Melodies N' Memories: Music Media
Hosts Jillianne & Aaron R. Shriver are proud to bring their Music Interview & Positivity podcast to listeners and viewers alike. Aaron started the podcast in 2019, inspired by his long-time love for Eric Church and being a proud member of his fan club, "The Church Choir”. Through the show, he wanted to show appreciation for music and artistry, as well as create a platform for those with a positive attitude to share their stories. Over the course of the podcast, Aaron has become friends with a few guests, all of whom come on to discuss their experiences, share stories and even perform some of their own music. As the show grows, so too have the related projects - these now include concert reviews, Live Music Photography & Videos, and a positivity-focused blog. Every Monday at 7 pm Central, tune into Melodies N' Memories: Music Media on Facebook and YouTube and it'll be available on all streaming services the following day. Join Jillianne and Aaron to hear from a new guest every week!
Melodies N' Memories: Music Media
James McNair | Singer/Songwriter
Melodies N’ Memories: The Podcast | Show Notes
Welcome aboard as we journey through the melody-infused life of singer-songwriter, James McNair. We begin in South Carolina, trace his steps to Nashville, and delve into the profound influence his dad's vinyl collection had on his musical journey. James generously shares the intimate details of his journey into music - notably the time he got his first guitar and the spark that ignited his songwriting journey during his high school years.
Our conversation steers towards the exciting and the unexpected as we explore James' plans for a European adventure, the memories that certain songs evoke for him, and the snack items he'd grab from a gas station during a long drive. We even get into a bit of trivia, discussing his favorite spots to unwind, his ultimate pizza experiences, and his first paying job. We also get to know James on a more personal level, discussing the song he'd love to be remembered by and the oldest thing he owns.
As we wrap up our conversation, we express our sincere gratitude to James for sharing his journey. We reflect on his innovative vision and talent that's left an imprint on the country music industry. Not just that, we're also eager to see what his future projects hold for us. Engrossing, enigmatic, and sincere, our conversation with James McNair is not one you'd want to miss. So, tune in, and be part of this melodious journey.
Catch up on James McNair’s journey and Connect His Melodies & Memories with Melodies n’ Memories: Music Media
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Hey, this is Brian Simpson, and you're listening to Jillian and Aaron Shriver on Melodies and Memories Podcast.
Speaker 3:Welcome to the Melodies and Memories Podcast with Jillian and Aaron Shriver. Brought to you by Arlo Revolution Each week, they connect melodies and memories with fans and singer-songwriters from all genres of life. When all else in life is gone, music will be left to leave the legacy of life's adventures. Please welcome your hosts of the Melodies and Memories Podcast, jillian and Aaron Shriver.
Speaker 1:Hello and welcome everyone to Season 7 of Melodies and Memories Podcast. I'm your co-host, jillian Shriver.
Speaker 5:I'm your host, aaron Shriver.
Speaker 1:And our mission tonight is to provide a platform for the motivated singer-songwriters, passionate fans or someone who's making a difference in and around the music community. We hope everyone listening leaves inspired with a positive outlook and begins connecting their own melodies to memories. Tonight we're presented by our good friends at Arlo Revolution cinematic wedding films, music videos and promos. Find them at ArloRevolutioncom In One Tree Planted. For every 1,000 downloads of the show we plan to treat with One Tree Planted. Download the show on your favorite podcast app And Poddex. Poddex are the hottest tool to get your great next interview questions at the palm of your hand.
Speaker 1:Our non-screen sponsors are Art on a Higher Wire by Joelle, original and custom artwork inspired by your life moments, treasured photos and memories. Looking for ways to support or sponsor melodies in memories music media? Then head on over to our Patreon page, where tiers start at just $1 a month. The next best way to support the show is to like, share and review on all podcast platforms. Remember, you can join us live every Monday night at 7pm Central on Facebook and YouTube, where you can interact with the show, ask questions or join in on our live chat with your favorite guests. Visit our website MelodiesandMemoriescom for music news, cancer reviews, photos, playlists and more.
Speaker 5:You made it through with all the distractions. You made through.
Speaker 5:You know, I love you tonight. It's a good night Guys. I am very excited for this show tonight, even though it's been crazy. We live in a zoo. I do apologize, but I've been talking with James for I don't know some time now about getting him on And we want to wait till the right time and I'm kind of glad we waited because huge news this fall coming up for him Getting him to go out on tour of the Loot Combs is amazing things and we're going to get into that and so much more. But tonight we welcome in James McNeer for episodes 170.
Speaker 5:Straight out of South Carolina, this talented singer-songwriter has taken the music industry by storm. James' hard work and dedication to this craft have led us led his songs being cut by some of the biggest names in country music, including Loot Combs and Morgan Wallam. But it's not just his impressive credentials that make him so captivating. It's the passion, emotion he infuses and each and every song he writes. James is a true testament to a hard work and determination. He's the kind of artist who puts his heart and soul into everything, every note he writes and every lyric he sings. Tonight he'll be sharing an inspiring journey and some exclusive insights into this home writing process. We are honored to discuss the melodies and memories that make up his journey. You're welcome, james McNeer. On What's up, buddy, how you doing, i told you it gets fun Being a dad gets fun. After a while Our six-year-old came down and started poking his head around and making noise down here and got the dog all wild up. So welcome to the family zoo tonight, i love it.
Speaker 2:I love it. Well, it's the same over here too.
Speaker 1:We are as authentic as authentic can be We're not hiding nothing here. I mean, we're doing.
Speaker 5:We do it out of our basement. We try our best, but having a six-year-old and a nine-year-old in the house is hard man. So, dude, like I said, we've been talking for a while to get you on. I'm so excited to finally just talk to you about your journey, man, just kind of South Carolina to Nashville and see where I went for you. But tell me about just growing up, man, your earliest music memory, maybe, what your parents were playing around the house and just what you remember, man, for music Just being a part of you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I would say my earliest memories would be my dad was always playing vinyl. He was a huge, you know, collector of pretty much anything from the 70s through, you know, early 90s and it was anywhere from Led Zeppelin to Skinner to Earth, wind and Fire And honestly, the earlier country that I listened to it wasn't even that old but he was really into like Kathy Matea and Mary Chaffin Carpenter, just a bunch of like, very like, unique, and he was into Chesney and McGraw and stuff. But I think it was just the mixture of that music in the house all the time really inspired me in the 90s growing up.
Speaker 5:Dude, i love when I was researching this and you brought up your dad's vinyl and stuff, kind of how he's still yelling at you to not mess up the needle back in the day, man, i still have. When my parents first moved to we live outside of Chicago when they first moved here in 69, they bought one of these old cabinet record players with the whole turntable and I still have it. It's upstairs in the house. I play vinyl on it all the time. I still remember him telling me, yelling me don't touch that needle, you can't touch that needle. So I was reading that. It's kind of connected a little bit and I love that. Man. Of all the vinyls you remember him having, what's the couple of the covers that just kind of stuck to you like damn, what is this?
Speaker 2:Oh, i would say like as a kid I think the Boston covers were always like pretty crazy because they had spaceships on them and they felt very I don't even know the word, but it reminded me of a video game kind of like almost like you'd find like space invaders or something. So Boston always had interesting ones. But I'm pretty sure he had like the original street survivors by Skinner, because they only, i think they pulled them off the shelves and he had one of those and he had some of the Zeppelin ones like and I'm trying to think of it was Zeppelin 3 or Zeppelin 4, but it had a guy with an older guy like a hunchback with sticks out the back.
Speaker 2:I remember that. And yeah, there was a ton of them, man, And he had all of the Springsteen stuff which is mostly just Bruce looking pretty on the cover. You know, either with the guitar or you know how he bandana out the pocket. Yeah, yeah, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 5:I love that man. My dad had the old Cheech and Chong albums and years later I found out that they were supposed to have rolling papers inside of them, but they never had rolling papers in them, so I think my dad used those.
Speaker 2:I'd heard that too. My dad had the doobie brothers cover and it was just like this nasty looking joint.
Speaker 5:I love that dude. What was the first concert you ever went remember going to? and it was there. Anything you took away from that? It's kind of saying that this is something I want to do believe it or not.
Speaker 2:It's funny. You say, like my first, like official concert. Like I, i remember being really young and there would be some bluegrass Accent would come through my hometown in Aiken, south Carolina. But like my first, like pack up the car, we're going to stay in a hotel to see a show is actually Boston, at Chastain Park. My dad was just a big Santa Boston. I don't know why, i can't tell you why, but he wanted to take me there because he just felt like It would be a rock show without the dope smoking. He's like oh, chastain Park, you know it's outside, it'll be out. And he was right. I mean it was a kind of a cheese and wine crowd because I feel like Chastain Park would sell Like a season you know, past for a lot of those folks that would go to those shows.
Speaker 2:So, they'd probably go see like a string quartet and then when Boston would come through, they'd see them too. So it was a mild crowd, but I remember being hooked Just by the guitar work and just I mean, the sound in there is incredible. So that was one of my first memories of just being like oh man, this live music is just, you know, got it, got me hooked.
Speaker 5:So I love that man. So at the age of seven you knew you wanted to do music. What happened around that time would just made you decide.
Speaker 2:This is why I want to do well, i didn't know if I, you know, wanted I didn't know, maybe trying to think it's seven, i knew I wanted to play music. I didn't know if I I didn't have an idea I'd do it professionally or anything. But I think the era music we were in when I was seven, you know in the 90s, it was such a great era, music between country obviously, but then Alternative and grunge and rock and radio was so strong then that I would majority of my like finding my music would be FM radio and the rock station in the country station. And I remember like Really you know, when you're seven and eight when you hear something that just kind of blows your mind.
Speaker 2:You know you're just all about it. At that time I remember I heard rage against the machine for the first time and I think I was a little bit older than seven, but I remember like I begged and I begged my mom like to take me to It might have been Sam Goody at the time or one of the shoot even Walmart to go by the evil Empire album and she I remember it was parental advisory and she was like I'm not getting you this.
Speaker 2:I think I ended up paying a guy that worked for my dad to like go get it for me, and I ended up getting the Cassette that was back. I mean, this is before I was even rocking CDs, man.
Speaker 4:You know, like.
Speaker 2:I got like the cassette because it's a little bit cheaper. And Yeah, I remember rage against the machine blowing my mind when I was like eight or nine years old.
Speaker 5:What was that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think.
Speaker 5:Was your first thought of Pantera when you first heard of them.
Speaker 2:Oh, Well, i got into. I got into pantera a little bit like penny wise and kind of like the punk Rock scene and anthrax and all that stuff. And yeah, when I heard I guess was it dime back Daryl?
Speaker 3:and all his guitar work.
Speaker 2:I remember being blown away by that too.
Speaker 5:Hell, yeah, man, i love that. Yeah, we got. I think we got like a three or four second delay, so I'll have to play. Play that into the factor We do. All right, buddy. So when did you first pick up your guitar, man, and how? I always ask how you acquire first guitar, but I heard a serious here's robot catalog came into play a little bit A little guitar from that age.
Speaker 2:It did. Yeah, my grandma. I was at her house and I think she was just like cleaning out her attic at one point And she found an old Sears robot catalog guitar and it was basically like just a piece of plywood with a Lipstick pickup on it and I still have it at my parents house and I remember, you know, taking the dust off of it and it didn't have any strings on it. It was just sitting in her attic and I remember just praying. You know, at that age you find something like that and you're just like, oh gosh, i hope this works, you know. So we put some strings on it and I remember It tuned up, okay.
Speaker 2:But what really changed the game is when, i think, i ended up getting like a little practice Amp for my birthday that year and when we plugged it in, the pickup worked and that just sent me down the spiral of Wanting to play guitar and that's when I started like learning power chords and just Simple songs, probably seven, eight, nine years old. And then I really got into it When I was probably 11 or 12 and 13 and got, got a better guitar and a better amp and like really kind of woodshed it from there.
Speaker 5:Hell yeah, man. So I mean growing up like in that era Probably you're probably early 80s, cuz, 82, and when you said like eight or nine in the 90s, it's like I know I feel like I grew up through the same era. But did you use to, when you had those cassettes and everything, you used to pull them out and look at who was writing these songs? Do you even know who a songwriter was back then?
Speaker 2:No, it's funny you say that I just assumed that every Artist that I was listening to wrote those songs. And you know, for the most part, with just the dummy rule of it, for what I was listening to, and it came down to like Nirvana and obviously Springsteen and Even Skinnerd and all that, yeah, they were writing their own songs and but I never got that far. I just I just assumed they, everybody, wrote their own songs, you know, whoever the artist was. I didn't learn about Songwriting and and people actually getting their songs recorded by artists until, but right before I moved to Nashville Which was, i mean, i had heard obviously, like, oh, this person recorded this song, but I didn't know about the community that we have in Nashville till about 2011 and I moved in in the beginning of 2013. So, like I lived a lot of life living in a bubble.
Speaker 5:So I read you start kind of dabbling with songwriting in high school a bit, but did you have like, did you keep a journal, did you write poems or anything? or you just kind of just say how I was gonna put some thoughts on a piece of paper.
Speaker 2:You know I never journaled or didn't he poems or anything like that. I I really did not like school. To be honest, I wasn't the best student. Math was not my Strong suit, but English was always pretty good when I was in school. But I think what drew me more towards writing was melody. So I would always have some chords or have some weird risks And I try to just do a cool melody over it and then just plug words in.
Speaker 5:So alright, guys, we're gonna try to see what happens. I don't know what happened. We lost something here, so we're gonna see we get James back on. All right, buddy, you hear me again.
Speaker 2:OK, I can hear you. I can hear you now. OK, all right.
Speaker 5:Yeah, i don't know what happened. I just I was telling Jen I swear our house is haunted.
Speaker 1:but Well, i'm just wondering if it's the platform tonight Everyone's we get a weird issue with the platform too.
Speaker 5:So Yeah, ok, so All right. so we were talking a little bit in high school how you didn't really like school and stuff.
Speaker 1:And you were. We talked about your writing. Yes, when you started writing.
Speaker 5:So you got serious about it in college, man. You went to college in Alabama. What you go to college for You know I had no idea.
Speaker 2:To be honest, I, my aunt, went to Alabama And ever since I was a kid she was like you should go to Alabama, you should get out of South Carolina. And when I was in school, like I said, i didn't do well. I played on the golf team and I was really focused on that And so I didn't really study as much as I should. But it got to the point where senior year comes around, i'm like, ok, i have to like make some good grades or I'm not going to get out of my hometown and I really wanted to leave. So I ended up making a three, nine because I applied myself. Wow, senior year, and I got into University of Alabama And yeah.
Speaker 2:So I ended up going there just to find a major. I think my first, my first year I just did like general studies kind of thing. And then I got into communications and I could never really find a major in Alabama And I was on the fishing team and just kind of partying and and trying to figure it out. But I made great grades in Alabama. I always had like above a three. Oh, so I was able to transfer to South Carolina after I left Alabama. But that was my story of how I got there. It's really just my aunt pushing me to go and get out of my hometown.
Speaker 1:Hey, that happened to me.
Speaker 5:Sometimes you got to do you got to do, man? I'm glad I got my hometown got away from things for a little bit. That's what you need to do, So.
Speaker 1:I'm awesome.
Speaker 5:But I love that dude. So when did you finally say all right, I'm going to Nashville, I'm making the jump, I'm doing this.
Speaker 2:It was 2012, i remember. So I was in a band and we we played about 50, 50 originals and covers and my buddy, drew, had some songs that we would play. And then we played my, my songs, and I would just have people come up to me and be like, hey, what's that four song that you played? And I would be like, oh, i wrote that. And they would say, hey, you know, kenny Chesney could record that.
Speaker 2:And that's when I went down the, the rabbit hole of just looking up songwriters in the community And when I found out that there was actually people making a living writing songs. I looked more into Nashville And it came, you know, at a good time in my life, because my dad, like I said, was trying to just put me on salary and I didn't want to work in the golf business for the rest of my life And I was young enough to to make the move and I didn't know anyone in Nashville. I just knew that I could always work in the golf business, just mowing grass, just kind of. it wasn't a plan B, because my, obviously you can't have a plan.
Speaker 4:B.
Speaker 2:But just knowing that I could go get a minimum wage grass mowing job. And that took me up to Nashville in 2013. And I worked at Brentwood Country Club for like the first six months and then went on to Hillwood, but it was able to to get me in the door and I was able to go out and play at night, because we were done by two, 30 or three every day when I was first moved to Nashville.
Speaker 5:I love that. Did you ever visit Nashville before you moved there Is? that was usually your first time kind of being introduced to the city.
Speaker 2:I visited in 2012. I actually got on Facebook back before. It was, i guess, super creepy to do this, but I just got on Facebook and I was like, do I know anyone that lives in Nashville? And I found a buddy of mine that was friends with the next girl from a man from college and he lived in Nashville and he let me crash on his couch and showed me a good time and went to Broadway, did the whole thing, and I just had that, that energy and magic.
Speaker 2:I was able to catch it and I just loved the feeling of the city. So I visited it once then. And then I came back because my mom made a call and we and she had a friend that she knew growing, growing up, and I was able to meet with her and she helped me out a ton early on And I was able to stay with her a couple of times and get settled, and then I was able to get a job and then I found some roommates on Craig's list And that's a whole another story And in that's what got me here in 2013.
Speaker 2:So I visited probably three times before I moved.
Speaker 5:Roommates on Craigslist could make a really good horror movie, I think.
Speaker 1:It's so funny. You know the things we used to do and didn't worry about. I think there's already stuff on Netflix. I'm sure a story has started out that way.
Speaker 5:You gotta help a song. So you talked a little bit about the golf, about golf business, and your dad your dad and grandpa was both in the golf world. So when he said Salary, you're like all right, i'm out, but something I saw, you know, i think you were a Sony or something You got to do. We're huge Eric church fans but you got to do their golf tournament one year. How was that whole situation or how that the whole term ago? how did that? how was that?
Speaker 2:Oh, that tournament's amazing, so I think it was called the club in my hand kind of charity event And so a lot of his crew guys play and band guys will play. I don't know if Eric played that year, but I was able to play that because Eric was at the time signed with Sony music publishing that I'm signed with now, and so they had a team and, luckily, like I've carried on some decent amount of golf skills since I, you know, was playing all the time in high school, so I get asked a lot to play in tournaments, which is really nice. And so they asked me and it was an amazing tournament. I'm obviously a huge chief fan too, so it was fun going out there and playing in his event and supporting charity. But it was a great. It was a. It was a great time. I remember we drank a lot of beer.
Speaker 5:Yeah, i've heard that about that tournament. A lot of beer drinking out there And I heard this is a lot of good, a lot of good times and great charity too. They have cool auction items they put up, so I think they used to do every year. I don't know if they've done in the last couple of years, but yeah. So when you're doing the writing, you're in the creative process and everything. How do you incorporate feedback and critique into your creative process? Like, how do you take that and put it forward?
Speaker 2:Oh, i, i love it. To be honest, i think you know not to go down a whole tangent on this, but I didn't really become the writer that that everyone says. Sometimes I say I have imposter syndrome, but the writer that people say that I am without other people, basically not teaching me. But in co-writing I learned so much from other people's craft and how they approach songwriting and how they approach songs and ideas and melodies and phrasing that, and I still learn every day, Like I've learned something new today or I learned something new last week.
Speaker 2:And I think with critique and everything that comes along with with writing songs is nothing's ever perfect And no one knows the you know the absolute formula of writing a song and it being a hit. There's a lot of timing and there's a lot of patience that you have to have And it just has to be the right time for the right artist. But I love, you know, there's so many songs I heard this the other day that are at like 90 to 95 percent And I love when my publisher is like, hey, this hook isn't landing for me or hey, you think you need to put a bridge in here. Hey, this melody falls a little flat or you're losing me here And half the time if you just go back and tweak those little spots and the song goes from a C plus song to an A song and then, heck, it might get recorded. So I always welcome it. We do this so much. We write every day, so you're always going to. You might miss something or miss an angle, or so I always love hearing it for sure.
Speaker 1:That's great, that's amazing.
Speaker 5:That is. That's cool. How do you stay grounded and motivated and often challenging and competitive in industry, because I mean there's new people moving to Nashville every day by the dozens now. But how do you stay grounded in knowing that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's funny I, to be honest, i think I I've kind of just gone along with the flow of my life and kind of where it's taken me.
Speaker 2:But when I first moved to Nashville I ran off a pure adrenaline because I just wanted to be in the scene so badly and I wanted to just be able to do music full time. I saw a lot of people that moved around the same time as I did get publishing deals or people that I'd met get deals or get cuts or singles and honestly, it was like super inspiring to actually know that it could work. And so I always try to keep that feeling inside my heart. And it's very, very, very, very hard because when you do it for long enough and then you get a hold, and then you get a cut, and then you get a single and then you get a hit, it kind of just drones on and on where you're kind of living your life and not taking a look around and being like, oh, wow, i've made it a long way, i have a publishing deal that provides for my family and I can write songs for a living.
Speaker 2:when I first moved to town I would have killed it just get a meeting. So I think that's what keeps me grounded and inspired is just to realize every once in a while, be like, hey, you're doing a job that not many people are able to do, and also just know that I'm not digging ditches for my dad anymore mowing grass, and so I try to just keep that excitement of today. I could write a hit song, or I could walk into my next right and write a hit song, and I think that's what keeps me plowing.
Speaker 5:Hell yeah man. That's exciting, yeah, dude.
Speaker 1:You got to. I was going to say you kind of have to. you know You always got to be innovative and you never know what's going to happen.
Speaker 5:You said we talked about church a little bit ago. Look how he is always evolving. Every time he does a new album he involves into something else.
Speaker 1:So you learn to grow.
Speaker 5:I love seeing that Learn from each other.
Speaker 1:I love it.
Speaker 5:So a few of your favorite, or a few of my favorite songs that you put out lately Damn Love by Kit Moore You got part of that Loving On You, Luke Combs Going Going On and Our Luke Combs, But I've all the songs I think you've had cut. My favorite is Runway by Drew Parker. So tell me a little bit about doing that song, writing that song with you.
Speaker 2:Oh man, yeah, i love that song man and I love Drew And obviously Drew's going to be out on the road with us in Europe, drew, and obviously Ray Fulcher, great buddy of mine. But I think that was one of the probably first few times that I'd written with Drew in Matt McGinn, who's also a great writer. I think it was an afternoon thing and we got together And I forget who had the idea, but it was a very just, easy write man. I just remember it feeling so great and that melody came out And when we were able to spin that hook of you know I'll be the runway, like you can go but you can come back.
Speaker 2:I think that was like the light bulb moment And I've always loved that song and I've always just messed with Drew like that. That should have been a hit. Man, come on, you should, you know, gotten them to take that radio. But we always do that with our buddies. But I think he still plays it live and I think he gets some good. You know, i think fans love it. So I'm pumped that you dig it, because that is one of my favorites too.
Speaker 5:Yeah, i do. We're Drew and Ray's both been on the show or huge fans of both of them, and my first heard that song dude, i just having kids and stuff. I just connected right to it because that's I mean, it's so true. So if you guys not heard that song, go check out Drew Parker Runway, one of my favorites. So I wanted to ask you kind of what the rest of the year look like for you. You've put out two singles lately Fly on the Wall with Hardy, which co-wrote with Hardy, i mean, and then Party and Degree. You put that out on May, but you're getting ready to go out on tour and fall with Ray and Drew. They're doing dude. That song Rang around is going to be freaking awesome before the Luke Holmes show. Tell me what you're looking forward to going over to Europe and what else you got on the calendar this year, man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, europe's going to be amazing. So I I'll probably release one, maybe two more songs before we go over there, but I'll drop the entire album in September before I make it across the pond. But as far as other stuff I have going on, i just I'll be out on the road right in some with. I always try to do that in the summer. I'll probably go out with Luke at some point and I've been right with Nate Smith on the road some. And obviously I always go out with the Cadillac three because I love Jaren He's a great buddy of mine and Neil as well.
Speaker 2:But honestly, just being a dad and trying to write great songs in town and write them on the road and just prepare for for Europe and make sure I have, i'm sure we're only going to be able to get two or three songs, so just kind of work in figure out what three are going to go well, you know, together And and obviously we could figure that out as night after night and see what the crowds are reacting to, but basically preparing for Europe and dropping the album before then and just seeing what happens, man.
Speaker 5:Have you ever been to Europe before or been overseas it? And if you haven't, where are you looking forward to maybe trying to get to see I know, tour you don't get to see much but tour buses and backstage hallways, But anything you're looking forward to maybe being able to check out.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Now. I've never been across the pond, so and to do it with, with some buddies that you know we've been friends for a long time. We both moved to the national, we all moved to national pretty much the same time. I think that's going to be special. I, you know selfishly, i want to check out some golf courses in Scotland and Ireland while I'm over there. I want to see Amsterdam and the in the red light district. But I also want to. You know, my grandfather fought in World War II. So I would love to, you know, go see some some. Really it'll be tough And I know it's, it's not going to be. We'll have to pick a day where we have the, the summit for it. But I'd love to like go see, like the Anne Frank hideout house and then really dive into some World War II stuff And just if we're able to, just because I heard my grandfather just go on and on about it when I was really little.
Speaker 1:So yeah, that's cool.
Speaker 5:That's amazing. Yeah, my dad was stationed in Germany late sixties and I've always wanted to go over there and just kind of see things. I love to take him one day.
Speaker 1:But a place with the stories, yeah.
Speaker 5:Just kind of cause he always tells me these cool stories. That'd be kind of cool to see that over there one of these days. But man, that's, that's freaking awesome.
Speaker 2:I'm excited for you guys, yeah.
Speaker 5:I'm really excited for this for you guys.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we're pumped. Hell yeah, man. This episode is powered by Poddex. Poddex are unique interview questions and episode starting prompts in the palm of your hand. So, whether you're a new podcaster or an existing broadcaster looking to take your interviews and podcast episodes to the next level, you're going to want to check out Poddex. Visit poddexcom to get your Poddex today. All right.
Speaker 5:We're going to move on to our, our sponsor part of the night. It's called powered by Poddex. We drew a couple of cards out of the deck earlier And the first one is you're probably going to be on a few of these over in Europe, but if you're on an eight hour drive between shows and you stop at a gas station for snacks, what three items are you always going to grab?
Speaker 2:All right. Well, i would have to say and this might gross people out, but I don't care, i'm, i'm unashamed about it I love pork rinds, like got to give me, got to give me some pork rinds, but preferably the spicy con. And as far as other two items, i would say, if we're including drinks and snacks, i would say I'm a diet coke guy. It's terrible, I know, but I love some diet coke. So be diet coke, pork rinds and then probably something sweet which should be, i would say, like a Heath bar or some Skittles. To be honest, Skittles are good.
Speaker 5:I love it, All the songs you written up to this point. which one of your songs would you most want to be remembered by?
Speaker 2:Oh man. Yeah, that's a good question. Up to this point, i would say I, you know, um, oh man, i would. There's a couple, but I used to you and I know I.
Speaker 2:Everyone asked me what's your favorite song. I would just say that one I would love to be remembered by For the fact of what it's done for for folks and I was on another podcast the other day and it is true, i've signed so many lyric sheets and had so many kind and sweet messages about People that really connect to that song because they lost a loved one. And I feel like I moved to Nashville wanting to do what my heroes did and They're moving, their music move me. So if, like I'm making music that's moving people, i think that's like I can, you know, you know, go live my life and be and be happy with that, and so I think that song I would say, just For lack of some other ones, i could say like, oh, it's because you heard them on the radio, but I feel like that one connected with a lot of people and I think that's super special, especially to me.
Speaker 5:Hello, definitely My favorite to that one and we're gonna try. this next section is gonna be a little bit interesting because we are, i know, that little bit of a delay. but I got four clips of a song of songs I think you might have a memory, with I don't know research and for the show these are songs that kind of popped up, so I'm gonna play on each quick little clip of them. first memory you have, we'll talk about the other one. Many cravits fly away, man, when you hear that song. was it take you?
Speaker 2:Man, it takes me to this bonus room of you know what? growing up we we lived above the pool that my, my mom ran and I would stay in that bonus room and try to learn that song. That was like the first song, that.
Speaker 2:I that I learned on guitar and I remember just playing it back On cassette rewind, play, rewind, play to figure out that riff on guitar And I finally learned it and I'm old enough to wear like there was no. I'm sure there was some music tablet your out, but like mid 90s, like it was hard to find, like Internet was so slow that I learned everything by ear. so that's a, that's a good memory, yeah.
Speaker 5:Yeah, i was doing guitar lessons. I have the tab books and probably like 95, 96, 97 around there. I have a few tab books, but I was about to. All right, let's hit that green one, alright. Nirvana heart shaped box. Man, when you hear that song, was it taking you?
Speaker 2:Oh man, my grandpa had a Cadillac and I remember he took he used to drive me around when I was a little kid all the time to run errands and stuff my mom didn't want to take me to do. And I remember I bought that cassette And he asked me what did you buy, you know? and I played that it is Cadillac and he kind of looked at me funny and I remember that one. Yeah, that whole record is just incredible. But that's about what I connected to my grandfather's disappointment.
Speaker 1:That reminds me of my grandmother running his Cadillac to you, man.
Speaker 5:Buy a good sound system though.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was an older one. I want to say this is, you know, in the 90s. It's probably an early 80s, but it's still. You know, he kept it really nice. I think it's probably good.
Speaker 5:Alright, hit that yellow one. He says you're a skinner fan man. Simple man by skinner man. When you hear that song, was it taking you?
Speaker 2:Oh man, when I was in high school we used to cover that song and it takes me back to where I we've had that in a set of about four songs and we play the pool that my mom ran, where they used to have a fourth of July, and that's coming up, believe it or not, so no wonder it's on my mom. they used to have a party and we basically forced them to listen to us because we would just set up our equipment and play. it wasn't like they were coming to see us and that was one that was in the set And yeah, that's one of my favorite skinner songs, just melodically in the feel and that and that smell we used to try to work up to and yeah, man, skinner.
Speaker 5:I'm the best first time ever pissed her off was with that smell man was. We met her at a music festival and we got there the night before and set up our tent late at like 12 one. We were drunk, whatever, but we were loud as hell. Playing skinnered on repeat and that smell kept playing.
Speaker 1:She's playing it over and over.
Speaker 5:She's trying to sleep in her tent next to us.
Speaker 1:I hadn't even met him yet and I hated him. Now look where we are.
Speaker 5:That country thunder Wisconsin back in 2005.
Speaker 1:It's been 2004.
Speaker 5:That's been a minute. All right, we're going to do the last one, the green one. This would be a good one, so I'm on fire. Bruce Springsteen man, i'm sure it takes you back to your dad's vinyl, but when you hear that we're at.
Speaker 2:Oh man, yeah, it takes me back very, very young, i mean that. and so my dad, you know he, he was a huge or still a springsteen fan, and so I'm on fire. and then I got into Nebraska but I was like too young to really just understand how dark that album was but I love Nebraska and I love Atlantic City.
Speaker 2:There was just so many of those, you know, kind of like left the center Bruce on that wouldn't say I'm on fire is left to center. It's a little bit more popular now but, yeah, it takes me to the our living room and just going through those vinyls and my dad being like, well, if you want this side of Bruce, here's this record and here's, you know, born to run, and here's the river, like it was an encyclopedia of the boss. So yeah, man, so it takes me back living room, probably five, six years old.
Speaker 5:I love that man. Alright, man, we'll wrap things up tonight. Before we let you go, we got put you on the hot seat. Normally we do like 60 seconds on the clock, play a little music in the background saying it's gonna be a little harder. So we have that delay. But your first CD or vinyl or, in our case, your first cassette you ever purchased with your own money.
Speaker 2:First cassette I have. this is funny. I'm pretty sure it was a Lannis Morse set jagged little pill, yep.
Speaker 1:That was my damn. I love that. I was a solo asylum.
Speaker 5:Grave dancers union was mine. Had runaway train on it. Never forget that. Where is your happy place? where do you go to kind of just kind of cool down for a little bit?
Speaker 2:Hmm, i would say I'm a beach guy. I like to go, you know, back in the day I like to go fishing down in Charles, charleston, folly beach. But lately I mean my wife I've been lucky enough to marry into a family that has a lake house and Lake Michigan and it kind of reminds me of the beach, but I like to be near water. For sure They're on a boat.
Speaker 5:Nice to nice, cause anywhere across the lake Michigan we live right on the lake, we're in winter harbor. So we're right there like a mile from the lake. Illinois, wisconsin border.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, so they have a house in egg harbor.
Speaker 5:Okay and North Yep, it's a great place to a great place. What's the best pizza you've ever had?
Speaker 2:Oh geez, it was probably some pizza that I had on the road in New York, and then Chicago was like a close second, and I can't remember who it was. I know that. I know the freaking name off the top of my Chicago be my head, but we had.
Speaker 5:What Chicago? probably Luma and Adis.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, and I'm trying to think. As far as Nashville, we had some. I'm about to holler at my wife. You're going to laugh, katie. What was the pizza we have? the only? And there's this new place called Dicies in Nashville And they the pizza is great, but they do like a honey glaze with spice on top of the pepperoni and I don't know what they do with it, but it's unbelievable And I'm pretty sure I smoked that like entire pizza night up.
Speaker 4:Didn't even have any to say it.
Speaker 2:So I would say, if you're in Nashville Dicies, check it out.
Speaker 5:It's legit for sure We're going to be there in a couple of weeks. We might have to check that out. So what's the wallpaper on your phone?
Speaker 2:So my, my daughter going crazy after she got out of her bath like her hair's all nuts And she's like ah yeah, you got to have that being a dad for sure.
Speaker 5:What's a movie that can always make you laugh?
Speaker 2:Oh man, i would say I have so many. I would say Dumb and Dumber. I know that's super stock, but Dumb and Dumber, like I can turn that on at any moment and be in a bad mood in in within 10 minutes, be you know, in tears.
Speaker 2:I would say the Wolf of Wall Street. I just love the story of it. That one, you know, is entertaining, um, and I would say what's another one that I mean there's so many? I do love some, some good comedies, but I would say, yeah, dumb and Dumber is like the number one, like if you need a laugh, the whole thing, you know.
Speaker 5:I love that man. Obviously I gotta show the kids that movie. I don't think we've shown that movie.
Speaker 1:I don't know that we want the kids to watch that.
Speaker 5:Just yeah, it's a funny movie, though What was your first paying job you ever had?
Speaker 2:Oh, probably working for my dad, and he was paying me like $2 or $3 an hour to go wash some golf carts or or, uh, no, grass. I remember I was mowing. I was mowing grass on a riding mower by the time I was five or six, which is definitely not safe. They're super dangerous.
Speaker 1:And there's real going The mom and me is like oh.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely for my dad. I love that man.
Speaker 5:Oh, what's the oldest thing you own in your house, right, you some?
Speaker 2:Oh, the oldest thing I own. Well, um, so my aunt gave me this, um, this mandolin, uh, this Martin. Not, sorry, not, it's not a mantel, it's a Martin ukulele And it's so old that, like I had to like look up the serial number and like go through all of Martin. It's been passed down in her family for like three generations, but pretty sure it's like mid 1800s, like something crazy like that, and so that's probably the oldest thing I have in my house is an old Martin ukulele, oh man that's awesome.
Speaker 5:I think ours is definitely that vinyl record player or that old vintage record player we have. This might be a more of a question for your wife, but uh, what chore do you not like doing? What chore?
Speaker 2:Oh chore, pretty much all of them buddy.
Speaker 4:Uh, no, but um.
Speaker 2:I would say the chore that, uh, that I don't like doing the most, um would be. At this point I would say vacuuming is not very and that is my job. I'm the vacuum guy and.
Speaker 2:I'm also the kitchen cleaning guy, um, not a big bathroom cleaner, so I don't really like that either. but uh, we make, do. you know? it's funny when you have a, have a kid, you try to try to just do the best you can. My wife, my other room, shaking her head if she hears me say this. but uh, we, we team up pretty well, we make a good team.
Speaker 5:Yeah, hell yeah, man, you got to. It's awesome. Uh, what was your favorite childhood television show?
Speaker 2:Oh, childhood TV show Man, it was hard to beat Nick back in the day And I'm pretty sure there was a show on Nick um called legends of the hidden.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it was I'm telling you that show would come on and I wanted to be on that show. So that, like it was such an adventure in the sets that they made that out of was one of my favorites. Yeah, i would say that one for sure.
Speaker 5:I love that. I thought you're going to go salute your shorts at first, but all right, i'll go with the hidden temple. All right, man. And last one you get to go to Europe here soon, uh, so you cross that off. but what's something that's still on your bucket list that you want to achieve in music or just in life?
Speaker 2:Oh man, um, this is a lofty one and I don't know, uh, if if it'll ever happen, but I would love to, to play Red Rocks as an artist in some capacity, even if it's just like a pinning or it's just been a venue favorite of mine, um, for a long time, and it's beautiful there, so I would say, just playing it in an artist capacity, or even a songwriter, who I mean, you know who's counting, but being able to be on that stage and not in the stands would be amazing.
Speaker 5:Dude, i love that You ever we'll have to be there We'll have to go to that show and do W awesome man. Red Rocks I've here is a beautiful place. We have not been yet. We're kind of saving that for one of these days, for a special show We'll see. Well, dude, uh, thank you so much. I know we ran over a little bit. Thank you for bearing with us with all the sound issues tonight It was.
Speaker 5:This is the craziest we've ever had. I don't know what's going on with our internet or whatever tonight, but, dude, we wish you nothing but the best of luck with everything coming up and cannot wait to hear about this Europe trip. Man, You definitely have to do some videos while you're over there or something post on some social so we can follow along with you.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Thank you guys so much. This has been fun.
Speaker 5:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:We'll hopefully see you out on the road at some point.
Speaker 5:Hey, anytime you come to Chicago, let me know. Man, i also do photos on the side too, so if you ever need a guy doing his photos in Chicago, holler at me.
Speaker 2:Okay, sounds good.
Speaker 5:All right, buddy, have a good one. Have a good night. All right, you too. Bye. Oh, that was a fun one. Guys, let's see, there we go. Man, that was wild, it was fun, it was wild. The only thing I didn't like about tonight's show is it didn't feel like a conversation.
Speaker 1:Well, we're having tech issues.
Speaker 5:I don't know what's going on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's because our tech issues We've been frozen like our videos going in and out tonight, So we do apologize, it felt more like a straightforward interview tonight where we were just kind of asking questions and waiting for the response back. The things for hanging in there and watching with us. So we do apologize.
Speaker 5:I don't know why our bars, our internet has.
Speaker 1:Our connection is terrible tonight. We're going to have to check that out, so we'll figure that out. We're hardwired in too, so that's strange.
Speaker 5:Exactly That was the strangest I've ever had. I've never had that big of a delay. No, that was a lease of five seconds.
Speaker 1:And he was a ton of like. He was fantastic.
Speaker 5:Yeah, it was a fun He was fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, i mean, it was a great I loved. Yeah, i loved listening to him.
Speaker 5:If you're overseas and you get to check out that Luke Combs show with the song right around. Drew Parker, ray Fulcher, james McNair all three of them together- on stage It's going to be a riot.
Speaker 1:That's going to be amazing, so really cool things All right.
Speaker 5:Well, before we let you guys go and we wrap up tonight, we always like to circle back to our pod deck questions, and I don't know if we've ever answered this one before.
Speaker 1:I don't even remember what they were.
Speaker 5:I'm going to bring Jackson up on this one too, because Jackson gets to answer this one too.
Speaker 2:Let Jackson answer it.
Speaker 5:Well, three of us can. Sorry, jackson, if you're in a car and you're driving from Chicago to West Virginia, you stop at a gas station. What three items are you going to grab from that gas station?
Speaker 1:You get three, only three.
Speaker 5:Talkies.
Speaker 1:Talking the mic, talkies, prime and Talkies. What flavor prime, oh memory Prime and Prim hydration.
Speaker 5:Get right up on the mic. Buddy, There you go There you go. So you said talkies and what else.
Speaker 1:Prime and.
Speaker 5:Something sweet Yeah.
Speaker 1:Like chips or something.
Speaker 5:Oh, chips are like talk. Okay, so kind of the talkies are too spicy, i'll eat the chips and All right. All right, what are you doing? Where are you going? Where are you grabbing?
Speaker 1:I want to know if you know what I would get. You know, i know, you know what I get.
Speaker 5:Probably Mon Dieu Gardettos And coming bears.
Speaker 4:So Gardetto ride trips and coming bears, you got it.
Speaker 5:See folks, that's what happens after, See I don't know if you know mine, because mine changes every single time Almost 20 years. Every single time I walk into a gas station and buy some of the different.
Speaker 1:No, it would be something sour, like a sour chewy candy, something So sour patch kids or Probably.
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And then you would get those, those liquorish, something like that, and then you would get an energy drink. You like those Celsius drinks right now.
Speaker 5:No, it'll be a third item I grab. I don't say have you really, do know me, because you got the first two right, i did. That's surprising. I didn't think you'd get them, and this one's the most obvious. how all of it.
Speaker 1:I would say some kind of nut like peanuts or like what.
Speaker 5:Thanks for laughing Like peanuts or something like that. You know, dude, what's the one thing I always get every time we go to a gas station normally The biggest jug of water they have.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, a big water, that's true.
Speaker 5:So I get one of the biggest waters Celsius and like a sour patch, kid or something. That's my three, my eight hour trip. Well, guys, we want to thank you guys again. It was awesome tonight Having James on. Sorry, so much about any of the technical difficulties. This can be a really fun show to edit tomorrow when I do start editing and put it together for all of our streaming platforms.
Speaker 1:But go back and listen to it on the streaming platform. It'll be, it'll be good Oh it'll be crisp, it'll be nice.
Speaker 5:So, as we come to the end of this episode, i want to take a moment to express my heartfelt gratitude to our guests tonight. James McNair, your passion, dedication to the craft and music have inspired so many. Your words have resonated with our fans and touched your hearts, and insights You shared about your creative process, challenges and successes have aligned and motivated our listeners, including me, to pursue their artistic dreams with perseverance and authenticity. As you embark on your upcoming projects, i have no doubt that you will continue to push boundaries and explore new frontiers. We talked about that earlier, about evolving and pushing boundaries. But yeah, in country music, your inner innovative vision and exceptional talent will undoubtedly shape the industry's future and leave a lasting impact on fans and inspiring artists alike. Don't forget to catch up on everything you missed from tonight and past episodes over at MelodiesandMemoriescom, and we're going to see you tomorrow night with another amazing show, and just be a fun one too.
Speaker 3:So we'll see you guys then. Thanks for watching MelodiesandMemories podcast with Jillian and Erin Shriver.