Episode 2: Travis Fields - The Professor of Shred

This week on Five String Holler, we sit down with Eastern Kentucky’s own Travis Fields — musician, songwriter, educator, podcast host, and all around good man. Travis has spent years shaping young minds in the classroom while absolutely melting faces on stage with a guitar in his hands.

We talk about growing up around music, becoming both a teacher and musician, guitars, songwriting, life lessons, and the stories behind his brand new album that just dropped. Whether you know him from the classroom, the stage, or somewhere in between, one thing’s for sure: Travis Fields leaves an impression wherever he goes.

Join us for a conversation full of music, laughs, inspiration, and a little bit of guitar nerd talk from one of the finest musicians this side of the mountains.

Teaching kids and melting faces… Travis Fields has mastered both.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:09

Hey, and welcome to the Live Screen Holler Podcast with your host, me, David Banjo Barnett. And let's get down to Holler and see who today is. Come on, join us. Take this seat, have a sit down, and let's get going. Hello, friends, neighbors, and all the folks out in Podcast Land. Welcome to episode number two of the Five String Holler Podcast. Thank you all so much for your support with episode one. We now got us a brand new Facebook page you can go follow and share with your friends. You can find us on all your streaming platforms such as Apple, Spotify, Amazon, iHeart, and others. Ladies and gentlemen, our next guest is one that I am super excited to have on the show. I've known this feller ever since I stepped into his classroom as a high school student almost 20 years ago. This guy wears many hats. He's a killer guitar player, singer, songwriter, teacher, mentor, podcast host himself, and a dad, and above all, he is one of the best men on the planet. He just released his new album, Next Last Resort, that we will talk more about. Please make welcome my good buddy Travis Fields.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

That's a heck of an introduction. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 1:40

Buddy, thank you for coming on the podcast. I can't I can't believe you're sitting here on my podcast. This is just so great.

SPEAKER_00 1:47

I I I'm thrilled about it myself. I'm I've been looking forward to it.

SPEAKER_02 1:51

Oh man, I tell you what, you are absolutely one of the finest musicians in the county, one of the finest people I know in the county. And uh a lot of folks look up to you now. They're gonna dig this when I really believe. I know I sure am.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

Well, I appreciate it, and I'm I'm I'm glad.

SPEAKER_02 2:07

Oh yeah, man. Yeah. Like I said, you got a new album out. We want to talk about that a little bit first, you know, because we gotta we gotta promote that new album. We want people to listen to it, get it out there in the airwaves. Uh it's a new album, uh Travis Field's uh Next Last Resort. Where can people find this record, man?

SPEAKER_00 2:24

Uh a lot of the same places that you just mentioned for your podcast. Uh Apple Music, um, also uh Amazon Music, YouTube music, um, uh Spotify, definitely. Um I think that's most of the streaming platforms it's on. But if you listen to a different streaming platform, I'm sure it's on there too, because it distributes to all of them. Um so yeah, just about any streaming music platform will have it.

SPEAKER_02 2:50

Good deal, good deal. Folks, make sure you check out that record. That is a good album. He put his heart and soul into that. Wrote the songs on it, and we all know when you write songs that come straight from the heart, they hit the hardest.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

Yeah, I think so.

SPEAKER_02 3:05

Absolutely. That is definitely one thing uh about songwriting is when it's personal, it really sticks.

SPEAKER_00 3:13

Well, I think people can tell. I think people can tell when music's honest, and I know I can, and I know you can too, because uh, you know, you said that I was one of the finest musicians. I uh I consider you one of the finest musicians I've ever known.

SPEAKER_02 3:27

Oh Lord buddy, I just sum around, I don't do much of nothing.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

Well then we're in the same boat, but but no man, I mean I if if you listen to a song and and sometimes it hits in the it hits you in the feels and it's like, man, I've been there. Heck yeah. You know, I know what that feels like. Or when, you know, in the good moments, or even if it's in a brokenhearted moment, whatever, when you feel it, when you hit that and it's like, yeah, I needed to hear that. You know, you can tell so that somebody's been where you've been, and I think that means a lot more to people. And to me, that's the ultimate compliment is for somebody to say, you know what, man, that that song touched me. Uh, I've been there, you know, and it really got me through some hard times. And so I mean that to me, I don't care if it ever makes a dime as long as it helps or or means something to somebody.

SPEAKER_02 4:17

Right. Well, I tell you, it's uh it's kind of why I guess why one of my favorite singers in the world is old George Jones, is because he lived everything he sung. Yeah. And you can tell it when somebody such as yourself writes something like that that you lived, you can hear it. You can tell it. You can tell it. Well, so on this podcast, you know, you're one of to me, you're one of the East Kentucky legends, I call it. You're just one of these guys that you're a great musician. I've known you since you were my teacher, and after all these years, we're still friends. You're one of my favorite people in the world. But a lot of folks, you know, they kind of they they want to know about you. So I I want to go back to childhood. Okay. So tell us about growing up and like when music kind of come into the picture.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

Okay. Uh well, growing up, even as a as a young fella myself, uh as a child, I've looked through the photo albums with my mom and stuff, and and beyond the memories that I even had, she had pictures of me holding guitars and stuff like that when I was two or three years old, and and just packing them around. Um so I there was always a musical instrument in the house. Um, but now neither of my parents played anything. They both loved music. Uh my mom always listened to music, always. And usually it was loud, and you know, you could hear it all through the house. So, you know, and I I even found it some of my earliest memories are the melodies and things I'd hear, and it would be like those stuck with me. And so, growing up, like I said, that I always had that, and she and I were watching music videos one night, and uh the poison video for Nothing But a Good Time came on, and this and their guitar player, C C Deville, changed guitars like five times in the video. Had all these flashy, cool-looking guitars, had graphics or neon colors, and I was like, I won't be that dude. I'm gonna be like that guy. And they were like, Really? You know, you want to learn how to play? And I was like, I do. So uh they did that when I was eight or nine years old, I think nine, they bought me a little service merchandise guitar to learn on. Um, but now going back even further, um, some of my earliest memories, too, uh being five or six years old, my dad's half-brothers would come by the house. AO and Wid Fields, also well-known musicians in the neighborhood. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

I know we'd banjo player, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:54

Yes, my dad's half-brother. Didn't know that. I know we'd yeah, absolutely. So yeah, they're all, I mean, they all played music, and I in my mom's family, my papa, uh, one of the deals he made with me was that if I learned how to play, he'd give me one.

SPEAKER_02 7:14

Give you a guitar?

SPEAKER_00 7:15

Give me a guitar. Wow. And he did. Uh when I learned how to play, he gave me a Martin D35. And uh, yeah, I'll never forget that. Wow. And so, yeah, I mean, I was surrounded by music. But now as a kid, uh, they were impressive. Yeah, I got it, and I could enjoy the music, but that wasn't rock and roll. I mean, that that wasn't what I was interested in. So I didn't know that the fundamentals for both, you know, it was all the same.

SPEAKER_02 7:43

So, like what what was what was playing that you and mama was listening to? Like what some of the bands, some of the stuff you remember her playing around the house, blasting it and having a good time.

SPEAKER_00 7:54

You remember, I don't know if you've ever seen this or not, you're probably too young, but there was an album set that came out that used to be advertised on Infomercials called Freedom Rock. Um, and it was just an album set of of classic rock songs. She would play those. Uh, I remember Smoke on the Water being on that. Um crap, I can't even remember all of them. Uh Santana's Black Magic Woman was on it. Um and my dad was a big Bob Seeger and Leonard Skinnard fan. So he always had that playing in the car. And, you know, it was no surprise that though those were kind of where my interests would be. Right. So yeah, they always had music like that playing. Um mostly the classic rock band.

SPEAKER_02 8:41

So that explains why you're a big Leonard Skinnard fan. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

One of my favorite things that ever happened, I I think the best thing my dad ever gave me, besides that guitar for Christmas, um, the only thing I remember being any better than that guitar was the he had found he drove a truck. He drove a coal truck. He had found the Skinnard tape in it, live from the Fox Theater. It's called One More From the Road. Dang. And he gave it to me. He had it in the truck, and he'd listen to it, and I f he I went for a ride along with him, and it was like, man, I love this. He's well here, take it home. So I took it home and I'd sit for hours, rewind and play, rewind and play until I learned pretty much every song on it. And yeah, I mean that was that was a life changer for me.

SPEAKER_02 9:33

Wow. So live at the Fox Theater was scanned, was that that moment. That was it. That was the moment that changed. Cause everybody's always that's why I was on my last episode, you know, I was talking with uh uh Brent. Everybody's always got that moment that's like a a ha. Mm-hmm. It's that make your ear perks up and something hits you and it lights a fire underneath your hind end and you cannot stop it. Yep. So it was live at the Fox Theater. It was Leonard Skinner.

SPEAKER_00 10:04

I could feel that energy, you know, from a good live show.

SPEAKER_02 10:07

Was that the original band?

SPEAKER_00 10:08

Yes. Oh. Uh it was recorded the year I was born. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:17

How about that?

SPEAKER_00 10:18

Yeah, that's interesting.

SPEAKER_02 10:19

That is.

SPEAKER_00 10:21

It was recorded in 1976, and I was born that year, so that's amazing out there.

SPEAKER_02 10:28

I mean that's dag on if that don't give you till bumps, I don't know what will. Alright, so what age did you start learning to play the guitar?

SPEAKER_00 10:40

Somewhere uh in the I think ten, I guess, would be when I actually f started uh really trying. Um I kind of thumbed around on it when I first got it. And we kinda it's the thing about my dad, he worked all the time, and my mom was a stay-at-home mom, so they didn't know a lot of people, and my papa was busy, so they really couldn't give me any lessons or anything. So we really didn't know how to, you know, turn me or g get me to uh some lessons to learn. Well fate intervened and my dad had a rental house and one of the tenants was a really good guitar player, and he played rock and jazz and that kind of stuff. What was his name? Wynn Whitaker. Wynn Whitaker. And uh my dad asked him, said, Would you be interested in teaching my son? And he did. He agreed to it, and I'll never forget it. Uh he had this little purple notebook that he made for me that had this big narrative in it about how playing guitar is like playing anything else, like playing a sport or anything else. You have to put your time in, you have to be dedicated to it, and you have to be serious when you do it, or it doesn't take. Absolutely, absolutely. And so I remember reading that I can I I can see it in my mind right now. And so, and then every other lesson, every lesson that we did he would have written out prior to so that I can take it home with me and study it. And so I I started learning from him. I took maybe six months worth of lessons from him, and then he moved away. And so into guitar lessons.

SPEAKER_02 12:27

Well, at six months' time though, what did he teach you? I mean, was it just basic chords, or did you know you said he was a jazz player, and most of them jazz guys, man, they know that neck up and down.

SPEAKER_00 12:36

He did. Um taught me a lot of scales uh and how to apply scales to certain things. Okay. And then he also showed me a lot of chord theory. Um, you know, and I thought that that's probably been the most beneficial thing is showing me all the the you know the different positions for chords and things like that. So yeah, I mean he he really opened my eyes to a lot of things.

SPEAKER_02 12:59

So in other words, I guess what I was getting at is he gave you within that six months' time, he gave you the tools to for you to take off.

SPEAKER_00 13:08

Yeah. Cool. Because all I needed at that point uh was that skinner tape which I got. And by that time I knew what I could do. And so I'd I sat down and I learned them as close as I could, you know, knowing what I knew. Right, right. And so, yeah, I kind of just started ear training after that, and I never did take another lesson.

SPEAKER_02 13:33

Play playing by ear. That's I think that's how mo that's how I done. I know it's most of the guy most of us around here, I think it's how we did.

SPEAKER_00 13:41

Yeah. I never knew any formal theory. Maybe that's where he was gonna go if we would have had more lessons because he did know it. But uh, we just never got around to that.

SPEAKER_02 13:51

Yeah, I never did that. I didn't learn no theory stuff till I got older.

SPEAKER_00 13:55

Right. And I'm still hey, honestly, the most theory I've ever been taught has been through talking to the miscrint from the Bitterpickle Podcast, uh my buddy Brian, and uh another buddy, Levi Codle, has has shown me some chord theories and things like that, some different theories that I didn't know.

SPEAKER_02 14:15

So, yeah, that's and I'm 50 years old, so I know I went one time, I think my first studio session I done. I walked in the door, this guy wrote uh wrote me a chart out, and it had one, four, and five, and two M and two star and all this. I'm like, buddy, what what what is this?

SPEAKER_03 14:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:35

And he looked at me and I thought he's gonna he turned pale as a ghost. And I'm like, I don't know how to read this. Yeah, I don't know what this is. And uh he said, Oh Lord, so how you gonna? I said, just let me listen. So I'd listen to it like one take, and then the next take I'd put my part down. And at the end, he's like, you done good, but you need to learn how to read charts. So, yeah, all that theory stuff. I didn't learn it until I got older. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:05

Yeah. Well, and I think that's a lot of it's because anybody who have that we have access to in our area, anybody they're just as ear-trained as we are.

SPEAKER_02 15:15

Well, that's why I told that's why I talked about too, and I talked about this with you before and a bunch of people. When I was learning how to play the banjo, YouTube wasn't around.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

No, sir. God I wish it was.

SPEAKER_02 15:26

It wouldn't. Like YouTube hadn't even it it hadn't become a thing. So like the only thing I had to go by was what I saw on TV or what I saw from some of the home trained guys around here until I figured out, you know, what was right and what was wrong, and then I was able to teach myself. But I mean, Ebbs, it's hard. Right. That's a hard road hole. It really is.

SPEAKER_00 15:50

Because, like you say, we didn't have all the technological things. Because I mean, it's just like right now, people ask me all the time, uh, will you teach my kid how to play or whatever? It's like I'd be glad to, but YouTube can teach them for free. You know what I'm saying? Right. And and really and truly, i uh uh to this day, if I need to learn a song quickly, somebody mentions like my my bands mentioned, hey look, we need to do this song or whatever, can you have it ready by Saturday? I'll go to YouTube. Alright. And I'll watch it. Yeah, I'll learn it from there. I still listen to the recorder. Oh, I do too.

SPEAKER_02 16:29

I do, but now like with you know, with pedal, still guitar, learning, learning licks and stuff like that, YouTube. Yeah, that's where I go.

SPEAKER_00 16:36

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, can you imagine what it would have our learning process would have been like had we'd had access to it?

SPEAKER_02 16:43

I'd probably been able to play more than two chords. Yeah, me too. Me too, buddy. I seen it.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

I seen him do it.

SPEAKER_02 16:52

Oh, so you you learn how to play the guitar. Uh of course, Mr. Whitaker taught you quite a bit there. Six months worth of really good lessons.

SPEAKER_00 17:02

Yeah, they were really good.

SPEAKER_02 17:03

Motivation from that Fox Theater live recording of Leonard Skandard. When did you get when did you get your first band? Well, I was Or better yet, when did you start meeting people that wanted to put together a band?

SPEAKER_00 17:16

Actually, I never met the weird thing is, uh I I'm a shy kid. Uh I'm a shy adult. Uh, but I didn't know anybody. Because in my school that I went to, nobody actually played. So I was the only one.

SPEAKER_02 17:36

Where did you go to school at? Letcher. Letcher elementary. So you were still in elementary school.

SPEAKER_00 17:40

I was in middle school.

SPEAKER_02 17:42

Middle school, they call it.

SPEAKER_00 17:43

Yeah. Um I by the time I was 13, my dad, like I said, he drove a truck. Well, he got laid off, and so a couple of um him and another buddy that he worked with, whose name was Daryl Sparkman, uh formed a trucking company together. They bought him a truck and hauled independently. Well, during this process, my dad learned that Daryl had a boy, Daryl Jr., who also played music. And had started a little band and wanted to and had invited me to come hang out and jam with him. Right, right. So I go, and being the shy kid I am, I stand behind a nice rafter in the basement so that I don't have to be seen too much. And I plug my stuff in and um what was you playing at the time? At the time I had a Kramer XL3, um kind of a cheaper mid-level guitar. What color was it? It was red. Red. Had a black pit guard, had two single coils and a humbucker in it. Um and I had a it was a quantum amp covered in gray carpet. Quantum. I don't think I've ever seen one of that one. They were a musician's friend early on, that was their particular, I guess, sponsored brand.

SPEAKER_02 19:03

I think I seen a quantum multi-fX pedal one time. Mm-hmm. Seems like I saw that.

SPEAKER_00 19:08

But that they this little amplifier, I mean, it was a small one, but it was decent enough. I think it was 35, 40 watts or something like that. He could hang with a uh a band if need be.

SPEAKER_03 19:20

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 19:20

And so I plugged all that in and was kind of feeling it out and watching them. Um and they uh Daryl was a big Guns N' Roses fan. So what year was this? God almighty. Uh let me think. Ninety one, ninety, ninety-one, okay. Something like that. Okay. And uh so I started just kind of following them and jamming along with them. And they asked me to join the band. So I did. And we called ourselves Speed Limit. Speed Limit. And uh That's cool. Yeah, we learned a bunch of songs, 80s hard rock metal songs. And we even uh we learned some dance type songs as well. Right, right. And so we started playing the local areas. Uh a lot of the our favorite place and the place that liked us the best was Cornitsville Fire Department. And they would host dances every weekend.

SPEAKER_01 20:20

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 20:21

And so we'd go and play for these dances every weekend. And and uh, you know, for a kid making thirty-five, forty bucks a weekend. Sitting on top of the world, I was on top of the world, man. I'd hit the big time, you know.

SPEAKER_02 20:36

You remember who else was in this band beside you and Daryl?

SPEAKER_00 20:38

Me and Daryl and Alonzo Holbrook played drums. He was from Line Fork. Uh-huh. Not Line Fork, Leatherwood, I'm sorry. And Todd Hall, I also think he was from uh Leatherwood. And uh Todd he wasn't into it as much as the rest of us was. So he would sometimes ghost us at a show on the board or wouldn't show. And so we uh Daryl and I made a pact. It's like, man, let's learn the bass. We'll learn the parts that way. By now, if he screws us on these gigs, uh one of us can play the bass. And cover each other. And cover each other. Well, yeah. And even we could swap out halfway through and whatever we play while and you play while. So then that's how I learned how to play the bass. Is learning how to keep up for yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:31

Cover for somebody.

SPEAKER_00 21:32

Cover for somebody.

SPEAKER_02 21:33

That's kind of how I learned to play the bass, too. Maybe that's how we get forced into playing them things.

SPEAKER_00 21:39

Yeah, it is out of necessity, man. That's where it is. That's why that's the same reason I learned how to play drums. Is because sometimes you couldn't trust the people to show up or even uh uh uh find people who's interested in doing.

SPEAKER_02 21:53

That's true. That is true. I've I've experienced that myself quite a bit. Eh, that's the way it goes. You gotta pick up, move on. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 22:04

And you know, the only albums, and I I heard a a friend of mine say this the other day. He said, when I was telling him about the album, he doesn't know me very well. He's a recent acquaintance. Uh huh. And uh he said, Man, did you perform these songs on this album all by yourself? I was like, Yeah. He's like, Man, why didn't you lead with that? He said, I would have been so much more interested had I known you performed it all. He said, 'Cause he said, I just assumed you'd hired some kind of studio band or something like that to play these songs while you played uh your solos and sang on them. I said, No, man, that's all me. Um I said, I learned how to play the bass, the drums, and all that stuff. I said, mainly because I wanted to have people at my disposal at any time I wanted to, and that's the only way I could do that is to do it myself.

SPEAKER_02 22:56

So, just for the record here, we'll put we'll put another plug in for that new album, Next Last Resort. If you go, folks, go find that record, it's on Spotify, Apple Music, all the places you can stream music. Just know that this man right here played all the instruments and done all the singing on that record. Yes, sir. And that's a good album. Seriously, take it out. You won't regret it. Thank you. I appreciate it. That's kind of like me. That's why I bought that drum set you see over there, is because I want to do some demos and stuff of songs that I wrote. And I've got band in a box and my laptop, and it's it's a good tool, but dang, you spend an hour trying to figure out what numbers and how many dots to put in that little box to get them drums to do what you want. When you could easily figure it out, I'd just like I'll do it myself. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 23:48

You can perform it yourself. And that's kind of the reason I did that too, is because you know, you can't always I'm impatient in some ways. And I'm impatient on that. If I've got a song idea, I want to get it down. All of it. I don't want to just record a part here and wait for somebody to come put their part on or whatever. I want to do it right then. While the inspiration is with me, I'm gonna do it right then. And so that's kind of why I learned how to do it that way. Because you can't always have people at your disposal to do it when you want to do it. Don't like drum machines. Like drums. Like drums.

SPEAKER_02 24:26

Oh Lord, I love a good inside joke. So, this band, uh Speed Limit, y'all must have done it pretty good because I saw your mom commenting on their little ad last night that you had a mastered version of Sweet Child of Mine.

SPEAKER_00 24:39

Yeah. Um, like I said, Daryl was uh a big time Guns N' Roses fan. And he was he loved that song. And man, he put a lot of time and effort into mastering that song. Um I never played the first lead note in it, he did. I always played the rhythm in that one. And and that's kind of what I said to him. He called me the goat on that thing, and he he often does compliment, but now he is an amazing guitar player himself. Uh and if you ever look him up on his page, he does some covers, Guns N' Roses and Slash covers. He's he's amazing. Nope for no.

SPEAKER_02 25:17

If you say he's amazing, then I that's a good enough word for me. He is. He's amazing. I take your word for that. Daryl, we're gonna be watching you out there, buddy, if you listen to this.

SPEAKER_00 25:28

Yep, and we're planning a jam, me and him trying to get back together. And yeah, we're gonna try it.

SPEAKER_02 25:33

That'd be great.

SPEAKER_00 25:34

Just if nothing else, for just the old time's sake, just to kick it around, you know.

SPEAKER_02 25:38

Man, stuff like that. That's that's stuff like that is is to me, I think it's awesome when you go back and get with folks that you start, you know, started playing with years ago, and if you ain't played together in a long time, man, that's that's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 25:51

It's fun. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, you get to reacquaint yourself with it, you know, one another.

SPEAKER_02 25:56

So was that the only band you played with like through your high school years?

SPEAKER_00 26:01

Yeah, I actually didn't even play with them through most of the high school years. We managed to go to I think maybe sophomore year. Right. And then everybody kind of split off and started doing their own things. Okay. You know, you know how it is. When life gets serious, you know, when you start driving and you know, you start having to think about college or whatever you're gonna do.

SPEAKER_02 26:20

And then sometimes them uh funny things we call women get in the way.

SPEAKER_00 26:25

Some of them, yes. Some of that happens too. And then yeah, that that that complicates things some. But did you still like the soul through high school? Do you still keep playing? Oh yeah. Yeah, I never stopped playing. Um and it but it really it was never a formal thing when I was in high school. Mainly I just kind of played with friends. Uh I'd go jam with a friend or I'd spend and this is no lie. My dad used to have to run me out of the house, run me out of my room, because I would practice for hours. And that explains why you're as good as you are. Well, I don't know about that. But uh he would run me out. And he used to make fun of me. He said, Look, he said, I need grandkids. And he said, You ain't gonna get none out of this guitar. I said, Well, that's probably true. And he's like, you know, get out there when you know your buddies are going out with lay with girls and doing all this stuff, and he's he said, Well, don't you go live a little? I said, To me, man, this is living.

SPEAKER_02 27:26

I don't like girls, like Les Pauls. I like Les Paul's. So I know you said you started up, you had like a little uh Kramer there earlier. So did you upgrade for our gear heads up there? I mean, they they want to know what what you're playing at the time.

SPEAKER_00 27:41

In 1992 for Christmas, uh my dad bought me an upgrade. Uh-huh. Uh they they had started the trucking company, like I said, and it was doing pretty good. Right, right. And so he bought me an um, which is now a classic, an uh uh Ibanez RG 570 in purple neon.

SPEAKER_03 27:59

Ooh.

SPEAKER_00 27:59

It was it would change colors, it was kind of like a chameleon color. And then he bought me a Marshall half stack. Um you remember what what amp it was? It was the Marshall Valve State VS 100. Wow. My brother still owns that amp.

SPEAKER_02 28:13

Well, I'd say it's at least it's still around. It's still in the family. I forgot you do have a brother named Brian, don't you?

SPEAKER_00 28:18

And so uh he plays too. Does he? Mm-hmm. Wow. He would watch me play or whatever, but because you know how little brothers are, he didn't want to me to show him anything.

SPEAKER_02 28:30

Yeah, he went to impress he wanted to impress Big Bro.

SPEAKER_00 28:34

Yeah. So when I'd leave, I'd hear my stuff fire up, and he'd be in there playing my stuff. But he'd be he'd be playing it. That's good. And so yeah, he learned how to do it kind of by watching me a little bit. But yeah. Um I upgraded that equipment. Like I said, he dad got that for me. So I used that for a long, long time. And then when I started college, I started buying my own guitars. Um I'd play some uh little gigs or whatever, just solo things, or I'd go jam with friends or something like that. We'll make a few bucks. I'd save it all up, and then in the summertime I'd raise a garden and help in the garden, and we could sell the corn and whatever I made off of selling corn and stuff like that, I'd save it and I'd put it toward buying another instrument. And so uh I would say probably about the second year of college, my dad said that he would help me get a les pa because I I wanted a les pay. I had to have one because you know, as as a Skinnard fan, Gary Rossington was my favorite member, and he played a Les Paul. So I was convinced that that's what I had to have. And so there's a a company in Florida called the Guitar Broker, and they dealt primarily in vintage instruments. And he had found a 1984 Gibson Les Paul Silverburst that still had the PAF stickers on the pickup rings. Original hard case and all that stuff,$820. Oh Lord. So we bought it, you know, and I got that thing. And I play you remember it. I do remember that guitar. Do you still have it? I do not, unfortunately. Wish I did. But it happens, it happens. We all have we all pitch fits. Life happens. Sometimes you gotta have money, sometimes that's the only means of getting it. Yep, I've been there a few times. So, uh, yeah, that that guitar, and I started playing a little more seriously, a little more professionally with a band called Full Tilt. Uh was Jesse Mullins and uh Sergeant Lee Hodge, who taught uh JR O T C at Whitesburg High School. And Chris Stanley, Clyde Stanley's brother was the drummer.

SPEAKER_02 31:05

Uh Jesse Mullins makes lemonade. Yeah. Okay, cool. Yeah, I know Jesse and D. I actually played on I played banjo on one of their records. Okay, yeah. One time when I was in high school. Well, when probably when I first met you. Yeah. It's been a few years ago. So it was you, Jesse, Sergeant Hodge, and Clyde or Chris Stanley. Chris Stanley. Chris Stanley. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 31:27

And we we did a lot of gigs out and about and things like that. We played some in Pieful. We played some everywhere really. Was you playing clubs? Uh yeah. What kind of clubs? Uh we played at the Big Eye once. Neither know he noticed all I said only once.

SPEAKER_02 31:45

And uh I neared to go in there, but I remember the big eye. My dad don't my dad don't live too far from where it was at. Okay. I remember the building. Yeah. Had an eyeball.

SPEAKER_00 31:54

Had a big eye on it. Yeah. And then uh we played a lot at the American Legions. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. You know, so a lot of my stuff smelled like smoke.

SPEAKER_02 32:04

Son, I that red telecaster over on the wall, I gigged it heavily in the clubs in the college years too. I went through that. I uh used to go play um steel and guitar both. Uh a lot of times they'd uh Jimmy Tolson, you remember him? I do. Uh he's passed on and gone home as well as Bill Stacy, who's a very special friend, played bass. Yeah. But they would get me to come down there, they had a house gig at the Hazard RFW. And it was really cool. I learned a lot. Because they played everything. They played country, they played rock, they played, you know, I I played I got an education because I played all kinds of different, you know, types of music. You know, it was a fun time though.

SPEAKER_00 32:49

I did too. And a lot of the my best experiences, that now that I look back at it, has been and um the some of the ones I'm most thankful for was the ones that got me out of my comfort zone.

SPEAKER_02 32:59

Well, and that's why, you know, playing the clubs and the bars, I mean, it's it's sometimes it's it's work because you're playing four or five hours a night. At least four, usually. But now you talk about uh a good place to hone your chops right there, you are because you're playing everything.

SPEAKER_00 33:16

It is, it's a good place for that because as a cover band in a place like that, you have to cover all the ground.

SPEAKER_02 33:21

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 33:22

And I do remember it. We were playing swing songs, we played country songs, we played all kinds of different songs. And another one, I know you know Mr. Fred Campbell.

SPEAKER_02 33:32

Oh Lord, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:33

And uh they live not too far from me.

SPEAKER_02 33:36

Yeah, Fred and Alice. Oh, yeah, Fred and Alice. I'm hoping to have them on the show too. Yeah, they watched me grow up since I was a little boy.

SPEAKER_00 33:42

That'd be great. Because I I ended up going over there and jamming with them some because they were looking for a guitar player at times.

SPEAKER_01 33:49

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 33:49

And they they were thinking that maybe I could possibly do that at times. But now I I I had little interest in doing it. But I'm awful thankful that I did go and jam and and at least try to learn those things because I'm a better player because of it.

SPEAKER_02 34:04

Oh, yeah. Anytime you step out of your comfort zone, play a new kind of music, it pushes you.

SPEAKER_00 34:09

And it teaches you something you didn't know or hadn't even it kind of sometimes opened my eyes to stuff I didn't even realize that was still relevant to what I did do.

SPEAKER_03 34:18

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 34:19

And so, yeah. Especially for me, it was a strengthening of that right hand.

SPEAKER_02 34:26

Oh, bluegrass rhythm guitar players, man, they got a right hand from uh it's stout.

SPEAKER_00 34:31

People can talk about James Hetfield from Metallica all they want to, about how strong his picking hand is. I'd put it to any bluegrass guitarist up against him.

SPEAKER_02 34:40

I would anybody. I mean they they do uh uh it and you know I used to have this con I've had this conversation with quite a few people. Um and I'm not saying this because I'm not I'm a bluegrasser, you know, of course, uh, but I play other stuff. But you know, I was a bluegrasser first, I always will be. Oh yeah. But I was talking to a guy one time down there in Pigeon Forge that um he ran some of the theaters, music shows. And uh he asked me what I play, and I said, Well, I'm a banjo player. I said, but I play guitar, you know, steal guitar and all this other stuff. And he said, Oh dude, you get a job down here easy, no problem. I said, Really? He said, Yeah, because you play bluegrass. I said, Why bluegrass? He said, You can take a bluegrass and and give them anything and they they could they can play it.

SPEAKER_00 35:30

That's true.

SPEAKER_02 35:31

He said, All them guys on what stage, and he pointed to the stage that I think it was at uh country tonight or something. He said, That cat's a manlin player, that cat's a Dobro player, one of them's playing electric guitar, one of them's playing bass. He said, All them guys are bluegrass players, said you could take and give them it, throw anything at them so they can learn it and replicate it, so we don't have no problems. He said, If you, you know, and I was like, Well, you know, that's I don't guess.

SPEAKER_00 35:56

I believe that's true, and I don't believe that the converse is true. I don't believe that you can take a rock guitar player and give them anything and they can do it. Really? I don't think speaking from this rock guitar player, I know that I struggled uh with bluegrass, and sometimes I struggle with country and stuff simply because it's just not it's just not in, you know what I'm saying? I'm just not that familiar with it.

SPEAKER_02 36:23

I always told people too, you know, if you try to force yourself to play something that you don't like to play, it's never gonna turn out that good.

SPEAKER_00 36:30

No, you're right.

SPEAKER_02 36:32

Um sometimes you have to do out of necessity. I know some bands I work with, I've had to learn songs that I just don't care for, but you have to learn them for the show. Sure. You know.

SPEAKER_00 36:44

I've been in that shape many times. Um in some bands I've been in, I didn't like anything. Really? Yeah, and it's just Wow. I'm just doing it to because I I just doing it to help somebody out, or doing it because uh makes a little money here and there.

SPEAKER_02 36:59

Some I mean it's a good thing about you, you're good hearted, you'd like to help people out, you know. That that's that's what separates you from other folks. Especially in music, you you go out of your way to help some of the pickers out around here, and I know they sure appreciate you.

SPEAKER_00 37:15

Well, I appreciate them, and it's I don't know, I feel like it's the least I could do kind of contribute.

SPEAKER_02 37:21

Well, hey man, I I think you contribute quite a bit. So, where'd you go to college at?

SPEAKER_00 37:26

Went to Moorhead. Um I went to Hazard Community College for two years and got my associate's degree there. And then I went to Moorhead to finish my bachelor's. Um I also got a master's from Moorhead, and then uh five years later I went and had to renew that uh counseling certificate uh at University of the Cumberlands. So I I attended a couple master's level classes there.

SPEAKER_02 37:53

Right. So when you when you went to Moorhead, did you know that you wanted to be a school teacher, or is it something you kind of like, you know, went back and forth on or you know, really and truly, uh I didn't really know what I wanted.

SPEAKER_00 38:09

Um I just figured I I looked around and I was trying to see what the people I admired did. And unfortunately, you know, what I didn't take into account was my own personality. I didn't take into account what would make me happy. I I took into account what seemed like the best deal to make money and and still have some free time. So I looked around, I knew uh that I wasn't a coal miner. You know, I wasn't gonna do that. I knew that I I probably just I wasn't physically geared up for that. Right. So I thought the people that I admire most were my art teacher, Richard Smith, and my English teacher Sue Hall. And I said, uh, you know what, they get summers off. I said, looks like their job ain't too awful hard. So I said, I'm gonna go that direction.

SPEAKER_02 39:11

You said Richard Smith, I still uh uh think about that story you told on your podcast uh about him on hung sleeves off the red star bridge.

SPEAKER_00 39:21

That's the same one. That's him. We were close, man. And I said I at one point at one point too, I didn't know whether I was gonna be an art teacher or an English teacher.

SPEAKER_01 39:31

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 39:32

Because I kind of wanted to do both. And like I said, I went to there to to get a teaching certificate, and I th really thought that teaching was way different than what it actually is. Right. And so when I actually got into teaching and started teaching, it was quite a shock to me because in your teaching classes and things like that, people tell you that kids really want to learn and that they're all eager for you to show them all this stuff. It's really not like that. It's really not like that. And so it took me some adjusting, and as a shy person and kind of reserved person, it took a lot for me to step out of my comfort zone and and be the kind of teacher that I felt like they deserved. Right. But yeah, it it was a it was a difficult path, but it it's one that I've not regretted.

SPEAKER_01 40:28

Right.

SPEAKER_00 40:29

Well, I say I wouldn't have known you. That's true.

SPEAKER_02 40:33

You know? That's true. I'll never forget it. I so like where was your first job teaching? My first job teaching. What uh what Mary, what year did you start teaching like? 2000. It's 2000. So you started teaching in 2000. So, like, where was your first gig at?

SPEAKER_00 40:49

Um I was at first working uh for LKLP uh for a company or for a a program called Facts, Families and Children Together Safely. My job was to talk to social workers and find out the this family dynamic. So the the kids had been taken. My job was to go in and see assess what was needed to get the kids back.

SPEAKER_02 41:11

I remember you tell me about this.

SPEAKER_00 41:13

And so about the old lady in the refrigerator. Yeah. Yeah, I remember that. She packed that refrigerator up there by herself. But yeah, I mean, I met some amazing people that way. And so I did that for about three months, and then in September I got the notification um that Letcher High School was gonna hire an English teacher. And that just so happened to be my field of study, so and it was my old high school. Opportunity arise. Opportunity knocks. So I go on and and I interview, and uh of course they hire me. Um what I what they didn't tell me was that the class that I was to start with had run off six substitute teachers because they were so rough.

SPEAKER_02 42:00

So you you know what I've always thought of you as one of them teachers um what's the movie? The movie with with the fella, he played s Selena's daddy and Selena. If he plays this movie where he's a teacher and he comes to school and it's rough, and these kids, he straightens them out and they do it good on state testing.

SPEAKER_00 42:24

Is it called the substitute?

SPEAKER_02 42:26

No, that's the one's got the army guy. Yeah. No, uh, dad gummit, but you always struck me as that kind of person, like you you were caught you were the the fix it guy.

SPEAKER_00 42:38

Well, it I know well I know the movie you're talking about, I can't think of the name of it either. But yeah, uh, you know, I'm the kind of person I was raised to never give up. And regardless of whether you like what you're doing or or regardless of whether you like the situation or not, you give it two hundred and ten percent and and do your best to come out as good as you can. And so that's kind of the way I always approached it. Is regardless, you know, the kids deserved uh everything and the best that I could give 'em.

SPEAKER_02 43:10

Stand and deliver. Okay. That movie. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:14

Yeah. So that's kind of the way I always approached it.

SPEAKER_02 43:18

So you went in there and just straightened the kids out and got them on the right path.

SPEAKER_00 43:22

Well, yeah, and and you know, uh and I'm not bragging, uh, but that group that I started with, and then for three and a half or four of the years that I was there before we consolidated, my kids had the strongest test scores in the district.

SPEAKER_02 43:40

I swear you were watching that movie.

SPEAKER_00 43:42

I have seen.

SPEAKER_02 43:43

Because it's just like what you're telling me.

SPEAKER_00 43:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:46

It's cool. Yeah. Well, I tell you what now, I've had a lot of teachers, and I just go ahead and tell you, I mean, you know how bold I am. I don't really care. I speak my mind. You know, I went to Electro Central High School from 2000. 2008, I think, to 2011. And I had good teachers, you know, but for the most part, they didn't care about me. I didn't feel it. I mean, they just didn't. I there's you know, there they wouldn't they just didn't strike me. I feel like they just wanted to run me through the meal and just get me out the door. But, you know, when I walked into Mr. Field's English class, it was a whole different vibe. Cause here I am, this guy, and he starts talking, and you guys get to know him over the next few months. I'm like, this this is a good dude. This dude right here, he really cares about us. And you did. I did. You did. You actually still do. You actually cared like where we was going to go in life. Like I I really felt that from you.

SPEAKER_00 44:47

I do.

SPEAKER_02 44:48

And and that's why I tell everybody to me the best teacher that I ever had was Travis Fields. And I'll stand by that to the day I die. I mean, that just that's bottom line.

SPEAKER_00 44:59

I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_02 45:00

More than you know. I know when I when uh I walked into there, you know, he was my homeroom teacher too, and I walked in there first day of school, and heck, you know, he was all freshman, we was kind of, you know, a little nervous. And one of the Bubs was sitting there looking at me, and he said, What do you think about this teacher? I said, Well, I don't know. And uh Travis at the time, you know, had real black hair and he had a goatee and haircut that kind of reminds you, like in the movie, like pick like characters that play like devilish characters. Have that like goatee and the haircut, and the Bub looked at me and said, He looks like the devil. It's like the complete polar opposite, too. I mean, it's as crazy. I was like, nah, I said, I don't think he's like that, you know. But I mean, I had some devilish teachers. I can tell you some stories in the orchid. But no, it you you really made a I can remember the stuff I done in your class. I can remember it to this day. When I took you the first year, first freshman year when I had you, um I remember we read The Outsiders and done a report over it. Then we read That Was Then This Is Now, which is sort of like the unconfirmed. Yeah, the unconfirmed follow-up. And then when I took you again junior year, we done the Romeo and Juliet thing. I remember it. Because it you showed you showed the newer movie with uh Leonardo DiCaprio. Yeah, that movie made me dizzy. It was so fast-paced. Oh, it is, yeah. Yeah, it's like you know, I never trying to watch it. I was like, I got I'm getting motion sick.

SPEAKER_00 46:47

It kind of is like that, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:48

You know, but yeah, I I that's why I say you you you left such an impression on me. I can remember the stuff I've done in your class, and I've been out of high school since 2011.

SPEAKER_00 47:00

Not saying you're old, but you know, I am old but that's what she said though. That's what she she did say that many times. Many times. Cry back yesterday. But you know, to me that's the ultimate compliment. You know, it's just like having somebody, you know, digging you song. That's the ultimate compliment to me. Is to have somebody feel like you cared or make somebody feel like, you know, that you did them some good. You know, that's the ultimate compliment for me as a teacher, and in the same way as a musician. I I sold this C D uh to a young man that I taught years ago and he had sent um a video of himself singing to that song on the way home, or to one of my songs on the way home. And again, i if he had never paid me a dime, that's all I would have ever wanted was to see him vibing and enjoying that song.

SPEAKER_02 48:03

You gave me a C D too when I was in high school. I've still got it. It's in a paper sleeve. Yeah. Black and white picture. Yeah. I've got it down to teaching, new teacher. Uh what what were we doing musically around this time?

SPEAKER_00 48:20

Uh I was with a a group of guys uh called the Pure and Simple Band.

SPEAKER_01 48:24

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 48:25

And yeah. Uh we we played primarily classic rock songs, uh, a lot of Leonard Skinner, John Mellencamp, that kind of stuff. And we primarily played festivals. We preferred that atmosphere. None of us were really into the bar scene or the clubs because after a while, you know, when you work and after a while the bar the the club scene kind of doesn't really appeal to you. You don't really make a lot of money there. You make a lot better money at festivals. Right. Plus, you know, you don't leave smelling like smoke and and with you know second, you know, lung cancer.

SPEAKER_02 49:05

But so did you would did you help form the Pure and Simple Band, or was you just a hired hand or uh Mike Wright and I kind of started it together. What year?

SPEAKER_00 49:15

Lord have mercy. Um I want to say somewhere in the 94, 95.

SPEAKER_02 49:24

Because that's the first time I ever saw you play.

SPEAKER_00 49:27

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 49:28

So you started this before you started teaching, right?

SPEAKER_00 49:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 49:31

Oh, cool.

SPEAKER_00 49:32

Yeah. And I was just kind of playing with them through that time. Um, I was also, you know, you had mentioned um, you know, we had talked before when we were talking about this podcast about my wife. Um, my wife, Candy Fields, was also a beginning teacher at that time.

SPEAKER_01 49:48

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 49:49

Uh, she and I met in high school when we did a program where we tutored uh uh young elementary kids. And I but at the time, she was seeing somebody, as was I. Uh we were kind of we kind of hit it off kind of friends, but she was seeing somebody I was too, and they just so happened to be cousins. So at any rate, uh it comes full circle back to the Pure and Simple Band. The first show I ever played with them was Battle of the Bands at Mountain Heritage, and this is probably 95, 96, something like that. And she's there. Alright, so she was there and she approached me, asked me how I'd been doing since we'd you know last seen each other and things. And so we started going out, and we dated all through college, and um we got married our first year teaching. 2000. 2000. Wow. So yeah. Um so yeah, she started teaching the same time. She was a little bit before me, because I was still working for LKLP when she was a teacher at the vocational school. She taught the computer skills and typing skills.

SPEAKER_02 51:04

I remember she taught me typing in high school. I remember that.

SPEAKER_00 51:06

Yeah. Yeah, she did that. And in 2003, my first son was born. Um, his name was uh Andy. And so he was uh he was first, and then two years later, my son Aiden was born. Um and so the music kind of took a back seat back seat uh while they were still little. You had to step up be dad. I'd be dad, which I I wouldn't have traded it for anything. It was worth every second.

SPEAKER_02 51:36

No, I from what I see and from what I've been told, you you both of you raised uh two fine young men.

SPEAKER_00 51:42

They're good boys. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 51:43

They sure uh not mistaken, Andy's the HVAC man, right? He is. And he's the one that traps and hunts a lot.

SPEAKER_00 51:50

No, well, he hunts a lot. Uh my youngest one's the one who traps.

SPEAKER_02 51:54

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_00 51:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 51:55

So that's where the the bones come from? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:57

My youngest one.

SPEAKER_02 51:58

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 51:59

Mm-hmm. Yeah, he's the one that likes to trap and you know, that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 52:04

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 52:05

Yeah, he's uh that's what he's actually doing right now. He's in college as a biology major. He wants to be in the forestry conservation, that kind of fish and wildlife thing.

SPEAKER_02 52:16

I swear he got that long hair, you know he reminds me of who's that Fabio.

SPEAKER_00 52:23

Yeah. You know? And I have a picture of me standing in front of the blue the bluebird cafe in Nashville. Uh-huh. My hair's every bit as long as his. And we we could pass for twins. Kid you? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:38

But like you showed me that picture one time.

SPEAKER_00 52:41

But now, yeah, Fabio is a pretty good description of it. He's a handsome fella. Um yeah, he's a very popular guy.

SPEAKER_02 52:50

Well, I'm glad you're doing good. Is he the one that ministers to? Yes. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 52:54

Yes, he's uh works in the ministry at college, and he also um tomorrow he preaches at my church. He'll be uh the youth preacher there that night. He does it once a month, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:06

That's great. Where'd he go to church at?

SPEAKER_00 53:09

King's Chapel Church um in Whitco, uh pastored by Frank and Jeannie Adams.

SPEAKER_02 53:14

Oh Lord, yeah, I know Frank and Jeannie real well.

SPEAKER_00 53:16

Yeah, they're your neighbors down here.

SPEAKER_02 53:18

They are well Frank uh Frank married me and Puss. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. Frank is one of the Frank is like you, one of the finest guys you'll ever meet. I can't even believe he's got the nickname animal. I know. I like really.

SPEAKER_00 53:33

I thought the same thing. I was like, how I don't know how in the world you would have earned that name.

SPEAKER_02 53:38

Frank is just a he's a he's a sweetheart of a guy. He's just you can't you can't beat Frank.

SPEAKER_00 53:42

No, he's as good as they come.

SPEAKER_02 53:43

Oh Lord, yeah. Well, you go to a good church now. I might have to come down there one night and go with you.

SPEAKER_00 53:47

Absolutely. You're welcome anytime. I appreciate it. I'll come get you or take you with me.

SPEAKER_02 53:51

Yeah. All right. I might have to take you up on that. So you and Candy are raising youngins. Yeah. Are you still playing pure and simple? A little bit between, you know. Here and there. Because I know uh Mike's got Mike had kidding. He did, yeah. You know, had a kid too. Same age as my oldest. So, I mean, you all were kind of the dads doing the band thing together, I guess you could say.

SPEAKER_00 54:15

We didn't play as much, maybe a couple shows a year, three. Right. Um, but as the kids got older, of course, then that freed us up to where we could do more stuff.

SPEAKER_02 54:23

Start picking back up. Yeah. Yeah, because I know when I when I first when I first met you, you was you played quite a bit. I mean you was you was doing a lot, which that was 2009 or so, so the the boys are probably older then and yeah, they were eight or nine years old by that time, and so they were, you know, able to primarily get around and take care of themselves. I think the first gig I ever watched you play was at um when that lady Ernestine had the f festival at the park, Riverside.

SPEAKER_00 54:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:56

Pretty sure that's when I first saw you play it.

SPEAKER_00 54:58

Yeah, Riverside Festival.

SPEAKER_02 54:59

And I actually played it too. Yeah, yeah, you were playing that night too. I played the same save time. You all played uh we played earlier than you guys. I remember that. It's crazy how stuff like it works out.

SPEAKER_00 55:11

It does. I mean, yeah. We've always crossed paths in places we played because some you'd be playing at a lot of the same places I would be.

SPEAKER_02 55:19

Yeah, oh Lord, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 55:22

It's like Blackie Days. We're playing there Friday. You guys play Saturday.

SPEAKER_02 55:26

Uh, don't catch your chickens. I'd probably be called, no, no, I can't play Friday. I think I gotta play in paints for Friday.

SPEAKER_00 55:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 55:32

So, but yeah, I'll be there Saturday. God, they're gonna work me Saturday. I gotta play with the troubadours and Frednalis. I gotta help them out, of course. And probably more than likely, I'd say little Will Cottle asked me to play the Mandelin.

SPEAKER_00 55:46

I don't know, but I'd say you're right.

SPEAKER_02 55:48

I'd rather talk the little manline along, sit there and do my do my little chop things.

SPEAKER_00 55:55

Well see, and again, folks, you know, i I'm sure you're picking up from him what a talented musician he is. Oh, Lord. He's a multi-instrumentalist and a master of all of them. So, I mean, a fantastic musician. It's an honor for me to be in his presence.

SPEAKER_02 56:17

Son, Lord have mercy, Trav. I'm just old fat guy.

SPEAKER_00 56:22

No, you ain't.

SPEAKER_02 56:23

Old fat guy overweight and can't see out of one eye. I picked the banjo.

SPEAKER_00 56:30

Don't keep you from it, don't keep you from picking, does it?

SPEAKER_02 56:32

No, thank God that that little incident didn't keep me didn't hurt my hands. I don't reckon it did.

SPEAKER_00 56:38

There you go.

SPEAKER_02 56:39

So uh you are one of them cats that you play with a lot of bands.

SPEAKER_00 56:46

Now, this actually is a new thing because I didn't do that always.

SPEAKER_02 56:49

Really? I know I know I know always, you know, for the most part in the past, uh, like I said, most of the time I saw you playing you and Mike was doing pure and simple. Good band. Y'all it's a good band.

SPEAKER_00 57:02

Y'all are good. It's a good cover band.

SPEAKER_02 57:04

I I love listening to you. I mean, you always all done a good job.

SPEAKER_00 57:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 57:08

You got a barnett guy that played bass.

SPEAKER_00 57:10

I mean, you can't go wrong there.

SPEAKER_02 57:12

I don't think we're related, but you know, hey.

SPEAKER_00 57:14

Well, I mean, the namesake does help, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_02 57:18

So, like when did you start branching out playing with these other bands?

SPEAKER_00 57:25

Well, it's kind of an interesting uh story. Uh, when my wife Candy passed uh in 2023.

SPEAKER_01 57:33

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_00 57:34

Um I took two months off work and because it was I was married to her for twenty-two years. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 57:42

And so having somebody 22 years or something you don't really hear of anymore, let alone these people that you see that make it to 50 years.

SPEAKER_00 57:50

Right.

SPEAKER_02 57:51

I think twenty-two years that's a long time to be with somebody, and I'm sure it I never been in that position, but I'm sure it takes a lot of getting used to.

SPEAKER_00 57:59

Well, it does, because you're used to being you're used to functioning as a pair.

SPEAKER_02 58:03

Right.

SPEAKER_00 58:04

Uh for and that was twenty-two years of my life, and at the time I was forty-six. So that was almost half my life that I was, you know, p fun uh functioning as a pair.

SPEAKER_01 58:15

Right.

SPEAKER_00 58:16

So I really didn't know how to act as a as a single. You know what I mean? I'd kind of forgotten, and it's so weird that I kind of had to reform my identity. I kind of had to figure out who I was again, uh, just to be by myself. And so that's kind of what I started doing is and thank God these uh these other musicians I don't know if they sensed it or what, but they would ask me, hey man, you want to help us out? Uh would you be interested in playing bass for us? Would you be interested in doing this? And I was like, you know what? Yeah. You know, yeah. Because if I'm busy, I ain't thinking. You know, the m the less time I spent in my head, the better off I was.

SPEAKER_02 59:02

And so I could say that because I know I I went through a bad breakup one time and uh I I was I worked heavily when I was a working uh as an ICU nurse. I mean, I I'd volunteer for every shift I could volunteer for, just keep my mind off of it.

SPEAKER_00 59:21

Yeah. And that's kind of what I was doing. And also uh to me, and I don't know whether it's a good thing or a bad thing, but one of the s the the strongest part of my identity, uh who I r th thought of myself was the musician.

SPEAKER_01 59:38

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 59:38

And so to to rediscover myself or to be confident, you know, to re-establish my confidence in my identity, my the only way I knew to do it was to just submerse myself into what I loved to do. And so that's kind of how I started playing with all these other guys. And so, yeah, I I play bass for uh Drake Brock and the Brockabillies. Um I play uh I played bass for Jaden Wright when he did his uh individual project. Um I I'm helping Mike Wright out with his blues band. I I've got all these, and I play in Diesel Foot, the hard rock and metal outfit. I play in all these bands uh because it it fills out all those aspects, you know, all the music that's in here somewhere.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:23

And Dalton, we can't forget about Dalton.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:25

Dalton, my God. I'm sorry, Dalton, I forgot. Dalton Moore helping him with his project as well. And so thank you, Dave. I didn't mean to forget Dalton. But you know, and it see there it is. There comes the complication in all those things.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:41

Well, like I said, you're uh out at the beginning of the show, you wear many hats.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:45

I do wear a lot of hats, and sometimes you forget which hats you're grabbing. Uh so yeah. But yeah, that's that's kind of how I got started doing all that. And it yeah, I mean it it did help me to recover uh from that and kind of reestablish who I was.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:02

Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:03

And you know, I had relationships after that. And again, I really think that that's what keeps me from from going it just totally bonkers is the the music.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:22

Music does that, man.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:23

That's uh it's the best therapy in the world.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:25

Oh god, yeah. I mean, I I personally I tell you right now, as many as many interests that that I have, if I couldn't play music, I would lose my ever loving mind. Absolutely. And that's the truth.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:37

I think honestly, if anybody ever really wanted to hurt me that or really badly or just cripple me completely, it's take away that. If I couldn't play music to listen to it or something, if I couldn't have it at all. Uh I I don't know what I'd do.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:53

I don't believe nobody can take it from you, Bub.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:55

I I hope not. No.

unknown 1:01:57

No.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:58

But uh, you know, and like you said, it's like this in a a shameless plug. It's like the new album, Next Last Resort. I mean the song itself, Next Last Resort, which I'm particularly proud of, and the name of the album comes from the fact that being older and forced into being single, and you feel like people's last resort. Because it's like, you know, you're the um I am. I'm the type of guy who I would consider I'm the nice guy. And or at least I think I am. You are but uh I'm that kind of guy, and oftentimes the cliche is is that women seek the nice guy last.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:44

Because well, you know, I used to think it too at one time, but honestly, man. As many people many fish that are out there swimming around this big old sea we call eastern Kentucky My opinion, there's somebody out there that would absolutely like to have somebody like you because honestly, you're one of the you're you're you're a true gentleman and a man and a man in all s and all sorts. I mean, uh you know, like I told you, I know very there's very few people that I know that I would say is one is just a true stand-up person that I have no doubts about being an honest fella in this life, and you're one of them.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:35

I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:36

And I mean, it just uh I think you just it's yeah, you're looking in the wrong places.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:43

Maybe. You might be right, bro. And and you know, that it's like I said, the the album is about it's full of songs about relationships and things like that, and every song on it comes from a place, you know, like you say, it's it's heartfelt music. And so um the the song itself, Next Last Resort, comes from a really bad recent breakup that, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:10

Those will do that to you.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:11

They'll do it to you. And again, it's almost the same situation. You kind of have to rediscover and figure out, you know, what went wrong or if you can, and and see, see if you can't, you know, be a little wiser and do a little better the next time, you know. So again, shameless plug for the album. If you want to go listen to it, I'd appreciate it. If you're not, that's fine.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:33

It's a great album. You plug at things as much as you want to, that's what this is for. It's to get your store and your music out there. Next last resort by Travis Field. It's on all your streaming platforms, Apple Music, Spotify. Please check it out. And the man right here, he's got hard copies that he will gladly sign for you and sell you if you look him up on Facebook. He's easy to find. He's not too hard to find.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:56

No, I'm not hard to find.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:58

So last year you took on a new thing that you uh uh never thought I'd do. Yeah, never thought you'd do. And I and I'm for one, I am a big fan of this. Uh being a a 10 plus year podcast fanatic. I mean, that's all I've listened to. For I don't watch TV. Yeah. I love these, I love these podcasts. I can't believe they have my own now. This is crazy.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:22

It's amazing, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 1:05:23

But you you boys were actually the inspiration for this kind of give me the courage and the gumption to do it. So so tell us about you, uh, Mr. Uh Breeding and the big bitter pickle.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:36

Okay. Well, uh I used to uh I guess it's been close to ten years now. I worked at Whitesburg Middle School once before, um through a similar grant funded program uh called Gear Up. And I was a d a language arts tutor there, and Mr. Breeding had approached me at one time saying that. He would like to try to do a podcast. So at the time, I was kind of scared of that. And I didn't really not only I I'm not necessarily scared, I just didn't know about it. And I thought, well, I don't know about that. You know, I don't think I'd want to do that, you know, that kind of thing. So I gave him some equipment to start with. I gave him some mics and or I gave him a mic and some cables and different things to set up and try to do it himself. Well, needless to say, when the grant ends, you have to jump ship and go somewhere else. So I ended up going back to teaching. And so he and I kind of lost that line of communication. So uh he approached me and I fake just so happy, you know, like you we talked about before, God puts us where we need to be sometimes, whether we want to acknowledge that or not.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:51

Absolutely, he does.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:52

And so I ended up back at Whitesburg Middle School uh a year ago, and Brian said, you know what, man? He said, I really need this. He said, I really want to do this podcast. And he ran the the idea by me. He said, it's just ranting. He said, Dad rants. You know, he's just just to get the get all this out.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:14

And he couldn't have picked a better one to do it because I'm gonna tell you, Travis is such a he's a he's a fine gentleman, he's he's quiet, he's he's well reserved. But now when you get him far enough, though, it is beautiful. In school, one of the most dutiful things I ever seen was uh we had a chemical mock chemicals field drill, I think it was.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:36

I think it was.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:37

And there was a boy in class and he he was acting a fool. He he was doing stuff he shouldn't have been doing. And you know, Trav don't get don't doesn't get mad at that much, you know, and he's sitting there and he told him to stop, stop it, you know, yeah sit down and behave yourself, you know, and of course this boy wasn't doing it. Finally, this big boom of voice comes to this little man said, if you don't sit down, I'm gonna kick your teeth down your cracks so hard you're gonna have to drop your pants to chew your food. And we all just kind of froze, and that boy just sit down. So when you get him a rant and a go, it's it's it's funny. I think it's funny.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:21

Well, it is funny. Uh, but you know, and he said, let's just do it, man. He said, You will you help me? And I said, You know what? I I happen to be in a situation, yeah. Let's do it. So uh, but I asked him, I said, you know, I don't know a whole lot about this. I said, but now he is, he's like you. He listens to a lot of podcasts. I had I had never listened to one.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:45

That's kind of how I'm doing this one. I'm just taking all the stuff I've listened to from the ones I've, you know, and self-guided myself on this deal.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:53

Well, I think that's the best way to do it. You know, and and again, I didn't have any experience doing that. So I didn't really know how to work it. But at any rate, it and and like again, God will intervene and he will put you in places without you ever realizing what you're there for until it's already, and then you all of a sudden it hits you and it's like, thank you. You know, because I didn't even know it myself. But at any rate, he put me back there at White Spring Middle School with Brian with this added with this idea, and just so happened that the technology folks had set up a podcast studio in his the room right next to his. And so it was like, I mean, the the door was uh just right there.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:39

Opportunity presents it.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:40

Opportunity knocks again. And so we start doing the podcast, and we recorded a couple versions just to see what what it would look like, and we both found them hilarious, and we we laughed about them and said, you know what? If we like them, somebody else might like them. So we we started doing it and releasing them. And I can't even remember the last time I looked, actually got a notification yesterday that we had had 5,000 downloads. And to me, that's a ton.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:12

That's a lot.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:13

That's a lot.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:14

I tell you, you guys, I I love the podcast, man. I'm a diehard listener to that one. I I can't tell you how many times I've been doing little things, uh, riding the mower or whatever, and listening to y'all and breeding or do something, and I'll be like mid-sip of like pop or tea or whatever and go flying out of my nose.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:32

He does it to me on the podcast.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:33

He's sitting there coughing and choking, about ready to die, and him just on there going, you know, doing his thing. But yeah, you you guys, uh you guys got a good thing going. I mean, you and a lot of people listen to that podcast, a lot of people enjoy it. Well, perfect example. A few months ago, when you all started talking about the Walmart delivery thing. Oh, yeah. I didn't know Walmart delivered.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:01

I really didn't.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:03

And you got you guys were talking about in your episode. I'm like, what are these Walmart delivers? Yeah. What are you talking about? So I get on the Walmart app and I'm like, hmm. And I order stuff that gives you the option to deliver, and I'm like, huh, how about that? Yeah. You know? So I have it delivered to the house, and the girl comes up, you know, brings my stuff. And I'm just out there, I'm like, this is cool. She said, You never used this before? I said, No. I said, I didn't even know it existed. I said, but uh, I was listening to the bitter pickle podcast, and they was talking about this, and she looked at me, she said, You the third or fourth person to tell me that you listened to that pickle podcast and it's and you use Walmart's online ordering thing. I said, Well, I said, that's where I heard about it from, you know. She said, I want to look at it and listen to it. I said, Oh yeah, I said, You you you know, you'd like it. But yeah, I mean, you guys, uh it's just it's a good time.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:59

I mean, I we made that a running joke too. We keep telling Walmart that they owe us money too.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:04

They owe you money.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:07

Because we turned people on to it, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:09

God almighty, one time I was on my lawnmower last year on my big, my big John Deere, my zero turn, you know, and I was a cruise along, and you was on you was on a good one that day. You was on a good roll. I was proud of you. Yeah because uh you you just you made me proud. And you was talking about, you know, the dating when you was like, I don't want somebody, but somebody's been passed around like a gym town a locker room. When you said that, I took them, I slammed them bars on that lawnmower forward so hard. I was laughing and I raised the front end up dump popped a wheelie about 10 feet. I mean, it's just you all are so funny. I mean, you you because I I've said it, you know, you you've got you, you're well reserved, and you got Breeding who's this wild, eccentric character. And it's almost like if you was a cartoon, Breeding would be the guy if you too was in the dark, and he'd be like, Oh, I hear some candles. And he'd get a piece of dynamite and light it, and then you'd be the one freaking out trying to get the dynamite and throw it away. Right. You know what I mean? You just you got that chemistry, you know.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:16

But uh if folks listen, it's a great show. I I highly recommend it. You just like and they're and they're clean. They don't they don't cuss, no, there's no bad language. No bad language, nothing. It's a clean show, it's a funny show, and I guarantee you they will talk about something that you probably ranted about yourself. And it's called the Bitter Pickle Podcast, and this should tag it. Okay, I hopefully, so people will see it on the thingy, but absolutely. That's such a a good thing you guys are doing. I I enjoy it. I know I'm I'm a pickle fan. I'm pickle fan.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:52

Well, I appreciate it. We certainly is appreciate the support, and because we love doing it, and we have a lot of fun doing it.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:58

And you know Oh, you got a YouTube channel too.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:01

Where you uh we uh poor poor Brian. Bless his heart.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:08

We did you know, and it's his a lot of these things are his idea. Uh like the crazier things anyway.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:16

The boy like needs to live in a bubble and maybe like five epy pens on standby. Yeah. Maybe a defibulated some insulin wouldn't hurt, just in case.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:26

Well, you know, like one of the popular segments that we have on the audio cast is we sampled various foods, and they're usually always very strange and or unique things. And sometimes they're wonderful, sometimes they're pretty cool, sometimes other times they're absolutely rancid. And, you know, you get to hear that reaction too, because we subject ourselves to all kinds of tortures for y'all sometimes just to be funny, and we do that on video too on the YouTube channel. We'll try a bunch of food. Um, and sometimes we did that bean boozle channel challenge, which I don't recommend at all for anybody.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:04

Uh bean boozle.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:07

Oh, it's horrible. It's horrible.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:09

It was great though. It was fun to watch.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:10

I'm sure I'll have to admit, it was fun to watch. Uh, because even the miscreant said he's I can tell the the minute he said the mentor had had enough. And he's he could see it in my face that I was just done.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:24

I got I got tickled, I got tickled, and y'all done them sodas, and he just mixes them all up in one big old thing and just drinks it. He's like that had to be horrible. But the guy I told the guy says he likes the taste of dirt.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:41

Yeah. He does admit that. And he ate a whole bag of uh of chips the other day that smelled just like dog food. And it tasted just exactly like dog food smells. Um he ate the whole bag and then later up chucked uh because he said it made him sick as I can or to. It's terrible. Lord mercy. But no, no, we have some fun and that and the podcast is clean. And it usually consists of a period where we rant about things, where we try some things, and then we play a game. There's usually a game on everyone. Um so you know, check them out. They're kind of fun.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:22

Absolutely. Absolutely. So what um what kind of guitars you play nowadays? I know the the gear heads are they they they want to know your setup right now. Like what what what we're jamming on, what kind of amps we use.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:35

Um maybe what kind of strings do you use?

SPEAKER_00 1:16:38

All right.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:39

Yeah, that's that's some people want to know.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:42

Yeah, okay. Well, on my acoustic guitars, uh, I use those uh Elixir, and Elixir makes a new one called uh tune.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:50

I've got a set on a couple of my boxes over at the end.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:52

I really like them.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:53

They're good.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:54

I really like them. Uh so any of you guys who like uh acoustic guitars and like some kind of a warmer tone in your strings and a coated string, uh elixir attunes are really good. That's what I use on mine. Uh I always uh for my less paws, I use my less paws a lot. Uh I have several les paws, but my favorites are 50s uh Cherry Sunburst standard. And I always use uh Ernie Ball uh regular slinkies on those uh 10 gauge. Um and I I primarily use that with either the Micrite blues band or the pure and simple band. Um because it tends to lend itself better to that type of music, and I use a magnetone M80 uh Super 59 half stack sometimes for the blues band. Uh for pure and simple band and for uh a lot of the harder stuff that I do, I use uh a Soldano SLO30 through a little uh PV tuba 12 with greenback, Celestian greenbacks in it. Um I really like that Soldano. Uh really like that ant.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:06

You're a Soldano man.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:08

I really like that ant. Um so I use it a lot. Uh when I do I don't and I don't really use a lot of pedals uh anymore. I use a uh a Vox Wall pedal special edition that got the Union Jack on it. Um I use a boss dimension C chorus and uh a phase 90. That's kind of what I'm using.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:32

What about Diesel Foot? What's the setup for Diesel Foot?

SPEAKER_00 1:18:35

Dieselfoot's a different setup.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:36

Um, it's mostly metal music, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:18:39

It's it's 80s metal, hair metal.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:42

Um who's in the band?

SPEAKER_00 1:18:44

Okay. Uh that's Andy Miranda on bass. Oh, yeah. Uh great bass player, um, Corey Branham on drums, uh, killer drummer, Mike Jackson on vocals. Oh, yeah. When it comes to metal vocals, there's nobody better.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:58

He's a good, he's good at it. He's good. He's absolutely good at it.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:01

And and I'm the only guitar player, so that's all of us. And for Diesel Foot, the setup is different. I originally started with a Splon uh made by Scott Splon in North Carolina, uh half stack, and for some reason it just didn't lend itself well to things. So I stopped using that and I started using a Marshall uh DSL 100, the the British made ones, and started using that half stack, and it was better, but practices were difficult because it had to be so loud. And so uh I other bands that we were playing with in all these venues who were interested in diesel foot were using what's called silent stages. So they didn't want loud guitar amplifiers, so they wanted modelers, digital modeling uh technology. So I bought a I didn't want to go full bore into it because I already had so much invested in everything else. So I bought kind of the middle of the road, I bought the headrush flex prime pedal board. I bought a bunch of extra models and things like that off the internet and uh different cabinet IRs and things like that. So I use that primarily uh to get my sound, and I program the set list. Whenever we can form a set list, I program a setting per set per song in the set list. So that I just click through them. So yeah, it's easy and convenient. Um and most of those, I'll have to admit, are Marshall-based type sounds. That's just simply what I gravitate toward, that or the Saldano. And uh even a Bogner, I'm using a lot of Bogner style stuff on these things. Uh for the guitars, I'm using um a Schechter. Um I can't even remember what model that is, but it's got the Sustainiac pickup in the in the neck, and I use it a lot to get controlled feedback and stuff like that on certain songs. Floyd Rose. Floyd Rose. Every guitar I use except for one in Diesel Foot is uh Floyd Rose equipped, yeah. Uh use a Jackson 7 string on a couple songs. Because we do some 90s uh alternative in metal too. So um I use that. And let me think I use um two or three, I use a George Lynch uh tiger model, guitars, yellow s yellow tiger, and I use uh a Desert Eagle ESP George Lynch model. Um so I use that a lot too. But needless to say, my rig and diesel foot may not have a lot of heavy stuff, but there's like five guitars. So I'll I'll have a bunch of guitars with me when I go to these shows.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:52

That's that's fun time, bring out all the gears. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:56

That's cool.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:56

And they're all kind of flashy, and one, and I I don't definitely don't mean to forget this one. My buddy Rob, uh, Robert Potter that works out here at KC Barnes. Uh I bought a skull and crossbones or a skull guitar.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:10

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:11

And it comes white, you know, the the skull and bones are white. And he said he wanted to do something special for me. And so I just told him, I said, whatever you want, man, just do whatever you want to it. So I bought three of them. I bought three of those guitars and I gave him one of them, and I said, just do what you want. And so he gave it to me, and then if you look at my Facebook page or any of the music videos I did, it's the purple skull guitar in there, and it it's one of my favorite guitars. And it means a lot to me too, because a buddy painted it.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:45

Yeah, special paint job. Yeah. Yeah, I remember when that we done it. That looks nice. Yeah. Done a good job.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:50

Yeah, he did do a good job on it. And again, it touched me because he wanted to do it for me.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:55

Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:58

Absolutely. So, top five guitarists.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:03

My top five?

SPEAKER_02 1:23:04

Top five. Um absolutely just every time you pick one up, you think of them.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:12

Number one would be George Lynch, uh, from the band Doc and Lynch Mob, that kind of thing. He was my number one inspiration. Um number two, Randy Rhodes. I was a big Randy Rhodes fan. Um number three would be Gary Rossington from Skinner. He was the one who inspired me to play a Les Paul, as did Randy.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:35

He was on the Fox Theater recording live at the Fox.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:38

Yep. Um fourth guitarist would probably be Jakey Lee. Also one of Ozzy.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:47

Is he the one who plays on the Ozzy stuff? Yeah. Yeah, I like that guy. Plays the Bark of the Moon, thanks. Yeah. He's a good picker. He's a good picker. Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:56

Um number four, that would be him. And five would be Hendrix. I'm a Hendrix fan too, so that live recording that he does of Machine Gun, I think it's in Madison Square Garden. There's a big long sustained note that he starts a solo off with. To this day, I don't know how he gets it. Out of a Stratocaster and and just a fuzz pedal on the Marshall. I still don't know how it gets that.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:23

Animal guys, they had tricks. I don't know, the stuff I guess they figured out how to move their hands or whatnot, you know.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:29

I guess so. They knew right where to hold that note or whatever, but you know, it's it it to this day it gives me chills just to hear him do it. Uh so yeah, those are my top five.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:39

What about um albums?

SPEAKER_00 1:24:42

Top five albums.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:44

Everybody's always got them them, you know, very few records that you know absolutely of course one of them probably is gonna be the Fox Theater.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:53

That's gonna be number one. That's the one that lit the fire.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:55

Lit the fire under you. So it's Skinner Skinner, live at the Fox Theater.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:59

Yeah. One more from the road, I think is what it's called, but it's live from the Fox. Um number two would probably be Back for the Attack by Dawkins. I loved George's George Lynch's guitar tone on that. Still to this day, that's one of my favorite guitar tones. Um Blizzard of Oz, number three, uh, with Randy Rhodes. I liked it better than Diary of a Madman. I just liked the songs better. Um number four would probably be Band of Gypsies, that live album. Um I think it's at Madison Square Garden, number four. And number five would probably be Bark at the Moon. That's one of my favorite albums. No, sorry, Ultimate Send. That's my favorite. That's my favorite Jakey Lee Aussie album. So yeah, that's that would be my top five albums. Uh I mean I love music, so I mean, I could probably pick a favorite album from any artist that you mention, but yeah, for top.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:13

Those hit hard.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:14

Those are my go-to's.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:15

Right. Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:18

Wow. Trav, man, it has been so great to have you on this show. I've enjoyed your stories. That this is what I love so much about doing this is just hearing the stories, how people get inspired. I mean, to me, this is pure gold.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:34

I mean, I've I've looked forward to this ever since you mentioned it.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:37

Man, I enjoy it. I really do. And I it just I I I like I said with this podcast, my goal is, you know, I want these people, these local hometown heroes, these legends we got around here like you and others, to have their time in the spotlight. They they they deserve it. I mean, you know, these most of these podcasts, you know, they want to they want to interview people like Vince Gill and things like that, and that's wonderful. Sure. I like Vince.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:06

Yeah, I do too.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:07

But man, there's so many people that I know of so many great musicians like you and others that even though you're not you're not like some well, you know what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:22

Not well known. You know, not but nationally nationally known.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:25

But you're well known to me. Yes. Around here. Yes. I just want to get that out there. Yeah. I just I just believe in that. I I it's just it's all good. It's good stuff.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:34

Well, I love this idea when you came up with it because I think it's a beautiful idea of just uh telling people about the people that are writing their own neighborhoods.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:43

Because we in this pocket of the earth here, Eastern Kentucky, we have some of the most talented musicians, singers, songwriters. And some of them, sadly, they don't they don't get to be heard.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:57

I'm trying to put a little dent in that.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:00

Appreciate that for one. And I think, yeah, and and I think you'll do some good doing it.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:05

I hope so. Man, I I I've enjoyed this episode. I can't wait to listen back at this and get it out there tomorrow and and uh uh hopefully the people enjoy it and I think they will. Oh, I think so too. 'Cause you got a you got your own fan base. They're uh they're they'll they'll listen to this and they'll they'll they'll enjoy hearing how you started.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:25

You know, knowing getting to know a little bit getting to know a little bit about Mr. Fields.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:30

Yeah, a little more than you might have known beforehand.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:33

Right. And maybe that might inspire them to play.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:36

I hope so.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:37

You never know.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:38

I hope I hope so.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:40

So just real quick going back over, this man's got a brand new album, Travis Fields, Next Last Resort. And they can find this album on all the streaming pla uh streaming platforms like Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, am I leaving any one of them out?

SPEAKER_00 1:28:59

YouTube music, all yeah, just anything you any streaming platform will have it.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:03

And if you look him up on Facebook and you're like me, you like to have hard copies, he'll autograph you on.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:08

Yep, got a box full of 'em.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:10

See? He'll take an autograph you want, he'll send it right to you. And uh also check these boys out, the Bitter Pickle Podcast. As a matter of fact, I think you're going to record an episode of that after this thing.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:24

Just a few minutes, yes, sir.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:25

Lord, you have to get you have to get the old miscrint fired up, get him on a good rant.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:29

He is already fired up. I'm just gonna turn him loose.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:32

Sound like a wind up toy, just line him up and I'm just gonna let him go. Travis, thank you so much for coming, man. I really appreciate this.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:44

Thank you for having me, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:45

And uh hopefully I'll have you on again sometime, maybe have you co-host.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:49

Well, you know what I was thinking either that or I'd like for you to tell your story. Let me interview you.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:56

You know, we may do that. Somebody asked me. Somebody asked me that the other day, he said, When are you gonna do yourself? I'm like, well, you know, hard to interview yourself. Yeah. I mean, I can probably talk to myself. You'd probably haul me to the sideboard, but you know, I can I can, you know.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:09

We could use that on the on our podcast. You could. That's what she said. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:14

Many times.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:16

Folks, thank you for tuning in today, this episode of the Five String Holler Podcast, episode number two. And thank you all so much for the support that you've shown me and supporting the first episode. Be sure to share this one. Tell your friends, your family, your grandmas, your aunts, and your uncles about the five string hauler podcast. We've got a brand new Facebook page, 5StringHoller. Uh, Facebook.com forward slash 5StringHoller. We're on all the streaming platforms, Spotify, Apple, iHeart, Amazon, just about everyone you can think of. And reach out to me. Let me hear from you. Let me know if you're liking the show, if you got an idea, you know, a good musician that I need to get on here and interview, a good songwriter, a good singer, you know, just be sure to reach out to me and let me know. But until then, folks, we'll see you next time up here in the holler. Woo-hoop, you can see.