Speaker 1: Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I could go out and new solo acs and
Speaker 2: just play acoustic guitar, but there's so much more energy.
Speaker 2: It's so much more fun and for me and for
Speaker 2: the listener to have that big band there is right.
Speaker 2: It's the same reason why I won't compromise, and I
Speaker 2: don't like not having a steel guitar and not having
Speaker 2: a fiddle.
Speaker 3: I want both of those in my music.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Taking a Walk Podcast, where we stroll
Speaker 1: through the stories, the sounds, and the soul of music
Speaker 1: with the people who make it matter. Buzznight is your host,
Speaker 1: and today he's got a very special guest joining us,
Speaker 1: someone who carries both the weight of a legendary name
Speaker 1: and the drive to carve out his own place in
Speaker 1: country music. John Paycheck grew up backstage and on the road,
Speaker 1: soaking up the sights and the sounds of country music
Speaker 1: alongside his father, the iconic Johnny Paycheck. But John isn't
Speaker 1: just walking in his father's footsteps. He's blazing his own trail,
Speaker 1: blending tradition with a fresh perspective and a powerful On
Speaker 1: this episode, we'll talk about what it was like growing
Speaker 1: up in a musical family. The lessons learned from life
Speaker 1: on tour and the challenges and triumphs of building a
Speaker 1: career in today's music industry. Will dive into his songwriting
Speaker 1: and the process, and his new album More Days Behind,
Speaker 1: and the stories that have shaped his journey. So lace
Speaker 1: up your boots and join us for a walk with
Speaker 1: John Paycheck on the Taking a Walk Podcast with Buzz Night.
Speaker 4: Well, John Paycheck, Welcome to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 3: Thank you for having me.
Speaker 4: So, since we do call this podcast taking a Walk,
Speaker 4: I wanted to ask you if you could take a
Speaker 4: walk with somebody living or dead, somebody involved with music
Speaker 4: but doesn't have to be up to you. Who would
Speaker 4: it be and where would you take a walk with him?
Speaker 2: John Boy, I'll tell you that's an interesting one because
Speaker 2: I've got so many assets to my life. There'd be
Speaker 2: people in the military, like people from history that would
Speaker 2: be interesting. But since we're talking about music, I gotta
Speaker 2: say this is going to be probably a ridiculous well
Speaker 2: not a ridiculous answer, but a lame answer, I guess.
Speaker 2: But it probably would be my dad again. And the
Speaker 2: reason being is I wasn't in music when he was alive,
Speaker 2: and I learned a lot from him. But there are
Speaker 2: so many questions I have now and things that I
Speaker 2: would like to talk to him about now. That that
Speaker 2: would be. That would be really cool, is to be
Speaker 2: able to just walk with him one more time and
Speaker 2: talk with him, ask him all these questions and things
Speaker 2: that I have now you know again, And that's also
Speaker 2: kind of a I guess that's kind of a rite
Speaker 2: of passage to as an adult.
Speaker 3: You know, you lose your parents eventually, and you.
Speaker 2: Have a lot of things you wish you would have
Speaker 2: asked and said and done, but you know, now we're
Speaker 2: here and you're you're an orphan once again. But yeah, no,
Speaker 2: it's uh that that I think that would probably be.
Speaker 2: That's the first person that came to mind.
Speaker 4: John. There's nothing lame about it, and I sometimes try
Speaker 4: to guess in my own head what the individual might answer. Yeah,
Speaker 4: so it's your answer. It's your life and it's your
Speaker 4: pop So nothing lame about it, sir.
Speaker 2: It'd be interesting if some of somebody living, that would
Speaker 2: be interesting. It would probably I'd love to talk because
Speaker 2: I admire how he does business and how he has
Speaker 2: managed his life. Is George Strait that would be somebody
Speaker 2: I would like to talk to about just how they've
Speaker 2: done things and why they've done things a certain way
Speaker 2: as far as just uh managing well, heck, managing their
Speaker 2: life and everything too, because uh, yeah, I admire the
Speaker 2: way he's kept on the good side of things as
Speaker 2: far as I can see, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: And he's been very very responsible. Just seems like a
Speaker 2: down to earth, really really good person.
Speaker 4: So yeah, and has figured out too, in an ever
Speaker 4: changing ecosystem, how to you know, stay true to his core,
Speaker 4: but also how to you know, evolve as well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, hundred percent, Yeah, he really has.
Speaker 4: So talk about your military history and and then maybe
Speaker 4: bring it full circle into some of what that has
Speaker 4: taught you to this day around being you know an artist.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I started out really in the fire service
Speaker 2: as a firefighter, and that was my first experience with
Speaker 2: an organization with that military feel. Right when in after
Speaker 2: a while I got that calling to go serve and
Speaker 2: kind of stemmed from my grandfather really but greatest generation
Speaker 2: it was nine to eleven kind of tipped it off
Speaker 2: for me to finally just push the button and go.
Speaker 2: And yeah, served started out with a heavy armor unit
Speaker 2: with Abrams tanks. Was there for a short while and
Speaker 2: then commissioned, became commissioned officer and went into aviation, well
Speaker 2: intelligence first, then in aviation, then intelligence aviation, and then
Speaker 2: finally ended up with where I'm at now, which is
Speaker 2: back in intelligence. But flew Blackhawks, was with an assault unit,
Speaker 2: flew Kiawa Warrior, flew the C twelve, which is a
Speaker 2: fixed wing aircraft King Air. It's a King Air, two
Speaker 2: props and everything going out, looking at doing circles and
Speaker 2: looking at bad guys and tell them where the tell
Speaker 2: them the good guys where the bad guys are. All
Speaker 2: that kind of stuff, collecting information at all. How did
Speaker 2: you get back to music? Well, I had gotten to
Speaker 2: a point where the it's it's a regimented life to
Speaker 2: a degree within the army, and it's it's, uh, you're
Speaker 2: you're told what to do, but you're also doing things
Speaker 2: on your own as well, and there's some creativity there,
Speaker 2: but it's not the same type of creativity.
Speaker 3: It's not the artistic creativity. And I missed that.
Speaker 2: I had gone to an opening at the Country Music
Speaker 2: Hall of Fame and it was an outlaw exhibit they
Speaker 2: were doing, and had met up with a bunch of
Speaker 2: people that I hadn't seen in a long time.
Speaker 3: Shooter.
Speaker 2: Shooter Jennings was one of them, Tyler Coe and met
Speaker 2: up with them afterwards, was talking with them, and I
Speaker 2: missed that camaraderie, that type of camaraderie. I missed the
Speaker 2: music business a little, not the business, but more of
Speaker 2: the art. And uh, yeah, it kind of steered me
Speaker 2: back to doing this and here I am back to
Speaker 2: doing music and back to touring and creating, creating albums
Speaker 2: and everything else. Which, yeah, it's been fun, it's been interesting,
Speaker 2: and uh, we're trying to make a run of it
Speaker 2: as far as as far as we can.
Speaker 4: I guess when you talk to somebody like a Shooter Jennings,
Speaker 4: who obviously, like you, comes from a household that was
Speaker 4: a music household, any similarities to his journey to yours
Speaker 4: as you have gotten to know him.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah, me and Shooter we have there's a lot
Speaker 3: of similarities. Honestly.
Speaker 2: I mean I remember being around him when I was
Speaker 2: much much younger.
Speaker 3: We were both young.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean, your parents are gone all the time,
Speaker 2: you kind of learned to grow up a little, a
Speaker 2: little earlier than than most. I'm from that generation too,
Speaker 2: where we were you know, latchkey kids. So a lot
Speaker 2: of us grew up a little quicker than most. So
Speaker 2: there's there's that, but uh yeah, no, we uh there's
Speaker 2: some chaos in the household too that we all have.
Speaker 3: That's similar.
Speaker 2: Me and Tyler have a lot of similarities as well,
Speaker 2: growing up, just with some of the craziness. Uh Waylan
Speaker 2: didn't didn't stray too far from from acting like a
Speaker 2: country singer.
Speaker 3: And Dad did.
Speaker 2: Dad kind of went off, kind of thought he was
Speaker 2: a pirate there for a little while, you know, doing
Speaker 2: just ridiculous things. But it was just part of that
Speaker 2: time and who they were in the business and everything else.
Speaker 2: But uh yeah, I mean there were times when bills
Speaker 2: didn't get paid, a home and you didn't have electricity,
Speaker 2: or you didn't you know, or you know, dad didn't
Speaker 2: come home because he was you know, outroaring. But things
Speaker 2: things happened. It just is what it is. And yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: you grow up with it, and yeah I learned to
Speaker 2: accept it. But uh, me and me and Tyler probably
Speaker 2: a little more similar, Me and Shooter as far as
Speaker 2: the music stuff and being around you know, famous people
Speaker 2: and all that. Yeah, we got that in common. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and it's comforting too to be around somebody who gets it.
Speaker 2: You know, there's a there's a club I guess you
Speaker 2: could call it of us that that's just we all
Speaker 2: identify really well and understand how how each other.
Speaker 3: I will say this, there is a little bit.
Speaker 2: There are some there's there's there's that culture, and then
Speaker 2: there's two other types of cultures within this within the
Speaker 2: music business. And then when you have the ultra ultra
Speaker 2: ultra famous types and they were making millions of dollars,
Speaker 2: that family is going to be a little bit different
Speaker 2: than the ones that were going through hard times and
Speaker 2: lost everything, and you know, so there's there's a little
Speaker 2: bit of difference there, but not much, not much.
Speaker 4: So growing up as the son of Johnny Paycheck that
Speaker 4: can you describe the earliest memories of music in your
Speaker 4: in your household?
Speaker 2: With the earliest one I remembers, I was the heck,
Speaker 2: I wasn't like, I wasn't even in kindergarten yet. Actually
Speaker 2: even before that though, I actually thought about this for that,
Speaker 2: I remember when I was just a little one, being
Speaker 2: on the road and being on a tour bus and
Speaker 2: things like that. I am that that definitely kind of
Speaker 2: started shaping my.
Speaker 3: View of the world a little bit.
Speaker 2: But as far as music, it's it's funny because you
Speaker 2: don't realize that your parents are famous until way later
Speaker 2: in life. And uh, you don't realize just how influential
Speaker 2: or how creative they were because they were just dad.
Speaker 3: You know. It was that was dad. That was Dad's job.
Speaker 3: That's what he did.
Speaker 2: It was you know, he kind of thought at one point,
Speaker 2: you think everybody does this, but it's yeah, it becomes
Speaker 2: very evident later that that's that's.
Speaker 3: Oh, no, he was. He was actually unique, you know.
Speaker 2: But I remember when I was a little one, just
Speaker 2: going and playing his guitar and playing with it and
Speaker 2: you know, learning about it and things like that from
Speaker 2: very very young age, even before I wasn't even in
Speaker 2: like kindergarten. So but yeah, music was always always around
Speaker 2: the house and Dad was always either writing or you know, resting.
Speaker 3: So it was pretty much the way it was.
Speaker 4: Because your dad was on the road, it's hunt, wasn't he.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that was uh, that was pretty much what
Speaker 2: he lived. He lived for touring and being out in
Speaker 2: front of a crowd and entertaining. So and that was
Speaker 2: also how he made an income, right, Mom didn't work.
Speaker 2: She was a stay at home mom so or an
Speaker 2: entertainer's wife. But uh yeah he was. He was always
Speaker 2: on the road, always touring.
Speaker 4: So yeah, so the pressure of living up to being
Speaker 4: the might as well just get with it, right, being
Speaker 4: the the the son of a thing and misperformer. How
Speaker 4: have you dealt with that through your life?
Speaker 3: Well?
Speaker 2: It it didn't affect really much in the fire service
Speaker 2: or in the in the military, besides some ribbing and
Speaker 2: you know, just people being you know kind of like.
Speaker 3: Whoa, really, that's that's who your dad is. Like, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: that's that's it. And off we go, you know, just
Speaker 3: doing whatever we do.
Speaker 2: Now, coming back to music, I've had some critics that
Speaker 2: have been a little harsh, Oh he's not like his father,
Speaker 2: and it's like, well, no, no kidding, I'm not my father.
Speaker 2: I was like, And for that critic who was writing
Speaker 2: those comments, by the way, you're not Shakespeare either, so
Speaker 2: I mean, what are you going to do?
Speaker 3: You know, so, you know, comparing me to someone that.
Speaker 2: Is was so so influential and such a great writer
Speaker 2: and everything else, it's kind of it's a fool's errand
Speaker 2: it doesn't make sense. It's you know, I stand on
Speaker 2: my own merits and what I do, so judge me
Speaker 2: for you know, the people that I am my peers now,
Speaker 2: which would make sense because you know, who's judging anybody
Speaker 2: against like George Jones or or you know, Johnny Paycheck
Speaker 2: or Whalen or anybody that's kind of foolish and and
Speaker 2: and for as great as they were, they were also
Speaker 2: just human as well, and they were just doing what
Speaker 2: they could, you know. So there's plenty of great singers
Speaker 2: and entertainers out there as far as me, I don't.
Speaker 2: It got to me a little bit in the beginning,
Speaker 2: and the main concern I had was not wanting to
Speaker 2: let my family down. My family just named my legacy
Speaker 2: and all that stuff. I didn't want to disappoint you, buddy,
Speaker 2: especially my mom, who was around when I started out.
Speaker 2: But you know, as I got more into it, you know,
Speaker 2: and she, my mom, was very critical. So yeah, she
Speaker 2: would have let me known right away. Is like, oh
Speaker 2: the same for you if if it was you know,
Speaker 2: if that was the case. She never never buy any chance,
Speaker 2: would would lie to me about anything like that. And
Speaker 2: she was she was pleasantly surprised and said no, you know,
Speaker 2: because I didn't sing around them. I didn't, you know,
Speaker 2: I played instruments and things like that, and they all
Speaker 2: thought I was My mom and dad thought I was
Speaker 2: a good musician, but you know, I never I just
Speaker 2: never sang around them, singing some choirs and things like that,
Speaker 2: but never like anything a solo. So they never really
Speaker 2: got a chance to hear me do that until, you know,
Speaker 2: until I did this, and Mom was surprised.
Speaker 3: She she was happy with it.
Speaker 2: And you know, her biggest advice to me was she's like, well,
Speaker 2: your name will get you in the door. She's like,
Speaker 2: you got to be able to stay in the room.
Speaker 2: So she's like, you can't back down. You have to
Speaker 2: keep working at this and keep keep crafting its. He's like,
Speaker 2: but she's like, I think you'll do fine. So yeah,
Speaker 2: as far as everyone else, it doesn't really matter, you know.
Speaker 2: It's like, it's okay. People have their opinions. People want
Speaker 2: me to I don't like being viewed as a tribute act,
Speaker 2: and I absolutely refuse to be a tribute act.
Speaker 3: I've only this.
Speaker 2: Year started putting a few songs to Dad's in the
Speaker 2: in the show because I started feeling bad because people
Speaker 2: want to hear some of his stuff. So I'm like, okay, fine,
Speaker 2: I'll do some of his songs too. And that only
Speaker 2: came actually after talking with Ned Ludoo and his manager
Speaker 2: about how us as children really have the most right
Speaker 2: to be able to sing our parents' songs.
Speaker 3: And I was like, well, that's a kind of a
Speaker 3: good point. Didn't really think of it that way.
Speaker 2: And you know, it's kind of up to us to
Speaker 2: keep that going, you know, because I mean, if you
Speaker 2: think about it, if the if, the the Cash family,
Speaker 2: you know, of all them, if if they never would
Speaker 2: have done any kept that music going, then it would
Speaker 2: have it would have faded, right, So I don't know. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's it's an interesting thing being compared, but yeah, who cares.
Speaker 3: People are gonna do what they're gonna do.
Speaker 1: Right on, we'll be right back with more of the
Speaker 1: Taking a Walk podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a
Speaker 1: Walk Podcast.
Speaker 4: So you had a unique perspective being a runner to
Speaker 4: a guitar tech and kind of getting a sense of
Speaker 4: the behind the scenes aspect of touring and the music
Speaker 4: business that must to this day still shape you as
Speaker 4: you have an appreciation that's unique for those that are
Speaker 4: working on your behalf around you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, no, it's it's funny. You know.
Speaker 2: You'll get other artists who they'll look at you and
Speaker 2: be like, well, you need to pay your dues, and
Speaker 2: he's like, man, I've been paying my dues before you
Speaker 2: were even in the business. It's like I was. I
Speaker 2: was a guitar at tech, I was a roadie, and
Speaker 2: Dad didn't show favoritism. I got treated just like anybody
Speaker 2: else in the band. So yeah, it has shaped the way.
Speaker 2: That has shaped the way I treat my band. But
Speaker 2: it also what has shaped it is, you know, being
Speaker 2: a military leader as well. It's first and foremost and
Speaker 2: priority that we take care of our soldiers when we
Speaker 2: take care of our people. So there have been a
Speaker 2: few gigs where I've walked away with nothing because I
Speaker 2: made sure the band's paid. I make sure that they
Speaker 2: have a hotel rooms, I make sure that they're taking
Speaker 2: care of that they get per diem on the days
Speaker 2: off and things like that, because you know, I mean,
Speaker 2: they're the ones that help you get where you're going,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 3: Without the band. I mean, yeah, I could go out
Speaker 3: and do solo acs.
Speaker 2: And just play acoustic guitar, but there's so much more
Speaker 2: energy and it's so much more fun and for me
Speaker 2: and for the listener to have that big band. There's right,
Speaker 2: it's the same reason why I won't compromise. And I
Speaker 2: don't like not having a steel guitar and and not
Speaker 2: having a fiddle. I want both of those in my music, right.
Speaker 2: So it just it adds so much more. It's it's
Speaker 2: it's important to me so and taking care of everybody.
Speaker 2: I couldn't do this. I couldn't live with myself if
Speaker 2: I were to not do that. It's just yeah, and
Speaker 2: Dad did that too. Dad always took care of the band.
Speaker 2: You always make sure everbody was always taken care of.
Speaker 2: I learned from that as well. I the man would
Speaker 2: have gave the shirt off his back for others, and
Speaker 2: he did at times. So that shaped it. The military
Speaker 2: shaped it. Yeah, that's that's just how I how I
Speaker 2: run things.
Speaker 4: Who are some of those other visionaries or artists, obviously,
Speaker 4: aside from from your father you mentioned, you know, like Tyler,
Speaker 4: But who are some of the other folks that you
Speaker 4: really look at today and and and admire.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, definitely, Like I said, George Strait, I really
Speaker 2: liked the way he has managed his career in what
Speaker 2: he's done. I look kind of back to you know,
Speaker 2: Roy Rogers. That might sound odd, but he was he
Speaker 2: He had a lot of unique and cool ideas and
Speaker 2: the way he did things, and I know a lot
Speaker 2: of it was the movie Career too, got that, But yeah,
Speaker 2: I liked I liked his honesty and how he how
Speaker 2: he just you know, kept to the cowboy code and
Speaker 2: all that it was. It hit him and Dale really really.
Speaker 3: Cool cool people.
Speaker 4: Well you you earlier referenced the Cash family, so I
Speaker 4: would I would assume within the Cash family there's somebody.
Speaker 3: Definitely the Cash family.
Speaker 2: The way they've kept everything alive and going and have
Speaker 2: kept their their their the father's legacy a lot alive
Speaker 2: and flourishing is something that I admire.
Speaker 3: I think that's that's a good thing.
Speaker 2: I know it's a business thing, and some people will say, well, yeah,
Speaker 2: it's about keeping the money going, but it's I'm telling
Speaker 2: for a lot of us, it isn't about keeping money going.
Speaker 2: It is about keeping their memory alive, and it's about
Speaker 2: wanting to make sure the future generations can hear that
Speaker 2: music and appreciate it.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 2: It's the same reason why I keep hoping I keep
Speaker 2: hoping Dad will make it into the Hall of Fame
Speaker 2: because he's a Hall.
Speaker 3: Of fame and get there.
Speaker 2: He should get there on his merits, not for the
Speaker 2: couple the crazy things that he did, right, he did
Speaker 2: some goofy things, We got all that. But he did
Speaker 2: so much that people just I don't think realize within
Speaker 2: the history of country music and affected other artists from
Speaker 2: Ray Price, George Jones and up and through, you know,
Speaker 2: even modern day artists like Tracy Bird.
Speaker 3: So I mean modern. I guess he's not modern anymore,
Speaker 3: is he?
Speaker 2: But anyway, yeah, well modern for me, nineties guy, but
Speaker 2: uh yeah, it's uh, those are some of the ones,
Speaker 2: you know that affect the way I do things and
Speaker 2: how I view things.
Speaker 3: Heck, Danny Shirley from Confederate Railroad.
Speaker 2: He he's another one that's kind of started to you know,
Speaker 2: gear my focus my career and move my career a
Speaker 2: little bit just because of me and him talking and
Speaker 2: him you know, offering advice and things like that. He
Speaker 2: was the first one that really, uh for a working
Speaker 2: act that's still out there. He was one of the
Speaker 2: first ones that ever called me up and was just
Speaker 2: asking like, hey, how you doing and how things going,
Speaker 2: and so you're taking on music and you know, how's
Speaker 2: that going, and just just offering friendly advice and he's
Speaker 2: you know, not asking for nothing, just just being friendly.
Speaker 2: So that's another good thing about the country music industry
Speaker 2: as well, the country music business business industry. I don't
Speaker 2: know how to say the community. Sure, yeah, exactly. It's
Speaker 2: it's small really in the in the grand scheme of things,
Speaker 2: it's small.
Speaker 3: And you know, a.
Speaker 2: Lot of the players in this business are very friendly
Speaker 2: and good people, and uh are willing to help. You know,
Speaker 2: it's not as cutthroat as he might think. When you
Speaker 2: get into the business pieces of it, with the actual
Speaker 2: business people, it can be. But even then there's there's
Speaker 2: there's a lot of really good people in this business.
Speaker 4: I'm shocked at what you said earlier. I did not
Speaker 4: realize that your dad is not in the Country Music
Speaker 4: Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2: Yeah, his memorabilia's in the museum, the show of guitar
Speaker 2: and some things, and I know they've got some things
Speaker 2: in archive as well.
Speaker 3: But he has not been inducted.
Speaker 2: And yeah, it's a shame, but I'm told that every
Speaker 2: year he comes up on the ballad and he gets close.
Speaker 2: So hopefully one year he'll he'll, uh, he'll make it in.
Speaker 4: How do you think he would view that information or
Speaker 4: that he is viewing this that information as we speak.
Speaker 3: I don't know if he would care.
Speaker 2: He he he just you know, those things are nice,
Speaker 2: but what really, really, honestly meant something to him was
Speaker 2: being able to go out there and sing and perform.
Speaker 2: And that didn't affect that. So I'll tell you what
Speaker 2: he loved. He loved being a member of the Grand
Speaker 2: Ole Opry. He was so thrilled that night when he
Speaker 2: got inducted, and he was so happy to be able
Speaker 2: to say he was a member of the Grand Ole Opry,
Speaker 2: which you know, twenty years before that he didn't care
Speaker 2: for the Opry and it was an institution and all
Speaker 2: this other stuff. But I mean the seventies were different, right,
Speaker 2: So yeah, his view as he got more mature and
Speaker 2: wised up and then also got clean changed, So yeah,
Speaker 2: he realized, I mean, what a great institution the Grand
Speaker 2: Opry is. I know they've got there's some turmoil around
Speaker 2: it with other artists and things like that, but I mean, overall, yeah,
Speaker 2: the Grand Ole Opry is an amazing institution.
Speaker 4: So congrats on the new album Days Behind. First of all,
Speaker 4: you you co wrote much of it with or all
Speaker 4: of it with with Scott Gabby. What was that writing
Speaker 4: process like for that project?
Speaker 2: So on the first album, on this album, on the
Speaker 2: next one one after that, I write most everything, or
Speaker 2: a co writes every co write everything, and me and Scott.
Speaker 2: Me and Scott have known each other for a long
Speaker 2: time since we were kids, and uh, we actually had
Speaker 2: a heavy metal band together when we were kids, so
Speaker 2: so we've known each other quite a while, and writing
Speaker 2: with him is just really really easy.
Speaker 3: We all sat.
Speaker 2: Down and, uh, you know, depending on what we're going
Speaker 2: to write, we may have some whiskey with us, or
Speaker 2: we may just sit there with a soda, depends on
Speaker 2: depends on what we're writing, and yeah, we'll uh, we'll
Speaker 2: just start pitching stuff back and forth and go go
Speaker 2: from there. That's that's really kind of how simple it is.
Speaker 2: But the idea for the album is a little more
Speaker 2: a little more complex because what I'll do is, you know,
Speaker 2: I'll say, well, for this album, I want twelve songs,
Speaker 2: and I'll start drafting out a skeleton, almost like if
Speaker 2: I'm writing a book, where it's like I want this
Speaker 2: chapter to be about this, and this to be about this.
Speaker 2: That's That's kind of how I do with writing an album,
Speaker 2: where I'll say, well, I want to want to love ballad,
Speaker 2: I want a Rodeo song, I want this, I want that,
Speaker 2: and we'll go through it that way. And one thing
Speaker 2: is I always I like Western history, American West history.
Speaker 2: So I usually try to have at least one song
Speaker 2: that touches on a figure from that time, somebody that
Speaker 2: I find interesting and maybe nobody's heard about.
Speaker 3: And I do that.
Speaker 2: But yeah, in this one, we had a murder ballad,
Speaker 2: which was something unique for me. A little worry about
Speaker 2: putting that out, but yeah, that's it turned out, okay. Yeah,
Speaker 2: So yeah, that's that's kind of how the writing writing works.
Speaker 2: We lock ourselves away for a couple of months and
Speaker 2: come out with a come out with an album full
Speaker 2: of songs. I mean, and we're writing all the time,
Speaker 2: especially when we're on the road. He's also my rhythm
Speaker 2: guitarist in the band, and uh, we we may be
Speaker 2: sitting on the bush and cope with the idea and
Speaker 2: we'll sit back there and try to strum through it
Speaker 2: and figure out the basic form of it and and
Speaker 2: get something, get something down.
Speaker 3: But yeah, it happens all throughout the year.
Speaker 2: But yeah, there's definitely a process, a little bit, a
Speaker 2: little bit of a process there when we start getting close.
Speaker 3: To album time.
Speaker 4: You mentioned George Straight earlier and you cover when did
Speaker 4: You Stop Loving me? H? For the album? Talk about
Speaker 4: what that song means to you?
Speaker 2: Well, it was, it was definitely, Uh, it was cool
Speaker 2: doing that and uh, George Jones covered it as well.
Speaker 2: He did it after after Straight did it didn't do
Speaker 2: as well for George, but George Jones.
Speaker 3: But yeah, that one was off of it was. It
Speaker 3: was in the movie too.
Speaker 2: That George did and that's where I first heard it.
Speaker 2: And man, I've always just like I said, I've always
Speaker 2: loved George's music, and it was it was neat to
Speaker 2: be able to and intimidating, neat and intimidating to do
Speaker 2: something that he did and try to try to make
Speaker 2: it at least close to his good.
Speaker 3: Definitely not as good, but close to his good.
Speaker 2: And hopefully hopefully somebody has in his camp has went
Speaker 2: Paycheck's kid covered your song and he and he got
Speaker 2: to chuck a lot of it. Maybe I don't know, so,
Speaker 2: oh I'm sure he'll hear about it. Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 2: I mean he he covered Dad's old violin and he
Speaker 2: would play it in the shows and everything. And I
Speaker 2: remember when his people contacted me about that, They're like, hey,
Speaker 2: we need the rights to be able to do this.
Speaker 2: I was like, oh, most definitely sure, and he did.
Speaker 2: He did a good job with that. He was probably
Speaker 2: one of the few. That song is really important to
Speaker 2: my family because it was dad's funeral song, and there's
Speaker 2: very few people that have sang it that I like
Speaker 2: the way they sing it.
Speaker 3: I didn't mind the way he sang it.
Speaker 4: So have you heard George Strait's version of the Tom
Speaker 4: Petty song You Wreck Me?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: I saw We saw him at uh In we were
Speaker 2: at Me and my wife were at National Finals Rodeo
Speaker 2: this year in Vegas and we saw the We saw
Speaker 2: the show in Vegas and that's where I heard him
Speaker 2: sing it.
Speaker 3: I was just like, man, that's really cool. It was
Speaker 3: really neat.
Speaker 4: What a version that is?
Speaker 1: My God?
Speaker 4: Talk about some of the other songs you want to
Speaker 4: highlight from the album.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm real proud right now, especially of Foolish Ways
Speaker 2: that one I wrote from the perspective of somebody who
Speaker 2: is either uh in depression, suffering from depression badly, or
Speaker 2: as possibly an addict. It's from that perspective where you
Speaker 2: just don't really believe what people are telling you, that
Speaker 2: things don't feel like they're going to get better, and
Speaker 2: you understand what people think, but there's not much you
Speaker 2: can do about it. It's it's that feeling. And I've
Speaker 2: been there, so I get I get I get it,
Speaker 2: trust me. But we released the new video on that
Speaker 2: one this uh this beginning of the month, and uh
Speaker 2: we also were donating the money, uh any any of
Speaker 2: the royalties I make off of it this month and
Speaker 2: everything we're going to the American Association for Health and Wellness.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so yeah, we're we're doing that. But real proud
Speaker 3: of that song. I like that song.
Speaker 2: I thought I thought it came out, okay. I also
Speaker 2: like More Days Behind. More Days Behind is fun, and
Speaker 2: it's the title track, but it's it's fun because it
Speaker 2: is a kind of an awakening of you know, hey, hey,
Speaker 2: I've lived this long. There are more days behind me
Speaker 2: than there are in front of me now, and it's
Speaker 2: like I never really thought of that until just now,
Speaker 2: and it's kind of just talks about you know, you
Speaker 2: need to kind of appreciate what you got and try
Speaker 2: to make the best of what what's left and what
Speaker 2: are you gonna do with it? You know.
Speaker 3: So that's that's that's what that song is about.
Speaker 4: It.
Speaker 2: It's got a happy vibe and tone to it, so
Speaker 2: it's not depressing. It's it's more of a it's like, okay,
Speaker 2: well why be depressed about it? This is just where
Speaker 2: you're at. So you know, we're all doing the same thing.
Speaker 2: So so yeah, that those two.
Speaker 3: Tracks, I like, real well, the murder Ballot's pretty good.
Speaker 2: But again, it's not an actual it's it's a made
Speaker 2: up story. So everybody, this is not something I think
Speaker 2: about doing. It's it's it's it's a good song though
Speaker 2: it's a good story.
Speaker 3: We wrote it kind of like a we we listened
Speaker 3: to some.
Speaker 2: Oh the podcast or not podcast, the uh the true
Speaker 2: crime shows and stuff.
Speaker 3: We were listening to some.
Speaker 2: Of that, and uh, that's where we got some of
Speaker 2: the ideas and we're like, man, this is it'd be
Speaker 2: kind of interesting to write a song this way, like
Speaker 2: a like a true crime story, and that that's that's
Speaker 2: what we were attempting. Came out good, came out good.
Speaker 2: It's uh, it's a little little shocking towards the end,
Speaker 2: but yeah, that's.
Speaker 3: An interesting one too. White Lights was good. I let
Speaker 3: me bring up that one too, White Lights. I like
Speaker 3: that one.
Speaker 2: That's my only trucking song right now, and I like,
Speaker 2: I like, I like trucking songs.
Speaker 3: But I took that one as.
Speaker 2: A a trucker kind of running away from a bad
Speaker 2: relationship type type thing, and yeah, it turned out it
Speaker 2: turned out good too.
Speaker 3: So all of this is thanks to Bill McDermott.
Speaker 2: He's my producer there in Nashville, and it's all thanks
Speaker 2: to him and the session musicians and everything else, because yeah,
Speaker 2: without them, none of this would come out the way
Speaker 2: we we have it.
Speaker 3: It's it comes out great.
Speaker 4: So and coming to a city near you also, you'll
Speaker 4: be hitting the road.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, we we're all over the place right now.
Speaker 2: Well, we've slowed down here for this month, try to
Speaker 2: catch our breath after we were just out in New Mexico.
Speaker 2: But yeah, we're we're gonna be a lot of Texas dates.
Speaker 2: All my dates and everything are up on my bands
Speaker 2: in town and on my website and at johnpaycheck dot com.
Speaker 3: It's easy, easy to find.
Speaker 2: But yeah, yeah, it's uh, it's been a nice response
Speaker 2: this year. We're getting getting more dates and building as
Speaker 2: we go here hopefully you know, it just keeps building.
Speaker 2: And yeah, well I want to get to this medium
Speaker 2: level of success where I can, you know, take care
Speaker 2: of the band and everybody and we're we're all making
Speaker 2: you know, an okay wage and able to get our
Speaker 2: music out there to everybody and have good time.
Speaker 4: So goals for the next chapter of your career, both
Speaker 4: in the studio and on the road.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're gonna start right well, we started writing already,
Speaker 2: but we're gonna start writing for the next album because
Speaker 2: there'll be another one next year. I'm trying to do
Speaker 2: one every other year. I was trying to do one
Speaker 2: every year, but with that time schedule gets really cramped,
Speaker 2: so we're doing one every other year. I want to
Speaker 2: at least do three more albums. It's for a total
Speaker 2: of five, and then we'll kind of reevaluate what we're
Speaker 2: doing at that point. But yeah, another album next year. Touring,
Speaker 2: we're just trying to keep building on that.
Speaker 3: Every year.
Speaker 2: I tour from May till about mid November every year,
Speaker 2: and the rest of that time there. I want my
Speaker 2: band and everybody to go home and be with families
Speaker 2: and spend time for the holidays and not have to
Speaker 2: think about when am I coming off the road, when
Speaker 2: I'm going to go back on the road.
Speaker 4: Well, John, congrats on more days behind. Thank you so
Speaker 4: much for this service that will you and your wife
Speaker 4: really give to our country nothing. And thank you for
Speaker 4: the music that you give us as well. Really appreciate
Speaker 4: you taking the time to be on Taking a Walk.
Speaker 3: No, thank you for having me.
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