Bocelli. I mean, I would love to have seen Prince. They tell me that's what they built this studio or this this room was built for.

SPEAKER_01 38:47

I actually walked with him uh here in Vegas at the MGM Grand. I was going to uh I was going to Jay-Z's 440 Club Grand Opening. Oh wow. Uh do the red carpet and everything, you know, because that was right when Gladiators was gone. So I got invited to everything. Yeah, yeah. Um and um I walked up, asked somebody, you know, hey, where's this 440 club? Because there was a lot of construction going on.

SPEAKER_03 39:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 39:09

And they're like, oh, you gotta walk down here, look for this sign, move here. You there's some construction right there, go over here, you know. I'm like, all right, so I've got it all in my head, and I as I start to walk off, I hear this voice go, a deep voice, you know, go, uh, hey, where's it, you know, where's this 440 club? And I go, they just told me, follow me. Well, I start walking, and there's this little entourage that's walking with me, and I don't, I'm not paying attention to what I'm talking to. You know, we're just talking and having fun. We get there, and you have to get a wristband to get on the red carpet. Well, I get my wristband and I go, I go, well, hey man, nice to meet you. And I turned around and I shook hands with the one guy. Get on the escalator, and I turn around and look back again. It was Joe Jackson, Diana Ross, and Prince, and a couple other stragglers, you know. And I'm like, and I was I was like, I wanted to go back so badly you know, to to go, you know, shake hands with Prince because I'm a huge fan of Prince. Yeah, oh I love and uh and Diana Ross, you know. But um, but I was like, no, no, be cool. Don't you know, don't run down the up escalator and look like an idiot, you know. You'll see them in the club and then you can go introduce yourself. And I never did get see him again, you know, but uh man, that guy was great. I would love to have seen him, you know, live and s and come to this venue.

SPEAKER_02 40:23

Oh, how cool is this! How cool is this, yeah. And it's and it's just sitting here, going to waste. Um, real quick, because I know you got you got stuff you gotta you gotta do sound check.

SPEAKER_01 40:34

Yeah, I gotta set up to do sound check.

SPEAKER_02 40:36

Uh couple couple questions. Number one, what's your favorite, most favorite venue you've ever played?

SPEAKER_01 40:41

Oh gosh, that's tough because I played a lot of really cool venues this year. Um Little Reds was pretty cool in Fort Worth, Texas. Okay. You know, because it's just got such a history of cowboys, and you know, that's where the Wrangler Bullfighter Hall of Fame is. Okay. And it's just such a history of uh of you know that. Uh full throttle was cool to play the main stage.

SPEAKER_02 41:07

I've been to the full throttle slope. Yeah, that was that was a good one. I did I did uh five five trips to Sturgis on my Harley.

SPEAKER_01 41:15

Yeah. Yeah, it was fun. You know, and of course, you know, I want to play the opera, you know, someday. I want to play Green Hall. I want to play, you know, there's been there, been there.

SPEAKER_02 41:22

I did three interviews inside Green Hall uh last fall. That's cool. Yeah, what a cool place. Iconic. I got to see uh uh Cody Canada and the department, yeah, and his kids have a heavy metal band. Can you imagine a metal band in Green Hall? That's great. They opened for Cody, and people are looking around going, what are we listening to? But it was cool. Yeah, and I've interviewed those kids twice, and then I've interviewed Cody, but then we got to see Jack Ingram uh the next night, and uh a girl named Billy Joe Jones opened for him.

SPEAKER_01 41:51

You know Billy Joe?

SPEAKER_02 41:52

You know, I actually I think I saw she's on the CBS The Road of that TV show. Yeah, okay. I was like, I know that name. And we've interviewed her on the podcast. Her and Olivia Harms were both on there, yeah, and we've had both the girls on the on the podcast. So but anyway, so that's cool. And I love Fort Worth as well. Yeah. You know, Fort Worth is such a great town, and uh, stockyards are cool, right? So okay. Uh who would you love to work with? Dead or alive? Actually, I'm gonna make you ask for the dead and alive.

SPEAKER_01 42:21

You're saying dead or alive, uh Elvis Presley. Elvis Presley is the greatest. Yeah, the king. He was known as the king for a reason. You know, um, and that's he is the whole reason that I got into the entertainment business. When I was seven years old, he passed away, and and I watched everything that day on TV. I listened to everything on the radio, and I cried, and I was like, there'll never be another man like that on earth, but if there is, I want to be that guy. And so he is he is the entire reason I became an entertainer. Um, and every time that I start to feel a little lost and not sure, you know, if what's going on, sure, I will go to Memphis and I will walk through that house. I will walk through Graceland, I will look at everything, I will just embrace the greatness of what he was able to accomplish. I've never been there. And then I get it's like I get a refocus, a repurpose and I and I get going. Have you been have you been over to the Westgate and I have, I have, and I'm uh I want to talk to some guys about something for next year because I would I would love to play that big stage that Elvis, you know, yeah that they built for Elvis.

SPEAKER_02 43:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:33

Well they said the top two floors of that hotel are still. I know, and I want to stay, and I want to stay there sometime.

SPEAKER_02 43:39

So yeah, I I did my interviews over there last year, so so uh yeah, that's a that's a very iconic hotel here in town. Uh okay, Alive.

SPEAKER_01 43:49

Alive. Um gosh, there's so many great artists. Uh I would love to work with Wanona. Uh oh yeah, you know, and do a song with her. I have worked with John Rich on a music video. Uh I acted in his uh music video for his song Revelations. Oh. Which was about God and the second of Christ. I I'm the Archangel Michael. Oh, are you in that video? Yeah, I've got a big beard and everything.

SPEAKER_02 44:15

I'll have to check that out. I saw I s I've seen I I heard him tell the story about how that came to me.

SPEAKER_01 44:21

Yeah. I would love to do a song with Gretchen Wilson.

SPEAKER_02 44:24

Gretchen's such a cool check. Well she's on the road.

SPEAKER_01 44:26

She's the road manager for the I've known her for a lot of years. Have yeah? I I kinda I kinda got to hang out with the music mafia for a little while. And I just didn't get to perform with music mafia because they didn't realize I was a singer at the time. Oh yeah. Cowboy Troy. I've had him on the Cowboy Troy is a good buddy of mine.

SPEAKER_02 44:42

Had him on the podcast. Was at dinner with him the other night at the actually right here at the Rio. Yeah. Because he's he endorsed uh he's endorsed by Robert. Yep. Yeah, so good guy. Yeah. Well, listen, I I don't know what's going on. I think I ran out of space on that SD card, but I know we're knocking on close to an hour. Yeah. This has been phenomenal. Awesome. I've loved every minute of it. You're a great interview, and this has been fun. And and before we get out of here, if you you put that cable on, I like you got another song to play with.

SPEAKER_01 45:15

But this is something that AI can't do because it it can't it can't truly know emotion. Sure. And this is one of the greatest songs ever written, I think.

SPEAKER_00 45:35

I said grandpa wants this picture here. It's all black and white. It ain't real clear that you there. He said, Yeah, I was eleven. Times were tough back in 35. That's me and Uncle Joe just tryna survive a cotton phone with the Great Depression. Given looks like we were scared to death, like a couple of kids just tryna save each other. Shoulda seen it in color. The pictures worth a thousand words, but you can't steal with those shades of breaking cover. Shoulda seen it in color. Should have seen it in color.

SPEAKER_02 46:47

Just a little bit. I love it. Thank you so much. This has been a lot of fun. Thank you. Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 46:52

Where can they find you music? Uh you can find me on Apple Music, Hollywood Yates. Oh, that's right. We yeah. Or Spotify Hollywood Yates. And then if you go to my uh, you know, Instagram's Hollywood Yates, my um Facebook is Hollywood Yates Music. Okay. And uh, but yeah, and even go to HollywoodYates.com and find links.

SPEAKER_02 47:10

When we when we post this episode, we'll put all that in the show notes. So we'll tag you in everything. Uh um we'll make sure that we uh we we let everybody know about it. If you got a new single coming out, let us know. We'll share it. We like to share it with our followers. Our whole point to this is to help musicians. Well, I appreciate it. Yeah, thank you so much, Radio. Thanks for thanks for doing it. It's been a blast. Hey, for Musical Miles Podcast, I'm your host, Byron Duffin, here with Mr. Hollywood Yates, and we are at the Rio Hotel Casino at the Rio Roundup in Las Vegas, Nevada, and we'll see y'all somewhere down the road. Audio for now. Thanks, man. Thank you.