Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Inside the
Speaker 1: Studio on iHeart Radio. My name's Jordan Runtag, But enough
Speaker 1: about me. My guest today honed his singular voice in
Speaker 1: the church choir. In fact, he briefly trained to be
Speaker 1: a preacher before his calling let him elsewhere. Many of
Speaker 1: those who've heard his songs are seen and performed would
Speaker 1: agree that there's still a touch of the fire and
Speaker 1: brimstone and his singing, and also a touch of the divine.
Speaker 1: His soulful spirit has made him a favorite of musical giants.
Speaker 1: The Rolling Stones invited his band to open for them.
Speaker 1: Elton John has shared a stage with them, and Stephen
Speaker 1: Colbert tapped him the sing on the premier episode of
Speaker 1: his late show. Those music bears traces of his gospel upbringing.
Speaker 1: His latest record, The Alien Coast, is a massive creative
Speaker 1: leap forward, infusing hip hop beats, samples, and scynths along
Speaker 1: with the band's trademark horns and fluid funk. Its lyrical
Speaker 1: inspirations are equally diverse, pulling in imagery from dystopian sci fi,
Speaker 1: Greek mythology, seventeenth century Italian sculpture, and colonial history books.
Speaker 1: This Bewitching Brew is out now and it needs to
Speaker 1: be heard to be believed. From the mighty St. Paul
Speaker 1: and the Broken Bones, I'm so happy to welcome St.
Speaker 1: Paul himself, Paul Jane Win so much I want to
Speaker 1: talk to you about. I want to start with your
Speaker 1: new record, The Alien Coast. It's been called an ambitious
Speaker 1: musical fever dream, which is perhaps the most awesome description
Speaker 1: of an album I've ever heard. How did this start
Speaker 1: for you? How did it come together? Well, I mean
Speaker 1: it kind of man, it started in uh uh yeah,
Speaker 1: so it really was a record that um it started.
Speaker 1: It started I think really January twenty nine, and we
Speaker 1: we knew we were, you know, doing demoing and doing
Speaker 1: the thing. We knew like, oh, this is gonna be
Speaker 1: a little bit different, and so as we kind of
Speaker 1: went through the process, I think we finished up the
Speaker 1: record by March, basically right before it's all held recluse perfect. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was a great timing, perfect timing. Um but uh yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, over time we kind of knew with the
Speaker 1: demos were going, and it was like, okay, this is
Speaker 1: this is different, and um I was the kind of
Speaker 1: concept and all I was kind of working through myself
Speaker 1: and and this kind of for some reason it seemed
Speaker 1: appropriate to like think of it as like a fever
Speaker 1: dream or a nightmare or however you want of you,
Speaker 1: you know, with some kind of surrealist touches and things
Speaker 1: like that. And then basically the last two songs are
Speaker 1: me kind of waking up, going on just you know,
Speaker 1: lonely and and and and sad. So um. It's a
Speaker 1: concept that it took a little time to kind of
Speaker 1: finesse and and get there, and but we finally got there. Um,
Speaker 1: and I'm pretty proud of it. Him you mentioned the
Speaker 1: last two tracks, I man, the album closes with love
Speaker 1: Letter from Red Roof, in which he says, kind of
Speaker 1: like the key to the whole record. It kind of like,
Speaker 1: oh I see or have all these you know, the
Speaker 1: all the somebody of the prior tracks are just taking
Speaker 1: influence from an incredible range of influences, from the Greek
Speaker 1: mythology and Dystopian sci fi stuff, and you know, seventeenth
Speaker 1: century Italian sculpture, and then all of a sudden, you're
Speaker 1: you go from you know, seventeenth centuries Italian sculpture to
Speaker 1: Read Roof in all of a sudden you think, oh,
Speaker 1: what you just said about it kind of being this
Speaker 1: concept that lands here right back at this very specific place.
Speaker 1: Talked a little bit bit more about that. That final
Speaker 1: track it really does kind of like ground the album
Speaker 1: and is it's a great almost like a twist ending Yeah,
Speaker 1: in a way, it is. I think what I really
Speaker 1: liked about it, you know, because what was interesting is
Speaker 1: that we had folks in our camp. They were like, hey,
Speaker 1: you should play that. That song should be earlier in
Speaker 1: the album, and I kept saying, it doesn't. The album
Speaker 1: doesn't make sense to me, you know, I did that,
Speaker 1: you know, it was it was you know, I get
Speaker 1: that it's you know, maybe a little closer to something
Speaker 1: we would do. But I was just like, it just
Speaker 1: doesn't make any sense to me, uh, from from the
Speaker 1: kind of the story of the record. And so I
Speaker 1: kind of that song was written in much like a
Speaker 1: place I am right now in a hotel room on
Speaker 1: a hotel uh you know, notepad, and I was just missing,
Speaker 1: missing home, you know, missing, and you know, and like
Speaker 1: I love that song because it it the course is
Speaker 1: kind of a cliche j and I referenced that in
Speaker 1: the song, like I'm not as smart as you think
Speaker 1: I am. So let me just say another you know,
Speaker 1: let me just tell you another cliche. Man, I thought,
Speaker 1: I always like that. I like that. I like that
Speaker 1: song for that reason a lot. How did some of
Speaker 1: the more sort of surreal visions take shape for you?
Speaker 1: I mean, I know there's, um, you know, there's the
Speaker 1: one song that's inspired by the painting. Uh st Michael
Speaker 1: triumphs over the Devil. Uh How does that take shape
Speaker 1: for you? Do you have the music and then it
Speaker 1: reminds you of this kind of really terrifying painting or
Speaker 1: do you see you did you see a picture of
Speaker 1: the painting and kind of thing? Oh my god, that
Speaker 1: that sense of fear that it fills in with really
Speaker 1: stuck with me. I want to write a song about that.
Speaker 1: I saw the painting when I was in London and it, um,
Speaker 1: that's kind of what I do, like either frequent and
Speaker 1: art museum or a record store, and that's basically what
Speaker 1: I do when I'm on the road. Um. But I
Speaker 1: remember seeing the painting and the devil and it is
Speaker 1: is horrifying. It's a horrifying demon, you know, like this
Speaker 1: crazy with like red eyes and sharp teeth, and you know,
Speaker 1: it's kind of metallic looking like a like some sort
Speaker 1: of like you know, Industrial Revolution kind of machinery that
Speaker 1: was made. UM. And I that was always kind of
Speaker 1: a nightmare kind of character. And so when I was
Speaker 1: writing the record, UM, you know, I had a night
Speaker 1: in UM, I had an emergency appdecte on me and
Speaker 1: I had a night like with a with a morphine drip,
Speaker 1: and uh, it was kind of a crazy kind of night.
Speaker 1: And I think, yeah, I think about that. UM before
Speaker 1: I we wrote this record, I kind of had that
Speaker 1: experience and I was like, oh, this is kind of
Speaker 1: this fever dream. And my wife was actually in UM.
Speaker 1: She was actually in Ireland for work, and so I
Speaker 1: had nobody kind of there. Um, eventually my my my
Speaker 1: mom had come. So it was a weird night. You know,
Speaker 1: you're like on morphine and so it's kind of this
Speaker 1: nightmare and you're like you're not sure where you're at. UM.
Speaker 1: So I that character always kind of popped his popped
Speaker 1: his face at at times. Wow. I mean that's jeez,
Speaker 1: that's absolutely that that Okay, that that's a real life
Speaker 1: horror to go with the artistic horror. Good Lord, you
Speaker 1: mentioned your wife. She's a professor and I believe as
Speaker 1: a master's in literature. I mean does she uh, As
Speaker 1: I said earlier, I mean there's so many, just such
Speaker 1: an incredible array of influences on this record. Did any
Speaker 1: of those come through her? I mean through um, you
Speaker 1: know books, she might have turned you onto her stuff
Speaker 1: like that. Um. It definitely like she you know, um,
Speaker 1: what's spend a like a like three weeks in Rome
Speaker 1: and Florence. Um, and I would obviously go see those paintings,
Speaker 1: you know, go see like the Carvaggios and the Berninese
Speaker 1: and and all this amazing you know, our sculpture and
Speaker 1: architecture and so long. So definitely that I Um, it's
Speaker 1: at times I'm scared to show her stuff because she is, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, a lot smarter than I am. So I
Speaker 1: get you know, I'm like gout and she's relentless, like
Speaker 1: she will tell me. UM. So we kind of have
Speaker 1: an agreement, you know, uh that, but I would say
Speaker 1: not on this particular thing like she Definitely we definitely
Speaker 1: were in the same place as though, you know, like
Speaker 1: we saw the same thing and it reached me in
Speaker 1: that way, I guess. I mean, it's definitely this record
Speaker 1: seems to have a much broader pallative sounds and musical influences.
Speaker 1: I mean there's synths and hip hop beats and samples
Speaker 1: in addition to kind of more of the gospel background stuff.
Speaker 1: What led you to branch out like this was that
Speaker 1: the goal all along? Or was was it sort of
Speaker 1: having you know, just sort of because I knew you
Speaker 1: recorded near your home in in Birmingham, was it easier
Speaker 1: to just sort of keep going back to the studio
Speaker 1: and playing around and experimenting, or a little bit of both.
Speaker 1: I think we had time, you know, I think we
Speaker 1: had time, and we when we started getting so we
Speaker 1: basically have like a drop box that we it's like
Speaker 1: a band drop box that just has demos, right, and
Speaker 1: we just put demo after demo after demo in there.
Speaker 1: And I knew when I started hearing the demos that
Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, this is going in a different direction.
Speaker 1: This is going this is going to be a little different.
Speaker 1: So I knew it was like, we need time in
Speaker 1: the studio to work this, flesh this out so that
Speaker 1: it is not too metallic sounding, that it has some
Speaker 1: organic feel to it. Because the demos were very like electronic,
Speaker 1: very you know, electronic, and we even use parts of
Speaker 1: the demo in the songs um and in the song's
Speaker 1: final final version. Wow, I did realized that. I mean,
Speaker 1: is that like sort of the the uh, the bedrock
Speaker 1: of it and then kind of embroidering. Yeah, some of them,
Speaker 1: sure is. Some of them we've rebuilt from the ground up.
Speaker 1: And then some of them were like when that that
Speaker 1: was a really good sound, so we need to kind
Speaker 1: of we can't. We can't reproduce it. And that's kind
Speaker 1: of what happens sometimes you make a sound and you're like,
Speaker 1: there's no reproducing it. You captured that particular in that moment, so, um,
Speaker 1: that's what. So we had to put it in the
Speaker 1: final track. And you mentioned having the band dropbox. I mean,
Speaker 1: did you do a lot of stuff in the room
Speaker 1: together to I mean, I'm thinking of something like Minotaur,
Speaker 1: which just feels like it has something that just it
Speaker 1: does feel so like you're bouncing off each other in
Speaker 1: a room together, you would think, but no, that is
Speaker 1: not the case. I know. No. Um, we we That
Speaker 1: one was a mutilation of a demo, is what that was.
Speaker 1: That was one that our guitar player put the demo
Speaker 1: in and then Jesse, the bass players like, hey, I
Speaker 1: think I'm gonna mess with this, and so it definitely,
Speaker 1: uh was a a remix, I guess, and so we
Speaker 1: were like, but we just liked the way to feel.
Speaker 1: And then once you get in the room and you
Speaker 1: play it like you feel, you know there there was
Speaker 1: a field there and the band I think really captured it,
Speaker 1: which was great. Um, but only there's only a couple
Speaker 1: of songs that were like sad, you know, like Burmehell
Speaker 1: and the Devil was definitely a song that was created
Speaker 1: at a sound check. Um. It was one little like
Speaker 1: little phrase and it was like, Okay, that's right, that's
Speaker 1: the right thing that did. Um. I'm trying to think
Speaker 1: what else. Um. Red Roof I think was as well,
Speaker 1: but yeah, it was. It was an interesting process for sure.
Speaker 1: I think I read that the first album you ever
Speaker 1: bought was Otis Sings the Blues, which is just so
Speaker 1: much just infinitely cooler than like pretty much any first
Speaker 1: album I ever bought. Story that I've never heard. Who
Speaker 1: were some people that that made you passionate about about
Speaker 1: music growing up? Um? Talking about artists or or or
Speaker 1: people in my life? Oh either, Um, I mean artists,
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously you do have some of my code
Speaker 1: of spreading or that there was a seventies group called
Speaker 1: the Stylistics that you know, I really loved Sam Cook,
Speaker 1: Marvin Gaye, all those folks. But um, you know, at
Speaker 1: the same time, like my mom, you know, played piano
Speaker 1: and and and she played piano. I mean she plays
Speaker 1: piano now, and you know, singing in church and things
Speaker 1: like that. Definitely, I don't it's weird, Like, I don't know,
Speaker 1: I was necessarily passionate about that. I just really really
Speaker 1: really liked it. And then as I got older, you know,
Speaker 1: into my later teens, then I got passionate about it.
Speaker 1: Then I really started to kind of trying to devour
Speaker 1: everything I wanted to. Was there a tipping point for
Speaker 1: you or was it just realizing that you have this
Speaker 1: fantastic instrument that that was your own, that really is
Speaker 1: so unique and special and made you want to develop
Speaker 1: it more. I don't know if I've arrived quite there
Speaker 1: where I feel like the fantastic thing, but it's I
Speaker 1: can typically do all right in most situations. Um, I
Speaker 1: don't know. I don't definitely feel like I've arrived or anything.
Speaker 1: But there was a moment when I did some open
Speaker 1: mic nights in Birmingham and I was doing original songs
Speaker 1: and it was getting a reaction. So I was like, okay,
Speaker 1: well that's that feels good right, you know. And so
Speaker 1: and then someone told me like, look, you're not a
Speaker 1: great guitar player. Which I'm not a great guitar player.
Speaker 1: I can I can get around around around while. But
Speaker 1: they were like, you're you know, you're a pretty decent singer.
Speaker 1: You should really pursue this. And I had a few
Speaker 1: friends that were really encouraging and I was like, okay,
Speaker 1: you know, like and so I gave it a shot,
Speaker 1: you know. And I met Jesse, who was the bass
Speaker 1: player in this band, and he he was the kind
Speaker 1: of guy that had been in several different bands and
Speaker 1: try you know what I mean, Like his dream was
Speaker 1: to be a musician. That's all he ever wanted to be.
Speaker 1: And for me, I was just kind of like, I
Speaker 1: just want friends and people to hang out with and hopefully,
Speaker 1: you know, they won't kick me out of the band
Speaker 1: because I sound bad, right, And so that relationship really blossomed.
Speaker 1: And that was if it weren't for Jesse, I wouldn't
Speaker 1: be doing what I'm doing. And this is a question
Speaker 1: that's going to give away the fact that I've I've
Speaker 1: never written the song of my life. I'm always curious
Speaker 1: when I speak to people who are are blessed with
Speaker 1: the ability to write music kind of what compels them
Speaker 1: to do So is it a desire to connect with
Speaker 1: other people or is it to get something out of yourself?
Speaker 1: And if you were on a desert island, you'd be
Speaker 1: writing just as much because you just need to get
Speaker 1: this out of you. Or is it a combination of both.
Speaker 1: I think it's a combination of both. I think it's
Speaker 1: a combination of both. I think for me, there are
Speaker 1: times where you feel like you just have to get
Speaker 1: it out. There's some sort of creative input or output
Speaker 1: that you need to do, you really need to need
Speaker 1: to do, and you have it is kind of like
Speaker 1: a therapeutic thing too, you know, like, UM, for me,
Speaker 1: there is a therapy element too, for sure, UM. And
Speaker 1: I think just trying to figure that out and go
Speaker 1: through that. UM. But at the same time, yeah, it
Speaker 1: is about connecting with people. And I mean I have
Speaker 1: learned that you don't you can't be trying to write
Speaker 1: songs to please people at first you have to please yourself,
Speaker 1: because what ends up happening is if you try, if
Speaker 1: you're trying to please people, you could write a song
Speaker 1: that you don't like but that people do, and you
Speaker 1: end up hating you know, you end up hating playing
Speaker 1: that song. So the hope is is that you write
Speaker 1: a song that you like and that God willing someone
Speaker 1: else is gonna like it, because of course you want that, right. Um,
Speaker 1: But I think there's certain there are certain things I
Speaker 1: certain songs or albums I would have written whether I
Speaker 1: was you know, if I was if I was you know,
Speaker 1: a mailman or you know what I mean, like something
Speaker 1: like that. Like there are there are albums like that,
Speaker 1: and then there are the ones that's like how creative
Speaker 1: can we get and how creative? How far can we
Speaker 1: go and stretch stretch the limits of what we do?
Speaker 1: And God willing connect with people. I know that connecting
Speaker 1: with people in the last two years has been kind
Speaker 1: of a challenge. Has there been a silver lining at
Speaker 1: all of this? This kind of enforced home period for you?
Speaker 1: For me? Yeah, I mean my my wife and I
Speaker 1: or you know, she had the child. Um, I've just cheerly. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, she had we had our first child in September,
Speaker 1: and so thank you. And it was this beautiful thing obviously,
Speaker 1: and I got to I got to you know, if
Speaker 1: I'd have been touring, I would not have been able
Speaker 1: to be there for that. It was weird going through
Speaker 1: that through covid um it made for a very unique experience. Um.
Speaker 1: It's like when I see people complaining about wearing a
Speaker 1: mask and I saw my wife in laboring for four
Speaker 1: hours with a mask on, I'm like, shut up, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, Like, I'm pretty sure that's and
Speaker 1: so uh so, but that that really did And I've
Speaker 1: I've gotten to be able to be there with Marigold
Speaker 1: and and my wife and that has been a beautiful thing. Um.
Speaker 1: That's that. That is definitely the biggest silver lining you
Speaker 1: could have. I feel like, oh, absolutely, I know you
Speaker 1: had your your grandfather's voice on your last album. Uh
Speaker 1: would you ever include Marigold's voice on upcoming songs that
Speaker 1: continueum going? Who knows? I mean right, it was not.
Speaker 1: It was one of those things where yeah, it's it's interesting,
Speaker 1: but who knows, but it is it is it Definitely
Speaker 1: you definitely can draw some inspiration for from it. There's
Speaker 1: no two ways about that. Oh yeah, I was gonna
Speaker 1: say it is that has that becoming a father cropped
Speaker 1: up in in your music at all? And you're in
Speaker 1: some of the more news not Yeah. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: because this record was written before she was she I
Speaker 1: mean this record was written. It was pretty much written
Speaker 1: before I knew she was she was going to be
Speaker 1: a thing. And uh, and so it definitely definitely can
Speaker 1: you know, inspire inspires you and and uh and so on.
Speaker 1: You know, it sounds like the record was was done
Speaker 1: right when lockdown and everything started. But um, has uh
Speaker 1: the last year and a half been a musically productive
Speaker 1: time for you? Have you been writing a lot just
Speaker 1: sort of while you've been kind of at home or
Speaker 1: I mean, this has been a very fruit I know
Speaker 1: some artists had a really hard time with it, and
Speaker 1: I get it, like you do kind of have to
Speaker 1: live life to to write music, and when you can't
Speaker 1: live life, it's hard to music. Um. I'm very fortunate
Speaker 1: because I'm surrounded by a lot of really creative people
Speaker 1: and so if maybe I'm not feeling something, there's someone
Speaker 1: else who's pushing the pushing me or pushing you know.
Speaker 1: I like to be busy, right, and and so it was.
Speaker 1: It was difficult though, because I did hit a wall
Speaker 1: where I was like, Okay, what am I What am
Speaker 1: I gonna write about now? Like, what's what's inspiring me,
Speaker 1: what's moving me? And it's it just there wasn't much
Speaker 1: going on, so you do you do hit a wall.
Speaker 1: I think I definitely had a wall. There's only so
Speaker 1: many TV shows you're gonna watch, and you know, it's
Speaker 1: like what you can read. I did think I was
Speaker 1: gonna read a lot more, and I did not read
Speaker 1: as much as I thought. I was like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna read so much there, and I I'm usually
Speaker 1: pretty good, you know, I go in my I'm very
Speaker 1: cyclical in my reading habits. I'll be like ferocious and
Speaker 1: then I'll be like I'll struggle with you know, one
Speaker 1: book or something, you know, as a month or something.
Speaker 1: So it's, uh, it's a weird thing. But I definitely
Speaker 1: thought I was going to read away more during cold
Speaker 1: Quarantine than I did. What You are extremely high on
Speaker 1: the list of people that I am dying to know
Speaker 1: what you've been listening to recently because I watched the
Speaker 1: great video of you. I forget who it was with,
Speaker 1: but it was you. Uh. I think it was called
Speaker 1: on the record going to a record store and uh,
Speaker 1: watching you pick out your you know something to buy
Speaker 1: it a vinyl store. I forget where it was, but
Speaker 1: I'd love to know what what you've been listening to recently?
Speaker 1: Oh man, what have I been listening to recently? Um?
Speaker 1: Besides myself? Um, but I uh, I was trying to think,
Speaker 1: what have I been listening to? I mean, I have
Speaker 1: to look at it. I've been listening to so much
Speaker 1: stuff that, like, it's kind of ridiculous at this point. Um,
Speaker 1: I've listened to actually recently got it got more like
Speaker 1: I love them the Neville Brothers, So I started listening
Speaker 1: to like Yellow Moon things like that. Um. There's this
Speaker 1: great record um by Ernest Hood. It's called Neighborhoods and
Speaker 1: it's basically this recording and this is I guess it's
Speaker 1: from the seventies, and it's this recording of him, like
Speaker 1: recording like things in his neighborhood. And it's kind of like, um,
Speaker 1: kind of minimalist kind of music accompanying like these sounds
Speaker 1: of children playing in the neighborhood. Things like that. It's
Speaker 1: really interesting, really cool, Um, I like that. That one's
Speaker 1: I've been really into. So, um, that's a good one.
Speaker 1: That's a good one. Oh, I got Ernest Hood. You
Speaker 1: said Ernestthood. Oh, I gotta check that out. I'm embarrassed
Speaker 1: even asked you if you've heard this, because of course
Speaker 1: you have. But I've been playing um like a ship
Speaker 1: pastor tel Barrett lately. Yeah, that's a great so much.
Speaker 1: That's so good. And I know there's a new one
Speaker 1: out lately. I've actually haven't heard it yet, but I've
Speaker 1: heard it's really good. Yeah, I that's that's some good
Speaker 1: stuff for sure. Oh that's so good. Yeah, it's been
Speaker 1: funny too. I feel like a lot of people I
Speaker 1: know myself included, during uh you know, this sort of
Speaker 1: unsettled time to put up mildly, I have been turning
Speaker 1: back into listening to stuff that I haven't listened to
Speaker 1: since high school, just way throw like musical comfort food
Speaker 1: in a way. I don't know if you've been feeling
Speaker 1: that way. Yeah, you're right. There is a little bit
Speaker 1: of that, Like there is a little bit of of
Speaker 1: going back a little bit and finding what conference Shoot, um,
Speaker 1: I it's weird, Like I can always listen to like
Speaker 1: great gospel music because you know, you know, I grew
Speaker 1: up around it and um, like anything about a storm
Speaker 1: or anything like that, I'm always a sucker for whether
Speaker 1: it's it's well with my soul. I've been in the
Speaker 1: storm too long. Like, anything like that always gets me
Speaker 1: for people who maybe don't know as much about gospel
Speaker 1: as as they would like to. And I probably would
Speaker 1: count myself in that category too. Who are some great
Speaker 1: people to start with to go check out that? Are?
Speaker 1: You know, a lot of live is probably a crucial
Speaker 1: component of it. But people that are on record, at
Speaker 1: least on record, I mean you have there's a lot
Speaker 1: of like, um uh James James Cleveland is is an
Speaker 1: old school record guy. Um there is Callie. That's just
Speaker 1: such a such a loaded question. Um like uh uh,
Speaker 1: there's to me like Clay Evans, There's Room at the
Speaker 1: Cross for You is a great one. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: there's actually been a lot of great uh compilations um
Speaker 1: that Like I know, Um, Light in the Attic I
Speaker 1: think had a really great compilation. Numeroal groups had a
Speaker 1: really great UM compilation. Um. Yeah, so there's there's some
Speaker 1: there's some great there's some great like there's some like
Speaker 1: gospel funk things too that are flown out, and there's
Speaker 1: also um a great one of my like there was
Speaker 1: a gospel label in um Nashville called Nashborough Records, and
Speaker 1: a lot of those records are really really, really good. Um,
Speaker 1: I would definitely check those out. Oh man, thank you.
Speaker 1: I I definitely will be doing that, and hopefully people
Speaker 1: listening will too. Oh man, I you know, I mean
Speaker 1: hopefully the last year and a half is giving you
Speaker 1: time to, you know, reflect on what an amazing, you know,
Speaker 1: musical journey you've been on, with so many incredible moments.
Speaker 1: I mean, I imagine touring with the Stones, being on
Speaker 1: stage with Elton John. I mean I think you were,
Speaker 1: if I recall correctly, the first musical guest on on
Speaker 1: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Is there anything in
Speaker 1: particular you have that really stands out for you? It's
Speaker 1: just like a really special moment that that you really
Speaker 1: treasure above above all else. Mm hmmm, Um, I mean
Speaker 1: those are all pretty amazing, right. UM. I do think
Speaker 1: definitely in this whole the whole pandemic has definitely made
Speaker 1: you a little more reflective and how fortunate you actually are.
Speaker 1: You know when you're in it, and people don't know
Speaker 1: this when you're touring as much as you are, Like
Speaker 1: it's hard to it's hard to stop and smell of roses,
Speaker 1: you know, like you're you're going. You're hustling, whether it's interviews,
Speaker 1: whether it's recorded music or whatever it might be, You're
Speaker 1: you're going. And so, um, it's a it's a complicated thing. Um,
Speaker 1: but for me, that first time that we ever Um
Speaker 1: sold out Bottle Tree Cafe in Birmingham, Alabama, that was
Speaker 1: the goal. That's what we wanted to do. That's the
Speaker 1: moment to me that like I'll always remember and never
Speaker 1: will forget. Everything else is gravy. That was everything when
Speaker 1: it when that was the goal, it really was. That
Speaker 1: was the goal, Like that was the goal. And then
Speaker 1: when that happened, it was like okay, now what And
Speaker 1: so obviously you never imagine that you're gonna you know,
Speaker 1: play play you know, open for the Stones or without
Speaker 1: you know. For me, like I work security at Botery
Speaker 1: and so that one was a really big deal because
Speaker 1: I just never thought a thousand years I would play
Speaker 1: on the stage where I did security. Um, that one
Speaker 1: was amazing. Things like that you just kind of you
Speaker 1: grateful for and it, but I'm definitely trying to move.
Speaker 1: I'm always just a perpetual motion motion person. So I'm like,
Speaker 1: all right, what's the next thing? What's the next what?
Speaker 1: What's what's what are we doing? You know that kind
Speaker 1: of thing. Well, you're on the move a ton this year.
Speaker 1: I think you got what to tours, right, you're uh
Speaker 1: your solo tour or with the group, and then later
Speaker 1: on this summer you're without going out with fits in
Speaker 1: the tantrums. You're I think something like fifty days something
Speaker 1: like that, quite a few. Yeah, I mean that's gonna
Speaker 1: feel good after, you know, being a bit more stationary
Speaker 1: for a while. God willing, Yeah, right, No I should not,
Speaker 1: God willing. Yeah. I mean we've we've it's you know,
Speaker 1: we haven't played much, you know, as far as touring goes, well,
Speaker 1: I don't think we've done it like I do. Think
Speaker 1: at some point this year we did like a little
Speaker 1: tin day run um and that's the longest we've toured
Speaker 1: in two years. Um, So this this is going to
Speaker 1: be It's I think we're all really excited. We're all
Speaker 1: really excited to finally you know, it looks like and
Speaker 1: and and and the good thing is it looks like
Speaker 1: things are slowing down, you know. And I think we're
Speaker 1: I think we're hopefully um but um, God knows that
Speaker 1: we all need it, you know how. So I'm optimistic
Speaker 1: for the first time and probably a year and a half,
Speaker 1: I'm pretty optimistic. Oh, I am too. I'm really hoping
Speaker 1: we're seeing the light at the uh the end of
Speaker 1: the tunnel with this. I gotta say, I gotta shout
Speaker 1: out your amazing stage where from from those suits to
Speaker 1: the James Brown Cape's good Lord, it looks so you
Speaker 1: look so good. It's amazing. Thank you. Um. Yeah, someone
Speaker 1: else designs all that, so it's certainly not me. Um,
Speaker 1: but I definitely am like, hey, I'm thinking this, what
Speaker 1: do you think? And they're like, Okay, that's pretty crazy,
Speaker 1: but well we'll make it happen. So so far it's
Speaker 1: worked out well. Oh man, Well, thank you so much
Speaker 1: for your music and your time today. Can't wait to
Speaker 1: see you out there soon. God willing. I'm really thinking
Speaker 1: that it's it's it's gonna work. I I'm optimistic we're
Speaker 1: getting there were I'm We're gonna it's gonna happen. You know,
Speaker 1: we're kind of like, if this March tour doesn't happen,
Speaker 1: I might start thinking about Uber eats or something, maybe
Speaker 1: an Uber driver or something man singing telegrams or something
Speaker 1: sings whatever. They will be playing on the backyard and
Speaker 1: invite the neighbors over and then put money in a jar.
Speaker 1: It's about where we're headed. If that that doesn't happen, well,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a very full jar if it comes
Speaker 1: to that. I'll tell that much. Oh man, thank you
Speaker 1: so much. It's been such a joy talking to you,
Speaker 1: and your music is absolutely incredible and it moves me
Speaker 1: so much. I just thank you, thank you for having me.
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