From Rodeo to Radio: Wynn Williams' Musical Journey

Transcript

Meet Wynn Williams: Texas Native

Speaker 1 0:00

Everybody. My name is Skip Clark. I am the host of Skip Happens and tonight. First of all, thank you for being here, but I'm joined. We've never met before. About 30 seconds ago is about the most we've talked. But when Williams is here, he is an emerging country music entertainer, texas native, former collegiate steer wrestler. His new project, music Country Therapy, blends heartfelt lyrics, timeless twang, contemporary Nashville production channeling the spirit of George Strait, brooks and Dunn and Tim McGraw some of my favorites, yours too, I would assume but with his own authentic Texas stamp. It's time to dive in and win it. It's an honor to meet you, my friend. How are you?

Speaker 2 0:45

I'm great and likewise man. I appreciate you having me.

Speaker 1 0:49

Absolutely. Let's talk about you a little bit. Where are you right now?

Speaker 2 0:54

I am home. We just moved to Sanger, texas, up near Denton. I originally grew up in Weatherford, texas, but my wife and I just moved from Fort Worth, so now we're kind of out in the country. We've got a pretty little piece of land out here and it's nice and quiet.

Speaker 1 1:11

I love it. So I'm looking at you and there's something about that classic cowboy credibility. You're a former collegiate star wrestler, but how did rodeo life shape your outlook as a performer? How did all that happen?

Speaker 2 1:27

Uh, you know, just the course of life, you, you do things, you know you play sports and you go rodeo. And then, uh, you pick, pick up a guitar and start playing at those rodeos and and then, um, you know, in college I I decided I didn't want to do that forever. So I started pursuing music a little bit and kind of learning a lot about the business. And you know, here we are nine years later doing it full time.

Speaker 1 1:54

So you're done with the rodeo thing now.

Speaker 2 1:56

That's right, man.

Speaker 1 1:57

I don't rodeo anymore.

Speaker 2 1:59

It's been a little while since I've done it, but you know, rodeo and playing music are awfully similar.

Speaker 1 2:06

Uh, they go together.

Speaker 2 2:07

That's right, that's right. That's a lot of the same, the same people that I see out on the road too, and of course I, you know, play a bunch of rodeos as well. So, uh, it's always good to see familiar faces.

Speaker 1 2:18

Yeah, you must feel right at home when you get the chance to perform at a rodeo. It's like it must all come back to you like really quick saying. You know I used to do this, this is cool.

Speaker 2 2:28

Oh yeah, yeah, it's great to uh, great to be around those those kinds of folks and, uh, it was a part of my life for for a long time and it still is, just in a different, just in a different perspective.

From Rodeo to Country Music

Speaker 1 2:38

Yeah. So, um, tell me, are there certain artists or moments that actually pulled you into the country music side of things? I mean, being in Texas, you know we get George Strait and all those some great on top of all the great Texas artists that we have, because you have your own chart and everything there. I mean I was a fan of Pat Green, randy Rogers, I can go on and on, definitely good stuff, but you know what artists pulled you into the country music in the first place?

Speaker 2 3:09

Man. Like it says you know on my bio on my website, it's like I grew up listening to 90s country, early 2000s country. The first song I ever sang in a public setting was when I was six years old. I sang she Thinks my Tractor's Sexy by Kenny Chesney.

Speaker 1 3:28

At the age of six. That's right, that's cool.

Speaker 2 3:32

I also come from a musical family. Everybody sings, my dad plays guitar. It kind of runs a little bit in the family. I was in choir for four years in high school. I just have always loved music and I've always always loved singing and it kind of made sense for me. You know, once I, once I graduated from school, I was like all right, well, I'm broke now, so I might as well at least go try this for a little while. And I'm still broke, you know, nine years later.

Speaker 1 4:01

It's you and I both brother.

Speaker 2 4:03

At least how to stay busy.

Speaker 1 4:05

Yeah, exactly. So you've got Music Country Therapy. Tell me a little bit about that. That's pretty strong. Why the title and what does it mean to you personally?

Speaker 2 4:16

Yeah, country Therapy is an album that we put together. It just came out, obviously last week, very exciting stuff. It just came out, obviously last week, very exciting stuff. We kind of tapped into the Nashville scene, if you will. I've been writing my own music for a long time and recording as well up in Nashville. So you know, as I've gotten busier as a touring act, specifically this year and last year, our calendar has gotten crazy busy. I hadn't had as much time to write as much as I would have liked to this album. Man, I've got two songs on there that I wrote Country Therapy and.

Speaker 2 5:00

Denver to Dallas. Everything else is an outside song For the viewers out there. What that means is I didn't write the song but uh, you know other people did and we, we went around to publishers in Nashville and asked for some great music and fortunately we got some. And, uh, we picked, we picked the best songs, probably out of about 50 or 60, uh tunes that we listened to and it could have been more than that, honestly but some great songs by some great songwriters. And you know we put together an album that kind of fits, fits, whatever boots the fan wants to put on that day. Because you know there's there's a little bit of something for everyone in this record. You know there's heartbreak songs, there's beer drinking songs, there's kind of tongue-in-cheek type stuff, and you know the classic country sound is blended with the modern country thing that's going on as well. So if somebody can't find a song on this album Country Therapy that they don't like, then they just don't like it at all.

Speaker 1 6:03

Yeah, something's wrong if they can.

Speaker 2 6:05

And that's kind of what I'm getting out of all this.

Speaker 1 6:08

So yeah, absolutely so. I can only assume that you know I mentioned George Straitbrooks and done Tim McGraw. You're going to hear a lot of that type of sound on this album. Country therapy yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2 6:21

So exactly.

Speaker 1 6:22

Cool, fun stuff. Have you been able to? Because you're in Texas, have you been able to get on that chart at all? Or are you just making trips to Nashville and kind of going that route?

Speaker 2 6:35

Yeah, we've done some stuff with Texas Radio. Currently we're kind of focusing on the social media side of things in terms of promo. But you know, we've certainly done a radio tour and all that kind of stuff. Down here we're still kind of, you know, looking to break into the national markets if you will. But a lot of that also comes from, you know, just touring around and getting in front of these program directors and folks like yourself that we haven't you know, that we haven't played for in the past or maybe, maybe we're just not quite on their radar yet.

Country Therapy: The New Album

Speaker 2 7:08

So uh you know, this year we're getting out of state a lot, which is great because I'm hitting some of these markets that, uh, you know, went to radio, went on, went on radio tour, uh, several years ago, and I'm getting to go back and revisit some of these spots. So, uh, it's really exciting, man I this, this album is is something that you know we worked really hard on and I'm glad to to finally get it out there and hopefully many of the people you know, uh, on your side of things, go out and help us promote it.

Speaker 1 7:37

Exactly so with you, you win Williams and your album uh country therapy. What, um, if you were to describe that record to somebody who hasn't heard it yet, how would you do that?

Speaker 2 7:52

Man probably exactly how I just talked about it what you just said?

Speaker 1 7:55

Yeah.

Speaker 2 7:56

Yeah, I mean, like I said, there's literally something for every kind of country music fan on this album, and if I can't please someone with this album, they just can't be pleased. I mean, it's as simple as it is.

Speaker 1 8:12

It's a little bit of everything. God, I love that, definitely definitely good stuff. I've got to dig into it a little bit more and I can't wait to hear the whole project. So you get your Texas twang old school instrumentation. Did you insist on keeping even with modern Nashville polish, so to speak? I mean because you know there's that change going on, there's that kind of a different sound, but yet we got your sound as well.

Speaker 2 8:41

Yeah it's. You know it's important to kind of keep those traditional roots. Yeah, it's important to kind of keep those traditional roots. You're not going to hear anything on there. That's really too out of the ordinary. I mean, it's a live band in a steps. You know, from writing the song all the way to. You know mixing and mastering. You know it's all a machine that involves a lot of professionals.

Speaker 2 9:21

that know, there, there is some of that. It's not really as bad anymore, but but there's some of that. You know, uh, back and forth, that you get between oh, you know you're going to Nashville and you know you're doing this Nashville thing and, man, they call it music city for a reason. Uh, that's where everything happens, that's where the best of the best are. So, in my opinion, if you're not going to Nashville and you're not at least writing songs with some of those guys and you're not at least having lunch with some of those people, you're not really playing the game and giving yourself a fair shot, because that's kind of the epicenter of everything. And, quite frankly, if you listen to the product that we've got on Country Therapy I'm saying this with as much humility as you're willing to accept put it up against anything else that's not coming out of Nashville, and I would be willing to bet that it probably sounds a lot better.

Speaker 1 10:29

I bet you it does.

Speaker 2 10:34

That's great how often, wynn, how often do you get back to Nashville? So I was going once a month for about a week at a time, and I do like to do that. But but again, I've been so busy, like this summer man, I think I've been home maybe like maybe two weeks out of the past since, like mid July, um, there for two weeks came back home. Wonderful wife packed up our entire house while I was in Europe. I flew back on the 30th of June, we moved on the 2nd of August, I left on the 6th of August. Oh, man, man, I just really haven't had an opportunity to get to Nashville between all the dates and then also trying to have a personal life.

Speaker 1 11:25

Was that the first trip to Europe for you to play?

Speaker 2 11:29

Man, it wasn't. I've gone over there the past several years Last year we went to Hawaii. And it is so much fun going over there. If you've never gone, I would highly recommend going and checking out a festival, because it is incredible.

Speaker 1 11:42

See what I'm hearing is if you're playing over there, I mean the fans of country just over the top, it's like they know your music, they sing it back to you, they know every track that's on that album. You know, I've heard that from a lot of different artists that have gone. You know the C2C and this and that, but just to be there on that stage and see the reaction of those fans is out of this world.

Speaker 2 12:08

Oh yeah, it is. It's an amazing experience. It's. It's kind of hard to just explain it, but when people do ask, you know they're always surprised that country music is so, so interesting and so big over there. But but it's huge man, and I kind of think it's just because you know we've got country music 24-7, specifically in Texas, definitely in Nashville. So those you know, those folks don't get that all the time. So whenever it does, come to town, boy, they show up and they show up big and they treat you so well. So going over there and playing is honestly it's one of the most exciting parts of my career, yeah.

Speaker 1 12:49

Yeah. It's just got to be so cool to do that. I've heard that from a lot of different artists. Let's talk about your songwriting a little bit. When Wynn Williams is who, as you can see, is who I'm speaking with tonight on the Skip Happens podcast but you know, when you're writing or choosing songs, what's your test for, and I would say is this a Wynn Williams song? How do you know it's your?

Speaker 2 13:12

song. Well, you know a lot of it kind of stems from again that country early 2000s influence. You know lyrics were important. You know you're not singing about something that you know doesn't make sense or maybe it's.

Speaker 2 13:33

You know it doesn't tell a story or it doesn't have a message or something like that. You know all of my stuff, probably for the most part, has some kind of story or message to share, but some of those of those songs that uh like a song called here for the beer on this new album, uh, it's kind of exactly what it says. It's like, you know I'm, I'm not here for anything else except to have a few drinks and, uh, you know some of that is is is important too, uh, because a lot of people will put music on and just to kind of escape from that everyday, mundane life that that we all live, uh, here in America.

Nashville Recording Process

Speaker 2 14:14

But, uh, that's kind of what the whole premise of country therapy is all about, and whenever I'm writing songs, I always try to keep that in mind. You know, even if even if it's something that maybe I don't quite relate to as much, I know that there are better fishermen than me, or you know, there's a lot of rodeo cowboys out there, but then there's also people that think that rodeo is the coolest thing in the world, and they've never done it, but they love to identify with that too. So there's a lot of that stuff, man, personal experience. And also I like to just consider the fact that the song, the song, just needs to speak to someone's heart, and if that's my heart, or if that's your heart, then you know I've done my job as a songwriter.

Speaker 1 14:59

Do you think you'll ever go back to riding or, you know, steer wrestling or anything like that being at the rodeo?

Speaker 2 15:06

Man, I think that the best thing that anybody's going to get out of me is is riding around in a granite tree and waving my hand. I gotcha as I uh, you know, step off, step off the stage or get ready to step on the stage, but no, I, I, uh, I injured myself pretty good. I. I tore my acl and my meniscus and my right knee and and that'll do it you know it's, it's, it's, it's better now, but uh, I really don't want to know.

Speaker 1 15:34

Once you, once you heard it, you can hurt it again fairly easy. I mean, you know, you don't want to take that chance.

Speaker 2 15:41

Yeah, exactly, I got too many trips to europe coming up, so uh, there you go, there you go.

Speaker 1 15:46

When's your next trip?

Speaker 2 15:48

Uh, no, I'm just kidding, I just got back, but, uh, I'm hoping to get back next year. We're already talking about um some, some other shows next year. So, uh, if I can make it a kind of an annual thing to go over there and play um, I would really like to do that and so far, for the past I don't know, maybe three, four years we've been able to achieve that.

Speaker 1 16:12

Yeah, is this like a C2C, like I mentioned a few minutes ago? Is that what it is, or is this something way different?

Speaker 2 16:19

Yeah, it's not C2C, it's just going over there, you know, playing some some smaller festivals and playing some clubs and and little venues over there. Right, I'm hoping that C2C is in our future. You know it's. I've got to go to.

Speaker 1 16:32

Ireland.

Speaker 2 16:35

That actually is another trip that I'm taking, but it's kind of a personal trip. I'm going for a wedding. I got you, but I'm hoping that I can, you know, string together a couple of shows. It's kind of like right after C2C, so maybe we'll be able to catch the tail end of C2C and then go do some celebrating for a wedding.

Speaker 1 16:52

Yeah, so to let everybody know, when you go, you book all this stuff on your own and you go and well, you get the gigs to pay for your trip to go over there and do all that. I would assume correct. Is that how you do it?

Speaker 2 17:05

Yeah, so several years ago I went over there and played in Italy and the band leader, I play with a European band. I send them all my music, they learn it and it's great.

Speaker 1 17:17

It's just a little more economical.

Speaker 2 17:20

You know, instead of spending on plane tickets, I can spend a couple thousand on my plane ticket and then I can go over there and play. But anyway, I met this band leader. His name is jay and um, you know he, he goes out and he plays a lot of these festivals and plays a lot of these clubs, so he'll kind of book some shows for me and back me um with with his band. We're working with caa. We started working with them in.

Speaker 2 17:46

January and uh, you know things, things are evolving a little bit on the booking side, but uh, you know, it's still. It's still one of those things where you know I'm I'm at a point where I'm still, you know, bringing a lot of stuff to the table as well, but our agent, man, our agent, is killing it this year. Uh, his name's Andrew and he's man our agent is killing it this year.

Speaker 2 18:10

Uh, his name's andrew and and he's man, he's just busted to get us so many of these shows and, and you know, a large part of our, of our, uh, touring schedule has been because of andrew, so, um you know, it's a team effort. You know you got a lot of folks behind the scenes, that and uh. At the end of the day, you know, if I was doing it all by myself, I would not.

Speaker 1 18:29

It would be difficult, quite a success. Yeah, no, exactly, it's just yeah.

Speaker 2 18:34

It's just so much to do between.

Speaker 1 18:36

I don't know how you do it.

Speaker 2 18:37

If you were to do it, yeah, yeah, that's another thing too, like why you know you're asking about my songwriting. It's, um, a lot. I kind of tell people like whenever I'm in texas, that's my like business space of sorts, because I'm always, like, you know, doing accounting or I'm doing, uh, you know, social media stuff, or I'm advancing shows, doing tour management type stuff, or maybe getting the new tires on the van or something like that. But whenever I go to Nashville, I'm able to kind of, you know, compartmentalize a little bit and I can say, okay, I'm in Nashville so I can be creative. So then I, you know, go in and be present writing songs or be present in the studio. So you know, it's certainly a balance, but you can't do it all by yourself if you want to grow.

Speaker 1 19:31

Now, so you were talking about. You come from a family of musicians. You said your dad plays guitar. I mean the whole family. They all do a little something on that side of things.

Speaker 2 19:43

Yeah, everybody sings Cool, my dad plays guitar and sings, and also my granddad on my mom's side. He had a band, a country-western band, back in the 70s, late 60s, early 70s, and he played around Texas and he was invited to be a Texas playboy with Bob Wills. Oh wow, turn that down. You know, it's something that, like I said, man, it just kind of runs, I guess, in our blood.

Speaker 1 20:18

Yeah, no doubt, no doubt, absolutely. That is cool. Is there, let's say, you know, country therapy on that album? Is there an emotional centerpiece?

Speaker 2 20:34

for you. It's one of my favorite songs I've ever written. I wrote with Bryce Long and Jeff Hyde and dude, it's just like it's not necessarily like emotional for me and then it tears at my heartstrings or or anything. It's emotional for me just because, to me, like the way that that song is written and I'm giving all credit to Jeff Hyde and Bryce Long Cause they're future hall of Fame songwriters Just the way that that particular song is written is like country music to AT. For me it's a story song. It kind of tells this story about these two people meeting on an airplane to Dallas. It starts with a conversation and all of a sudden you know they're hitting it off and and making a connection and uh, and then that's a movie, dude you know, starting, starting this life that is up in forever.

Speaker 2 21:41

So it's like to me that's country music, man, and and if you listen to the song you know you're going to hear fiddle and steel and really pretty piano and all those elements of that 90s country era.

Speaker 1 21:55

You know, when you talk about that, I think of artists like Zach Topp as well, who's kind of thrown it back to the 90s. And you know, if the Alan Jackson sound from Chattahoochee to some George Strayed to is, you know we've already mentioned George, but still for a newer, younger artist, I think is Zach Topp. Now, you know, I definitely have to dig into some of your stuff too, because I absolutely love that and that whole style.

Speaker 2 22:21

All that's coming back, dude, everything's, like you know, going full circle At least I think it is A hundred percent, man, and you're talking, you're, you know, going full circle. At least I think it is A hundred percent, man, and you're talking, you're? You know, you're speaking my language. But there's a song on the album called put the shovel down. Uh, and, ironically enough, um, alan Jackson's producer, call uh, wrote this song and uh, we were. We were sitting in his uh, in his office listening to some stuff and he played put Put the Shovel Down on a demo and I was like, dude, I love this song, this is country music and anyway, we cut the song.

Speaker 2 22:57

And man, I encourage you to go listen to it, because it is quintessential country music, exactly how you like it. There's a lot of other great stuff on there. There's a song right now that's getting a really good response, yeah, and it's called she ain't you, um, and it's kind of a a little bit of an introspective who can be, uh, stubborn and and and I've been called hardheaded many a times, uh, probably more than I than I'd like to admit, but that particular song again was a song that was pitched to us and it immediately just reminded me of myself and that one's getting a great response. We also recut the Fireman, oh yeah, straight by George Strait, put a little bit of a modern twist on it. So yeah, man, if you don't like country music, I don't know. If you don't like something on this album, I don't know. I don't think you like country music because Right, exactly, exactly.

Speaker 2 24:04

There's something.

Speaker 1 24:05

I love that, I love that thought of that, and so this is the first full album that you put out no, this is actually my second full length second okay, yep all right, I put out a uh, my very first full length record in in 2020, and that was 14 songs.

Speaker 2 24:23

I believe, um, I believe, I think this one is 12.

Speaker 1 24:31

They go anywhere from 12, 12 to 15 now, or whatever.

Speaker 2 24:34

Yeah, yeah so, but I've had a couple of things. I've had a couple of things, like you know, working in between that time. I also had an EP that came out in 2017, right after I graduated from school. So, man, I've been doing it for a while and it's just so's just so expensive to, uh, to go out and record this music, especially in Nashville, man, it's it's pretty crazy. It's crazy how expensive, um, how expensive it can get, but, but you know, you pay for what you get to.

European Tours and Fan Reception

Speaker 1 25:00

No, no, no, exactly right. And I think a lot of viewers or a lot of listeners don't realize that once you step foot in the studio, you got rental time, you got to pay for the players, you've got all this stuff and it adds up and, yeah, you want to do it, but you know, reality speaks that it's very expensive. It's like how am I going to do this? But if you want to do it, you're going to do it. You'll find a way to do it, and obviously you have, and it's really good.

Speaker 1 25:24

So well, thank you very much that's what a lot of people don't realize, that that, uh, you know you gotta pay for the players again. Let's say you know oh yeah space rental, all the good stuff you want to. What kind of guitar?

Speaker 2 25:36

all right, well, that's gonna cost you all right, right, yeah, yeah, I think I record vocals on like like a forty thousand dollar vocal oh, exactly that and uh, and it's exactly but except for the artist it's not exactly the sure sm7b, I can tell you that much so yeah, yeah, you know um, I forgot what I was gonna ask you.

Speaker 1 25:58

That ain't too smart, but um, anyway. So you're online. Where can somebody get your music and listen to it?

Speaker 2 26:07

yeah, you can. Uh, I tell people the one-stop shop is winwilliamsmusiccom. Perfect, obviously, all the platforms buying or streaming music. We've got CDs of the new album as well and the old stuff for this record, um that a lot of folks are into vinyl again nowadays so uh you can hop on the, hop on the store online and get yourself a vinyl and be happy to happy to ship it to you. Um, but yeah man, anywhere anybody listens to music. We've got some stuff on youtube as well music videos, um, all that good stuff.

Speaker 1 26:46

What made you go with the vinyl? Now, I'm saying that because I love vinyl and I got a case of vinyl Zach Topp albums today at the radio station for what we call a winner's weekend. But they're all vinyl. It's like it's all coming back. And when I get the vinyl in the mail I start thinking about my radio days back in the 80s, when we were getting albums left and right. So, that's cool. Why did you do that?

Speaker 2 27:11

I've been asked several times if I have vinyl. Whenever I'm out at shows on the road we've got a merch table, of course, and several people have come up and said, man, have you got any vinyl? When are you getting vinyl? And I'm like, oh dude, I guess that more and more. Um, so we decided we would do kind of a limited run of vinyl, uh, for this album and uh, you know it should be, it should be on my doorstep any any moment now so I can get it. Get it out to the folks that have ordered some.

Speaker 1 27:42

Awesome, and if they do, would you autograph it? Then send it to them.

Speaker 2 27:45

Yeah, of course, yeah, totally.

Speaker 1 27:48

OK, you might have a little message in there for me, like I'm going to buy one.

Speaker 2 27:52

I want it autographed, so now we can make that happen.

Speaker 1 27:57

I know you can, I know you can. Let's say, let's talk a little bit about more. About you, though, born and raised in Texas.

Speaker 2 28:08

What was this? Your first, first town? Where did you grow up? Again, tell me, I grew up in a town called weatherford, texas weatherford okay weatherford, all one word weatherford weatherford yeah, okay that's how you spell it, weatherford, but it's all one word weatherford.

Speaker 1 28:23

I got you. I got you. Now, if, um, if I was to drive into your hometown, I can't imagine there's a whole lot of roads, maybe just a couple main dregs that take you into town. If I was coming in, let's say, from the north, what would be the first thing I would see?

Speaker 2 28:40

If you were coming in from the north of Weatherford, uh, you would probably run into uh, one of the million banks that are in town, or maybe a chicken restaurant or a car wash. It's kind of a joke that, uh, you know banks, chicken restaurants and car washes. Um, weatherford used to be a small town, but okay it's been adopted, uh, essentially by Fort Worth.

Speaker 1 29:10

I got you All right, but the town I'm in now.

Speaker 2 29:13

Uh, where we live now is much more my speed in that. Uh, there's not too many restaurants around and only one bank.

Speaker 2 29:21

Uh, you know only one actually there's there's two chicken restaurants right now, but but now this, the place where we live now a lot, a lot more rural than than Weatherford, you know, in town, is now. Of course, weatherford is, like you know, stephenville, texas. They call the capital of the world, but but I would probably argue that that Weatherford, uh, is in the running for that Um, because a lot of, a lot of, uh, you know, western industry folks, um, live in Weatherford and and it's it's actually considered the cutting horse capital of the world uh, which is another event that's not quite involved in rodeo, but it's still an equine, uh, western lifestyle.

Speaker 1 30:09

Are you? Are you into that Western lifestyle? I mean, you're from Texas, you know you've ridden in the rodeo, you've done all that, so I would. I can only assume that's your lifestyle, man, you're like the cowboy, which is cool.

Speaker 2 30:23

Yeah, well, you know it's a part of my life, it's. It's how I kind of grew up. Um, you know, we don't have any horses, uh, here in our new place. Uh, we got some cows out there, but uh, you know, it's a lot. I don't even think I could have horses right now because I'm just so busy and it's such a it's such a big responsibility. Um, man, you know, I'm enjoying just living out here on this. Like I said, I haven't been around much, but it's 13 acres and we don't have any of the hustle and bustle. My wife and I lived in Fort Worth, in the city, for six years.

Speaker 1 31:01

Oh, that had to be nuts.

Speaker 2 31:03

Man, we loved it. We absolutely loved it. It was convenient I could be on the interstate, which was handy for touring, but we had a little bitty house on a busy street and it was kind of time for us to get out of Fort Worth.

Speaker 1 31:27

Yeah, how does it? You know your wife is a trooper because you're on the road all the time, unless she's going with you, but she could be holding the fort down back at home. She is a trooper because it takes a lot to do that and she's letting you. It's your passion and you're dedicated to your craft and she's given you that opportunity to go chase it.

Speaker 2 31:50

Tell me a little bit about your wife. Man, she, like you said she's a rock star in her own right.

Speaker 2 31:57

We met. She grew up in Keller, Texas, which is not too far from Weatherford, actually, but we didn't meet until we both transferred into Texas A&M, uh, in 2015. Um, we had three class together so we saw each other every day. Um, at school, ended up working on some group projects together and, um, you know, just kind of hit it off and and, uh, we started dating actually after college. And, um, you know, she's of hit it off and we started dating actually after college. And you know she's always known that I was pursuing music. You know we hung out a ton in college and she would come out to shows. As a matter of fact, there was one show I played in college. She was the only person in the crowd. So you know, she has definitely been with me through thick and thin. So, dude, you know what that has definitely been. She's been with me through, uh, thinking.

Speaker 1 32:46

So, dude, you know what that means. That was meant to be. So that's cool, that's cool, that's cool Absolutely. Do you guys have kids?

Speaker 2 32:55

Not yet no not yet.

Speaker 1 32:57

We've always talked about.

Speaker 2 32:58

You know, whenever we turn 30, we'll start having the conversation, and we just turned 31.

Speaker 1 33:04

So time to start that, but then again that's right yeah. What about pets?

Speaker 2 33:14

Yeah, we uh, his name is Topo. Like Topo Chico the drink, he is an Australian shepherd. He's, uh, let's see, he's 10 months old and, um, he is, he's a good little boy man. He's. He's, uh, he's, you know, still a puppy, uh. But but, hannah, my wife, um, she's done a great job at you know, getting him trained up and and making sure he's he's, uh, you know, doing what we're telling him to do. Um, but, yeah, I mean, you're exactly right, she's great. I wouldn't be able to do this without her.

Speaker 2 33:50

Like I, said the whole house while I was in Europe for two weeks and then whenever I got back, you know. But we make it work. She knew early on what she was signing up for, so it's all good.

Speaker 1 34:13

That's awesome, man, that's awesome. You drive a Silverado.

Speaker 2 34:21

I do, I knew it. Yeah, I do.

Speaker 1 34:25

I knew it. Every artist I talk to I take a guess and I usually guess Silverado, All right, and they'll go yeah, you're right. Very rarely do I say no, it's Ford or it's Dodge, I got the Ram, I got this, but most of the time it's the Silverado. Now, I have nothing to do with Chevy, I'm just saying that and I've had one myself.

Speaker 2 34:46

Yeah, yeah. Well, this has been a great truck. Actually, oddly enough, it was my wife's. I had a Dodge. It was my first truck. I took it 254 miles. And it started to get about her. I had to get rid of it and I took the Silverado.

Speaker 1 35:06

Nice, very nice. So when you, when you go out on tour, though, are you pulling a trailer? Um, you got the van.

Speaker 2 35:16

We're rocking in a van and trailer now.

Speaker 1 35:19

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 35:20

We're, uh, we're, gunning for that bus, though that that would be nice.

Speaker 1 35:25

You know the way you're going when it looks like it could happen sooner rather than later. So just have to, you know, play your cards right, and it looks like you're doing that. Have you been to the northeast at all?

Speaker 2 35:36

man, I haven't been up there to play any shows, uh, but I've spent. I haven't spent any time in new york, but I have spent some time in boston and I really, really like Boston. Um, I went up there whenever I was in college. Just um, I literally went there by myself.

Speaker 2 35:51

Uh, I was an intern Southwest airline. So I got to fly for free, uh, went to the airport, looked at the screen and said where should I go? So I went to Boston and uh, and I did like Fenway, you know, tour and and and the North end of Boston, and got to do a lot of really cool stuff. So I took my wife up there a couple of years ago. But, man, I would love to come to the Northeast because I understand it's it's kind of a hotspot for country music right now.

Speaker 1 36:20

It is, and we're in central New York. So we're upstate and I'm not. You know if you some people think New York is New York City and upstate is Poughkeepsie and Poughkeepsie is just north of New York. No, we're actually upstate, right at the crossroads. I guess Syracuse is right in the center of the state, but this is the time of the year here where fall is starting to set in. The leaves are just beginning to change. You know, I mean a couple of weeks ago it was 90 degrees.

Speaker 2 36:51

Today I woke up at 50. So it's crazy. That's awesome, that's crazy. It's a beautiful part of the country. I hope that we can get up there Absolutely. I've never spent any time outside of outside of Boston, so you know I'm itching to get up there because I know for one, I just love traveling and I love seeing new places and I love eating great food and I know that you can get that in the Northeast.

Speaker 1 37:14

Oh yeah, Well, Boston, you got the lobster.

Speaker 2 37:17

Oh yeah.

Speaker 1 37:19

Definitely good, definitely good stuff. What is like where you are now. What would you say is the favorite food? What is really popular besides the chicken places on the corner?

Speaker 2 37:35

Man, my wife and I, we do not discriminate whenever it comes to cuisine. We love pretty much everything. But there's a pretty good little Mexican food place here in town and a little Italian, but it's hard to beat a good, a good old cheeseburgers. There's a gas station here that actually makes cheeseburgers and they are jam up man.

Speaker 1 37:56

Aren't they the best, seriously.

Speaker 2 37:58

Oh yeah.

Speaker 1 37:59

You find those places along the road and it's like you're going to. That's where you're going to get a good burger. That's exactly seriously now we got that here too. You know, you get out of town just a little bit and you got these gas stations along these rural roads and it's like you know they got burgers and fries and every friday they got the fish fry going and you know that's where you're gonna get the good food. I love that exactly right.

Speaker 2 38:25

It's not good for for you, but it's fine in moderation.

Speaker 1 38:30

Yeah, that's all right. If it's not good for you, then eat it.

Speaker 2 38:33

I'm just saying it'll taste good, I've had a lot of gas station food man and this is one of the best I'll tell you.

Speaker 1 38:39

That's awesome. Hey, if you could collaborate with anybody, Wynn, who would you like to collaborate with? Anybody?

Speaker 2 38:47

Yeah, I think the obvious answer would probably be George.

Speaker 1 38:50

Okay.

Speaker 2 38:52

I was thinking that I'd love to do stuff with Brooks and Dunn, but man, talking about some of these young cats that are doing some stuff, it'd be cool to do some stuff with Zach Jake Worthington's another one he actually called me the other day.

Speaker 1 39:05

Yeah, I love Jake.

Speaker 2 39:06

He's like hey man, I'm working out here and I'm listening to your record. Just wanted to say it sounds good how cool is that, when you get it yeah it's when.

Speaker 1 39:12

How cool is that when you get a call from somebody like jake and they're like dude, just wanted to say hi and let you know I got some shit going on here and getting it done and I got your music on yeah, it's cool man, I've known jake for a long time.

Speaker 2 39:29

Yeah, it's cool man, I've known jake for a long time and, uh, you know he's doing his thing and uh, you know it's always. You don't always get to talk to other artists as much as you would like to, um, but man, whenever, whenever jake called me, I was like man, he did not have to call me and he did, and so it was no, exactly right, a nice surprise what?

Speaker 1 39:47

What if George Strait called you?

Speaker 2 39:52

I would say yes, sir. How can I help you, sir?

Speaker 1 39:56

I'd be like dropping the phone and going all right. Who's pranking me Right?

Speaker 2 40:01

right.

Speaker 1 40:03

That is so cool. Yeah, is there somebody else besides George that you really, really, really look up to or you feel like, wow, you know what this guy's got it going?

Speaker 2 40:17

Yeah, there's quite a few of them, you know. One would also be Cody Johnson.

Speaker 1 40:21

Texas boy rodeo guy.

Speaker 2 40:23

Yep, yep. Cody and I have a very similar story. We sold merch for Cody one weekend and I was like, all right, I want to do what he's doing. I don't want to be selling T-shirts. So you know, cody is one of them. Parker McCollum is a great guy. We've opened for Parker a number of times, really before he exploded into the arena Parker that we know today, a number of times really before he exploded into the arena Parker that we know today.

Speaker 2 40:45

Um, but Parker's a really good person, a really you know, uh, individual who, um, you know another Texas guy grew up in Texas you know very, very similar roots to myself, uh, in that we kind of treat everybody, um, you know, hanging out with Parker would be, would be, uh, something that I would, that I would enjoy, is is there some place that you haven't played, but it's on your bucket list and you want to play?

Speaker 1 41:19

I have an idea what you're going to say, but we'll just find out if I'm thinking right here.

Speaker 2 41:25

A lot of places that I want to play. Probably the one that you're thinking of might be Billy Bob's Texas.

Speaker 1 41:31

Okay, no, but.

Speaker 2 41:33

I was thinking.

Speaker 1 41:33

Red Rocks.

Speaker 2 41:36

Oh, man, that would have been my second one.

Speaker 1 41:39

But Billy Bob's is good too. Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2 41:42

The reason why Billy Bob's is kind of like number one for me is because I grew up in Fort Worth. Obviously, yeah, exactly, I think we're getting there. It's just going to be, uh, you know, getting this music out there and growing a little bit more so that we can go in there and and and have a good showing. Uh, in terms of, uh, in terms of ticket sales, because it's a big venue, man, I mean it holds like 6,000 people, you know, even 7,000 people. So you don't want to go in there and only have a few hundred show up, you know, you want to you want to make that place look pretty busy.

Speaker 2 42:23

So we've got a lot of good stuff in the works to hopefully grow up into a venue of that size. But Red Rocks would be pretty badass man.

Speaker 1 42:35

Yeah, that's on my bucket list. Hopefully I get to go to catch. Maybe I'll see you there, who knows? But I hope to go there someday. Have you been to Flores? Is it Flores General Store?

Speaker 2 42:49

It's outside of San Antoniotonio, it's near san antonio, called helotis helotis helotis, texas florist country store. We have played there probably more than any other venue I've been there and it is one of my favorites? Yeah, one of my favorite. I love the atmosphere there.

Speaker 1 43:06

I remember going there. I did a trip to san antonio doing some business stuff. Saw colby cooper okay, might have been colby cooper was playing there that night that we went, yep, and uh, yeah, definitely he was probably stage then he was what he was probably on the outdoor stage there. Yes, it was the outdoor stage.

Speaker 2 43:27

Yeah.

Speaker 1 43:28

It was pretty wide open.

Speaker 2 43:30

Yeah, man, it's a great, great venue. The food is awesome. What makes a great venue to me is not just the stage or the production, but a lot of it has to do with the staff, and the people at Floors Country Store do it right. You know they always take care of the artists, even if you're an opening act, which I have been at times at Floors they don't treat you like you're less than or that you're the opener.

Speaker 2 44:06

That's cool you know you always get treated like you're the headliner there and it's so special. And you know Mark there, who owns the venue, and Daniel and Vicky Dixon back there in the kitchen, man whipping it up for everybody, everybody there is just so, so great.

Speaker 1 44:25

You know everybody there that's awesome.

Speaker 2 44:28

Yeah, I love it. I just love it, whenever venues you know take care of artists if you want to be a live music you, then you need to take care of the artists you know it's, it's, we are coming there to serve you, um, and and you know we kind of expect the same from the staff.

Speaker 2 44:51

And you know Floors is a place that does it Another great spot. I kind of have like two favorite venues in Texas. One is Floors Country Store. It's kind of the old school dance hall type place. It's a legendary place. Willie Wilson used to sleep in the green room.

Speaker 1 45:06

Yes, he did.

Speaker 2 45:10

But there's another great spot in Arlington which is right outside of the ballparks and then also Cowboys AT&T Stadium and it's called Texas Live and there's a number of these kind of all across the country. But Texas Live is like the more modern, you know, state of the art thing where you know there's a bunch of bars and restaurants and you know a million TVs in there. But again, you know it's it, it's yeah, it's the production, it's the venue itself, but again, the people there are always so great. Um, so you know it can be done no matter where the venue is, and it doesn't matter if the venue is is place hole in the wall or if it's, you know, a massive conglomerate corporate location.

Speaker 2 45:57

You can always treat people like you're happy that they're there.

Speaker 1 46:01

That's awesome.

Speaker 2 46:02

It sounds. You know those venues.

Speaker 1 46:04

You know, of course, have been to floors but still just sounds awesome. And I think it's so cool when I can speak to an artist like you and you can go, yeah, so-and-so's in the kitchen and so-and-so's behind the bar and so-and-so does this, and it's like, wow, you're on that first-name basis, You've got to love that and it's got to make for a great show too, because you know what it's just like playing at home.

Speaker 2 46:26

Man, whenever you feel you put on a better show, you know, whenever you feel like you're in the zone, so to speak or you're in your element, then absolutely, it shows on stage for sure.

Speaker 1 46:45

So, wynn, you already mentioned where you can get your music and all that. Go to the website. What is that?

Speaker 2 46:51

again WynnWilliamsMusiccom.

Speaker 1 46:54

That's easy, wynn Williams, and it's W-Y-N-N. That's right I just want to make sure everybody gets there. I mean, it'd probably be the only way, but still Go there. Where do you see yourself? Let's say, five years You've already done you know, you've been around a little bit, you're doing your thing, you're banging out some great music, got the second album and dropped back in August. No, was it August? When did that drop?

Speaker 2 47:17

Yep August 29th.

Speaker 1 47:19

August 29th. I knew it was August, couldn't think of the date, so all right, so we're already working on a second album. Now let's talk five years down the road. Where do you want to be? What are we going to be doing?

Future Plans and Northeast Shows

Speaker 2 47:31

Man, I'd love to be playing stadiums. Hopefully we're selling out Billy Bob's maybe a night or two. I just want to be continuously making music and putting out music and playing fun shows. I'm just kind of a normal dude. I like to be at home with my wife. I like to just relax at home with my wife and travel a little bit and hang out with good people and do fun things and connect with people through my music. And fortunately, for quite some time, as you said, but in five years, man, I hope that you know, I'm just continuing to grow, not only professionally but personally, and I'm able to, you know, continue doing things that fill me up.

Speaker 1 48:34

You got it. You got quite the road ahead of you. You still got a lot of time, dude, a lot of time I appreciate it, you know just keep putting out the music, so that's pretty cool.

Speaker 1 48:43

again, we can go on and check out your music at winwilliamsmusiccom and, uh, I just I'm gonna keep an eye on you because, I'll be honest with you, I you know, being in the northeast and you being from texas, there's still that there's a little bit of you're not here yet. You know what I mean. Does that make sense? But I know you've done a radio tour and I know you're hitting up radio stations, you know, probably down in Texas or in the Midwest or somewhere. But now it's time to come to the Northeast and get yourself known as well, and that's one of the things.

Speaker 1 49:15

That's what I do here in the Northeast, plus with the podcast and being able to talk to great artists like yourself is to get your name out there and hopefully get some listeners I always say it's one fan at a time. Get them to go and check you out and maybe download some music, buy some music, buy some merch, support the artists. That's what it's about and that's why I love Skip Happens. I do all this on my own and it's pretty cool Some great people.

Speaker 2 49:45

Well, man, I know that everybody appreciates how hard you work on this man. Hopefully we get to meet in person soon, yeah.

Speaker 1 49:51

Yes, I do.

Speaker 2 49:52

Get with Kat again and let's be in touch If y'all ever do any radio shows or anything uh we do up there.

Speaker 1 49:59

If you're, if you're affiliated with any venues, man, let's, let's uh see if we can make that happen, cause we could do, maybe we could do some fly dates, maybe we could you know route it all the way up there and couple of venues we work with right along and we try to do shows almost every month, and when we get closer to the holidays I don't do it on the holidays, but a few weeks before, before the rush begins is I usually do a like a christmas holiday get together, even though you know we do it early enough where it doesn't interfere with all the hustle and bustle of the holidays. So, right, yeah, we'll talk about that. Yeah, I, I would. I'll reach out to Kat. That's pretty cool. She's great. By the way, she sends a lot of artists my way. She's one of the good ones.

Speaker 1 50:44

So, yeah, I don't think yeah, I don't think I ever met her. I think she she might've been at the country radio seminar, but I don't know if I ever really met her. I got to think it's like we meet so many people at these events. You know, as an artist, you meet so many people.

Speaker 2 51:01

It's hard to remember. Yeah, totally, totally, man, I really appreciate the invite.

Speaker 1 51:06

Yeah, right back at you.

Speaker 2 51:09

And man, let's keep in touch for sure, and see if we can gather sometime.

Speaker 1 51:15

Absolutely. I'd love to get you back on Now that at least I know you a little bit better and let's you know my door is always open, so have cat. If you've got something going on and you want to talk about it, just have her reach out. We'll do it. My door is always open. This is my own studio, my own. Everything I have here is my own.

Speaker 2 51:32

So that's great. That's great.

Speaker 1 51:34

Wynne Williams. There you go and the new album. Go out and get it. I got to make sure I get the name right here it's Music Country Therapy, or is it just?

Speaker 2 51:44

Country Therapy, just Country Therapy, yep.

Speaker 1 51:47

Oh well, she's got the title Music Country Therapy.

Speaker 2 51:51

Oh well, it's Country Therapy. I got you, I gotcha dude.

Speaker 1 51:57

Alright, thanks for coming on Skip Happens tonight. You know what. It's cool to chat with you, it's good to get to know you a little bit and hopefully, whoever's watching this or you can subscribe as well. If you go to Skip Happens on YouTube, just click the subscribe button and we just go from there and we'll continue to do this. But thanks for joining us here tonight on Skip Happens. Stay right there.