Randy Houser- The 9513 Interview

A Mississippi son, Randy Houser speaks a different set of the country blues. His parents divorced when he was 7, and Houser spent the summers with his father, a professional singer and musician. The rest of the year, he lived with his mother in public housing until his mother remarried, which was followed by a move to the country. Partly out of necessity, partly out of his need for a musical creative outlet, he was playing Mississippi clubs when he was 15. After his father passed away, Houser moved to Nashville and quickly found work as a demo singer, which led to a publishing deal at Windswept Music. He co-wrote "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk," a big hit for Trace Adkins, and later signed a recording contract with Universal South Records. His current album, Anything Goes, has put him atop the country music charts and the title track and second hit, “Boots On,” have made him a staple on country radio for almost a year.

That Nashville Sound had an opportunity to sit down with the bearded crooner for an exclusive interview.

That Nashville Sound- I read a good description for your music a little while back- they called it a Bluesy Modern Honkytonk. Given an opportunity to describe it yourself, what would you call it? What’s the mission behind the music?

Randy Houser- I think you described it pretty well. I think it definitely has a lot of blues in it. I grew up with a lot of blues, a lot of old style country, a lot of Southern Rock. I think all of that kind of goes hand in hand in my music. I think it’s just a bluesy soulful country. A new genre. Bluesy Soul Country Rock. (laughing.)

TNS- Going back to your first signing, before you were with Universal South, you were signed by James Stroud at MCA Nashville. You recorded a full album that was never released, I understand. Tell me about that first album and how it’s different from Anything Goes.

RH- That was shaping up to be a really good record, I think it was going to be really cool I actually cut a couple of things that were on this album that were on that album. “Boots On,” my current single, was on there. It was album that I actually cut with my whole road band on it. We were on track to make a really great record. But you know, things happen. It’s okay. I’ve still got an opportunity to rerecord some of those things.

TNS- Who or what were some of your earliest influences in music?

RH- Otis Redding. Bonnie Raitt, Delbert McClinton, AC/DC, Conway Twitty, Merle Haggard, big Hank Jr., big Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Sr- a lot of different things you hear down there. My Dad was a musician and I grew up around a lot of different kinds of music. I loved of all it.

TNS- I’d imagine that you Dad might have been the biggest influence growing up with all that music surrounding you at home?

RH- Yes. Definitely. He was always playing me new music and he was always hip to what was really cool. He was into different things. He was also into singer/songwriter stuff.

TNS- Is he the one that taught you how to write music?

RH- I think that’s something that you really have to learn on your own.

TNS- You ran though a big long list of who’s who on influences in your music. Now that you’re on the charts, have you had a chance to meet any of the folks you mentioned- how is that experience?

RH- I did get to meet Delbert McClinton. I’ve got a chance to meet Willie a few times. It’s amazing when you meet those type of guys. And those are the times I get a little starstruck. The conversations always become very small because I never know what to say. What can I say? It’s kind of like when you’re interviewing an artist. What can I possibly ask that person that they haven’t already been asked? It’s the same thing when I’m meeting a hero of mine. What can I say to this person that someone hasn’t already said? I tend to just freeze up and shut up. I just sit back, say nothing and study them.

TNS- You obviously co-wrote some big singles including “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” for Trace Adkins and “Back That Thing Up” for Justin Moore. Is the process of songwriting different knowing you’re writing for your own album versus writing for someone else?

RH- Yes. Absolutely. These days, I only write for me. Trying to make a living as a songwriter, I wrote lots of songs pertaining to other people’s lives. I think that’s what you have to do when you’re a songwriter is write about other people’s lives. Right now, I’m in the spot where when I’m doing my own albums, I need to write about things I’ve lived. I don’t really record anything unless I’ve been through it or experienced it.

TNS- Speaking of “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk,” you wrote that with your good friend at fellow country star, Jamey Johnson. How has that friendship helped shape your Nashville experience?

RH- I think we shape each others. We came up through the ranks together. We’d be cruising around in either my truck or his, singing demo’s together, writing songs together. And after we were done, we’d go party together. We’re just good buddies. Still are. I think that we definitely kicked down that Nashville door together and kicked our way in. We always figured it would be easier to do with two of us rather than one. So we’ve always kind of supported one-another in that way. We made it a little easier on ourselves that way. It hasn’t been easy, but to do what we wanted musically, we had to do it.

TNS- With Badonkadonk, has Trace Adkins bought you and Jamey a Bentley for gifting him that one?

RH- (laughing) No. I’m still waiting on my Bentley.

TNS- Knowing the two of you, you’d prefer some big off-road vehicles instead.

RH- (still laughing) Yeah, that’d be alright. But the Bentley would be alright too. If he wants to buy us a Bentley, we might just be able to scrape up a few funds to buy our own off-road vehicle.

TNS- We talked about Jamey being a big influence, has there been other key artists there in Nashville that have helped shape your music before or since you’ve gotten your record deal?

RH- People that I’ve hung out with that have all become good buddies of mine. James Otto is a good buddy. Heidi Newfield. Darius Rucker. Keith Urban’s been one of the nicest guys. Vince Gill. Some of those guys that are really talented like that aren’t afraid to pass along props to other artists. They’re real artists, real musicians. They appreciate other good artists. They’re never scared to say that you’re doing something right.

TNS- When you look at an artist that’s been in the industry awhile, is there one that you’d like to model your career after or are you more set on charting your own course?

RH- There are people that I’ve watched handle their business. I think Toby Keith is a prime example of a guy that handled his business real well. It all depends if you have business to handle if you know what I mean.

TNS- I do know what you mean.

RH- If I can ever have the chance to handle as much business as Toby Keith has, I’m not going to be too worried about it, you know?

TNS- The new single is unique, the video is getting as much discussion as the song itself it seems. For the song “Boots On,” whose idea was it to feature the cute little guy Drake in the video?

RH- It was my record’s label idea. I honestly can say I can’t take credit for that wonderful idea. I kind of fought the label a little bit because Drake’s video had already been seen by everybody on the internet. And to take that video and put it into the video wasn’t my idea, only because it had nothing to do with the lyrics of the song. I wrote the song and it just didn’t match up with the song. But Drake, who was an awesome little guy, did great. And although I initially wanted something that matched up better with the song, luckily there’s some people a heck of a lot smarter than I am around at the label.

TNS- Have you and the label discussed what will be your next single off of the album?

RH- We’re thinking it’s going to be “My Kind Of Country.” That’s what we’re thinking right now.

TNS- Have you been busy writing for album number two as well?

RH- I have, actually. We’ve been discussing dates to start recording. We’re thinking sometime in October. I’m looking forward to it because I’ve been writing for it constantly.

TNS- Writing on your own? With other writers? With Jamey?

RH- Jamey and I haven’t had a chance to write together, but we’re getting ready to do a tour together so we will have a chance to write together, hopefully. But we’re all so busy all the time, it’s really hard. I have been writing with some of my buddies. Most the time, I’ll get a couple songs started, get together with a couple of buddies and we’ll finish the song together.

TNS- Your comment led me to my next question- your tour with Jamey. The upcoming has a unique name and unique spelling to it. Tell me a little bit about that.

RH- It’s the Traler Park Revival Tour. The short and simple of it is that we were going to rent a writer’s room together a few years back and have some space to write in, work in, even have a few beers in. It was a spot for us to have our own little office. It never dawned on us that we needed a business name to rent an office. So when they asked Jamey what our business name was, he looked a couple of writing buddies of ours and all he could think of was that we look like a bunch of people coming up from the trailer park. So we named it Traler Park. And the funny part is when you see the spelling of it, there’s no letter “I” in it. That’s because when they put our name on the office directory sign which office was ours, they left the “I” off the word Traler. We loved it so much, we just kept it. We used to shows around Nashville and call it the Traler Park.

TNS- Last question for you, what’s the definition of country music to you.

RH- Easy one. A simple truth.