Speaker 1: Carola. She's the Queen of talking. He was your man.
Speaker 1: She's only is actually got the snoop on on the
Speaker 1: on side. No one can do with Clide Carola Carola.
Speaker 1: No one can do with Clid Carol Carola. Hey, y'all,
Speaker 1: welcome to Hyper Caroline Hobby. I am your host, Caroline Hobby.
Speaker 1: I know music, I know people, and I know the
Speaker 1: questions do you want to ask? So let's get Hyper
Speaker 1: heads up. These are adults having adult conversations, so there
Speaker 1: could be adult content. This episode is with Tony Brown,
Speaker 1: one of the biggest producers in Nashville, one of the
Speaker 1: biggest producers in the world. He's had so many number
Speaker 1: ones song is that he's been a part of producing
Speaker 1: over a hundred and he said, over a hundred million
Speaker 1: album sales. He's also just the sweetest person ever. He
Speaker 1: played piano with Elvis, he played piano with Emmy Lou Harris,
Speaker 1: he ran m c A Records. He's just incredible. He's
Speaker 1: one of Grammy. So y'all get excited. Here's Tony Brown.
Speaker 1: Tony Brown, Caroline, I am here with the man, the myth,
Speaker 1: the legend, Tony Brown. Oh you're so sweet and we'll
Speaker 1: make you my manager. I don't know if I'm gonna
Speaker 1: manage anything, but I am good at recognizing talent, which
Speaker 1: is you. You screamed talent. Well, thank you so much.
Speaker 1: You know, my life has been so much, so blessed,
Speaker 1: more than I would have ever dreamed. And I thought
Speaker 1: I was going to be a musician and it turned
Speaker 1: out otherwise. I ended up being a record executive and producer.
Speaker 1: What's sort of like what you're going through right now?
Speaker 1: You know, you're like kind of a singer personality, all
Speaker 1: this songwriter. So I'm really um, you're very You're very
Speaker 1: I'm really excited about what you're doing right now. This
Speaker 1: is so good, thanks to Okay, So I want to
Speaker 1: start with that. Because you grew up like you have
Speaker 1: a favorite picture of mine of you and your brothers,
Speaker 1: like you are always running around barefoot, I mean in
Speaker 1: front of that old car and kind of an old car,
Speaker 1: because you grew up from humble beginnings, poverty below poverty.
Speaker 1: You know, we didn't even have in inside restrooms or
Speaker 1: anything really poor. But the thing about it is I
Speaker 1: didn't know that we were so poor, and I had
Speaker 1: aunts and uncles who I thought were rich and now
Speaker 1: as I've gotten older and became rich myself. Which is that,
Speaker 1: do you prefer poor rich? I prefer rich. I'm not rich.
Speaker 1: I have money, I don't I'm not rich. Bill Gates
Speaker 1: is rich. But anyway, the perspective, you know, I realized
Speaker 1: that all my aunts and uncles were just middle class
Speaker 1: because they had like new cars like Chevrolets and osmobiles,
Speaker 1: and I we had like old, old cars like that
Speaker 1: barely ran and when one stopped, put it in the
Speaker 1: backyard on blocks and use it for parts. Yes, I
Speaker 1: mean I was raised in a really poor environment, but
Speaker 1: I kind of I'm glad I was because it makes
Speaker 1: me appreciate other things I've been given. Uh, and made
Speaker 1: me work really hard. Did you grow up in a
Speaker 1: musical family or are you the only music No, I'm
Speaker 1: the only one that really got into the business. My
Speaker 1: brothers are ministers. Oh so you were really religious? Oh?
Speaker 1: My dad was an evangelist, I mean a religious right
Speaker 1: wing fanatic, and I was only allowed to listen to
Speaker 1: gospel music for years. So they did they think you
Speaker 1: were sitting when you chose this path of music. Well,
Speaker 1: my father passed away before I got the job with
Speaker 1: Elvis or he would have been really upset with me.
Speaker 1: My mom actually loved it. She came, she came to
Speaker 1: see the show in Greensboro. And I have actually a
Speaker 1: c D someone sent me. I went to an Elvis
Speaker 1: fan club thing and they said, you want to c
Speaker 1: D of when Elvis mentioned your mom was in the
Speaker 1: audience in Greensboro, North Carolina. I said, sure, So did
Speaker 1: that make her life? Oh? Yeah, I made her life.
Speaker 1: She loved So your dad was an evangelist. What is
Speaker 1: that like growing up with that kind of man of
Speaker 1: the house. Well, you know, when I was raised in
Speaker 1: the church. You know, most people now only think about Evangelicals, Catholics,
Speaker 1: Jewish faith and the Muslim faith and Buddhist. I was
Speaker 1: raised in the Baptist Church, but we were very hard
Speaker 1: shell Baptist, so I could only go through religious functions
Speaker 1: and stuff like that, and it affected the way that
Speaker 1: I never I never grew up knowing who Elvis was
Speaker 1: or the Beatles. And so when I finally got the
Speaker 1: job with Elvis, believe it or not, it was because
Speaker 1: I came from gospel music, because that's what he loved.
Speaker 1: And I have a book coming out in August. Elvis
Speaker 1: Straight to Jesus and basically people wonder how I got
Speaker 1: my job with Elvis, and they I think they think
Speaker 1: I was a great session player or something, But that's
Speaker 1: not the reason. It's because I came from Southern gospel
Speaker 1: of music and I got the job through that. So okay,
Speaker 1: So how did you get into music? Where did you
Speaker 1: learn how to play piano? And then how did you
Speaker 1: become a big wig in the gospel community so much
Speaker 1: that Elvis snatched you up? Well, you know, as I
Speaker 1: played by ear, my brothers took music and I was
Speaker 1: taking music as well, but I was always third in
Speaker 1: line at the lessons. I was the youngest, yes, and uh,
Speaker 1: I was playing by ear and not reading the music.
Speaker 1: I didn't know that till later on when they put
Speaker 1: me first for the next lesson, and I couldn't read anything.
Speaker 1: So anyway, you know, eventually I got noticed by a
Speaker 1: guy named J. D. Sumner, who was the Elvis's hero.
Speaker 1: He was the lowest space singer in the world, are
Speaker 1: you yes? And he and the up touring with the
Speaker 1: eldest till the end. But he hired me to come
Speaker 1: with the Stamps Quartet, and then I left the Stamps Quarre. Well,
Speaker 1: I was playing it, you know, we would play shows
Speaker 1: like country artists have opening acts. Our families sometimes would
Speaker 1: be playing at a gospel singing where he was at
Speaker 1: and the Brown family singers and my brothers and sister
Speaker 1: and my dad family. Yeah kind of. And you know,
Speaker 1: I didn't really play. I didn't really play um in
Speaker 1: public till I was thirteen, and I learned to play
Speaker 1: a song in the key of F. And when I finished,
Speaker 1: I was thirteen that I looked about six. I was
Speaker 1: always really short for my age, and the crowd was crazy.
Speaker 1: So my first thought was, I need to learn two songs, right.
Speaker 1: So so eventually I just started playing and playing, and
Speaker 1: I got pretty good. Not grey, but I got pretty good, uh,
Speaker 1: and got the job with J. D. Sumner, And then
Speaker 1: the oak Ridge Boys and seventy two stole me away
Speaker 1: to play with them because they were like the hip
Speaker 1: new gospel group. You know, they were cool suits and
Speaker 1: had long hair, and so I joined them because they
Speaker 1: were cooler than the Stamps Quartet. And then I left
Speaker 1: that group when a friend of mine that Elvis was
Speaker 1: hiring three guys to sing gospel songs at his house
Speaker 1: because he loved to do that. And what I want
Speaker 1: to be what I care to be. The piano players,
Speaker 1: that's sure. So it was kind of like putting your lap. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So I I become the piano player for this group
Speaker 1: called Voice, and our job is to go to Beverly Hills,
Speaker 1: Palm Springs are Graceland whenever Elvis is bored and wants
Speaker 1: to sing gospel music just for fun. Yeah, he flast there,
Speaker 1: and so you got pain to just sing for fun
Speaker 1: with Elvis. It was not for like shows. And eventually
Speaker 1: eventually Elvis put this group Voice on tour with him,
Speaker 1: so we opened the shows. It was a Voice, then
Speaker 1: a comedian, and then the Sweet Inspirations and then Elvis.
Speaker 1: So eventually I was on tour with Elvis. And so
Speaker 1: after we would finish opening the show, I would sit
Speaker 1: behind Elvis's piano player, Glynda Harden during Elvis's show and
Speaker 1: watch him play, thinking, man, I could do this show.
Speaker 1: You felt like you were ready for us. Yeah. So
Speaker 1: eventually Glinda Harden told me he was leaving Elvis to
Speaker 1: go play with Emmy Lou Harris and it would interfere
Speaker 1: with the touring schedule. So I said, we'll put my
Speaker 1: name in the hand. I can do this show. And
Speaker 1: I got the I got the gig with Elvis. I
Speaker 1: played with Elvis until he pay three years. So I
Speaker 1: played with Elvis in the TCB band for a year
Speaker 1: and a half. I've been with Elvis with voice for
Speaker 1: a year and a half or three years total. So
Speaker 1: Elvis passes away. So you were there in the middle.
Speaker 1: You were in his band when he passed away. Yes,
Speaker 1: I was at the airport waiting to go to the
Speaker 1: first show of the next tour when they told us
Speaker 1: to go home. The tour had been called off, and
Speaker 1: they didn't even tell us why. What was that? Like?
Speaker 1: I was driving back to my house and on the
Speaker 1: radio I hear that Elvis was found dead in his bathroom,
Speaker 1: and so that kind of blew my mind. Why did
Speaker 1: you feel? Because it was like, well, you know, it's
Speaker 1: like we weren't. I didn't say that I knew Elvis
Speaker 1: so good that we were buds, but I knew him
Speaker 1: and uh, And I'd already spent the money I was
Speaker 1: going to make. I was living way beyond my means
Speaker 1: back in those days. And so I went home and
Speaker 1: then I get a call from Emmy Lou Harris's manager
Speaker 1: that Glenda Harden, so Glenn was the one that played
Speaker 1: for Elvis and went to Right. So Ed Tickner called
Speaker 1: and said that Glenn d was leaving Emmy Lou to
Speaker 1: go play with John Denver, and so I went out
Speaker 1: and tried out for this for her and got the gig.
Speaker 1: And that's where I met Vince Skill and Rodney kraw
Speaker 1: Rose in Cash the Hot Band, which became the Cherry
Speaker 1: Bombs eventually. So it's like sliding doors. You know, you're
Speaker 1: just your life. I like you just taking advantage of
Speaker 1: opportunities in a serious kind of way, you know, not
Speaker 1: being a social climber, just being a person who wants
Speaker 1: to do better and get a bigger job and a
Speaker 1: better job and do a good job. But yeah, but
Speaker 1: you know, I wasn't. I wasn't like a fantastic piano player,
Speaker 1: but I was. I never played in gigs that I
Speaker 1: couldn't do. I mean, I didn't play in a jazz
Speaker 1: band or anything like that. I actually played with artists
Speaker 1: that I could actually play their music well, you know.
Speaker 1: And then eventually Emmy Lou got pregnant, got off the
Speaker 1: road and which turned into the Hot Band became the
Speaker 1: Cherry Arms, and we played for Roseanne cash. We played
Speaker 1: for Rodney Crowe, you were right, which was the old
Speaker 1: hot band. And and then Rodney never could have a hit.
Speaker 1: Roseanne got pregnant, so that job ended. Isn't that crazy?
Speaker 1: Rodney Crow I couldn't have a hit with a voice
Speaker 1: like that. I know he had hits, he wrote, yeah,
Speaker 1: but only one, only one hit, kind of a small hit.
Speaker 1: Um Carl asked you about now. It's like, yeah, and
Speaker 1: I have so much, so many questions I want to
Speaker 1: ask you, but I want to make sure I don't
Speaker 1: forget one part before me to the next. Tell me
Speaker 1: what Elvis was like knowing him on a personal level,
Speaker 1: he was, you know, he was like a simple person.
Speaker 1: Someone said, you know, he was really just a kind
Speaker 1: of a middle class came from poverty as I did,
Speaker 1: similar similar upbringing. It would be both love gospel music,
Speaker 1: you know, so you are very similar, right, and so
Speaker 1: he was just basically a simple person who was Elvis Presley,
Speaker 1: and believe it or not, just like Michael Jackson and Prince,
Speaker 1: that comes with a lot of baggage. You know, you
Speaker 1: can't go out and do anything. Uh So I think
Speaker 1: it was a burden for him, just like all big
Speaker 1: stars like that they can't be normal people and believe
Speaker 1: it or not. Being that famous. It's kind of cool
Speaker 1: and kind of hard at the same time. I mean
Speaker 1: that big. I mean, if you think about five people
Speaker 1: that in any country in the world that you would know,
Speaker 1: probably Elvis, Michael Jackson, Muhammad Ali, the Beatles, and John Wayne,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean, but there aren't many people that
Speaker 1: were that big, you know. But anyway, he was just
Speaker 1: a really paying for the biggest, one of the biggest
Speaker 1: stars on the planet. Yeah. But you know when I
Speaker 1: was playing with him, I wasn't into music. I just
Speaker 1: into celebrity. So I was playing for a celebrity. Only
Speaker 1: after he passed away and I got with Emmy Lou Harris.
Speaker 1: She was all about music and the history of music,
Speaker 1: and so you know, she was part of that California
Speaker 1: West Coast country thing with Ryan Stad and the Eagles
Speaker 1: and the Burrito Brothers, Graham Parsons, and so I learned
Speaker 1: a lot about music with Emmy Lou. Then I got
Speaker 1: turned onto what I really liked. But that's you because
Speaker 1: you've been dubbed, what is it, the forefather of Americana. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but you know it wasn't called that back then, and
Speaker 1: you were an advocate for American music because I was
Speaker 1: on the board, was the president, and you signed a
Speaker 1: ton of Americana acts when that wasn't like the norm.
Speaker 1: But I thought they were mainstream. I didn't know. I
Speaker 1: thought Steve Earle was the next Whalon. I thought Lyle
Speaker 1: Love it was just cooler than you know what. And
Speaker 1: the Mavericks were just cool, cooler than Alabama. And and
Speaker 1: so I got sort of dubbed as on the cutting edge,
Speaker 1: which in the beginning I never thought about that, being
Speaker 1: like I wasn't trying to be cutting edge. I just
Speaker 1: like stuff. You know. If I like something, someone said,
Speaker 1: how can you be a good a in our person?
Speaker 1: I said, you just got to believe that your taste
Speaker 1: is right. If they don't like it, they're just stupid,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean not literally, but you gotta sort
Speaker 1: of think that you gotta taste, you kind of have.
Speaker 1: You gotta have like complete a belief that your taste
Speaker 1: is really good. You know. So another thing I think
Speaker 1: is so interesting to me about you because I'm one
Speaker 1: of the very fortunate people who has gotten to develop
Speaker 1: a friendship with you over the years, and you're just
Speaker 1: the sweetest heart ever and so amazing, like you're just
Speaker 1: your talents amazing. The way you think is amazing, and
Speaker 1: the way you follow the open doors is amazing. Because
Speaker 1: you told me that you've got the town of a
Speaker 1: session player. So like I guess after Elvis and Emmy
Speaker 1: Lou is that when you officially moved to Nashville and
Speaker 1: you had no I moved to Nashville in six when
Speaker 1: I played with the Stamps quartet. Okay, so that started,
Speaker 1: and you moved here to be a session player. Now,
Speaker 1: I moved here to play with the Stamps quartet. But
Speaker 1: then I thought I might trying to get on sessions.
Speaker 1: But that was your goal, Yes, but I wasn't really
Speaker 1: good enough. I played on records. I played on a
Speaker 1: lot of records. So you must have you must have
Speaker 1: like a vibe like that people can hear. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know. I used to tell um m Rey Gordy,
Speaker 1: who played bass with Emmy Lou, I said, man, I
Speaker 1: just don't feel like I'm worthy of this job. And
Speaker 1: he said, hey, man, Emmy Lou hired you because she
Speaker 1: likes the way you play. Just get over it and
Speaker 1: be who you are that she likes because you came
Speaker 1: from where you came from and the way you play.
Speaker 1: Just don't analyze it too much. And so and I
Speaker 1: played on records, but I couldn't play on sessions. Like
Speaker 1: when I hired players to play on records, if they
Speaker 1: choke on me, I probably won't hire them again for
Speaker 1: a long time. They got to be able to turn
Speaker 1: on the dime. And you know the players, the players
Speaker 1: I use are usually they're called double scale players. They
Speaker 1: get double what a normal player would get because they
Speaker 1: are that good. You know, you can just say, do
Speaker 1: a Bunny Rate thing. They can do that, do a
Speaker 1: Fleetwood Mac thing, do a Hanks Senior du Whalen, and
Speaker 1: they can go anywhere you want to go on a
Speaker 1: dime quickly. Yes, I think it's so interesting though, because
Speaker 1: like you were almost disappointed that you weren't, as you said,
Speaker 1: good enough to be a session player, but then you
Speaker 1: go on to become one of the most successful producers
Speaker 1: of all time. You've sold over a hundred million albums,
Speaker 1: You've been on been a part of a hundred million albums.
Speaker 1: How many songs do that have this right now? Hundred
Speaker 1: number one number one songs, over a hundred million albums,
Speaker 1: and you've been in this business, not for forty years.
Speaker 1: You've run m c A Labels. You've produced everyone from Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna read this list, Reba, Vincecale, George Straight Berks
Speaker 1: and Done, Tricia Year, Would, Rodney Crow, Lionel Richie, now
Speaker 1: Cyndy Lauper. And also you did the test how do
Speaker 1: you say that test Tuskegee with the album with Lionel
Speaker 1: Richie that had duets with Blake Shelton Jason adding Darius
Speaker 1: record to McGraw, and it was like one of the
Speaker 1: highest grossing albums of two thousand twelve. So you wanted
Speaker 1: to be a session player, but then you just blew
Speaker 1: the top off of it and became like his mogul. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, it's sort of like what you're doing right now.
Speaker 1: You know. When I first met you, you were a singer,
Speaker 1: and then then you and Jennifer came over and we
Speaker 1: cut those demos, and jen and I were an abandoned
Speaker 1: writers and in stealing angels an amazing race together, right,
Speaker 1: and then we tried to do the thing that that
Speaker 1: is a side note, Tony produced two songs. I mean,
Speaker 1: Jennifer Wayne, It was an amazing experience and I invested
Speaker 1: my own money in it because it was it was no,
Speaker 1: it was a challenge, and I was going, I got
Speaker 1: a found a way to make these girls have a
Speaker 1: hit record. As it earned out that led to record
Speaker 1: that's right, you know. But you know the bottom line
Speaker 1: is it got me knowing you on a different level
Speaker 1: than I did before. I was only like superficially kind
Speaker 1: of you know, business associates kind of thing. And I
Speaker 1: found out that your heart was really there and your
Speaker 1: gen what's too and I wanted to be a part
Speaker 1: of that. So I wasn't that busy, so I just
Speaker 1: investged my time in doing that. And I love what
Speaker 1: we did, you know. And I was thinking, uh, that
Speaker 1: that was at that point in my life was really
Speaker 1: good for my um, for my inspiring me to to say,
Speaker 1: I still have more to say, you know, because it's
Speaker 1: such a such a young man's world right now. And
Speaker 1: uh and I know most of my career was from seven,
Speaker 1: but still I have have I still have things I
Speaker 1: want to say, And you guys were part of me
Speaker 1: doing that, like going out on blind faith and cutting
Speaker 1: this stuff and shopping it around when I was not
Speaker 1: working for a record label. And then yeah, sure, did,
Speaker 1: and you know, and it's good for me. Look at you,
Speaker 1: I mean, and then you decided that you want to
Speaker 1: do this. Now you're like me. I started out to
Speaker 1: be a piano player and ended up being a record
Speaker 1: executive and eventually a producer. And you started out being
Speaker 1: a singer and then you became a singer songwriter, and
Speaker 1: now you're a personality doing a podcast, and we're we
Speaker 1: have a parallel kind of I've always really related to
Speaker 1: you because you're very open to just letting things happen,
Speaker 1: and you're very open to, I think, just trusting your talent.
Speaker 1: Like you, you've let your talent lead the way. Yes, well,
Speaker 1: you know, have you seen the Dave Girl the Foo
Speaker 1: Fighters talking about that? I saw you. It's Sonic Highways. Yes,
Speaker 1: So Sonic Highway came out, and that's one of the
Speaker 1: coolest series that's come out. Dave Girl. Did it? Was
Speaker 1: it on HBO HBO HBO series of Ten Cities? You
Speaker 1: were the prime person they talked to an interviewed on
Speaker 1: Dave Special in Nashville, Right. You know, I was wondering
Speaker 1: how I got on that show, and I thought he
Speaker 1: would ask me like two questions. We were talked a lot.
Speaker 1: And then at the end he said, I hear you
Speaker 1: hate this, but I'm going to ask you this anyway.
Speaker 1: And I said, you're going to ask me to elvis story.
Speaker 1: He said, I sure, Am. I said go ahead, because
Speaker 1: that seems to define my career anyway. Well, you have
Speaker 1: to understand, to be an Elvis's band is crazy that
Speaker 1: you did that. Well, you know the thing about that.
Speaker 1: When I took that job, I was more excited about
Speaker 1: playing with Ronnie Tutt and James Burton and Jerry Chef
Speaker 1: and those musicians. To be able to play at that caliber,
Speaker 1: even though Elvis was a celebrity. I knew that was
Speaker 1: a good gig, but to be able to play in
Speaker 1: that band, it was like a big deal for me,
Speaker 1: like I'm good enough, Like you had this validation league, Yeah,
Speaker 1: validated that I I could actually, if I applied myself,
Speaker 1: there was nothing I couldn't do. You know I relate
Speaker 1: to in that way. I think getting a record deal
Speaker 1: for me with my first man stealing angels validated that.
Speaker 1: Like we didn't never have success really, but yeah, but
Speaker 1: you know, but you made you know, you made an impact,
Speaker 1: and that's the bottom line. You always want to make
Speaker 1: whatever you do make some sort of impact. You know,
Speaker 1: you can make a big impact or you can make
Speaker 1: a small impact. Of bottom line is if you make
Speaker 1: if you get uh something happening, you're making an impact.
Speaker 1: You've done something, you know. I've always heard the saying
Speaker 1: that if you have a number one record, you have
Speaker 1: an experience. If you have an audience, you have a career.
Speaker 1: And that's like the Stones and Ah Bonnie Rate, the
Speaker 1: Beatles or Pomen Carton. You don't have hits anymore, but
Speaker 1: they have an audience. But they had so many hits
Speaker 1: in the beginning they made an impact. Now they're so
Speaker 1: famous they don't need hits anymore. You just want to
Speaker 1: be a part of the experience that yeah, they just
Speaker 1: have an experience of people go out and see them play,
Speaker 1: and they play all the hits, of course they have to.
Speaker 1: But then they play new music which people don't quite
Speaker 1: ever except you know, I've just started. That's right. I'm
Speaker 1: the same way if I go see uh Bonnie Rate,
Speaker 1: I want her to do. I can't make you love
Speaker 1: me absolutely now, piss me off, not crush, piss me off.
Speaker 1: I went saw Van Morrison one time at the Rayman
Speaker 1: auditorium tickets were two fifty bucks apiece, about four a
Speaker 1: thousand dollars. He didn't do one song I've ever heard,
Speaker 1: and you know what, I wasn't so bummed out because
Speaker 1: I just really wanted to see Van Morrison before he
Speaker 1: stopped playing, and I was kind of upset he didn't
Speaker 1: play Brown Eyed Girl or anything the big hits, but
Speaker 1: just to see him on stage and see what an
Speaker 1: arrogant bastard he was. Yes, well kind of, you know,
Speaker 1: he's like, you know the thing about arrogance. Prince and
Speaker 1: all big stars have it. They have a touch of arrogance,
Speaker 1: but they use it. They can use it in a
Speaker 1: bad way or they can use it in a good way. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, like a Prince was kind of untouchable, unreachable,
Speaker 1: No one never really quite knew him. That's kind of cool.
Speaker 1: Michael the same with Michael Jackson. But Michael had more friends,
Speaker 1: you know, he had Oprah and he had Una. Richie
Speaker 1: was a good friend of his, he said, and Quincy Jones.
Speaker 1: Elvis didn't really have any friends outside of his inner circle,
Speaker 1: not really, sort of the inner circle kept him isolatedly intentionally,
Speaker 1: and I think that's what really because they were jealous
Speaker 1: of anybody getting close to him. Yes, and that's the
Speaker 1: problem with most big stars. The inner circle can isolate them.
Speaker 1: That's what happened to Michael Jackson too. I think, you know,
Speaker 1: Michael and Elvis maybe could still be here and Whitney
Speaker 1: had their circle had not been so tight, and people
Speaker 1: could have got to them and maybe saved their lives.
Speaker 1: You know, that's interesting. I've never thought about it like that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're right. So the inner circle can really, like well
Speaker 1: they can they isolate the person to the point where
Speaker 1: if if the inner circle doesn't have the help that
Speaker 1: person needs, in the case of Michael and Elvis, they
Speaker 1: keep that one individual that could have helped that person.
Speaker 1: I like with Elvis, you know, he was really he
Speaker 1: didn't drink, he didn't all you think of drugs. He
Speaker 1: just did prescription drugs, not illegal drugs, you know, and
Speaker 1: pain medicine, um, you know, things that would calm him down,
Speaker 1: make them go to sleep. Same with Michael Jackson, just
Speaker 1: because you probably so much stress and anxiety. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: you know it's like if Elvis had gotten healthy, he
Speaker 1: was really heavy at the end, you know, he could
Speaker 1: still be around. Maybe maybe you know, but you know,
Speaker 1: everything fate is what it is. You know, maybe it
Speaker 1: was meant for Elvis to go away when he did,
Speaker 1: for Miller Monroe to go away when she did. Uh.
Speaker 1: And you know, the impact that people like Michael and
Speaker 1: Prince and Elvis made on the world, it's all anybody
Speaker 1: ever wanted to do, you know what I mean, Elvis
Speaker 1: ther right, and you know, and Elvis probably wanted to
Speaker 1: do what he ended up doing, but maybe he didn't
Speaker 1: even realize he did it, you know, because he's just
Speaker 1: in the middle of doing and right and he never
Speaker 1: really got a chance to have conversations with people like
Speaker 1: yourself and and doing an interview like this, you know.
Speaker 1: I mean interviews you see of Elvis were always like
Speaker 1: press conferences. They were kind of staged. You I kind
Speaker 1: of feel sorry for people like that. That's kind of
Speaker 1: weird to say, because everybody wants to be Elvis or
Speaker 1: Michael Jackson. But the bottom line is it really comes
Speaker 1: with a lot of hya. The greatness of it is
Speaker 1: a great but then there's also that other side, you know,
Speaker 1: And I think that's what's cool about what you're doing,
Speaker 1: because you I think, like myself intended to do one thing,
Speaker 1: and now you're going to another part of your life,
Speaker 1: but it's still in the creative sense, So you're really
Speaker 1: doing what you it's set out to do, just in
Speaker 1: a different part of it. You know, well, I think too.
Speaker 1: That's interesting because sometimes when you get started, you don't
Speaker 1: even know what options are out there or what. I
Speaker 1: didn't even know about hosting. You probably don't even think
Speaker 1: of being a producer or running when you were growing
Speaker 1: up in your never never in a million years what
Speaker 1: I would dreamed I would run a label or produced
Speaker 1: records like I did um, But you know, I kind
Speaker 1: of live creatively through producing, you know, like I hired
Speaker 1: a musician because I know how he plays, what kind
Speaker 1: of style he has, So actually I'm not playing, but
Speaker 1: I'm kind of like living through them, you know when
Speaker 1: I hire them. So was it? This is gonna be
Speaker 1: like a weird question, as you said, like everyone wants
Speaker 1: to be Elvis, but yet he had his own setup problems.
Speaker 1: A lot of people would want to be you. But like,
Speaker 1: are you sitting there thinking like, well, this isn't what
Speaker 1: I wanted to do. I want to be playing. No,
Speaker 1: you know, I never really people ask me that all
Speaker 1: the time. Do you miss playing. I said no, because
Speaker 1: in a sense, I feel like I'm playing when I
Speaker 1: hired people to play for me on record. And I
Speaker 1: can also like, because I'm a musician, I can guide
Speaker 1: a player, whether it be a guitar player or a
Speaker 1: keyboard player or a drummer, I can guide them through
Speaker 1: what I want them to play. Because I'm a musician,
Speaker 1: I can describe or you even play it for him
Speaker 1: if right. You know. In fact, on Cindy Lauper's record, uh,
Speaker 1: I don't play anymore. But on the Willie Nelson cut Nightlife,
Speaker 1: I was showing Steve Nathan, the keyboard player, what I
Speaker 1: wanted him to play, and Cindy said, well, you just
Speaker 1: play that, and I said, I don't play anymore. She
Speaker 1: said you are now. So I ended up playing on
Speaker 1: that cut and it was a thrill. It's scary. It
Speaker 1: was scary, but still a thrill because it was a
Speaker 1: simple part and I could do it, and I did it,
Speaker 1: and I kind of thought, if I can get my
Speaker 1: piano jones out three minutes at a time, that's so cool.
Speaker 1: You Yeah, did you always know you were destined for greatness? Oh? No, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: But I don't think I don't think about that. I'm
Speaker 1: not great. I'm just lucky. Okay what Okay, maybe you
Speaker 1: didn't realize it was greatness you were seeking, But what
Speaker 1: was that thing inside of you that made you keep
Speaker 1: walking forward and climbing and like, what were you looking for?
Speaker 1: I was just looking forward to make to make a statement.
Speaker 1: You know, there's nothing I mean having hit records that
Speaker 1: sells six million, Like why not his first record or
Speaker 1: George Strait's first record? I did how many get twenty
Speaker 1: years with him? Yes, thirty he had sixty number ones.
Speaker 1: I did thirty seven of them. But you know it's like, um,
Speaker 1: you know what the definition of lucky is when preparation
Speaker 1: meets opportunity. You prepare yourself for that opportunity and then
Speaker 1: it presents itself and you can you can do it
Speaker 1: because you're ready, you're ready, and you step into it
Speaker 1: and you actually pull it off. That's what happened to me,
Speaker 1: and uh, I just wanted to be you know, people
Speaker 1: tell me they love a record that never made it
Speaker 1: of the charts. They said, that's my favorite record. That
Speaker 1: makes me feel really good, because that's what you want
Speaker 1: is validation that that you did something that is appreciated.
Speaker 1: That's really what it is. Of course, being appreciated with
Speaker 1: big hit records is also another level of appreciation. Where
Speaker 1: do you think that drive came from being so poor?
Speaker 1: You know, I remember going to school. Uh, I could
Speaker 1: never get a girl to look at me because I
Speaker 1: was dressed so bad and so poor. And I was
Speaker 1: always loved the cheerleaders, but they would never look at
Speaker 1: me twice. And so I always wanted to be admired
Speaker 1: by people that were better off than me, better looking
Speaker 1: than me. You know, I just wanted to be accepted
Speaker 1: with people that I admired, you whether they be good looking, wealthy, um, talented, whatever.
Speaker 1: And that's that's a drive, you know, you just want
Speaker 1: to be that person. And if you look at a
Speaker 1: lot of people, from Ray Charles to Whitney, Elvis, they
Speaker 1: all start that way. You know, it's like they just
Speaker 1: sort of like have a dream and you achieve your dream,
Speaker 1: you know, you never quit dreaming. What does it feel
Speaker 1: like when you achieve a dream? Like? What does it
Speaker 1: feel like when your album that you produce sells a million?
Speaker 1: Over a million album produces number one hits? Like? What
Speaker 1: what does it feel like when you're running a label
Speaker 1: that's hugely successful. Like, how does that feel when you're
Speaker 1: hard work really pays off? Well, let me tell you.
Speaker 1: I've told somebody this so many times. It's more fun
Speaker 1: trying to make it than trying to sustain it once
Speaker 1: you've made it, because you know, when you're trying to
Speaker 1: make it and you finally have that first goal album
Speaker 1: or that first number one record, the feeling is like,
Speaker 1: as MasterCard would say, priceless. It's exhilarating. You know, it's
Speaker 1: just like, oh my god, this is really happening, and
Speaker 1: it's not about money. In the beginning, it was never
Speaker 1: about money. It was just about validation. And then once
Speaker 1: you start making money, this is nice. Yeah, you go,
Speaker 1: this is kind of cool. You know you can, uh,
Speaker 1: your your lifestyle gets up, goes up, a better house,
Speaker 1: better car, better clothes, which, by the way, you have
Speaker 1: fabulous style. Thank you. So what you do too fashionable.
Speaker 1: That's why we're such friends. We both are so cool.
Speaker 1: But you know, it's like, it's just so fun to
Speaker 1: have success. I remember the first record I did on
Speaker 1: George Strait. It was pure country. Oh my god, that
Speaker 1: movie and up to that point you know that, yeah,
Speaker 1: but it was it wasn't it. It wasn't a successful
Speaker 1: movie at the theaters, but in cable it was really big.
Speaker 1: But you know, up to that point he had sold
Speaker 1: a million records. When the first record I get to
Speaker 1: do is that one and it sold six million records,
Speaker 1: It changed his life and changed my life. It was
Speaker 1: really huge, yes, and it was. It was such a
Speaker 1: I mean to be able to work with a superstar
Speaker 1: like that and that happen and you go, oh my god,
Speaker 1: maybe I'm better than I think I am. The first
Speaker 1: taste of really big success. Yes, yes, George, was that
Speaker 1: his real first taste of big success. No, he had
Speaker 1: had platinum records before then, but this was the first
Speaker 1: six million selling album. That's a big record for him,
Speaker 1: and it was bigger, bigger than the movie. But the
Speaker 1: movie was part of the success it made. It made
Speaker 1: George go from being a star to be in a superstar.
Speaker 1: It made him bigger than life because he's kind of
Speaker 1: like you in the Elvis category, like Elvis made movies.
Speaker 1: He wasn't a great movie star, but it made him
Speaker 1: bigger as an artist. He just became a bigger celebrity
Speaker 1: and that movie was perfect for him. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: you never kissed the girl. Do you notice that I
Speaker 1: never did because he had the one I think maybe
Speaker 1: on the maybe on the cheek, but never in the mouth. No,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe Norma his wife. Yeah, they've been married
Speaker 1: a long time, right, they sure have. They were child
Speaker 1: they were a high school sweethearts. She's always there whenever
Speaker 1: I've made a record. She was always there for every record.
Speaker 1: She's always there in concerts. At concerts. Since they're just
Speaker 1: like inseparable, they're just yeah, and they're so cute together.
Speaker 1: She's pretty and he's handsome. So what is George like
Speaker 1: as a person, Because I'm in Texas, he isn't like
Speaker 1: he's the most normal star there is, you know. He
Speaker 1: he doesn't have that ego like a lot of stars have.
Speaker 1: He's got confidence, but no ego. He's a real cowboy.
Speaker 1: He's not a no I'll had no cattle. He's um.
Speaker 1: He's a real He's a real guy. And I really
Speaker 1: have loved being able to work with him for so
Speaker 1: long and then I'm no longer working with him, but
Speaker 1: I got to do the big records with him, So
Speaker 1: that's good. The hey day. So then you went on
Speaker 1: to work with Reba. You produced her My first record,
Speaker 1: you know, my first album with Reba had the song
Speaker 1: Fancy on it. I did Fancy and yes and you know,
Speaker 1: and it's the first album rumor has it, you know.
Speaker 1: We cut that song and Reba said, I'm want to
Speaker 1: cut this song Fancy, and I said, I love that song,
Speaker 1: and so I know, and so we cut that song
Speaker 1: and I told yes, because I didn't know the song
Speaker 1: was about a prostitute. I just thought it was about
Speaker 1: a girl moving up town, you know. And so we
Speaker 1: cut the song and I told Bruce Hinton, I said,
Speaker 1: we cut Fancy last night. Bruce was the president of
Speaker 1: SO he was her record level president. I was, I
Speaker 1: was just VP of A and R at that time,
Speaker 1: and I said, we cut Fancy and it's really great.
Speaker 1: He says, I hope it's not gonna be a single.
Speaker 1: I said, I think it's a smash. He said, do
Speaker 1: you know what that song is about? I said, yes,
Speaker 1: about a girl moving up town. He said that's about
Speaker 1: a prostitute. And I said I never even knew that.
Speaker 1: I just loved the song. And I thought that her
Speaker 1: version was even better than Bobby's Gentry's version. She had
Speaker 1: the song oh do Billy Joe and she had fancy
Speaker 1: and I just thought, you know, we copied the record
Speaker 1: for the most part, and the original record, but I
Speaker 1: think it's better. And it's been to this day. How
Speaker 1: many songs even though even though it's not a number
Speaker 1: one record for her, it's her biggest hit I think
Speaker 1: ever number one? No, it was like top ten. How
Speaker 1: many records did that? So? How many maybe two million?
Speaker 1: Three million? Did? Um? Uh? The greatest man? I never knew.
Speaker 1: She just told stories. She sure did, yeah, and real
Speaker 1: stories that her dad. I don't know. I don't think so,
Speaker 1: I don't know. Maybe it was she never said, you
Speaker 1: know at that point, I did for my broken Heart
Speaker 1: because that record right after the plane crash, and that
Speaker 1: was pretty hard for her to do that record or
Speaker 1: her band they were playing at a private party and
Speaker 1: she didn't fly back on that plane. The band took
Speaker 1: the private plane and flew home and hit a mountain
Speaker 1: killed all her band members. Okay, yeah, that is like
Speaker 1: that's traumatic. Yeah, that's really traumatic. And you know that song, Uh,
Speaker 1: there's a song on that album. It's called If I
Speaker 1: Had Only Known, and it's the last song on the album,
Speaker 1: and it was like one take because if you listen
Speaker 1: to the song really close. She is sobbing at the
Speaker 1: end of it. It's a song about if I'd only
Speaker 1: known this would been the last time I would sing you,
Speaker 1: I would have said this or said that. And but
Speaker 1: that was a great album too. It for My Broken
Speaker 1: Heart was a great song. What was work from Vince
Speaker 1: going that was awesome. You know, he was in the
Speaker 1: Cherry Bombs, and so when I when the Cherry Bombs
Speaker 1: finished touring, and then he was with Pure Praier League
Speaker 1: most of the time, but when he wasn't touring with them,
Speaker 1: he played with the Cherry Bombs. I got to know
Speaker 1: him really well. And so when I started working for
Speaker 1: our CIA, I told him, I said, you should move
Speaker 1: to nationally become a country artist. So you're the reason. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he so he moved here and I signed him to
Speaker 1: our CIA. But I didn't produce him. You signed him. Now,
Speaker 1: I gave him a start as a country or no. No,
Speaker 1: I just worked at our CIA. But our CIA gave
Speaker 1: me my claim to fame as a A and R
Speaker 1: guy because I signed Alabama. You signed Okay, tell me
Speaker 1: who you signed. You signed Alabama And that's really all
Speaker 1: I did it. Our C a. MCS signed Loud Love It,
Speaker 1: Steve Earle the Mavericks issue, or would Patty Loveless, Shelley Right,
Speaker 1: Tracy bird Mark Chestnut Uh produced Wine on his first
Speaker 1: record for m c A after the judge broke up, Tony,
Speaker 1: you're responsible for the start of all of those people's career.
Speaker 1: I know you're not gonna take credit for right now,
Speaker 1: because you're gonna say it was a team and it
Speaker 1: was all the stuff. But like you gave those people
Speaker 1: their first break, well they gave me, you know. Signing
Speaker 1: Trisia Yearwood, I went to see her. I want to
Speaker 1: see her at Douglas, Douglas Corner, handle, I want to
Speaker 1: see her at Douglas Corner. And every demo that I
Speaker 1: would get that a girl saying it was Tricia. She
Speaker 1: was a singer. Yes, she was a demo singer, and
Speaker 1: so and so. I was there with the r C
Speaker 1: A A and our person and Warner Brothers A and
Speaker 1: our person. And so she's saying she's in love with
Speaker 1: the boy. And I said, I'll give you a record
Speaker 1: deal if you can have that song. She said, I've
Speaker 1: got that song. So I signed her. That was her
Speaker 1: first single and she opened up for Garth Brooks, and
Speaker 1: so that was I didn't produce her, Garth Funds produced her.
Speaker 1: But let's go back to Vince Skill real quick. So
Speaker 1: after Vince was that m c A. He was produced
Speaker 1: by Richard Landis and by Emy Gordy Jr. And then
Speaker 1: I moved two after our c A, I moved to
Speaker 1: m c A and then yeah, but it took me
Speaker 1: twenty years before I did. But I found out that
Speaker 1: Vince wanted to leave our ci A. And so because
Speaker 1: we had a relationship with a cheery bomb that said,
Speaker 1: won't you come to m c A and I'll produce you.
Speaker 1: But because by then I had produced a few things
Speaker 1: and I was becoming a producer, so he let me
Speaker 1: do that. And the first thing we cut was when
Speaker 1: I Call your Name, Yes, so and so that the
Speaker 1: first song we cut was when I Call your Name,
Speaker 1: and you know, and then we had like I mean,
Speaker 1: I cut still I still believe in you and go
Speaker 1: rest high those big songs, and so you know, our
Speaker 1: career is kind of like I can't believe all the
Speaker 1: stuff you've done, clossing together, like I'm worthy to sit
Speaker 1: next year. Oh you're so silly, You're so silly. Can
Speaker 1: you believe all the stuff? You know? Like two years
Speaker 1: from now, you'll be on entertainment tonight or E news
Speaker 1: and I'll be going. I knew her when she was
Speaker 1: just a songwriter, Tony, Can you believe the legacy? You
Speaker 1: were a living legend? Like, can you believe what you
Speaker 1: have created? I can't believe. I can't believe how blessed
Speaker 1: I have been. And I think it's because I was
Speaker 1: always sincere about I never take it for granted, ever, never,
Speaker 1: because I just know how hard it is to achieve
Speaker 1: things in this town. You know. I remember when I
Speaker 1: wanted to produce at our c A. I couldn't produce
Speaker 1: because they said, you've never had a you don't have
Speaker 1: a track record. And I said, how do you get
Speaker 1: a track record if you don't get an opportunity? And
Speaker 1: so Nora will them let me co produce my first
Speaker 1: number one song with Steve Warner at our c A.
Speaker 1: And that was my first opportunity. I think it was called, um,
Speaker 1: it's not what I did, but what I didn't do,
Speaker 1: and some fools and some fools never learned, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: remember that's a good but you know that's so I
Speaker 1: got the opportunity and then I just kept you have
Speaker 1: delivering and co producing was the thing I had to
Speaker 1: co produce before I could produce by myself. And I
Speaker 1: knew that, you know, Jimmy Bowen when he hired me
Speaker 1: to m c A, he let me co produce Jimmy Buffett.
Speaker 1: That was awesome. I did two albums with Jimmy. I
Speaker 1: did a Riddles in the Sand and last Mango in Paris.
Speaker 1: No did not, but they both. You know, He's always
Speaker 1: sales a million records and then we had a box
Speaker 1: set that we did with Buffett that's sold like four
Speaker 1: or five million. Uh, but that became a great a
Speaker 1: relationship as well. Jimmy Buffett do like he's the coolest. Yes,
Speaker 1: he's like he's just like his he's like his image.
Speaker 1: He lives up his brand, he lives up to it,
Speaker 1: and he's like the coolest. He's never ever he's always
Speaker 1: your friend, you know, once you get to know him,
Speaker 1: he's always there. Well, not humble, he's he's cool. Arrogant,
Speaker 1: he's an arrogant, but you know, but once he appreciates you,
Speaker 1: he always appreciates. Oh yeah, he's not like he doesn't
Speaker 1: like he's not a fair weather friend that blows you off.
Speaker 1: I'm doing a book right now, and so he's part
Speaker 1: of my He's part of my book. I want to
Speaker 1: talk about your book. Okay, tell me about your book,
Speaker 1: because it's right here. Let's just do a little of
Speaker 1: this straight to Jesus. Yes, I was. I wanted to
Speaker 1: do at a picture on the front too. By the
Speaker 1: way of you, what that picture is awesome of you, horrible, incredible,
Speaker 1: So in a way that the thing. I was going
Speaker 1: to do a coffee table book of my life, and
Speaker 1: HarperCollins picked up the idea, and they thought a good
Speaker 1: title would be Nashville through Tony's Eyes. I said, no,
Speaker 1: that's silly. It needs to be a title that would
Speaker 1: make people pick up the book and say, what in
Speaker 1: the hell is this? And so I thought, you know,
Speaker 1: my life started in the church, ended up going through Elvis,
Speaker 1: and then through country music with Emmy lou and Rose
Speaker 1: Inn Cash and Rodney Kroll, and then eventually through the
Speaker 1: record business. So I started taking people uh from each
Speaker 1: part of my my life, like j D Sumner and
Speaker 1: the oak Ridge Boys and Jerry Bradley and Jimmy Bowen
Speaker 1: and so forth. Jogolani. So I had to give it
Speaker 1: a title, and I thought Elvis Straight to Jesus would
Speaker 1: be a great title. If it had been chronological, it
Speaker 1: had been Jesus Elvis Straight, because straight that came later on.
Speaker 1: But I thought Elvis Straight to Jesus has a nice
Speaker 1: has a nice ring to it. And then you know
Speaker 1: everybody that I've produced every record, person I worked with,
Speaker 1: executive Jerry Bradley, Joe Goolani, Tim Dubois, Jimmy Bowen, Bruce Hinton,
Speaker 1: Scott Bruschetta. They're all in the book too because they've
Speaker 1: played important roles. People like Don Was, who let me
Speaker 1: be his h mentor on I mean protege on the rhythm,
Speaker 1: country and blues. He's in the book because we've remained
Speaker 1: friends to this day and he's cool. He produced Bonnie
Speaker 1: Rates two big albums. He does the Rolling Stones right now,
Speaker 1: he's producing the Rolling st he has for the last
Speaker 1: three records. And then Bernie Taupin, who Elton John was
Speaker 1: the person who I wanted to be most of all
Speaker 1: if I was a piano player. Yes, So Bernie Taupin
Speaker 1: and I became friends because Bernie came to town writing
Speaker 1: some country songs, which Lee and Wilmack ended up cutting
Speaker 1: one with Willie I think. But we became friends. He's
Speaker 1: in the book because he introduced me to Elton. Now
Speaker 1: I just met him with Bernie. How was that? It was?
Speaker 1: I was like peeing down my pants, you know the
Speaker 1: one the celebrity that really because honestly, yes, well you
Speaker 1: know I've I've I never met Prince, I never met
Speaker 1: Michael Jackson. I would have loved to have met those people.
Speaker 1: I've never met Celine Dion. I love to meet her too.
Speaker 1: So I met Elton and he only saw two people
Speaker 1: when he was in Nancell about three years ago, backstage,
Speaker 1: Brenda Lee and me. But I was only me because
Speaker 1: I was with Bernie Topping at the concert and Bernie
Speaker 1: took me back to meet him, and I just blabbard.
Speaker 1: You know, this was like stuttered and made a fool
Speaker 1: of myself. Oh yeah, real sweet oh man a queen.
Speaker 1: Well he's so fantastic. Did he have did all these
Speaker 1: pictures in this book? Did you have? Are they professional pictures? Actually?
Speaker 1: Do these pictures? Have you seen my website? People that
Speaker 1: did my website are doing the book, so they're taking
Speaker 1: the pictures but were you collecting these pictures as you
Speaker 1: went No, you know, through the years, I've got pictures
Speaker 1: of them tour, I've got pictures through the years of
Speaker 1: number one parties, gold album parties, CMA parties, you know,
Speaker 1: different things with different celebrities. So these pictures are all
Speaker 1: going to be in there, like chronological as I went
Speaker 1: through my life. And then I've got individual people who
Speaker 1: were important, like j D Sumner's nephew because j D
Speaker 1: passed away, Donnie Sumner represents the j D part of
Speaker 1: my life. We only Golden represents the oak Ridge part
Speaker 1: part of my life. Then I'm gonna have a Lisa
Speaker 1: Marie Pressley being there for the Elvist part of my life. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're good friends. She lives here in Nanceville by the way.
Speaker 1: And uh, and then I got you know, Emmy Lou
Speaker 1: Rodney Crowe, Roseen Cash, the people I played with, and
Speaker 1: then every record executive, Jerry Bradley, Joe Glani, Bruce Hinton,
Speaker 1: Tim du Bois, Jimmy Bowen, Scott Broschetta, They're all in
Speaker 1: there too, representing different facets in my life. Because I
Speaker 1: fired Scott Broschetto and then Hey Helpen, Big Machine and
Speaker 1: stuck it up in my ass. That's right. I told him,
Speaker 1: I said, man, that you should thank me for firing
Speaker 1: you because you stuck it up in my butt. You know.
Speaker 1: He just sort of nodded his head, like, oh, well, yeah,
Speaker 1: he's like worth about fifty million dollars now, you know.
Speaker 1: But anyway, you know those stories are hilarious. Well, you know,
Speaker 1: I fired, yeah, and I'm by each person. They're all
Speaker 1: sitting in this same chair that I'm in on the cover,
Speaker 1: and I'll show you some of the pictures before we
Speaker 1: leave today. But they're all sitting in the chair, and
Speaker 1: I'm already a little paragraph about each person what they contributed,
Speaker 1: Like Donnie Sumner is the one that hired me to
Speaker 1: play in voice, which got me the job with Elvis,
Speaker 1: and uh, and then I'm gonna have a story about
Speaker 1: Scott Bruchette about what happened there, and and Jimmy Bowen
Speaker 1: and Joggolani and and each each person will have a story.
Speaker 1: Emmy Lou Harris when I went audition for her. You know,
Speaker 1: from their perspective, it'll be for me telling why they're
Speaker 1: in this book. And like Bernie Tauping, it to be
Speaker 1: why he's in the book because Elton was my hero,
Speaker 1: and we became friends and remain friends. And then when
Speaker 1: Elton came to town, I said, you got to introduce
Speaker 1: me to Elton John. He said, I will do that
Speaker 1: if you will take me and my wife to see
Speaker 1: Fans Skill and the time Jumpers at Third and Lensley.
Speaker 1: I said, you got a deal. So he took me
Speaker 1: backstage and met Elton and then we went to the
Speaker 1: time Jumpers the next night at Third Lensley. So, you know,
Speaker 1: you find out that every about it is. Everybody's sort
Speaker 1: of the same, you know, no matter. Some people are
Speaker 1: so successful that they become arrogant and unattainable, unaccessible. But
Speaker 1: the people that I love are the ones that are
Speaker 1: so successful that are still accessible and our normal people.
Speaker 1: And I love that. Like reads that way, Vince's that way,
Speaker 1: George is that way. I'm not as great as they are,
Speaker 1: and Lina Richie is that way. You know, he's such
Speaker 1: a cool guy. He is just cool. I felt like
Speaker 1: we were brothers, you know. Oh, it's awesome. It was
Speaker 1: just it was like living a dream, you know. I mean,
Speaker 1: you start, we're doing duets of all the hits with
Speaker 1: country artists, right, you know, and I was thinking, what,
Speaker 1: how good can this be? But it ended up being
Speaker 1: the thing that kind of like propelled his career back
Speaker 1: into gear again. You know, that record was so successful,
Speaker 1: and I started noticing how great those songs were. It's
Speaker 1: started studying all night long, how it's structured in the
Speaker 1: layout of the song and stuck on You and sail
Speaker 1: on Man. It was just awesome. I just I loved
Speaker 1: being around such great talent like that. You know, if
Speaker 1: you can hang out with those kind of people, then
Speaker 1: you're doing okay those kind of no you know, you're
Speaker 1: just the fact that you can do that and feel
Speaker 1: comfortable makes you realize, hey, you know I'm doing something right.
Speaker 1: So I totally agree with you on that. Um, okay,
Speaker 1: So I want to talk about Yes, I'm holding a Grammy.
Speaker 1: I'm holding Tony Brown's Best Country Album for Troubadore two thoight. Yes,
Speaker 1: you know, everybody thought that George had one had one
Speaker 1: lots of Grammys, but he had been nominated but never
Speaker 1: want ago and two thousand and eight we cut an
Speaker 1: album called Troubadour, which is one of my favorite records
Speaker 1: I ever did with George, we won the Grammy we
Speaker 1: won the CMA Album of the Year, See Him a
Speaker 1: Single of the Year at Troubadour, And it was a big,
Speaker 1: big album for George. How did that feel? That felt
Speaker 1: so oh, it felt so cool. You know, best Producer
Speaker 1: for the Best Country Album, Tony. That's the top of
Speaker 1: the top. Well, you know, I had produced like twenty
Speaker 1: things like you know, you only get a Grammy for
Speaker 1: your producer of a genre like Best Album for R
Speaker 1: and B or Best Country Album, Best Jazz Album, Best
Speaker 1: Americana Record if you produce an album that wins a Grammy,
Speaker 1: and then the producer gets a Grammy. I produced lots
Speaker 1: of things like Vince Skill for Best Male Performance of
Speaker 1: a Country Single like the Rest High and I Still
Speaker 1: Believe In You, and then over the years Shirley Caesar
Speaker 1: for Gospel Performance. So I got lots of little plaques
Speaker 1: that say for your participation in Grammy Award winning single performance. Right,
Speaker 1: So you only get a Grammy as a producer if
Speaker 1: you if the album category you're in, like country album
Speaker 1: a may counta album. And so that year George was
Speaker 1: up for Album of the Year, the Country Album of
Speaker 1: the Year, and the Grammys, and he won, and everybody
Speaker 1: thought he had won lots of Grammars, but he hadn't.
Speaker 1: Elvis only won one Grammy for his gospel album The
Speaker 1: Beatles never won a Grammy. No, so uh, this was
Speaker 1: a big deal for George and for myself, you know.
Speaker 1: I just it was so cool, and the fact that
Speaker 1: it was that album, because Troubadour is about uh. I
Speaker 1: was a young troubadour when I came into that, when
Speaker 1: I rode into this town, I'll be an old Troubadour
Speaker 1: when I'm gone. And so I got Vince Skill to
Speaker 1: saying harmony on that without telling George, because they had
Speaker 1: both just been inducted into the Hall of Fame, and
Speaker 1: so George always only uses his background singers on the
Speaker 1: road on his records. So I put Vince on there
Speaker 1: not telling George, which is not a good thing to
Speaker 1: do normally. But George Columny said, man, I love the
Speaker 1: way the backgrounds turned out on Troubadoor? Is that Vince
Speaker 1: Gill I said, yes, it is. I said, because you know,
Speaker 1: you're both troubadors, you both have just been put in
Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame, and I just thought he's a
Speaker 1: great singer and it just made sense to put him
Speaker 1: on there and and George loved it. But so that
Speaker 1: was a special as a special album hit. I only
Speaker 1: got one, but you know one, but I'd rather have
Speaker 1: won it for something like George, you know who I
Speaker 1: put twenty years of my life into and that album
Speaker 1: kind of like with a with a pinnacle, like summed
Speaker 1: up the career of he and I were working together.
Speaker 1: How cool? Is that? So cool? And then you've won
Speaker 1: like a c M Producer of your many times twice
Speaker 1: I think, But yeah, but you know that's like, you know,
Speaker 1: you have the Golden Globes and the Oscars and the
Speaker 1: SAG Awards, and then country music you have the c
Speaker 1: m as, the A c MS and then they have
Speaker 1: the now the eight and c mts, but you know
Speaker 1: the c m as or the Grammys of the Country
Speaker 1: Music awards. And so to win the c M A
Speaker 1: album with this record and the Grammy with this record
Speaker 1: and the single with this record that the c m
Speaker 1: AS was cool. The A c M S is the
Speaker 1: whole different kind of more fan voted awards than industry.
Speaker 1: The industry only votes for the Grammys, and the c
Speaker 1: M A a c MS industry plus fans. So I've
Speaker 1: won a couple of Producers of the Year, but you
Speaker 1: know I was at one time I was producing so
Speaker 1: many records that was hard not to get nominated. And
Speaker 1: then all your friends in the business feel sorry for you.
Speaker 1: Can vote for you one feel sorry for you, Tony Brown.
Speaker 1: I just like hearing your story laid out like this.
Speaker 1: It's kind of unbelievable to me, all that you've accomplished.
Speaker 1: Do you sit around and think about that? I sit
Speaker 1: around and think about it, And like I said before,
Speaker 1: I don't take it for granted, and I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1: And every day when I get up, you know, thank
Speaker 1: God for how He's blessed me. And I never ever
Speaker 1: um forget how I got here. You know a lot
Speaker 1: of my friends helped me. A lot of my friends
Speaker 1: like the job with our c A that got me
Speaker 1: into their business. After I quit playing as a musician,
Speaker 1: I told a friend of mine, David Briggs, who's in
Speaker 1: my book. He and I played with the Elvis together.
Speaker 1: I said, David, I want to get him the record business.
Speaker 1: I want to be an A and R guy. And
Speaker 1: he said, I'll talk to Jared Bradley, he really values
Speaker 1: my opinion and see if he'll hire you and he did.
Speaker 1: So you know, your friends help your friends help you.
Speaker 1: I helped friends out myself. And guess what you do?
Speaker 1: You know you you give, and you know people give
Speaker 1: to you and you give back. It's give him back
Speaker 1: as the whole deal. And when a songwriter thanks me
Speaker 1: for cutting a number one song, I say, thank you
Speaker 1: forgive me that song. You know it goes both ways.
Speaker 1: Thank you for the song, and he said thank you
Speaker 1: for cutting it. And I said, well, you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm very grateful and lucky, lucky man. So right now,
Speaker 1: you just produced. We're about to have to wrap up.
Speaker 1: I could literally talk to you for like fourteen hours,
Speaker 1: so much to talking about you just produced. Annylopper's new
Speaker 1: album was that it was awesome. You know. She came
Speaker 1: to town and interviewed all the producers in town that
Speaker 1: were like Dan huff Byron Gallimore, Nathan Chapman, Garth Thundas,
Speaker 1: Paul Worley, anybody that was producing right now, because she
Speaker 1: wanted to cut kind of a coverage record forties, fifties
Speaker 1: and sixties country songs. The last records she had done
Speaker 1: five years before was in Memphis with all the people
Speaker 1: at Stacks and all those kind of people have blues album.
Speaker 1: So she interviewed me and and everybody else and I
Speaker 1: got the job. And I asked her why she picked me.
Speaker 1: She said, well, I said, don't tell me because I
Speaker 1: played with Elvis. She said, well, that's one of the reasons.
Speaker 1: But anyway, I'm so glad I got to do this
Speaker 1: record because, you know, when she grew up in Queens,
Speaker 1: those songs like Patsy Klein and Wanda Jackson were played
Speaker 1: on pop radio. Back in those days, there was not
Speaker 1: pop charts and country charts and jazz charts and a
Speaker 1: C charts. It was just pop charts. So in pop
Speaker 1: music you'd have Johnny Mathis, Johnny Cash, you'd have Elvis,
Speaker 1: you'd have Patsy Klein. Everybody was on the same chart,
Speaker 1: you know, And those are the songs she remembered hearing
Speaker 1: when she was growing up, and they were pop songs.
Speaker 1: And so she said, I want I want to cut
Speaker 1: these from a the perspective of how I heard them
Speaker 1: in the beginning, not as country songs, but as songs
Speaker 1: that influenced me as a singer. In fact, you know
Speaker 1: that one of my favorite songs she picked was Skeeter
Speaker 1: Davis the End of the World, which is one of
Speaker 1: my favorite old country songs and so, but she said,
Speaker 1: I didn't hear Skeeter Davis's version. I heard Herman's Hermit's version,
Speaker 1: and I remembered, oh my god, they didn't cut that.
Speaker 1: So this was just her favorite song that she grew
Speaker 1: up listening to that she covered right. And so she
Speaker 1: covered Into the World because she heard Hermann's Hermit singing
Speaker 1: and I said, that's one of my favorite songs by
Speaker 1: Skeeter Davis, and so we sort of listened to both
Speaker 1: versions and made her own version of it, and then
Speaker 1: one to Jackson. She did a song called Funnel of
Speaker 1: Love I never really knew much about one to Jackson's music.
Speaker 1: Then we had Jule come sing on Cowboys Sweetheart. She
Speaker 1: yodeled on Cowboys Sweetheart, and then she called the album
Speaker 1: dtour because it's a detour from her normal music and
Speaker 1: any loose sing on that. She cut Nightlife with Willie Nelson,
Speaker 1: and then she uh cut You're the Reason Our Kids
Speaker 1: Are Ugly with Finn Skill, which was a Conway tweet,
Speaker 1: a little Red Lean song. I've never heard the song
Speaker 1: that I've heard the title all my life, and what
Speaker 1: happened on the record, actually happened on the fly. She
Speaker 1: doesn't do any vocal but the track vocal that's it.
Speaker 1: What do you what do you mean? She doesn't re
Speaker 1: sing anything one take, several takes on. No, one do
Speaker 1: several takes and then wants to take is the take.
Speaker 1: So she won't do any edit on any of the take. No,
Speaker 1: she won't go back and resing a line or every
Speaker 1: single verse, or until she finds one take that she likes,
Speaker 1: and then that's it. When the band's playing everything right now,
Speaker 1: we do it live, you know. She recorded this album. Yes,
Speaker 1: the first song we did was into the World, and
Speaker 1: when she finished singing it, I said, I'm so used
Speaker 1: to like singers. You do a track and then the
Speaker 1: band leaves the room, and then the artist sings four
Speaker 1: or five more vocals, and then I copped together the
Speaker 1: best a final of all the vocals. And definitely today's
Speaker 1: age artists don't do a one take with the band
Speaker 1: playing our instruments. They just play and they know they
Speaker 1: can fix it later. So when she finished the first
Speaker 1: end of the World, it was like, I said, so
Speaker 1: do you want to sing your vocals now or wait
Speaker 1: till next week when your voice is fresh. She said,
Speaker 1: I just sang it. I said, I know, you just
Speaker 1: sang it. Uh she said, was it bad? I said
Speaker 1: that was awesome. She said it's done. And when I
Speaker 1: when I finished the album, I was going, I love
Speaker 1: this because I didn't have to do vocal comps, which
Speaker 1: take like forever, yeah, a day of song to put
Speaker 1: vocals together. So she was so cool, and she was like, uh,
Speaker 1: so on top of everything, you know, the band had
Speaker 1: to be on top of everything. She didn't want any
Speaker 1: slackers anywhere. And she brought Bill Whitman, her engineer from
Speaker 1: the beginning. He did everything from Girls Just Want to
Speaker 1: Have Fun through now and he's British, and uh, it
Speaker 1: was great working with experience. Oh yeah, it was like
Speaker 1: a whole different experience from me outside of my comfort zone.
Speaker 1: But I had to really step up and work. I
Speaker 1: couldn't like phone it in, you know, Yeah I don't,
Speaker 1: but you know, I mean, sometimes it's straight. You just
Speaker 1: are Reba. You have a formula, you do you just
Speaker 1: you know, you can do it again and you can
Speaker 1: redo the vocals and this and that. But with her,
Speaker 1: it had to be like on the in the moment,
Speaker 1: on the spot and it was great. Okay, so I'm
Speaker 1: gonna wrap up with leave your Light. I like to
Speaker 1: ask everyone that I interviewed to leave inspiration, something that
Speaker 1: has inspired you, inspiration you live by, and how you
Speaker 1: want to inspire the world with your life. I just
Speaker 1: want to be the kind of person my dog thinks
Speaker 1: I am. I'm kidding. I just want to be you know,
Speaker 1: I'm not a religious person, but I'm a spiritual person.
Speaker 1: I was raising a religious family, but I'm a spiritual
Speaker 1: person and I want to be thought of as a
Speaker 1: person with compassion. Uh it's funny, that's thoughtful and um
Speaker 1: maybe a little talented, but you know, but I really
Speaker 1: I really want to be uh inspirational with people and
Speaker 1: to be cad you know, I really believe and do
Speaker 1: unto others. The golden rule really, to me, is that
Speaker 1: a thing to live by doing to others as you
Speaker 1: would have them do under you. And if you'll do that,
Speaker 1: I try that. But it doesn't always go that way
Speaker 1: with everyone. O. Hey, there's always a bad apple. But
Speaker 1: look at how your life has been blessed from from
Speaker 1: that rule. So great and you know, it's so great
Speaker 1: to know that six years ago when you were working
Speaker 1: with Anastasia and stealing angels. I only knew you as
Speaker 1: a cute girls singer in a band, and then you
Speaker 1: were an intern at Universal South for you so intimidated.
Speaker 1: This story is hilarious cause I would walk by your
Speaker 1: office stone like shake because I'm like, you're silly, scared,
Speaker 1: But it's it's just so it's so fun to get
Speaker 1: to see your friends kind of have success, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean through the years. Chuck Amley, who is now
Speaker 1: one of the greatest engineers in the world, we both
Speaker 1: talked about how I was playing on demos and he
Speaker 1: was a second engineer at the Sound Lab and now
Speaker 1: he's like one of the five greatest engineers in the world.
Speaker 1: In a producer reproducers Miran Lambert, Mark Knopfler, David Now
Speaker 1: and our career is kind of paralleled. We grew together
Speaker 1: and so so fun to see your friends have success,
Speaker 1: and I kind of feel that I'm witnessing that with
Speaker 1: you right now. Yeah, I mean that, I mean that
Speaker 1: ever coming from you, that means a lot. Well, then
Speaker 1: continue what you're doing. You're doing it right well, and
Speaker 1: look look what you've done. You've left a huge mark
Speaker 1: on this world. Well, Thank you, Mark, You're so kind.
Speaker 1: You're so kind, and I'm just a lucky man. Thank
Speaker 1: you is not pleasure. Thank you Carol. She's the queen
Speaker 1: of talking. He was sown. She's on the inside. She
Speaker 1: got the scoop on the laws to on the ones
Speaker 1: to side. No one can do with quiet, Carol, Carol,
Speaker 1: how that you guys loved hearing from Tony. He's such
Speaker 1: an inspiration and he's so amazing. I love that man
Speaker 1: and the things he has accomplished in his life is
Speaker 1: quite phenomenal. So and you'll be looking for his book
Speaker 1: coming out soon next week is really exciting. I have
Speaker 1: my personal mentor, Victoria Shaw joining me on the show.
Speaker 1: She is the reason that I got into songwriting. She
Speaker 1: was my first publishing deal. I interned for her for years.
Speaker 1: She wrote so many songs for Garth Brooks, the River.
Speaker 1: She's every woman. She even opened up for Garth Brooks
Speaker 1: when he played that huge Central Park concert that was legendary.
Speaker 1: She wrote, um, I Love the Way you Love Me
Speaker 1: for John Michael Montgomery, Ricky Martin and Christina Aguilera's song
Speaker 1: Nobody Wants to Be Lonely and her artist who she's
Speaker 1: been working with Lacey Cavalier is also joining and Lacey
Speaker 1: just got off to our Chase Rice. She's incredible. She
Speaker 1: also was on Barney as a kid, Are you kidding Me?
Speaker 1: And she's probably the most gorgeous person I've ever laid
Speaker 1: my eyes on in my life. Beautiful inside and outside.
Speaker 1: So y'all get excited for Victoria Shaw and Lacey Kevin
Speaker 1: air next week, and don't forget to subscribe on iTunes.
Speaker 1: Thanks by y'all. H m hm