Billy Payne Country Singer songwriter

Billy Payne is an international traditional and outlaw country singer songwriter from West Virginia. He has been  an active recording artist for decades, releasing multiple albums and maintaining a dedicated following both in the U.S. and abroad. Y'all go check him out at

www.billypaynecountry.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

I'm Billy Payne, and you're listening to me on the David Bradley Show.

SPEAKER_07 0:09

Billy, how's it been going, buddy? Really good. Thanks for having me here. Oh, well, I appreciate it. I mean, it's uh a lot of history.

SPEAKER_01 0:19

Yeah, I guess so.

SPEAKER_07 0:20

You know. It's one of those things.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Yeah. I'm uh I'm glad but I'm glad to be here. I appreciate it really a whole lot.

SPEAKER_07 0:28

It's different though. I mean, because you're used to radio stuff. This is more podcast stuff.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

Yeah, I like this. It's a pretty nice setup.

SPEAKER_07 0:36

I appreciate it. Yes, sir. It's nothing but fun. Of course, when we get the bigger podcast built, then you'll be able to come in with a full band and build it.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Oh, that'd be great.

SPEAKER_07 0:46

It'd be awesome.

SPEAKER_01 0:47

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_07 0:48

We'll uh we'll uh do stuff that uh other people are only dreaming of, so.

SPEAKER_02 0:53

There you go.

SPEAKER_07 0:56

There you go.

SPEAKER_01 0:59

How long have you been playing, man? I think this year is about 35 years now. So been a good while. And you're still learning every day. Yep, still learning every day and still playing dues. For sure. You know, it's um but yeah, I I kind of got started a little late, but I've been in it now for 35 years. Yeah. So I'm in so deep I'd have but to get out I'd have to break my own legs. Yeah. So yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_07 1:32

Call the wrecker and pull me out.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

That's right. It's not it's been a journey, man. I tell you.

SPEAKER_07 1:38

Well, yeah, because I mean, dude, I was looking at a lot of the things that you did, and I'm just like, holy crap. Some of the stuff you've done, the people you've played with, and just I mean, it just uh it floors me.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

You know, I have to pinch myself about it myself at times, you know, because I just I I I look back and can't believe what I've been able to do. Yeah. And what I've been through. So, you know, and it's like unreal. Very blessed, very fortunate. Yeah. Yes, sir. And uh five years after his death of when I started playing with the band.

SPEAKER_07 2:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 2:20

But Well, I was just gonna make sure I got it straight, you know, because you start reading stuff and and sometimes how it's put out there in ra in writ is is not exactly how it happened, you know.

SPEAKER_01 2:34

And almost, you know, doesn't count, but at the same time I was that close if he hadn't have been sick. Yeah. You know, I knew we would have collaborated. That's what Jerry told me, b Jerry Bridges, you know. Yeah. He said, man, he said, just everything just happened just a little bit off, you know, but but when I met him, he was already ill. Yeah. You know, and um bless his heart, he was always nice to me, but he you know, we corresponded by mail or whatever at the time. Right. He'd send me stuff, you know, and that's how we got our friendship after we had met, you know. And uh and uh but I don't know if you know how I got that to meet him, but I carved a statue of him, fifteen inch tall statue, and yeah, gave it to him. Awesome at the Ashland Paramount Stud uh Theater in Kentucky, and he was just tickled to death, you know. Oh yeah. And she told me she kept it even after he'd passed, you know, as far as I know, she still has it.

SPEAKER_07 3:34

Yeah. So That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

I'll have to send you a picture of it. Well yeah.

unknown 3:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 3:40

Cause that's uh I I've always always had a little bit of an attachment with Whalen. It's just it's something about how he was, you know, in his music.

SPEAKER_01 3:54

Yeah, you know, he's a really nice guy, and the outlaw thing was just for you know it's because he wouldn't take nobody's shit. Right, exactly right. And uh he got labeled a lot of stuff out of that, but he was really a cool cat, you know. Yeah. And uh and uh but he all he wanted was his music his way. Yeah, you know, and that's how I believe he too myself, you know.

SPEAKER_07 4:17

Well, yeah, and you know that a lot of people they love that photograph of Johnny Cash giving the bird. But if you get to the back the background of all that is you couldn't tell these guys how to do music, they were doing it their way.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

Exactly.

SPEAKER_07 4:36

And then when all these bigwigs come in and we're telling them, well, you gotta do this, and that song's only gotta be a certain amount uh length wide and all this other stuff, and that's where you got those boys that just didn't give a shit.

SPEAKER_02 4:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

Like the time Merle Haggard brought his gun back to the studio, he'd borrowed from him, and and uh he laid it up on the music stand and told him said, Now catch anybody doing pickup notes, I'm gonna blow your fingers off. That turned into be an outlaw thing, you know. Yeah. It was funny, I thought, you know, because Merle just brought it back to him because he borrowed it from me.

SPEAKER_07 5:14

It's nuts how some of it is.

SPEAKER_01 5:16

Oh, yeah. But uh I learned a lot from him. I really did, you know, by you know, watching and listening to interviews and stuff like that. I never ever tried to emulate him at all. And the good thing about the band even told me, you know, we like your what you do because you're not trying to be somebody you're not. You're doing your own thing and you respect what we do. Yeah. And the first time Richie Albray had me to really do anything with him at all is to sing my song I wrote about Nashville, and he said, That's the first thing we'll cut because it's the truth, you know. And so that's how my relationship gang uh began with the band because it started at Douglas Corner here in Nashville and he had me come in do a show, you know. And the rest is history really. They even got Douglas Corner anymore. I think he shut it down. Either shut it whoops either shut it down or tore it down, I heard. Yeah. You know, so uh but uh it was right across the road from the comedy club, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_07 6:19

Yeah. That's what I thought. I was trying to remember.

unknown 6:24

Oh God.

SPEAKER_07 6:25

So many daggone good clubs back in the day, and they're gone now.

SPEAKER_01 6:29

You know, and that place looked like a rundown place, but it was a great place to play music.

SPEAKER_07 6:34

It was a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_01 6:35

Oh yeah. I had just done a show a week prior to that back home to with a uh people that come in and help build houses. Yeah. It was a group that came to the Southern Appalachian Labor School and it was Vanderbilt. Mm-hmm. And sure enough, they showed up at my show at at uh Douglas Corner now. A big group of them come in wearing Billy Pain t-shirts and hollering my name, and everybody was going, you know, how in the world, you know. So, but yeah, they got to come to the first show and it was a really good time, you know. I can imagine. Yeah. Cause it's it just uh I'm supposed to be a nobody and everybody, what the heck? You know, how do you get all these people here? You know, where'd all these people come from? Yeah, it was pretty nice of 'em.

SPEAKER_07 7:22

I love that. And you know, it's 'cause I think back, you know, all those years ago, seeing all the things that happened and things that that went on, and then I look at it now and I'm just like y'all only knew things have changed so much in this town, you don't even know what way to turn around, you know. Well, I mean, you know, somebody said the other day that it was uh used to be uh a seven-year town, now it's a 12-year town, and I was sitting there thinking, I remember when it was a five-year town. But it all depended on who you knew.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

Exactly.

SPEAKER_07 8:14

And if you knew the right people, sometimes it wasn't even a five-year town. You know, you could just come in, walk in, and boom, there you're on the radio, you're good.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

I started coming here in in 84. And, you know, I didn't know a soul. And so I parked in front of RCA recording studios and I asked a guy walking up the street, and I said, Can I park here? Don't ask me, I'm from West Virginia. How the world that happened? Well, I mean I didn't know a soul.

SPEAKER_07 8:46

Well, all these years, and I have people ask me now, where are you from? And I'm like, has that become a big staple in Nashville? Where are you from?

SPEAKER_01 9:03

Where are you from?

unknown 9:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 9:05

And when I tell them I'm from Nashville, born and raised, now I'm the unicorn. And I'm like, Yeah, I guess that's right.

SPEAKER_02 9:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 9:19

Because everybody I talk to, singers on writers and all this stuff, ain't none of them from here. No.

SPEAKER_01 9:27

You know, it's one thing I've always said about trying to do good in this business. I've been f very fortunate not to have to come downtown and throw my guitar case on the sidewalk and open it up and play for money. I've been blessed about that, and I feel so sorry for the ones that are doing it. But man.

SPEAKER_07 9:47

The bad part about it now is you don't really see a lot of people busking like that.

SPEAKER_01 9:53

No, you don't, and it's changed, you know.

SPEAKER_07 9:56

The last time I was downtown, I seen some kids with some plastic buckets. And they wasn't even beating in time. They were just beating on them every now and then. And I'm like There's no finesse to that. There's no splash of excitement. There's just a ten-year-old kid beating on some buckets.

SPEAKER_01 10:23

Yeah. Doesn't make any sense.

SPEAKER_07 10:26

It doesn't make no sense.

unknown 10:27

No.

SPEAKER_07 10:28

Because I remember, you know, back in the day there was that that one guy in New York City that was doing that, and he had like a drum set set up with buckets.

SPEAKER_03 10:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 10:37

And was moving the bucket with his feet and making different sound. And but just, you know, three or four buckets and somebody just beating on them every now and then. I mean, come on.

SPEAKER_01 10:47

Yeah. Maybe they want somebody to make them think they're feel sorry for them or something. I don't know.

SPEAKER_07 10:51

They wanted money.

unknown 10:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:53

Somebody do something, you'll get dollar through at you or something.

SPEAKER_07 10:56

Well, that's the only thing that that's that's made me mad over time is you don't have to even be talented. You just have to show up, beat on something, and hope somebody gives you money.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

Right.

SPEAKER_07 11:13

And I'm just like that's not where where's the talent at?

SPEAKER_01 11:18

Right, exactly. I've noticed a lot of that. There's not a lot of it anymore. Yeah. I I think they're more into looks.

SPEAKER_05 11:26

Yeah.

unknown 11:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:27

Especially with and I don't mean it's bad at all, but especially with the women, if they're pretty, they got a deal.

SPEAKER_05 11:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:33

Whether they can sing or not. Oh, it don't matter. No, no. And all the the voice things that they do now to to help them be a singer.

SPEAKER_07 11:42

Oh yeah. We can auto-tune, it's okay. I actually heard I'm not saying who.

SPEAKER_01 11:50

I understand that.

SPEAKER_07 11:51

But I actually heard somebody say, You look great. I can make you sound however I want you to sound. You don't worry about it. Just sing in that mic.

SPEAKER_01 12:10

I think that's false uh advertising. That's the only way I can look at it.

SPEAKER_07 12:16

You know, it's like well, I mean, me and you are from a different era.

SPEAKER_01 12:20

Exactly. Old school.

SPEAKER_07 12:22

It's old school. If you didn't have talent to sing, you didn't sing. No. It wouldn't even cross your mind.

SPEAKER_01 12:30

The only thing I can do is play ball.

SPEAKER_07 12:32

You'd have mom or or grandma sitting there going, baby, honey. Go put that away. Stop that foolishness.

SPEAKER_03 12:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 12:41

But if you could play guitar, they would tell you. Yeah. Oh, you good. Keep practicing.

SPEAKER_01 12:45

That's right.

SPEAKER_07 12:46

That's all you heard was keep practicing. That's it. I heard it. That's all you gotta do. Nowadays you just they don't tell you to keep practicing.

SPEAKER_01 12:56

They don't tell you to not sing either.

SPEAKER_07 12:58

Yeah. They don't. It don't matter.

SPEAKER_01 13:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 13:01

It don't matter.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

You know, I give everybody credit to try, you know. You know, I look at it, well, you're trying, but you know, God God bless them, they trying, but some of them just don't need to be done.

SPEAKER_04 13:14

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

You know. And that's just a a true statement.

SPEAKER_07 13:20

Well, I mean my big thing is nobody cares enough to tell you the truth.

SPEAKER_02 13:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 13:34

As long as they think they can make a dollar off of you.

SPEAKER_01 13:37

They're all for it.

SPEAKER_07 13:38

They're all for it.

unknown 13:39

Yeah, I know that.

SPEAKER_01 13:42

No doubt.

SPEAKER_07 13:42

The Nashville I grew up, if you couldn't sing, you get out of town. You get the hell out of the way.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

That's it. That's exactly right. If you couldn't play guitar, what the hell are you doing? Well, it's the same thing, you know, when I started playing with the Whalers and he said, Billy, if one and you know, I was like, man, I'm yeah, am I doing all right? But you know, at the time I was a little concerned. He said, just remember, if you wasn't any good, you wouldn't be here. Yeah. And I'm like, okay. Still not big headed about it at all. I just, you know, it made me realize that I was on the right track. Yeah. And uh but uh you're right. A lot of people don't don't need to be there doing it. No, they don't back in the day you weren't doing it.

SPEAKER_07 14:26

No. Yeah. Cause I mean, back in the day, they tell you to do you're true to your face.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

Yeah. Get out of here. Yeah. That's it.

SPEAKER_07 14:36

You're done. You know, it's just there's certain things and and and nowadays it's like, uh, it don't matter. You can do whatever. We can fix it.

SPEAKER_01 14:47

Yeah. Which is sad, you know.

SPEAKER_07 14:50

Well, that's the difference between we had was recording on real real and all that good stuff. Nowadays it's all digital and they can fix it and AI tune it and all this other crap and it just it drives me nuts.

SPEAKER_01 15:14

Yeah, well, you know Billy Billy Cheryl done all the stuff for the Opry and engineered and he worked with me on my genuine leather CD project, and he was telling me, you know, he he was the guy that recorded all the stuff for the Opry. And he said, It's not fixed when it comes on, but the next time you see it it will be. And he was right. He told me that, and I'm like, wow, I couldn't believe some of them it sounded different from nine o'clock show to the repeat at twelve. Yeah. Yeah, so it was and I didn't you know, I had no idea at the time they did stuff like that back then, you know. Yeah. It was in 2010, I think. I was really shocked.

SPEAKER_07 15:54

Well, we had different processors and boards and all that stuff that we could run through. And it cleaned up a lot of that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 16:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 16:02

Nowadays they just point and click. Yeah. And it's done.

SPEAKER_01 16:05

And it's some kind of a uh what is it? Some kind of vocal thing that they use nowadays to make somebody sound better?

SPEAKER_07 16:14

Yeah, it's auto tune.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

Do they use it live on stage too?

SPEAKER_00 16:18

They can. Is that right? Yeah. Yeah. They can even have like AI singing. Like complete just tracks.

SPEAKER_01 16:28

Something else. I believe AI is gonna be the death of us. If we don't get a if we don't get around it, you know.

SPEAKER_07 16:34

It'll either be the death or it'll be a big paycheck for somebody.

SPEAKER_01 16:38

Right.

unknown 16:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 16:40

Because you already had that one AI that went number one, you know.

SPEAKER_01 16:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 16:45

And nobody even knew it.

SPEAKER_01 16:46

Oh, it's uh that's right. A singer had a number one song from AI, right? But it was a AI singer.

SPEAKER_07 16:52

It was an AI singer. Breaking Rust. Yeah, breaking rust. Wow. And nobody knew it until it finally all came out.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

That's something that's kind of scary, really.

SPEAKER_07 17:07

Well, I mean, dude, right now you can do you could have AI write a song for you. AI can put it out there for you. You can go in and a couple of clicks and create a music video.

SPEAKER_02 17:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 17:22

And you can put uh I don't know if it's called Avatar, but you can have a person made that's actually singing the song.

SPEAKER_01 17:36

It's nuts. It really it's it's really got bigger since Randy Travis came out that new stuff. Yeah. They did that something else.

SPEAKER_07 17:46

I mean, it's it's it's insane.

SPEAKER_01 17:50

Certainly ain't like the old way, that's for sure. I know things change, but you know, you think it's the originality of it is the best way to go.

SPEAKER_07 17:59

Yeah. And you know that's the big thing about all of it, you know. It's uh a lot of things that that we grew up with are things of the past.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

Yeah. And like you crazy if you mention it to them. Yeah. So it's like unless you're working with somebody that remembers all the stuff or is involved in what you do and you know, and come from the same era.

SPEAKER_07 18:25

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, you know, it's uh it's nuts how some of it is because the times change. Yeah. You know, and uh and that was one thing that Bob Dylan was right about when he sang it, you know. Times they are changing, you know.

SPEAKER_02 18:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 18:46

But they're always changing. I I just it makes you wonder sometimes, is it changing for the better or is it changing for the worst?

SPEAKER_01 18:53

Uh I got an answer to that, but I don't know if I should say. You know, it's uh it's really something that that uh like the like the songs that are written today, a lot of them talk about the same thing. Like trucks and beer and tailgate. Yeah. And uh my dad called me one night and said, Have you heard the song about sitting on a fence post drinking a beer? I said, No, but I don't think I'd want to do that. He said, Well, that's what they said, and I'm like, wow. And you know, I was I've never heard of anybody sitting on a fence post fence post, you know. Maybe a flit rail fence, but not a fence post.

SPEAKER_07 19:34

Yeah, but you know, I'm I'm When we were sitting around drinking beer, we wasn't sitting on the fence post. It was usually next to a bonfire or we were sitting in a boat or we were doing something.

SPEAKER_01 19:51

And I guess you know, bringing that up is just an example of the way the lyrics are nowadays. A lot of it don't make sense. And it's all it's got is a beat and a little music though to it, but it just doesn't the story doesn't line up with the s you know, something real life.

SPEAKER_05 20:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:06

You know.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

And that's one thing I've always tried to do is write about something I know about or I've saw or seen, or whatever you want to say, that that uh when you're out playing, that's where you learn this stuff at. Write about life, you know. And that's uh that's that's the way I've done it.

SPEAKER_07 20:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

You know.

SPEAKER_07 20:25

Well that's you know, I'm uh I'm not a writer, but I got stories for days and that's just I can sit down and tell you a story of my life, something that happened, you know. I've had a lot of people that have actually took a story and and wrote a song on it, you know. And the cool part was listening to the story, listening to the song, and I'm like Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. And that's the way the songs were back then, you know?

SPEAKER_01 21:04

Yeah, Dale Watson even made a statement in the song said, you know, they've took away the story in our music. Yeah. And uh, you know, and it's uh, you know, when you do a song, y it's supposed to be something that somebody can relate to and about their life as well as it did you.

SPEAKER_05 21:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:25

And I that's the way I found it always to be the best way to go because you get more attention that way.

SPEAKER_05 21:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:32

But then you want to present that to somebody higher up on the totem pole in a record business, then they don't want to hear that.

SPEAKER_07 21:40

Well, that's cause you're not going into their itinerary of how they think things should be done.

SPEAKER_01 21:49

Exactly. Yeah. Makes it, you know.

SPEAKER_07 21:53

That's why you got Johnny Cash doing that a lot, you know.

SPEAKER_01 21:57

Was that actually it was a billboard downtown. Wasn't it when you're going right by the mummer streak?

SPEAKER_07 22:04

You know, I can't even remember.

SPEAKER_01 22:05

But I thought it it had a spring on it, and fingers stuck away out here.

SPEAKER_07 22:10

I I can't remember.

SPEAKER_01 22:11

Do you remember that? It was very catchy. I mean, you could you did couldn't miss it.

SPEAKER_07 22:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:18

But it did uh it spoke for itself, didn't it?

SPEAKER_07 22:21

Yeah. It's crazy how some of that stuff was.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

Oh yeah. And still using it today. I think that picture was taken at Folsom, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_07 22:32

Yeah, it was taken at Folsom. I wish I could have been there just to hear what was said for him to do that.

SPEAKER_01 22:43

You know, it's kind of funny that we brought that up. That's the first song I ever heard of Johnny when I was a kid was Folsom Prison Blue.

SPEAKER_05 22:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:52

And my mom and dad bought me live at San Quentin, I was first grade. And that's the kind of record you don't give a kid, you know. I learned a lot back then. You know, and and I was I was hooked, man. Yeah. That's how it started. You know, I wasn't but in the first grade, and I wanted to be a singer, man. You know, I wanted to be Johnny Cash. You know.

SPEAKER_07 23:15

A lot of people wanted to be Johnny Cash.

SPEAKER_01 23:17

Then George Jones came along and you know, and I wanted I wanted to be just like him, and then I got to tell them, man, you gotta be a real good man to be like them guys. Oh yeah. But but that was my influence when I was a kid, man. And I'm like you. I'd love to be able to be a fly on the wall or something. Oh yeah. You know.

SPEAKER_07 23:40

I'd love to be a fly on the wall in a couple of recording sessions. Oh man. Just uh just to hear them all, because I actually heard that some of these people are actually getting back to where they're recording full band in the studio like we used to do.

SPEAKER_01 24:03

That's a live feel. That's what that you know that's the whole one.

SPEAKER_07 24:07

Well, there's more, you know, warmth. There's more depth. You feel the energy on the album, you know. And that's I'm sitting here with I probably ain't no telling how many more people are on this thought wave, but I want albums to come back.

SPEAKER_01 24:26

Oh yeah, me too.

SPEAKER_07 24:28

CDs were fun, and now streaming's fun, yeah, you know, and you ain't gotta care. But there was something about having a big old rack full of albums.

SPEAKER_01 24:40

Well, they're interesting to look at all the time. Didn't they smell good?

SPEAKER_07 24:45

And there was sound good. There was something about putting that album on that turntable and dropping that needle right in between them two songs. Perfect. Felt like a radio DJ all over again.

SPEAKER_01 24:59

I that that's uh another thing they they they took away was the uh art artwork and and the music. You know, it was like you had something you really was like impressed about. Yeah. You know, and it of course I'd hate to carry a bunch of them around these days.

SPEAKER_07 25:19

Dude, I'm telling you, I had a buttload of albums and I ended up giving a bunch of them to my daughter and uh I couldn't believe how much I'd carried around for so long. I I carried them and it was just uh I don't know, it just got to where I didn't want to do that anymore.

SPEAKER_01 25:50

I just kind of got on the bandwagon of the stream and and stuff, you know, and it's it makes it easier for us guys out there f playing and singing, you don't have to have a bunch of boxes of stuff with you. But at the same time it's pretty cool to have that to where they can, oh, look here, you know. Yeah. And then they're taking the CD players out of the cars now and it's like Yeah. And then they're shoving us over to the sticks and downloading all things, you know. But but the records are coming back, you know, you can got the option to have them done that way, but I myself I wouldn't want to carry a bunch of them to show after show unless I had somebody doing it for me. Right. Yeah, but well I mean to me brings more attention to you to have it.

SPEAKER_07 26:33

To me, the streaming is I'm renting what I'm streaming. If I owned a CD or I owned a cassette or I owned a eight-track or I owned an album, I'll pay for it. I own this now.

SPEAKER_01 26:52

Right.

SPEAKER_07 26:53

It's mine and I ain't gotta worry about it.

SPEAKER_01 26:57

Right.

SPEAKER_07 26:58

Now if the power goes off, your streaming goes away. You don't have you ain't got nothing.

SPEAKER_01 27:04

You don't have any music at all, and if you got a music player at home that runs on batteries, you can still listen. Oh yeah. Yeah, but no, not when streaming goes down. Oh yeah. You don't watch TV either.

SPEAKER_07 27:16

I used to love the boom box we had back in the 80s, you know. Oh yeah. Carry that thing around everywhere. Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_01 27:24

It was always nice to be able to do that. I used to uh ride my bike a lot when I was a kid, and I stayed with my grandma through the summer. Yeah. And um my aunt had an eight-track, manual eight-track that you turn yourself to change channels, and I tied that thing to my handlebars ride all over town, and I'd go to the local store and buy those three-dollar eight-track tapes. And that's how I big I think that's where my music career began, right there when I was riding a bike and listening to all that stuff. And it's uh it's a big memory of mine that I always you know have in my head, you know, about that's how I learnt a lot of music.

SPEAKER_07 28:06

What was your favorite eight-track back in the day?

SPEAKER_01 28:09

My favorite eight-track song. Probably Elvis Presley at the time. Yeah. And then, you know, of course I had Johnny and Whalen and George and all them too in the basket beside of them. But yeah. But I'd listen to a lot of Elvis Presley riding that bike, you know.

SPEAKER_07 28:24

Oh yeah. My couple of my favorites that I had was Ted Nugent, Three Dog Night.

SPEAKER_01 28:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 28:34

I I just I wore them out, man.

SPEAKER_01 28:38

I'll always loved uh Joy to the World. Yeah. Yeah, and that was a really cool song. And then uh then uh what was the other one? Never been to Spain. Yeah. And uh I just I grew up listening to all that stuff. Yeah, that's what influenced me.

SPEAKER_07 28:58

Sadly to say, that's when music was good.

SPEAKER_01 29:02

It certainly had a had a big audience. That's for sure.

SPEAKER_07 29:07

It really did.

SPEAKER_01 29:08

You know, everywhere I go, and uh, you know, no matter I've always had 'em come up to me and say, Are you singing country music? Are you singing stuff that's new?

SPEAKER_06 29:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:20

And I said, Well, I'm singing country music. Okay, well, as long as you got it right, that's what we want to hear.

SPEAKER_07 29:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:26

And that's what they tell you, especially overseas.

SPEAKER_07 29:29

Yeah. Well, I had CMA Fest last year. I went to a show down on Broad, and uh an artist invited me down there. And uh we went down there and we hung out, and I was actually shocked. Somebody in the audience went up and put money in the tip jar. And he actually said, Well, what would you like to hear? And the guy turned around and said, Anything that ain't a cover. I want to hear your music. And I was just like, I love you, man. Because I remember when it was that's what it was. Yeah. You know, it was you come down here, you played your original stuff, you had fun with it, you know.

SPEAKER_01 30:24

That's what all the other guys done.

SPEAKER_07 30:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:27

You know, that's why they m met up at Tootsie's or wherever or or somewhere. And they over at Sue Brewer's place, they'd always write songs and play them to each other. Yeah. You know. And just having fun. Mm-hmm. That's where all the hits came from back in the day.

SPEAKER_07 30:43

That's where a lot of the hits was wrote.

SPEAKER_01 30:48

Something else. But it's not it's not like that at all anymore.

SPEAKER_04 30:52

No, you can't.

SPEAKER_01 30:54

Nowadays they say we don't want to hear your stuff. We want to hear a cover. And they do that too. It's like once you be a human jukebox.

SPEAKER_07 31:03

I don't understand it.

SPEAKER_01 31:04

You know, every time I play a show though, I've always tried to, you know, keep something that in the show that somebody knows. And just it and just lay my songs in there in between things. And and I felt that was the best thing I could do for myself. And it hit and it worked. But um but most people you get to play music for, you only want to play covers. Bands. Oh well, let's play Work A Man Blues. I'd rather play that than your song.

SPEAKER_07 31:34

You know what I would love to do? I would love to have a bar downtown that I could go in and they just give me a one-hour slot.

SPEAKER_01 31:46

Right.

SPEAKER_07 31:47

And let me pick artist, musician, and us go in there and take over that stage for that hour and see how many songs we could play that they wouldn't even have a clue about, but would love every damn one of them.

SPEAKER_01 32:08

That's exactly right. Yeah. It'd bring back a lot of better things. Oh, yeah. I do think. Yeah. Yeah, I think so. It's uh you're right.

SPEAKER_04 32:19

I think that'd be fun.

SPEAKER_07 32:21

Let's go down to Tootsie's.

SPEAKER_01 32:23

Let's do it.

SPEAKER_07 32:23

Let's go down to Tootsie's and and and uh we'll get some people together and uh uh we'll see how many people actually recognize, you know. Let's say, give me a good song. Don't even let's don't even target a country song. Let's let's target uh a different song. Uh ooh, Knights in White Satin.

SPEAKER_02 32:46

There you go.

SPEAKER_07 32:49

Yeah, just I bet nobody would even know it. Probably not. They think it was a brand new song.

SPEAKER_01 32:54

Yeah. A lot of them do. I don't know the times I'd be singing somebody else's song. They said, Do you write that? I always went and I always set my set list up with nothing that was a hit. Yeah. I got filler material off people's albums. And I got booked more like that. Yeah. Because I wasn't playing what was on the radio or what was on television. Yeah. And it was that did well for me. And uh back in the day, though, I wasn't adding any of my stuff, but a lot of people thought I was writing some of that stuff they'd never heard because they only got run out and buy the 45. It's a hit, they didn't get the album.

SPEAKER_07 33:32

A 45, man, what's a 45? Don't nobody know what a 45 is anymore.

SPEAKER_01 33:39

You know, uh a friend of mine, you know, his son came up from Florida to stay with him very young, you know. Yeah. And he asked his dad, he said, Dad, can I play your Nintendo game player? And he said, My son, I ain't got any Nintendo games. He said, Yeah, you do, they're on top of TV. He said, Those are eight-track tapes.

SPEAKER_07 34:01

Man.

SPEAKER_01 34:04

But yeah, they don't the the young ones don't know what in the world they listen we listened to back in the day. No. Yeah. It's foreign to them.

SPEAKER_07 34:13

Well, I mean, yeah, I I've actually brought up, you know, we used to sit there with an eight-track recorder waiting on the song to come on the radio and record it from there.

SPEAKER_01 34:25

I did that a lot.

SPEAKER_07 34:26

Were we actually doing were we thieving songs back in the days? I mean, you know. We were pirating. We were pirating, that's what it was.

SPEAKER_01 34:37

We were doing and didn't even know it.

SPEAKER_07 34:39

It didn't matter because we put together one hell of a mixtape, and that girl liked it. Yeah. We had a good time. We had a blast.

SPEAKER_01 34:49

Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_07 34:51

Oh god. It's nice how all that goes.

SPEAKER_01 34:59

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_07 35:05

I'm sitting there reflecting now. I'm just like Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:11

We we've been there, haven't we?

SPEAKER_07 35:12

Yeah, we've been there.

SPEAKER_01 35:15

Makes us uh I think it makes makes us who we are. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 35:23

I might call Leon and say, Leon, book us uh book us a thing down there at uh on Broadway for an hour. Just have some fun. We'll get you to come down there and play a song and and we'll just mess with people. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:41

That's right.

SPEAKER_07 35:44

Show some of them young whippersnappers the r the realism of everything.

unknown 35:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:50

I'm just glad there's still some of us around that can bring it into into them, you know. Oh yeah. Because man, I've had lots of kids, you know, come up and say, Man, you know, it's what you sing, you tell them stories, you know. I'm like, yeah, that's how I that's how I learned, you know, and growing up listening to the kind of music I did. And and this kid came up to me one time, he couldn't have been no more than 13, 14 years old at the time. He had these real long pants on, and he was way hanging way on his pocket down here.

SPEAKER_04 36:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:22

It's in that pocket and said, uh, I have your CD, would you sign it for me? Wow. Wow, that's pretty cool. And he told me at the time, he said, You remind me of Hank Williams. And I said, Buddy, that's an awful nice compliment.

SPEAKER_06 36:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:36

And I said, That's way before your time, but he said, But I love Hank Williams. And he said, When I listen to your stuff, you're telling the same kind of stories.

SPEAKER_07 36:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:45

And I thought, man, that's what a compliment.

SPEAKER_07 36:48

Yeah. Yeah, and that's that's one thing that um I hope never goes away, but I see some aspects of where they're trying to go different routes with it.

SPEAKER_02 37:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:04

Yeah, me too. It's I'll probably be stuck in the same old frame of mine I've been for the last 30 years, so yeah.

SPEAKER_07 37:13

Well, I you know I've noticed they'll take a song that's a hit, and then they'll try to do a song off that hit. Try to peg around it in one shape, fashion, or form.

SPEAKER_02 37:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 37:31

And the only song I've ever noticed is that they never touch, they never look at, or they never even try is uh Stop Loving Her Today. They've never even done anything remotely even similar or close to it.

SPEAKER_01 37:47

Well that's called uh don't mess with perfection.

SPEAKER_07 37:49

Yeah, pretty much.

SPEAKER_01 37:51

Yeah. They can't build they can't top it.

SPEAKER_07 37:53

No.

unknown 37:54

No.

SPEAKER_01 37:55

It's one of those songs, it's gonna stay the way it is.

SPEAKER_07 37:58

Yeah. Yeah, and that's uh I think a lot of songs need to be that way though.

SPEAKER_01 38:02

I do too.

unknown 38:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:05

That's another thing I've strived to do. I have strived to when I record something like which I I strive to do it, I don't have to now. It's to sound the same as I do on album. Yeah. Because I feel that's your identity. Yeah. As a singer, if you sound like you do on your album, then you've you've conquered something. You've got your niche. You don't sound completely different than the recording. And I like and I've had people ask me if I I mean, especially if I'm doing a track and I have to do a track at times. I've had people say, Are you really singing it? Is that the track? And I thought I'm singing it.

SPEAKER_07 38:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:47

Yeah, that's me. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. But you know, it's it's um it keeps you in that frame of mind, so to speak, about your sound and your niche and all that stuff, you know. Yeah. And it's then it comes automatic. Yeah. Sounding like yourself and but it used to be kind of challenging for me when I first started playing, you know. It's like I gotta be me from here on out. Yeah. And that first album come out, I gotta be me.

SPEAKER_07 39:22

Yeah, you got to.

SPEAKER_01 39:25

You know, when you're out there doing all those songs in bars and stuff, you know, you're trying to be familiar uh similar to the singer that you're singing their songs. But man, when you start recording and you're serious about it, you better be you. You can't be coming in for a different voice every time. So you'd be the greatest imitator ever.

SPEAKER_07 39:45

What do we say? Let me sound like so-and-so tonight, you know.

SPEAKER_01 39:49

Yeah, that's right.

unknown 39:50

You know.

SPEAKER_07 39:50

It gets crazy.

SPEAKER_01 39:51

I had a there was a booking agent that just talked talking about this ultimate Wayland tribute I've got going.

SPEAKER_04 39:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:58

And he said, Well, I know you can sing like him, but you better sound like him when you do the show. And I said, uh, let's put it this way. I'm gonna sing his songs and I'm gonna pay tribute to him. I'm not gonna try to be him. Yeah. Because I think the show'll go a lot better, you know, because I'm not up there acting, I'm up here performing the music that has to be done, as far as I know, authentically and not try to be the person.

SPEAKER_07 40:27

Right. You know. Yeah, and and and that's the way it needs to be.

SPEAKER_01 40:30

Yeah, I I don't like them up here acting and acting like, yeah, well, me and Willie had something to say to talk to each other today. You know, I I just don't go of that. Oh yeah. It's like a play or something, you know.

SPEAKER_07 40:42

Well, I mean, you know, it's just it's weird how all of it goes because a lot of people don't they get that song in their head and they get that song of who's doing that song.

SPEAKER_01 40:56

Right.

SPEAKER_07 40:57

And then it automatically changes their vocals. Yes, it's they keep trying to it's kind of like when we're riding around listening to a song in our car and we're singing to it and having fun.

SPEAKER_01 41:08

And you know, uh I sound like Bob Sager.

SPEAKER_07 41:13

Working on I boom, you know, and uh and that was it, you know. Yeah because I mean we had uh but nowadays some of these cars use that into, they're so daggum loud you couldn't even tell who's singing or not.

SPEAKER_01 41:29

Yes, a lot of boom, boom, boom. Yeah, you know. Who's singing that?

SPEAKER_07 41:33

Boom, boom, boom, boom.

SPEAKER_01 41:34

Yeah, it's boom, boom.

SPEAKER_07 41:38

Caitlin taking a break. Ugh, but yeah, man, it just uh I kind of hope that that things will actually revert back to a lot of things because I see a trend, I see some things happening, and I'm wanting more of that to to actually come full circle.

SPEAKER_01 42:00

Yeah, me too.

SPEAKER_07 42:03

There's just something about those albums, the way we recorded back in the day.

SPEAKER_01 42:10

It's very interesting story when somebody tells you how that process went. Yeah. Richie Albright told me a lot of that. What is it, the acetate had to bake it in the oven and all that stuff.

SPEAKER_07 42:24

All the craziness.

SPEAKER_01 42:25

Yeah. And if it wasn't right, they'd do it all over again.

SPEAKER_07 42:28

Yeah, and uh there was an art of cutting that reel to reel tape.

SPEAKER_01 42:38

Yeah. Putting holes, taking things out.

SPEAKER_07 42:41

Cutting things out. And God forbid one of them break when you was recording. So I mean it was just it was a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_01 42:50

Yeah, Richie was telling me he said, you know, he used a paper punch and roll it until you can hear where you need to punch it at.

SPEAKER_05 42:58

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 42:59

And it's unreal. It sounded like to me it sounded like it would take forever to make a record, but I guess it really did.

SPEAKER_07 43:04

It did.

SPEAKER_01 43:05

You know, if it wasn't right, they had to go right back in and do it all over again. And I think that's how some of the best stuff that came out of Nashville ended up like that, you know.

SPEAKER_07 43:16

Some of the best things that come out of Nashville would literally take two, three weeks one song. Yeah. Editing everything that we did that they did. And if you got a band that was dead on, and you got that artist that was dead on, and everything worked great, you could turn them out quicker.

SPEAKER_02 43:44

Exactly.

SPEAKER_07 43:46

But when you had a lot of those those people going, well, you know, we need to put this dub in here and do this and do that, and it just it got to worry, it was time consuming.

unknown 43:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 43:59

That's how the Digital came about.

SPEAKER_01 44:01

Oh yeah. Now it's like punch you in if you gotta you need to fix a word, they just punch it when you say it. Yeah. You know or they'll use it off of another line you had and if it's the same word, you know, and if as long as it fit they put it. But I've been very fortunate about being able to record the way I have and work with the guys because it's never been a rush. Yeah. It's always, you know, letting me do my thing. And it's man, it's and I never thought I'd get that opportunity, David. I never did. I th I'm because when I first started recording whatever I said to them didn't seem to matter. Right. But man, when I started working with those guys, I said, no, this is you and it's what we want it to be. Yeah. And uh it's like I had creative control.

SPEAKER_02 44:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:50

You know, and it's uh it meant it's meant so much to me. And I think it's why that I have had so many good records or songs or whatever you want to call it to say, you know, but uh it's been really good for me you know, to have take the time to to to give me what I want to do. Yeah. You know.

SPEAKER_07 45:12

You know, and that's that's the odd part though, because you actually found places that you could record that would let you be you.

SPEAKER_02 45:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 45:22

There's a lot of places out there that won't they won't let you. We need it this way.

SPEAKER_02 45:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 45:29

What are you doing? Stop that. Do it this way.

SPEAKER_02 45:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 45:32

But this is my song.

SPEAKER_02 45:34

Right.

SPEAKER_07 45:36

You're doing it wrong. I wrote the dagum thing.

SPEAKER_01 45:39

I had a lot I had a lot of that said to me from band members, you know, we was playing one night and rehearsing, and bass player stopped me and said, Hey man, that song's wrong. You're not playing it right. And I said, Well, I'm not. And he said, No. I said, I wrote it. And he said, if you wrote it or not, you're playing it wrong. So the guitar players fuck up and said, No, I'm sorry, bud, but I've been listening and you're playing it wrong, not him. Yeah. You know, it's like and uh and it was like, Well, sorry, you know, they may get mad at you, but you know, I and I said, if I'm not doing it right, show me how to play it.

SPEAKER_07 46:16

Yeah, exactly. And um And then he played it wrong.

SPEAKER_01 46:20

And I ran yeah, and I ran into a lot of that vocal stuff, you know, back home.

SPEAKER_07 46:25

Everybody got an ego. I don't understand it.

SPEAKER_01 46:27

You know, that but I I think they get a little intimidated because you got something good going to play for them and want them to learn it.

SPEAKER_06 46:33

Yeah.

unknown 46:33

And they don't want to do it, you know.

SPEAKER_01 46:35

They want to change it. Oh yeah, change it. It feels like the cord needs the key needs to go this way.

SPEAKER_07 46:42

Let me put my five cents in.

SPEAKER_01 46:44

There you go. But you know it's just like a studio work, so you got people that want to work with you? Bless you.

SPEAKER_07 46:57

I'd come up out of nowhere.

SPEAKER_00 47:00

Yeah, that wasn't on camera, so that sound was uh interesting. That was kinda weird, wasn't it? What's he demon now?

SPEAKER_01 47:09

But that's it that all just goes right back to what we were talking about studio, you know, where they want to change you and uh I don't have a problem with opinions. Yeah, you know, hey man, you know, won't you try or advice or whatever, you know. And I've been plenty of times I've I said, Well, yeah, you're right. Maybe I should do it that way.

SPEAKER_06 47:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:30

You learn especially if somebody wants to help you. You know. Which is hard to find sometimes. It is. Yeah, it sure is.

SPEAKER_07 47:43

It seems like some people don't want to help you, they just want to hinder you.

SPEAKER_01 47:46

Oh yeah. Yeah. I had that happen to me with the first album I was the second album I was cutting in Nashville, a gentleman said, Man, you need to pack your clothes and go home. And I said, I do. He said, Yes, sir, you can't do it. And I was so devastated. I was like, Man, I come down here to do this and I already had one out, you know. Yeah. And uh I I went back to where I was staying at and I just thought about it. I said, Well, I got another chance tomorrow. I'm gonna go in there and do what I need to do. And the guy patted me on the back and I went taught me something. And me not having being so egotistical about anything, which I try to stay away from that crap. Yeah, is that you learn a whole lot more with the two holes on the each side, or two holes on the side of your head instead of the one in the front. You know. And that's one of the things that I've always tried to do is pay attention.

SPEAKER_06 48:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:43

Because sometimes they might be getting on your nerves, but sometimes they're just trying to help you out.

SPEAKER_07 48:49

Yeah. Well, I mean, you know, Dad always told me never think you know it all.

SPEAKER_01 48:56

Exactly.

SPEAKER_07 48:57

Because when you think you know it all, somebody's gonna put you in your place real quick.

SPEAKER_01 49:01

Yeah. That's why I like when I walk in a a group of musicians I've never even laid eyes on. I think they have the same kind of respect for me as I do them because I show it so I can't. You know, I'm not better than you, I'm no you know better than anybody. And I just wanna have fun. Make some music. And I've been real fortunate for that to happen. Yeah. You know a lot of people I know that play music professionally has uh been really good to me.

SPEAKER_07 49:32

Awesome. Yeah. I love it. Oh, you got a song for us? Sorry. You got a song for us?

SPEAKER_01 49:39

Sure, you want me to play my current number one song?

SPEAKER_07 49:42

That sounds good.

SPEAKER_01 49:43

Um it's a cover, but um I they pulled off my album this time, that's Old Whaling Song.

SPEAKER_07 49:51

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 49:51

And it went to number one on Cash Box in March.

SPEAKER_07 49:54

Well sweet.

SPEAKER_01 49:55

And still at number one this month.

SPEAKER_07 49:57

Cool being back, rather. I love that. Yeah. So I like the cash boxes actually. I think there for a while they kind of got away from Yeah, they it's a good revamp and everything that they're doing.

SPEAKER_01 50:14

Yeah. I was really shocked. I mean, we did this song not for the album but an EPK a few years back.

SPEAKER_05 50:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:24

So I got to thinking, I said, Man, I would like to really have it on a master anyway. Yeah. So I shot everything to Barney Robertson, you know, and he matter of fact, he had my hard drive in the studio and I told him about it on text, and he said, Let me dig in there and see what I can find. And so we did this time and Waymore's Blues just to throw it on the album. It sounded really good, but I never thought that this time would be a hit for me.

SPEAKER_07 50:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:49

And it worked really nice, you know.

SPEAKER_07 50:51

That's one song that I've always loved. It was Waymore's Blues.

SPEAKER_02 50:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:56

Yeah. And uh, you know, it's funny, you know, that I heard, and I don't know if it's accurate, but I was told when I hit number one in March with it. That it was fifty years when he had a number one song with it. Wow. That was his first career number one song.

SPEAKER_07 51:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:16

And I think that they were saying cash blocks about it.

SPEAKER_07 51:19

Cool beans.

SPEAKER_01 51:20

So it was pretty neat. That's and it and it made me feel like, well, I've I've done I've paid some good homage to him. Yeah. Well, yeah. Following the pattern, you know.

SPEAKER_07 51:34

I love it. Yeah. Well, crank it on after, son.

SPEAKER_04 54:15

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:17

There you go.

SPEAKER_07 54:18

I love it. Thank you. Oh, Lord. So what shows you got coming up?

SPEAKER_01 54:25

Well, this weekend I'm on the CMA fest showcase to Divas and Dudes. Yep. I have uh uh back-to-back shows each day. I'll be doing my thing and I'll be doing a preview of the Whalen Ultimate Whalen tribute.

SPEAKER_04 54:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 54:43

That's what I'll be doing on there. And then I have Cowboy Church and also uh the Carrie Farr show coming up this evening. Mm-hmm. And um I'm not quite sure. Is there something else? We're doing it. That's it right now? Yeah, I think so. And then I've got some dates, you know, in the next month or so it's coming up in different places.

SPEAKER_07 55:08

Yeah, because they'll need to get you over to Branson and then down to Texas and all these other places.

SPEAKER_01 55:13

And that's being talked about.

SPEAKER_07 55:15

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 55:15

Oh man, I tell you what, I'm I'm absolutely excited.

SPEAKER_07 55:19

Well, my big thing is I think more and more people need to head over to Texas.

SPEAKER_01 55:23

Mm-hmm. You know, I've had the opportunity to play there several times, and that's that's where it hit with me with Wayland's guys after Douglas Corner. I was so happy and so excited when I got up on the stage and told everybody, I really appreciate y'all being here at Douglas Corner tonight. Standing in the middle of San Marcus in the Cheetah Street warehouse, and everybody laughed. I was like, man, I can't believe I'm I you know it was just like it all came together, you know. Yeah. And it was like in my mind, like I couldn't figure it out. It was so funny.

SPEAKER_07 55:56

Yeah. Well, I mean, that's one place I've always wanted to go is uh Austin City Limits.

SPEAKER_01 56:01

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 56:02

I've always wanted to go there. I got to drive by. I got to drive by. I never got to go in, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 56:09

Yeah, it'd be man, that'd be so cool, you know. I've I've always liked that above the Opry thing. Yeah. I love the Grand Ole Opry, don't get me wrong. Austin City Limits is that's it.

SPEAKER_07 56:21

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 56:21

You know, I think you've arrived.

SPEAKER_07 56:24

I think Austin City Limits has been around almost as long as the frickin' Grand Ole Opry, dude.

SPEAKER_01 56:29

It might be.

SPEAKER_07 56:29

I mean, it it just because I remember back when I was younger seeing it.

SPEAKER_01 56:33

Well didn't uh wasn't Willie Nelson the first artist on there?

SPEAKER_07 56:37

I think so.

SPEAKER_01 56:38

Yeah. And that was way back in the seventies. Yeah. Early seventies.

SPEAKER_07 56:42

And uh yeah, it's been around a while. 'Cause I mean uh it uh oh god I'm what struck my head just then was the Midnight Special, didn't it come out in the 70s?

SPEAKER_01 57:00

Oh yeah, it was a great show, man. A doll genre.

SPEAKER_07 57:03

Yeah, I love the Midnight Special. Wolfman Jack and all of them.

SPEAKER_01 57:08

Come on real late at night. Yeah. Saturday or something, man. It was so cool. Yeah. I don't know the times I was recording those shows. I probably still have those cassette tapes.

SPEAKER_07 57:20

Oh probably.

SPEAKER_01 57:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 57:23

I wish I kept lots of those VHS tapes back in the day.

unknown 57:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 57:29

Actually actually had a bunch of them changed changed over to digital.

unknown 57:37

Man.

SPEAKER_01 57:39

Yeah, we've had captured a lot of great things in the past back when I was able to grab it.

SPEAKER_07 57:46

Yeah. It uh but I'm still alive. Happy that there was we didn't have phone pictures and all that stuff from back in.

SPEAKER_01 57:57

Right.

SPEAKER_07 57:59

We'd have been in trouble.

SPEAKER_01 58:00

Yeah, man. Is that the truth?

SPEAKER_07 58:05

The craziness of it all.

SPEAKER_01 58:06

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_07 58:08

Well, Billy, I appreciate you being on both.

SPEAKER_01 58:11

Dave, I appreciate you having me. I've had a great time.

SPEAKER_07 58:13

Oh yeah. We're we're gonna have to do it again.

SPEAKER_01 58:16

Yeah. I'll probably be back for long.

SPEAKER_07 58:19

Well, you know. You know where I'm at now. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 58:23

Yes, sir. Yeah. But yeah, I've uh I I I think we're gonna be able to do some stuff in the future.

SPEAKER_07 58:30

I think we can. Yeah, it's gonna be fun.

SPEAKER_01 58:33

And uh And I want to say to you, if you don't mind. No. Uh be praying for you for your upcoming surgery.

SPEAKER_07 58:39

Well, I appreciate that. That's uh that's one big thing that uh all the stuff we done back in our early days, we didn't plan on living this long anyway, so it's gonna be all right. Yeah, I think it will be. And uh I'm gonna actually uh make a formal announcement here in the next couple of shows and let everybody know that uh You're taking a break. I'm taking a break.

SPEAKER_01 59:12

You'll be back real soon.

SPEAKER_07 59:13

Uh I'm I'm just gonna take a break. Yeah. And uh Caitlin, my producer, is still she's gonna be running uh we just got through building uh a portable podcast. And she's gonna be out helping people and and running that and doing some stuff with that. And uh It's gonna be fun. We're gonna We're gonna keep the keep it up, keep it alive, keep it going, you know.

SPEAKER_01 59:46

Yes, sir. I wish y'all the best.

SPEAKER_07 59:48

Yep, and if uh and if I don't make it, ain't nobody getting nothing because I ain't got nothing anyway.

SPEAKER_01 59:55

I'll write I'll write my name and address down for you.

SPEAKER_07 59:58

There you go.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:00

Now I I would like to say if I could, you know, people find my music all over platforms anywhere.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:08

Well, yeah, you gotta look in that camera over there and tell everybody where they can find you.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:12

I'll have to do that. Go on the internet and look Billy Payne up, and you'll find me on every platform that is available. So, you know. And uh and my website is Billy PayneCountry.com and the uh ultimate Whalen Tribute dot com.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:29

Awesome. I love it. That's what I wanna I wanna come check out because I won't be able to this week. But I do want to come check out your show. Cool. Everything that you're doing. And uh then when you do the the Whalen tribute, I want to come check it out too.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:46

Absolutely, yeah. I I really am looking forward to it because I've got two of the guys that play with Whalen for a good long while. Yeah. Especially Jerry Bridges, you know. He was with Whalem for 25 years until he died, you know. Yeah. And then uh Jeff Hale would play drums for Tony Joe White and he's with uh and he played for fifteen years for Whalen.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:08

So there's a weird tie-in. Remember when Tony Joe White came back to Nashville? I was like, oh God thirty years ago, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:26

And he played at a place called Music Row Showcase.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:31

I ran lights for Tony Joe White that night. And only thing he said was keep that alligator lit up. And I said, Yes, sir. And I took care of him. And uh after the show and everything got done, he came up and he brung me a t-shirt that he had autographed for me. And he said, Thank you. I really appreciate everything that you did for me. It's um and I said, Yes, sir, and he said, uh You don't get out and do lights everywhere, do you? And I said, Well I could. What do you got going on? And he said, I have my people contact you. And I said, Okay. And I guess it was his manager or something like that. Called me and asked me if I wanted to go do some shows out, run lights for him.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:22

That was awesome, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_07 1:02:23

And uh it was uh it was awesome. I loved it. Yeah, it was a hell of a thing, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:30

Tony Joe, he's been one of my favorites. I cut, I actually cut three of his songs on my latest album. Sweet. I cut uh Rainy Night in Georgia. Yeah. And um So You Wanna Be a Cowboy Singer, he wrote that away and uh undercover agent for the blues.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:51

And that was a different thing for me, but man, it's it turned out really well.

SPEAKER_07 1:02:55

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:56

But yeah, Tony Joe's been a favorite guy, a favorite of mine for years.

SPEAKER_07 1:02:59

Oh, just a hell of a dude, man. Yeah. He was so nice and polite and laid back, and I was just like Yeah, it broke my heart when he passed away.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:12

Yeah. But uh Yeah, I I s I recorded his songs just right after his death. I wished he could have been around because he worked with the guys a lot. You know. And I'm sure that he'd have probably been in there with us if you know if he'd been here.

SPEAKER_07 1:03:31

Oh yeah, you know he would have.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:33

I seen Tony Carson one time at Whalen Day in 2010, and he put on a pretty good little show there among all the rest of 'em, but he had sat down, you know, and but man, he could he could still do poke salad anybody. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:03:50

He used to tickle me. Salad Annie Punk. Did you got you, Granny?

SPEAKER_01 1:03:59

Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_07 1:04:00

It was fun. I loved it.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:04:04

All right, Billy, I appreciate you being on, brother.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:06

Thank you, David. I appreciate you.

SPEAKER_07 1:04:07

We've had a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:08

Yes, sir. Good to meet you. Reach over there. Yes, sir. Good to meet you.

SPEAKER_07 1:04:13

Good to meet you.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:14

And uh thanks for having me on, and and uh I appreciate the reschedule too. It's I think I think it was meant to be like this. Well, sometimes it is, you know. Yeah. And uh it's it's great just to be able to sit and talk about things and not all music. Oh yeah. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_07 1:04:31

Oh yeah, yeah, and that's uh there's more to life than just certain things and questions and answers and all this other crap. Yes, sir. Gotta have conversations.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:41

Oh yeah. And I appreciate your support and let me be on here and push me out there more.

SPEAKER_07 1:04:46

Oh yeah. You got it. All right, we're gonna get off here. Tell everybody bye.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:51

Bye, everybody. Thank you for being here.

SPEAKER_07 1:04:54

All right, everybody. Remember, please like, share, follow, subscribe. It helps us all. From Billy to this old podcaster to a bunch of other artists that you like, get those numbers up. This is how these booking agents get these people to play venues in your town. If you want these artists in your town, get their numbers up. Tell that booking agent, hey, check this person out. His numbers are up. See if you can get them in there. It helps us out so much. And uh we got some new stuff that we're gonna be coming up with, and uh just a little thing, a few things on it, but I think it's gonna help out a lot of people in the industry a whole lot more. So uh we're gonna get off here. Love ya, mean it. Bye.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:44

Bye bye.