Interview Flashback - The 9513’s Interview With Singer/Songwriter Rachel Proctor

I have been blessed to write contributions/reviews/interviews/opinion pieces for several country music and roots-oriented websites and publications over the years including Saving Country Music, Nashville Scene, Country California, Country Weekly, American Noise, The 9513 and Engine 145. As a regular contributor to the last two in that list, I did close to a 100 interviews with different artists- and since both of those great sites have come down, I will reprint some of those interviews here to give them a home in perpetuity. This interview was originally published in July 2010 on The 9513.

Rachel Proctor was born in West Virginia almost quite literally into music. She began singing in front of crowds at the ripe old age of six and traveled all over the country to participate in talent competitions- culminating in her starring on the American Idol show of 1989, the hit TV show Star Search. At eighteen, Proctor moved to Nashville and became the youngest staff writer ever signed to Warner-Chappell Music. She spent the better half of the 90’s singing in a band with a then-unknown Blake Shelton. But she continued to hone her songwriting skills and artists such as Tanya Tucker, Lisa McCann, Danielle Peck, The Lynns, Nashville Star winner Erika Jo, Kenny Loggins, Katrina Elam, Blake Shelton and Martina McBride all recorded her penned songs in those early days.

Proctor signed to BNA Records finally in 2002 and released her debut album Where I Belong. It spawned chart hits "Days Like This" (#24 in 2003), "Didn't I" (#43 in 2003), “Where I Belong” (#37 in 2004) and her highest chart hit, "Me and Emily" (#18 in 2004). The last track, a song about a young parent escaping from domestic abuse, became an anthem for abused women across the world and earned a direct commendation from then-President Bush.

After losing her record deal after BNA was purchased, she kept with her songwriting roots, co-writing country/pop singer Jessica Simpson's 2008 singles "Come On Over" and "Remember That" and Jesse Lee's 2009 debut single "It's a Girl Thing". This last October, she went the indie route and self-released a brand new album called What Didn’t Kill Me.

“This album is a collection of songs from the last 5 years of my life. There have been a lot of ups and downs & loves and losses that have made me grow both as singer and as a songwriter. I've always believed in writing from the heart about my own life experiences.”

Each of the 11 songs of the album are written or co-written by Proctor and that life experience from the last few years is poured out best on the title track off of the album. She uses the loss of her major label record deal and her scrape for musical relevance as inspiration on a great autobiographical song about getting stronger from the stuff that knocks you down. Overall, Proctor has focused more on striking equilibrium between fast up-tempo numbers and those introspective ballads that marked her radio success the first go-around.

The 9513 caught Rachel for a quick interview in between songwriting assignments to talk about her album and upcoming projects.

Ken Morton, Jr.: You just launched a brand new album of all new material called What Didn’t Kill Me. What will fans will hear on the album?

Rachel Proctor: What Didn't Kill Me is a little edgier and more personal than my previous releases. I wrote most of the songs with Bruce Wallace so the album definitely has its own sound. Somewhere between Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood.

KMJ: You’ve mentioned before there’s a deeper meaning behind the album’s title. How so?

RP: I went through a lot of ups and downs after leaving BNA Records. There was a lot of soul searching and healing that happened in the years between "Where I Belong" and "What Didn't Kill Me." I've found that it's true what they say... Everything we go through good or bad makes us who we are and hopefully makes us stronger.

KMJ: I would say it’s decidedly more up-tempo and edgier than your previous release- is that fair assessment?

RP: Absolutely!

KMJ: Any favorite songs on the album?

RP: It's a toss up between "Wrong" and "Don't Let It Hit Ya"

KMJ: You’ve had a tremendous amount of success as a songwriter, a more moderate amount of success as a singer and performer. Do you envision yourself as one or the other or do the two things go hand in hand?

RP: They most definitely go hand in hand. I don't think I could do one without the other.

KMJ: On your first release, you had four charted hits, but one single in particular really resonated deeply with America. Talk to me about “Me and Emily.” What did that song mean to you and to those that identified so much with the song?

RP: The song was a gift from God from the very beginning. I feel blessed to have written it. I met so many wonderfully strong women because of the song and I'm very thankful for that.

KMJ: What was it like touring around as nobody’s with Blake Shelton back in the 90’s?

RP: It was an absolute blast. Blake is so fun to work with.

KMJ: Jessica Simpson certainly caused lots of discussion with her release of your song “Come On Over”- most of it fairly polarizing on both ends of the argument spectrum. What was it like being the songwriter behind that track?

RP: It was one of the most exciting times for me as a writer. Jessica is an amazing girl and working with her was a great experience. She recorded two of my songs and I am very proud of the cuts. Her whole album is really well written and produced. People are missing out if they don't at least give it a listen. They may find they really like it. I still listen to it myself.

KMJ: Any other songs out there either in the recording process or on-hold that we should keep an eye out for?

RP: I have two songs on Jennette McCurdy's album. I co-wrote her first single "Not That Far Away" with her and Blair Daly. I also have a cut on Jewel's new album called "Bad As It Gets." I'm excited about writing a song with Margaret Durante called "Maybe Tonight" that is available as a free download on her website www.margaretdurante.com

KMJ: What new projects are you working on?

RP: I'm focused on songwriting right now. I've been trying to write by myself more which I have never really done. I feel a new project on the horizon with some of this new stuff.

KMJ: Are you still hopeful for another major record deal opportunity?

RP: If the right deal came along I would truly consider it but I'm not actively seeking it out. I love my life as a songwriter.

KMJ: What is country music to Rachel Proctor?

RP: To me country music is about real life. It doesn't matter to me if it's stone cold country or contemporary country. It's all about a great song.

Interview Flashback - After The Flood Interview With Julie Roberts

I have been blessed to write contributions/reviews/interviews/opinion pieces for several country music and roots-oriented websites and publications over the years including Saving Country Music, Nashville Scene, Country California, Country Weekly, American Noise, The 9513 and Engine 145. As a regular contributor to the last two in that list, I did close to a 100 interviews with different artists- and since both of those great sites have come down, I will reprint some of those interviews here to give them a home in perpetuity. This interview was originally published in June 2010 on The 9513.

Julie Roberts has always gotten a rush out of Nashville and its country music scene. Until the recent Nashville flood, that rush was more emotional than physical, however. This last month, a rush of flood-water overtook her home and she and her family had to be rescued from the second story of their house.

Roberts is busy writing and recording her third studio album after her self-titled 2004 album Julie Roberts- which spawned her top ten hit “Break Down Here”- and 2006 follow-up Men and Mascara. And while most recording artists would think that’s enough on their plate, she’s also working on a movie of her life, entertaining the troops overseas and providing music to inmates in a prison tour with some of her Nashville co-writers.

The beautiful singer/songwriter was kind enough to take some time out of her busy schedule- which now includes rebuilding that flooded home- to talk with The 9513 about her flood experience and all of the other projects she’s working on.

KEN MORTON JR: You had an adventure as wild as anyone during the Nashville floods. Would you mind telling me your story?

JULIE ROBERTS: It was on that Sunday. It started at about 6am. I live with my Mom and my sister and four dogs and we were awakened by banging on the front door. And we were all asleep and we were all startled awake, you know? Momma went out there. I didn’t even hear it to be honest with you. Momma heard it because the dogs started barking. She went downstairs to see what was going on and everybody was just running. I mean running. All the people were running down to the end of our street. They said that we had to get out and that the water was coming up. We live right next to the river and it had gone over its banks and was rising. Momma came in and told us what was going on and it takes about ten minutes just to comprehend what’s going on. We’ve never had to deal with anything like that. We were told we weren’t in a flood plain. Nobody that lives there has flood insurance. So we didn’t ever expect something like this to happen. So we got dressed and all went back outside to check on what was going on. And when we went back outside, my car was floating away. And I waded into try to go get it, but I couldn’t get it of course. And at that point, we knew this was really serious. We knew we had to get out of the house. The water was rising really fast. The rescue people came by boat and said that they’d be back. They were concentrating on the elderly and the sick first. So we had a little bit of time to carry everything we could up to the second level. A lot we couldn’t- mostly because the water was rising so fast. And then we couldn’t go back downstairs because the water was so high. The power was still on and covering the outlets so we were kind of scared to go back downstairs because of the electrical current and things like that. So we went up and opened up an upstairs window. It was real quiet. It was like a movie. Real quiet. Scary quiet. All you could hear was water rushing.

KMJ: How long between the time you saw the water coming towards the house and the time it was rushing inside?

JR: It was about 7am when we knew we were going to be in trouble and it was about noon when rescue started coming by. But after that, rescue would come by about every hour to an hour and a half and yell, “Is everybody okay?” In between their visits it was real quiet. We’d yell back, “Yeah, we’re good.” And they’d yell back, “We haven’t forgotten about you!” And then they’d tell us that they were going to get or still getting the elderly people. And the sick people. They probably came back between 1 p and 2p. And by that time, the water was up over my chest when I walked downstairs. They had to bust through our front door. We had to come downstairs and kind of wade through the broken door. There were about five or six men and they helped us all into the boat. We grabbed all of our dogs, and I ditched my little ankle boot I’ve been wearing. The dogs had to be in these dog carriers. One dog, Molly, we didn’t have a carrier for so we handed her up to the guys on the boat. And then we went up and picked up another elderly lady and her husband who has bone cancer that are our neighbors. We picked them up and it’s still pouring down rain. We all had life jackets on. We rode over to the shelter. The water was that high that the water was all the way almost to the shelter. It finally got shallow enough on the road we were travelling on that more rescue people were able to help us out of the boat. So we hung out at the shelter for a couple hours and I found somebody to get me over to Kroger. My ankle was killing me at that point. And I wanted to get out with my dogs. My mom and I and the dogs got a ride over to Kroger and I had a friend pick us up from there. We’ve been living with friends since that Sunday now.

KMJ: And how is the house now?

JR: We went back to house the Tuesday afterwards to take photos. And we went back Wednesday to start cleaning things up, to start taking out trash. Everything is gone. Especially downstairs. The stuff we were able to take upstairs was okay, like my guitars. There were some clothes we were able to get. But tons is gone. We lost a lot a lot of things. But we’re alive. We have our lives. We’re over there cleaning every day. I’m going back over there today. I’m taking out sheet rock and taking out the carpet. I have to trash everything. Universal Music Group sixteen people over this weekend to help us. We’ve had a lot of help. The community here has totally come together. There’s people I don’t even know inside my house helping out. They’re doing it because everyone is helping each other.

KMJ: From the outside looking in, that’s one of the more remarkable pieces to this all. The flood is terrible, but the way Nashville is rallying to help their own is amazing in itself. It’s pretty awe-inspiring.

JR: It really is amazing. We did a show right after with Vince Gill and then a second one on the following Thursday for GAC. It’s really helping people that have lost everything and didn’t have flood insurance. For them, everything’s gone. They don’t know what the next day is going to bring.

KMJ: What goes through your mind as you’re sitting there in the second story of your home watching the water rise and rush past your windowsill?

JR: We had a few hours to sit there and watch it. It’s kind of unreal. You see it on TV like when we had Katrina. And you watch it for days on television. You never think that you’ll ever experience that. You worry about your life. You worry if you’re going to live. My sister and I were trying to make the best out of the bad situation. As we were sitting up there looking out the window, we saw stuff floating by and were pointing out the funny stuff to each other. We were trying to make the best of it. But the water is rising and rising and every couple hours you hear a voice calling out to you. But I never lost faith. They kept telling me and letting me know that they hadn’t forgot about us. I had faith that we were going to get out of there. Sure, you’re scared. But I just had a strong faith. I always have. I thought things would be okay. God won’t give you anything you can’t handle. But definitely when the water is rising and it’s coming up your stairs, you are starting to wonder what’s going to happen to you.

KMJ: Let’s switch gears and talk about what’s going with you musically. You’re working diligently on your third album. Tell me a little about that process and where you’re at.

JR: I’m writing and recording right now on my third record and I’m so excited about it. It’s going to be an extension of my Breakdown Here record. It’s real country. It’s real songs. It might even have a few songs about this flood experience that I’m going to write. I actually wrote a song a couple years ago that we just recorded for this album. It’s out on the internet and it’s called “Somebody Does.” Have you heard it yet?

KMJ: I have not but I will look for it as soon as we’re done here. 

JR: We had recorded it and just had it mixed and we think this song might help people right now. You’ll kind of hear a little bit of the direction of the album. I’m just writing a lot and recording. It’s not much different song wise. They’re always lyrics that mean a lot to me that I can relate to or someone in my family. That’s whether I write it or not.

KMJ: I know you’ve been working with One Flew South’s Chris Roberts. Who else are you writing with on this album?

JR: Marcus Hummons. I’m doing a prison tour with Marcus Hummon and Don Shlitz who is another amazing writer. There’s lots of people who I really respect that I’m working on this album with. I’ve been working on this album for a long time. I’ve been really honing in on it- except for about a year period that I was in L.A. Now, I’m back this year and I’m really focusing again on it.

KMJ: I want to circle back in on that time you spent in Los Angeles, but before we leave the topic of the album, do you have a timeline on when we might hear the finished version of the album?

JR: You can hear that one song now. Honestly, I really have been working on it for a long time. I don’t want this circumstance of the flood to hold me back much more than a couple weeks. I want to get back in and keep recording in the studio. We have more we’re doing before the end of this week. So hopefully sooner than later. I want to get back on the road doing shows. Doing shows is where I’m happiest. Travelling like that is what I’ve wanted to do since I was a little girl. Not being able to be on the road is why I came back from L.A. Hopefully sooner than later. We’ll let everyone know when that is when we have a definite date for you.

KMJ: Sounds good. You mentioned briefly Los Angeles. I know you were studying acting and working on a screenplay based on your own life story. You’re even working with the screenwriter of Coal Miner’s Daughter. Tell me about that project.

JR: This is another project that I’ve been working on for a few years and has gone through the writer’s strike. Do you remember when that happened?

KMJ: I do.

JR: We’re working on the second scriptwriter who is amazing. But changes in regimes at different movie companies, they like different writers. Right now, were working with Tom who wrote Coal Miner’s Daughter. It started a couple years ago when I was playing a show in L.A. Someone at my booking agency who also works with made-for-television movies knew my music. They had seen a special that CMT had aired about my mom and me. And we’re very close. And I think that’s why we were able to get through the scenario we did because we have each other. We’ve always had that strong bond because we have each other and we’ll get through anything. They asked about my mom and why we’re so close. Why have I recorded so many songs about my momma? And I have, I’ve recorded a lot of songs about my mom. I started telling them my story. Our story is not pretty. It’s about strength. I didn’t have a good childhood growing up. I saw her have a hard life. My mom was married to my dad who was an abusive alcoholic. Our whole mission was to get me to Nashville- and for her to get here after I came. She came three years after I came. So that’s what the movie is about. The movie is about our strength in doing everything we can to do what you want in life. And for me, that’s country music. And Momma did everything she could to get me to Nashville. And now I want to do everything I can to give her the best life because she deserves it. That’s what the movie’s about. I moved out there for close to a year and did acting classes and worked with the script writer. Now we have a script. I’m not positive it’s finished. We may have extra chapters to the script now after these last couple weeks. It shows our strength getting past all of this. That’s a project that we’re still working on.

KMJ: That’s also something we’ll look forward to. You just got back from a USO Tour as well. Tell me how that went.

JR: It was really amazing. I hope that I can do more. They’re some of the most rewarding shows that we’ve ever played. We went to Australia. I didn’t even know we had troops stationed there but we do. I had my mom with me and it was the first time that she had ever been out of the United States. So she’s getting to do a lot that she hadn’t got to do before in her life which is great. We sung for our troops and their families that are stationed out in the Outbook. It was really amazing and really rewarding. The really appreciated us coming over there. And after that, I got to play for the National Guard out of Oregon. For us, I always wanted to be part of the USO Tour. Hopefully, I can do a lot more. I just wanted to let them know that we appreciated them for what they sacrifice for us- for what they do for us every day overseas. It was really amazing. I had never been to Australia before. I want to go back. It was kind of a quick trip so I want to go back and really see it. I did get to ride a camel.

KMJ: You rode a camel in Australia?

JR: (Laughter) I did get to ride a camel. I got to a few things that happen only in the Outback. We got to see some wallabies and also mine for opals. I did get to see things. I went with the Denver Broncos cheerleaders and they were all extremely nice. We all got to meet a lot of people. It was awesome.

KMJ: I’ve got one last question for you. What is country music to Julie Roberts?

JR: Country music to me has always been my escape. It’s been my safe place. It saved me from a lot of things. Let me tell you something. When I was growing up at home and we would have these bad situations, we would always get in Mom’s truck and we would leave. We’d get in her truck and leave home. We wouldn’t talk when we were leaving. We would just turn on the country music. Country music. We would turn it up really loud. And that was my escape. It was my escape through the stories that were real life. And I could relate to those real stories- even at that young age. It makes me feel that I’m not alone. I don’t know if I’m explaining this really well, but it literally saved me from life. It made me have my mission- that I wanted to sing it and help people the same way it helped me. It made me not give up. It was Momma and I turned to when we didn’t know where else to go. We’d get in that truck and turn it up and sing really really loud. And it would make us so happy. And it does now. When I get in the car, the first thing I do is turn it up. When I’m in the studio, that’s when I’m happiest. When I’m on the tour bus on the way to a show, that’s when I’m happiest. I’m not happy when I’m sitting at home not doing country music. It’s always been that way in my life and it always will be. It’s life to me. It understands me.

Interview Flashback - An Exclusive Interview With The Band Perry

I have been blessed to write contributions/reviews/interviews/opinion pieces for several country music and roots-oriented websites and publications over the years including Saving Country Music, Nashville Scene, Country California, Country Weekly, American Noise, The 9513 and Engine 145. As a regular contributor to the last two in that list, I did close to a 100 interviews with different artists- and since both of those great sites have come down, I will reprint some of those interviews here to give them a home in perpetuity. This interview was originally published in May 2010 on The 9513.

Sibling and family acts are part of the fabric of country music going way back to The Carter Family and stretching all the way forward to current new acts such as Sons of Sylvia and The Harters.

For siblings Kimberly, Reid and Neil Perry- all member of The Band Perry- the evolution to a family country band wasn’t as much of a conscious decision but as a natural evolution. They were all active and gifted musicians at very early ages and only graduation from high school for their youngest member kept them from hitting the scene earlier.

The Band Perry’s first single, “Hip To My Heart”, is racing up the charts knocking on the Top 20 and their five single EP became available this month. The trio took a few minutes to talk with The 9513 about their music background, working together as a family and how they approach songwriting.

KEN MORTON, JR.: For someone who hasn’t heard your background before, talk about cutting your teeth musically in Alabama.

KIMBERLY PERRY: It’s kind of funny. I got started when I was fifteen. Reid was ten. Neil was eight and we were down in Mobile. But we really feel like music got started way before that as individuals. Not necessarily that we were playing in bands before that time, but you can go back and watch home videos of all three of us and we’re all entertainers in our own rights as kids. And then about ten years ago, each of us formed our own individual bands. I was the first to form a band and I was the lead singer of a group of high school buddies- all guys. Reid and Neil’s first job was tuning guitar strings and polishing drum cymbals for me and my guys. They were my little roadies. (Laughing) They looked great in their matching bowl cuts. They did a great job for us, however. The guys in my band were pseudo big-brothers for Reid and Neil. Just by nature of following the older kids’ footsteps, they put together their own little bands at eight and ten. Neil was the drummer at the time. They found a lead singer and an electric guitar player for their little band and opened dates for the band that I had. We all travelled as a family and secretly, their band was more talented than mine. I don’t admit that too much, but they really were. I was their musical director and I think we all knew that we would do a three-piece musical family band at some point. But we just had to wait for the right moment for the boys to get a little taller. We started as The Band Perry in the Carolinas five years ago. We were hired by Coke and by Wal-Mart to do the New Faces Of Country Music Tour. It was acoustic sets that we would do in Wal-Mart’s. And it was the first foray into the music business for the boys and I. It was a great experience for the boys and I to open all those dates and meet country radio and introduce us to country radio for the first time. And that’s where we found out country music is where our hearts are and really where we belong. And that in a nutshell, is our story over the last decade.

KMJ: You might not have a comparison, but how is the dynamic of working as siblings versus working with people who aren’t siblings?

NEIL PERRY: We’ve been talking about that recently. We don’t know how other bands can do it without the support systems of their families. When one of us is having a bad day, one of us will nudge them and ask them, “What’s wrong?”

KP: We always call them discussions and not necessarily disagreements. (Laughing)

REID PERRY: We’re family and we’re stuck with one-another, so it’s not like we’re going to go anywhere.

KP: We’re really supportive of one-another. I’m really thankful. We’ve just not done it any other way. We’ve always travelled together as family. We know each other on such a deep level. We’ve obviously been around each other our whole lives. There’s certain ways that we have to encourage each other and challenge each other like only family can do. I just don’t know how folks out there do it without family support. Because it’s a crazy pace. It’s a whirlwind business with lots of ups and downs. It’s important to have that family and that middle ground so you’re not on those high highs and low lows. We’re just happy to have each other. Except after about fourteen days on the road when we always revert back to our ten and twelve year old petty arguments. (Laughing)

KMJ: Is it a democracy? Kimberly, do you ever feel like it’s two against one with boys versus girl?

KP: It is a democracy. And the standard rule is that majority rules. Even if there’s something creative that’s up for discussion or a business decision that one person feels a specific way, we always have it up for discussion and we always end up getting on the same page. I don’t thing anybody ever feels railroaded. Everyone has an equal voice on everything. Being the big sister and all, I have to be honest with you; I am the bossiest one in the family.

RP: This is where I’ll have to agree, she is bossy. (Laughing)

KP: It just depends on which day of the week. Reid is definitely the peacemaker, he’s the middle one. He definitely keeps me on a level emotionally.

RP: Kimberly and I are just alike.

NP: They’re the drama in the group. (Laughing)

RP: But Neil is the character of the group. He keeps us laughing out on the road.

KP: As the baby. And you know, we all fill specific roles I think in positive ways. We kind of fill in the gaps of stuff that some of the others might be lacking and such. It’s a cool thing this whole package of a family.

KMJ: “Hip To My Heart” leans on the pop country side of things. On your new EP and on your upcoming album, describe your sound. What will we hear on it?

KP: We have two adjectives to describe our sound and they work hand in hand. We’re definitely a modern throwback. It’s interesting that “Hip To My Heart” is the lightest and most poppy- and in our opinion, the only poppy thing- on the album. But we thought it had just so much energy. We’re 19, 21 and 26 years old and it had a lot of youth about it. It’s a great way to introduce us to the country music family. I am excited as we move forward for listeners to dig into some of the deeper cuts. We’ve actually decided on our second single, a song called, “If I Die Young.” We’re not close to hitting on it yet because we still have a lot more room on “Hip To My Heart.” It’s getting warmer so it’s time to crank down those windows and crank up that song. But we’re really excited for listeners to dig into the rest of that album. We have some interesting layers and some interesting contemplations on this album. It’s such a romantic soundtrack. We touch on everything from talking about death, have a little small-town romance and bring out some sassy numbers like a song called “The Way You Lie.” It’s just a really cool project with flavors for everybody. The boys and I are steeped in old country. We absolutely love the history of this format. Neil, being the mandolin player, loves the bluegrass side of things. I’m just so excited for people to see our roots and see what we’ve cut our teeth on musically. So a modern throwback would be the best description.

KMJ: You guys have written or co-written nearly the entire album. I noticed one of the writers was American Idol judge Kara Dioguardi. Tell me about writing with her and your song “Postcards From Paris.”

RP: Kara was in town in Nashville writing with several country songwriters and artists. Our A&R lady at our label is good friends with Kara. She called us one day and said that Kara had a free afternoon and if we would care to write. That’s the funny thing about writing relationships is you don’t really know how it’s going to turn out. You could write a song or you could just end up going to get a coffee together. Luckily, it worked and we wrote a “Postcard From Paris.” Kara has been so great; she’s almost taken on a big sister role for us. She’s really given us a lot of advice and helped us out and all.

KP: She’s just been so supportive and actually on the local Fox station here in Nashville, she actually sang a bit of our next single, “If I Die Young.” She’s just really loved that from day one. It’s just really cool to see her get into songs that we’re putting out. She really has become sort of The Band Perry’s big sister giving us advice. She’s even helped us so much in the songwriting room. Her songwriting prowess is just so amazing with the breadth of work that she’s done over the years. She definitely came into the songwriting room with a needle and thread and sewed the idea of the song together.

KMJ: Neil, on your website, you mention that each one of you bring a different songwriting skill and strength to each songwriting session. What are those?

NP: Reid is definitely is the rock and roller of the group being a bass player and all. He’s very particular about what he likes and what he doesn’t like in music. Reid will usually bring in a really cool melody of a bass or even a guitar- he plays great guitar as well. Kimberly works on melody as well- she’s actually a melody genius. She’ll bring in something romantic or something really sassy into the room. My role in the writing room is bringing in the lyrics and the string that strings all of our different ideas together. We work really well in the writing room together.

KP: A lot of times a writing session will evolve out of a rehearsal because when the boys and I rehearse as three-piece, we just play the songs we’re going to play in the next set. Then that evolves into playing some old country songs and then turns into stuff for a writing session. So I really believe that the way we bring songs together is just an extension of us jamming. That seems to be the process that works the best for us. It becomes sort of effortless when we do it that way. Songs kind of come out of our fingertips.

KMJ: Things have kind of exploded on country radio for you all so far this year. Has there been any performance highlights for you over the last year?

KP: Yes! We have two, actually. We had our first sold-out shows this year. The first was up in Portland, Oregon back on February 13th. And then we had another sold-out show in Albany. That was just huge for us. It was really unexpected and we have just so much support from those two stations. The crowds were just wonderful. And the other cool thing that we’re starting to see is people singing out the lyrics to “Hip To My Heart.” When we’re doing some of these radio events, the people in the crowd are singing the lyrics of “Hip To My Heart” back to us. And that’s something that we’ve just never experienced before. You’re just not expecting it the first time and it was just a really cool moment for the three of us.

KMJ: What is country music to The Band Perry?

KP: I’m so proud to be part of this era of country music. The three of us talk about this all the time. We feel like it’s the American format. If Tom Petty came out today, where would he fall? He would fall into country music. He would just fall into the rockier and edgier side of things. I think there’s room for everybody in the format. We’ve got things on the rockier side, things on the poppier side and just straight down the middle country music. It really is just a big country format. And what I love about it is each artist and each band are each unique characters. They each fill a specific niche and a specific mini-genre- they’re each unique characters. Miranda Lambert is a very different character than Lady Antebellum. But she fills her niche. Taylor Swift fills the poppier side of things. That’s what we love about it is everybody brings in their own spin and brings in fresh ideas. The Band Perry hopes to bring to country music a niche to be that modern throwback. We want to maintain the roots and traditions of the format- the songs we love. We want to update that in the 2010 era that we’re living in. We’re just so excited to be part of the big country music family.

Interview Flashback - Making The Call With Matt Kennon

I have been blessed to write contributions/reviews/interviews/opinion pieces for several country music and roots-oriented websites and publications over the years including Saving Country Music, Nashville Scene, Country California, Country Weekly, American Noise, The 9513 and Engine 145. As a regular contributor to the last two in that list, I did close to a 100 interviews with different artists- and since both of those great sites have come down, I will reprint some of those interviews here to give them a home in perpetuity. This interview was originally published in April 2010 on The 9513.

Matt Kennon is blessed with one of those voices that, good or bad, sets him apart from the rest of the radio dial. From the minute he opens his mouth on his new song “The Call,” it’s clear that the gravelly and deep voiced Kennon is working with a different instrument than most. It took nearly half a lifetime to find out the genetics of where it came from, however.

He tells a little bit of that story in his brand new song on radio. The second chorus of “The Call” deals with a young mother grappling with the heart wrenching decision of keeping a baby or not and it was from his own personal experience of being that baby that the song’s lyrics took root.

Matt’s birth mother was in an unfortunate economic situation and had made the painful decision to abort him. The doctor that was seeing his mother knew of another patient, a mother who had lost three of her children in a terrible house fire, who had just found out she was unable to conceive more children. The doctor matched up the two mothers and the new family adopted Matt. It makes the fodder for a great country story.

The 9513 had an opportunity to sit down and make a call with Matt Kennon and talk a little about genealogy and about his upcoming album release on BamaJam Records.

KEN MORTON, JR.: With “The Call” racing up the charts, we’ll start there. As I was reading through your bio, I was surprised to learn that part of that song is autobiographical with your own adoption and own birth mom. Would you mind giving some background on that?

MATT KENNON: Actually, there have been a lot of phone calls in my life that have changed me. Not only in my personal life, but in my career as well. My birth mother couldn’t afford to bring me into this world and take care of me. Through the divine intervention of The Lord, there happened to be a family out there waiting to take care of me. They had lost three children in a house fire. So I was very blessed to be placed in that home with that doctor agreeing to carry me to full term. That’s what that second verse of “The Call” was about. I wrote the song with two guys, both of them that had serious illnesses. Jeremy Campbell had had lung cancer at the age of fourteen. He had it for six years and beat it. Noah, my other co-writer has Crohn’s disease. So when I had this idea for this song for a phone call, we had friends that had lost things like jobs and that- and we all had had phone calls that have changed our lives. When they were dealing with their illnesses and all that, a lot of calls kept them hanging on. We decided we hadn’t heard too many songs about a phone call and especially one that changed so many things.

Interview Flashback - Catching Up With ACM Winner Kellie Coffey

 I have been blessed to write contributions/reviews/interviews/opinion pieces for several country music and roots-oriented websites and publications over the years including Saving Country Music, Nashville Scene, Country California, Country Weekly, American Noise, The 9513 and Engine 145. As a regular contributor to the last two in that list, I did close to a 100 interviews with different artists- and since both of those great sites have come down, I will reprint some of those interviews here to give them a home in perpetuity. This interview was originally published in April 2010 on The 9513.

Kellie Coffey was originally signed to BNA records in 2001 and it was her Dann Huff produced 2002 album whose first release, "When You Lie Next to Me," that introduced her to the world of country music. The song spent an amazing eight months climbing on the charts and eventually resulted in a tour spot on Kenny Chesney’s Margaritas & Senoritas Tour, a 2003 Academy of Country Music Award for Top New Female Vocalist and a spot on the George Strait tour in 2004.

But after a split from her record label in 2004, she put her music career on hold while she tackled another equally challenging new role: mother. It didn’t come easy and in the process, she recorded and released a song about the challenges of infertility that has become an internet sensation. The video for “I Would Die For That” has been viewed over half a million times and has become an inspiration for couples facing the same challenges everywhere.

Coffey would release new independent album called Walk On in 2007 and an EP called Why I’m Alive within the last year. And while there are few country music stations playing the new releases, she has finally found fulfillment in becoming a mom to two healthy kids. She’s still writing and recording and fans will have new music to look forward to before the end of 2010.

The 9513 had the opportunity to talk with the ever-lovely Kellie Coffey about the time during her peak radio airplay and about what life is like for her these days.

Then

KEN MORTON, JR.: You found a publishing deal in Los Angeles about the same time you were singing back-up for Barbra Streisand in Las Vegas. Is it or was it different for an artist to be signed outside of Nashville?

KELLIE COFFEY: Yes. It was. I think it was pretty rare. In fact, when people ask me how to go about getting a record deal in country music, I always say, “Go to Nashville.” But my own path was strange. I guess everybody’s is. I did a showcase out here in Nashville just really trying to get some practice. A publisher from Warner Chappell caught my show and signed me soon after to an artist development deal. I started working with the stable of writers that were there for about a year and I was going back and forth at the time. That’s how it happened to me. But I think that’s very unusual.

KMJ: Did it have any influence on your sound or your style not being part of the Music City establishment?

KC: I’m not sure if that was it. I think I’m just who I am and I was going to make my music regardless of where I was living at the time. I was writing with some of the writers out here in L.A. and writing with some of the writers in Nashville as well. But I think it would have all come out about the same regardless of where I was living at that time.

KMJ: “When You Lie Next to Me" was released in December 2001. The song spent an amazing thirty-three weeks on the country singles charts, reaching a peak of #8- what was that time like?

KC: That was a crazy time. I was out on the road promoting the single to radio. So I was on the radio tour. It was very exciting. I remember the very time I played a club. I was down in Louisiana. I played a club where they actually knew my song and the started singing the lyrics back to me. I think I was actually laughing my way through the song because I was so blown away and so touched by that. That was a cool night for the first time. People actually knew my song. It was a cool time. We were travelling all over the place doing a lot of radio shows and meeting radio folks. We were doing tons of interviews. It was cool.

KMJ: Was the Academy of Country Music Top New Female Vocalist award in 2003 a pinnacle for you? Was it one of the cooler nights of your career?

KC: Absolutely yes. It was an amazing honor. I still think back to that night and that was an incredible night. To be able to share it with my husband was amazing. It was really exciting. It was definitely the highlight of my career. Being recognized by the industry and by your peers is the pinnacle of coolness.

KMJ: Do you have any stage performances that stand out for you from that time like that first show you mentioned in Louisiana?

KC: That one stands out for me for sure. There was another time we were in Kansas somewhere and I was by myself on the road without a big artist. Everyone in town rolled out for my show- it was an electric night- and after the show they were kind of shaking my bus it went so well. Then there was another night when I was touring with Kenny Chesney who was my label mate at the time. I love him. I did a couple shows with him. There was one time where these girls jumped into my bus and said “Where’s Kenny Chesney?” And I came out and they said, “Oh, it’s only Kellie Coffey. Oh bummer.” As big as you are, they can just bring you down and cut you down to size in about two seconds. (Laughing)

KMJ: Album number two, A Little More Me, spawned a #24 hit in "Texas Plates” and a cover of Luther Vandross’ “Dance With My Father”, but wasn’t ever released to the public. Tell me about that album.

KC: Oh man. I loved that album. The album was never released. We did the video for “Texas Plates” and that was really the best video that I had done at that time. I really think it was a hit song. But I don’t know what happened. I don’t know if it was the wrong timing or what. I think we released it in the winter and it should have been a summer release. Whatever. The record itself is really strong. There’s a song on there that I wrote after my husband lost his dad. We wrote the song and it’s just a really special song. Alison Krauss from Union Station sang on it for me. It’s still one of my all time favorites. When the rights reverse back, maybe we can go back and rerecord that one. We won’t get Alison. I don’t know, maybe we can both call her. (Laughing)

KMJ: Let’s talk about one that was released- talk to me about your 2007 self-released album, Walk On?

KC: That album is really a group of songs that are real personal. Walk On to me was about losing my record deal. But people that listen to it will make a connection to something in their own lives that they had to walk on from. I think it’s real relatable that way. There’s another song on there called “I Would Die For That” that I wrote because I was having some infertility issues. After I lost my record deal, I was trying to get pregnant. I miscarried. And I wrote that song about it. And it was a real hard decision whether to put that song on the record because it was really personal. I kind of thought I wouldn’t. But at the time we went in to cut the demo, the engineer came in crying after I sang the vocal. He said that he and his wife were going through the same thing. So at that point, I thought that I just had to put it on my record. I think it’s something that hasn’t been talked about much and when you find something new to actually sing about, you just have to do it. It’s really close to a lot of people. There are 600,000 views of that video on YouTube to this day. I still get emails from women and men that are going through it. For me, just to have one song that I’ve written that has touched people like that is what it’s all about for me.

The View

“When You Lie Next To Me”



“I Would Die For That”



Now

KMJ: November of 2005 and May of 2008 changed your world a bit, though, didn’t it?

KC: Yes! It did in matter of fact. I got pregnant again and had my baby boy Jackson. He’s four now which I can’t believe. And then we had Maggie who will be two in May. I had a boy and a girl and they keep me very busy. It’s truly an awesome experience.

KMJ: Has parenthood affected your music, either in musical priorities or music styling?

KC: Absolutely. I just released an EP called Why I’m Alive. The title song is about Jackson and Maggie. They’re definitely an inspiration. And I think I’m writing deeper and singing deeper. I really feel at the top of my game as a writer as well as an artist these days. But as for my priorities, they are my top ones. I’m really enjoying where my life is right now. I get the chance to be the kind of mom I want to be and still get to write and sing and stuff. It’s really what I had hoped for in my life.

KMJ: You’re still actively writing and recording new music too, aren’t you?

KC: Right after I lost my deal and we got out all of those feelings on Walk On, I kind of took a little bit of a break while I was trying to get pregnant. After we had Jackson, I wanted to get back into the studio and after I had Maggie, that’s when we made the six-song EP. It’s kind of something that I’ll always do. I have to sing and I have to write. I can’t help it. It’s part of me. And also, I want my kids to see what I do and have them experience it with me.

KMJ: Can we look forward to new music any time soon?

KC: Yes! We are working on another EP right now so hopefully we can release that in about three months or so. We’ve been really busy writing and singing and all that good stuff. I can’t wait!

Interview Flashback - Holly Dunn Trades Microphone For Brush

I have been blessed to write contributions/reviews/interviews/opinion pieces for several country music and roots-oriented websites and publications over the years including Saving Country Music, Nashville Scene, Country California, Country Weekly, American Noise, The 9513 and Engine 145. As a regular contributor to the last two in that list, I did close to a 100 interviews with different artists- and since both of those great sites have come down, I will reprint some of those interviews here to give them a home in perpetuity. This interview was originally published in February 2010 on The 9513. 

Editor's Note: Unfortunately, Holly Dunn lost her battle with ovarian cancer at the much-too-young age of 59 back in November of 2016. May her music and memory live on.

Born in San Antonio in 1957, Holly Dunn’s first taste of country music success was as a songwriter and a co-write called "Out of Sight, Not Out of Mind" which was recorded by Cristy Lane. At the time, she hadn’t even graduated from college. But that early success led Dunn to head to Nashville after she finished college. Dunn worked as a demo singer for several labels before joining her brother as a staff songwriter at CBS. She continued a strong songwriter’s initiative while pursuing her own record deal including penning Louise Mandrell’s “I’m Not Through Loving You Yet” top ten hit.

In 1985, Holly Dunn landed a record contract in her own right with MTM Records (Mary Tyler Moore), and released her first single The first three singles barely dented the Billboard charts, but the fourth time was a charm. Her 1986 release, “Daddy’s Hands” became her first Top Ten hit and would become her most recognized and trademark song of her career. 1987's Cornerstone produced three top ten singles in "Love Someone Like Me,” "Only When I Love," and “Strangers Again.” That began a six year run where few artists were producing as many radio-friendly hits as Dunn. During that window, she had two number ones including "Are You Ever Gonna Love Me" and "You Really Had Me Going." Dunn was invited to become an Opry member and was even the host of the TNN television show, Opry Backstage, in 2000 and 2001. 

But shortly thereafter, in 2003 to be exact, Holly abruptly announced her retirement from her musical career to pursue her other passion, art. On her website, she explains, “Early in my music career, I made a little promise to myself that if time and circumstances allowed, I would someday pursue my passion for making art. I am truly thrilled to now be a full time professional artist living and working in the great Southwest that I love, and love to paint!”

The 9513 had a chance to talk to the personable Holly Dunn and talk about her tale of two careers in artistry.

Ken Morton, Jr.- Both you and your brother ended up in the music biz, your brother more on the songwriting side of things. What prompted that career choice?

Holly Dunn- We grew up in a musical family. Some families are more focused on sports, ours just happened to be more on music and art and writing. Our dad was a preacher. My brother, Chris, started playing guitar at a very early age. And he’s the one that influenced me so that by the time I was eight or nine years old, I was playing guitar. It kind of grew from there. It was just our love and our talent. It was our thing for a lack of a better way to put it. I was actively performing in high school and in college and singing all the time. Chris moved to Nashville in the late 70’s and I graduated college in 1979- I’m giving away how old I am- and I just followed him out there. I really have to give him credit because he is the one that made it seem possible. We started writing songs and having hits as songwriters. It made the dream seem like it was attainable. 

KMJ- Was a performing career your ultimate goal as a music artist or was it songwriting- or were you just following your brother?

HD- I loved to perform. That was my thing, although I loved to write songs and sing my own songs. That was part of the package I guess. I think when I moved to Nashville, I didn’t know what I’d be able to do. I had hopes and aspirations, and I probably would have been satisfied just being a songwriter, but my goal was to sing in front of people and make records. And do my own music was big. I’m just thankful it worked out that way. 

KMJ- Talk to me about what life was like for you in the late 80’s and early 90’s

HD- In the early 80’s, I was a struggling songwriter making about $100 a week trying to survive living in a little apartment.

KMJ- And probably wondering what your brother had gotten you into?

HD- (Laughing) Exactly! My parents were back in Texas and I was the only girl in the family and every time I would talk to them, they would just say, “Come back to Texas. There’s a music scene here in Austin.” They were putting pressure on me to come home and get real and move back. It wasn’t that they didn’t think I had talent, they just wanted me closer to them. I stuck with it. I had enough encouragement. It’s kind of like gambling. If you win just enough, you keep playing. That’s how encouragement works in Nashville. I had just enough pats on the back. Other songwriters would have them to sing their demos. There were enough positives rolling in to keep going. By 1984, I met a guy named Tommy West who had produced Jim Croce, someone whose music I was very familiar with and whose songs I would sing a little bit. He was forming a record label with some guys from California for MTM, Mary Tyler Moore music group. I was the first artist they signed. I was hardly a recording artist at that point. It’s really what started things. 

KMJ- Was it “Daddy’s Hands” that really was the launch pad for your career?

HD- It really was. That little song. Man. It’s been such a gift. It was a gift to me the way it fell into my head. That little song was amazing. It was my fourth single. Each single did a little better and a little better, but I hadn’t even broken the Top 40 yet. I was barely known. My name was barely out there with the DJ’s and public. We had barely scratched the surface when we put out “Daddy’s Hands.” It blew the lid off of everything. It was instantaneously accepted. It didn’t go number one oddly enough. It went number seven. It was on the charts for over six months which back there was unheard of. I got two GRAMMY nominations because of that song and had eleven award nominations because of that little song. It was gangbusters for me. I won the Horizon Award at the CMA Awards and I won the New Female Vocalist Award at the ACM’s. All of a sudden, it exploded. Then I felt like I was trying to hold on for dear life. 

KMJ- Are your ACM & CMA Awards as meaningful today as when you won them?

HD- You know, I’m sitting here in my office looking at them right this minute. They really are. They’re right up there with my three GRAMMY nominations and my BMI Songwriter of the Year Award. I don’t have a lot of those things out any longer, it almost seems like another person. I’ve been gone long enough where it’s kind of a memory at this point. They symbolize that what we did mattered. There’s a lot of blood, sweat and tears in those awards. There are a lot of miles on the road for those. 

KMJ- Looking back, would you have done anything differently, anything over again?

HD- (Laughing) Oh gosh yes. Looking back, we were all so young, I can say there are lots of things we’d rather do over again. I thought I was so very mature at the time, and now at my ripe old age, I can say that there are a lot of things I would have done over again. But that’s just life. Some people I would have kept in my life and others I would have jetted a lot sooner than I did. I would have done things more calm and collected than I did. But you have to just look back and think that you did the best you could. You’d do it with a little more perspective. 

KMJ- You’ve retired fully from music and dove into art full-time haven’t you?

HD- I did. My mom’s a painter and I grew up in a household where music and art kind of ran neck and neck vying for my attention. I knew I had some artistic abilities, but music so grabbed me, that I never gave the art thing any time. I loved it and I collected it. And when I began to make a little bit of money, I became an avid art collector. On the road, we’d always have to stop at art galleries. Santé Fe became one of my favorite places because it’s such an art place. Bit by bit, as my music career began to wind down and as I started to purposefully remove myself from the music business, I began to give myself some time and space to work on my art. This is probably about ten years ago when I really gave myself the opportunity to work on it. At that time, I had made a lot of friends in the art business that were very encouraging to me. They are true artists. They said they’d look at my first fledgling pieces and told me to keep going. It was enough to make me want to keep going. I knew I could write a hit song and sing a hit record, but it’s this whole art thing that still fascinates me. It’s really harder. Music comes out of me so effortlessly. This art thing is much more demanding of me- and I love that though. It’s a challenge. I feel very blessed that I got to have two artistic focuses and endeavors in my life and paths to go on. When I left the music business, I was in my 40’s. What a great blessing it is to totally be able to reinvent yourself and have a whole other passion halfway through your life. I thought I had gotten everything out of the music business that I was going to get. I made a conscious decision one day- I was standing backstage at the Grand Ole Opry- that I could be 80 years old in the same Manuel jacket I had always worn singing “Daddy’s Hands” or I could just say, “Thank you very much.” I had been there 25 years and gotten everything out of it that I was going to get in a big sense and proven everything that I had set out to prove. I just decided to go do something else. And I haven’t regretted it. It wasn’t probably the most sound financial decision I ever made to walk away from six figures. (Laughing) But I’ve never regretted it- it’s led to the chance to do this. 

KMJ- Was walking away from your Grand Ole Opry membership the hardest piece of that decision?

HD- It was. And I would still be a member of the Opry if they’d allow it. But I’d been away from it for awhile- I think I’d been gone for two years solidly. And I got a phone call from Pete Fisher. And I knew it was coming. They like to keep the Opry role at about seventy people who are actively performing. And I knew that they’d been adding people since I left. But it hurt. I’m not going to tell you it didn’t. Because I loved the Opry. And I still love the Opry. And I had really participated as a younger member. It wasn’t just something I wanted on my resume like some who said that they wanted to be a member of the Opry and never showed up. I really was an active member. My last two years in Nashville, when I wasn’t on the road, I was at the Opry. I hosted the TV show and I hosted the backstage show for two years. I was Bill Anderson’s substitute host when he couldn’t be there. And I did commercials for them and radio stuff for them and on and on and on. I loved the Opry and what it stood and stands for. That was hard. The day they said they were going to remove me from the cast list that hurt. But I understand and wasn’t surprised. But that was a sad day. But I have some amazing memories. I wish there was a way though to- just to make a suggestion to them- to keep a list of folks that were members in the past. This whole total expunging you from the list is sort of a little harsh I think. There are people on that list, that I know for a fact, that might make it once a year if they’re lucky. It’s a little subjective. That’s my only gripe.

KMJ- Any side singing? Church? Little clubs no one knows about? Karaoke bars? Anything?

HD- (Laughing) No, not really. When I lived in New Mexico, I went to this little community church just literally around the corner from my house and I sang a little bit for them. And that was nice. It kept my chops up. I have a guitar that I keep out in my living room and occasionally I’ll pick it up because I just don’t want to totally lose my skills. But my total creative focus is on my art. I do five or six art shows a year. People come to see me there. I’m growing the art thing. There’s nothing like the music world and nothing will be. Art is a whole different thing. But this fulfills me creatively. I don’t miss the music thing because they both come from the same place. It doesn’t matter if it is a song or a piece of art, I just need to be making something. It puts me in my zone.

KMJ- Mostly southwestern in theme?

HD- I work in photo realistic forms. My work is representational. It’s almost photographic. I work in pastels and it’s highly detailed. I do a lot of southwestern themes because I’m drawn to that. I lived in New Mexico and I’ve gone back and forth between there and Texas since I was a little girl. I love the architecture and the colors of the southwest. I love the sky. I do a lot of iconic images of the southwest. I do a lot of churches. But I also do a lot of wildlife. I’ll pair an old Native American pot or antiquity and put a bird in the picture with it. I like to pair an animate and an inanimate object. I sell everything I make and as long as I keep doing that, I’ll keep chugging along. 

KMJ- Do you anticipate ever going back and recording or writing new music?

HD- I never say never. I’m a person who just never closes doors like that- mostly because I have gratitude to the people that I worked with. I don’t see that happening. I’ve been gone so long now. I still get my CMA magazine every quarter and I recognize fewer and fewer of the people in there. I realize I’m getting more and more far away from that business and out of touch. I’m not even sure it’s possible. I’m sure I could go and make a little record. I could drive an hour down to Austin and make a little record by myself and sell it on my website. I could do that. But I don’t have any plans to do that. I might do it someday, but it will just for my own self-satisfaction. There’s not a spot for me in Nashville any longer. They’ve moved on. When you’re off the charts for over a year, you’re as good as gone. How many people do you know that have really ever made a comeback? What they like now is the really young cute little skinny girls. (Laughter) I’m cute- just not as cute as I used to be! It happens to all of us. I just don’t think I want to go out and have to have a lot of surgery to get back to where I’d need to be. That darn father time. I’m probably in the best place I could ever be right now. I’m perfect in my personal life, right nearby my mother and having the time together is really a blessing for both of us. 

Interview Flashback - Talking Highs, Lows & Highs with Sarah Buxton- The 9513 Interview

I have been blessed to write contributions/reviews/interviews/opinion pieces for several country music and roots-oriented websites and publications over the years including Saving Country Music, Nashville Scene, Country California, Country Weekly, American Noise, The 9513 and Engine 145. As a regular contributor to the last two in that list, I did close to a 100 interviews with different artists- and since both of those great sites have come down, I will reprint some of those interviews here to give them a home in perpetuity. This interview was originally published in February 2010 on The 9513.

For Sarah Buxton, the last six years have been a roller-coaster ride of highs and lows. The singer/songwriter has realized huge successes and at the same time has questioned at times where the road towards her first full album release would take her. Today, that journey aims to all points north with the release of her self-titled album scheduled for release by Lyric Street Records on February 23rd.

Born in Lawrence, Kansas, Buxton’s childhood was filled with music with piano and flute lessons and being active in her town choir. She moved to Nashville following high school graduation both to attend Belmont University and follow her musical dreams and ambitions. The early 2000’s found her the lead singer of a southern rock band called Stoik Oak. But after that group called it quits- and after an ill-fated marriage- she found herself at a crossroads of where to go next.

It was John Rich and others that encouraged her to find her country music voice and after singing back-up vocals from everyone from Kenny Rogers to Cowboy Troy, she landed her own record deal with Lyric Street Records back in 2006. Keith Urban recorded the Buxton co-write "Stupid Boy" on his album Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing- which he took to #3 on the country charts in 2007. But despite that big success as a songwriter, three different singles released over three years- “Innocence,” “That Kind Of Day,” and “Space”- didn’t result in enough radio play in Lyric Street’s eyes to result in an album release.

A fourth single was the charm, however. Her current chart hit, “Outside My Window,” is close to busting into the top 20 and its homegrown video has been a staple hit on the country music television stations. The 9513 had a chance to talk to the fun and free-spirited Buxton about her journey and the new album.

Ken Morton, Jr.- Thank you for sharing a bit of your time with The 9513.

Sarah Buxton- I’m so good right now. I have a new burst of energy because I just opened up my first CD ever!

KMJ- What an exciting moment for you.

SB- I’m freaked out. I was in the middle of another interview just a few minutes ago and had a very awkward moment. My publicist and my manager came in with the CD with their phones and were recording me. I was talking with the interview guy and I was waving at them and jumping up and down. It was crazy. I’m just so happy about it. It’s just so great.

KMJ- Congratulations. You can still hear the excitement in your voice. 

SB- Thank you. I am excited.

KMJ- Well, let me dive into a few questions we have for you. How is it that Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks led you into country music?

SB- Through her, her singing, her melodies and the way she sang about her life, she taught me something about music. You either connect with it or you don’t. When you do, and you’re a musical person, it’s a powerful thing. There was something about her that just didn’t just pull me in, it lassoed me in. Wow. I was just completely blown away by them and I saw that she wrote all her own songs. I just connected with her. I don’t know what it was. She’s always been my favorite.

KMJ- I understand you met her and it was by her suggestion that you follow your musical dreams and ultimately ended up here.

SB- She didn’t suggest it, but she told me that if I knew that I was here on this planet to sing and that if I really believed it, I would make it happen. That’s how I felt. And that’s what I did. I believed in myself. She said, “If you believe in yourself, then I believe in you.” So that’s what I took from it and that’s why I moved to Nashville.

KMJ- While you’ve been signed to Lyric Street since 2006, it’s been your songwriting on Keith Urban’s “Stupid Boy” that probably has cast a light as bright as anything thus far- was has that song meant to you? 

SB- It’s meant a lot. It’s meant a lot of things. First of all, it’s cool to be able to write a song about something you feel strongly about, you feel like you did it. If you feel like you like it and that you couldn’t have done any better then it’s a gift. But then to have it recorded on my record and to have Keith hear it and record it on his album and then nominated for Song Of The Year, it’s just the gift that keeps on giving. And most importantly, I’m still getting checks from it. Yea! (Laughing).

KMJ- It seems as if things are really rolling now for your career- your long awaited album hits at the end of February. What can listeners expect to hear?

SB- You can expect to hear my long struggle through my 20’s in my songs. It was written over the course of six years. You can hear all of my previous singles on it- “Innocence,” “That Kind Of Day,” “Space,” and “Outside My Window.” They’re all on there plus six new ones that will give you a direction on where my music is headed. It’s an emotional CD with a lot of highs and lows. The highs are really high and the lows are really low. I tried to take you with me on that journey when you go through it. And hope that when people listen to it, they’ve gone through some of the same things and there’s a song on there for every thing.

KMJ- Sonically and musically, how would you describe it?

SB- It’s very guitar-driven. It’s very rocking. It’s got the Nashville country sound on it but it’s got a little different spin on it. I tried to be a little more organic than it could have been. With tracks like “Big Blue Sky” at the very end, I wanted something on there that was very light. There’s some stuff on there that’s very heavy- some things that have a deep message to them. I think you can hear some Stevie in there. I think you can hear Tom Petty. I think you can hear Shania in there. A little Faith in there. I think you can all the influences I’ve had on there.

KMJ- On some of the songs we’ve heard on the radio, there’s a certain spunkiness to them. Does that carry through the rest of the album? 

SB- Not every song has that on it. That’s something I let go of a little bit.- and not that I’m not letting go of my spunkiness. I just recently finished writing one of the most ridiculous songs I’ve ever written called “Train Wreck.” I tried to write more songs that were a little more grown up. I tried to tap into some of these new things while still trying to make it make sense. I’m kind of in a big place in my life right now. Lots of things are moving and working and getting resolved.

KMJ- I’m sure there’s been a roller-coaster of a ride for you over the last four years, perhaps even the last six. Were you always sure that this day was going to arrive?

SB- Yes, I always thought it was going to happen. But then there would be moments in which I thought maybe this wasn’t going to happen. Or thought, maybe I don’t want this to happen. Why isn’t this going smoothly? Why is it that I see these other artists out on the road and other people are talking about their careers and everybody else seems to be having fun? And why am I having such a struggle and such a big fight for everything? I felt like everything was such a big deal. Every decision was so much drama. And now, finally, I feel like one of those other happy artists. (Laughing)

KMJ- Your current single “Outside My Window” seems poised to become your first top 20 solo hit any week now. There’s a great story regarding a “personal investment” in the video.

SB- Totally. The standard of my label is that they like to release music videos when they know they have a top 20 record. So until they got to the point that “Outside My Window” is now, they wouldn’t have a video out for it. They explained in-depth this reason. I just went and made this video with my co-writers for fun. I said, “Whatever, we’ll just go put it on YouTube.” But we showed it to the guys at Lyric Street and they loved it. They loved it. They thought it was hilarious. And we’ve got some friends at GAC and they said they’d definitely play it. And when I told the label they were going to play it, they said that they wouldn’t normally play anything this low of quality. We literally shot it on an iFlip on Mark Hudson’s laptop. It was his brain-child. He totally thought the whole thing up.

KMJ- And the whole thing was shot for a crazy amount like $50 or something like that?

SB- It was more than that. It was eighty bucks. (Laughing) The most expensive thing we got was the window. The big expense was the window itself.

KMJ- Does that hang proudly somewhere in your house now?

SB- You know what? No, it should. I think it’s over at (co-writer) Gary Burr’s house. I should go over and get that thing. Gary’s very proud of this record though.

KMJ- You’re out on tour with Martina McBride and Trace Adkins on the Shine All Night Tour beginning this month as well.

SB- Yes! I’ve actually done a few dates with them already. It’s so great. I love being on tour. You get to work on your craft of performing when it’s been start-stop-start-stop. It’s not until you do it night after night after night when you start getting really good. You learn how to get really good at how to be better at bringing Trace Adkins out on stage because he comes on literally right after me.

KMJ- So who are more like out on tour? Is it the Trace Adkins bar-room drinking girl or the Martina McBride family-oriented girl?

SB- Somewhere right in the middle. I don’t drink all night every night. I do every once in awhile. (Laughter) But I like staying home and having a nice glass of wine with my dinner. But when I do party, I find that the more I party, the more I want to party. So it can get a little out of control. So I try to be a good girl out on the road.

KMJ- And you’re also going to be the featured GAC Artist of the Month in March, I understand?

SB- The hits just keep coming. They’re going to have all these hit songs and interviews. I’m really just overwhelmed. I really am. Even with everything that’s happening, I just can’t believe it. Everything’s good!

KMJ- I have one last question for you. What is country music to Sarah Buxton?


SB- Country music is a genre for everybody- kids and adults. It’s a genre based on storytelling. I think that’s the best way I can describe what I do to others. It’s storytelling. It’s about people’s lives. It’s about real tangible things that we all go through. It’s real stories about real life. When I first started listening to it, Patty Loveless became one of my all-time idols. I love her so much. She sang and spoke so well to women and women’s emotions and real things. It was love and divorce and death in a plain-speaking way. That’s what country music is to me.

Interview Flashback - Terri Clark Makes Her Long Road Home

I have been blessed to write contributions/reviews/interviews/opinion pieces for several country music and roots-oriented websites and publications over the years including Saving Country Music, Nashville Scene, Country California, Country Weekly, American Noise, The 9513 and Engine 145. As a regular contributor to the last two in that list, I did close to a 100 interviews with different artists- and since both of those great sites have come down, I will reprint some of those interviews here to give them a home in perpetuity. This interview was originally published in February 2010 on The 9513.

In the business of country music, few active artists boast as deep of a resume as Terri Clark. Her nineteen singles that have hit the Billboard Hot Country charts, two number ones, multiple platinum records, a Grand Ole Opry membership and numerous top tens are only rivaled by an even greater level of success in her native Canada- measured in part by eight Canadian Country Music Association Fan’s Choice Entertainer of the Year awards. Clark’s songs like “Easy On The Eyes”, “Girls Lie Too”, “Poor Poor Pitiful Me”, and “I Wanna Do It All” have left an indelible mark on the country landscape.

But three years ago, a major event in Clark’s life shifted priorities 180 degrees. At the time, Clark was recently signed to Sony/BMG and preparing what would have been the next evolution of a big country radio star’s career. With a discovery of cancer in her mother, however, that road of fame led back home. The person closest to Terri, the one who had taken her to Nashville and changed her life so that her daughter could live out her dreams on stage was in a fight for life.

“When the most important person in your whole life… when the doctors tell you they’re going to be taken away, it pulls you up short,” said Clark. “You don’t think about expiration dates with the people you love, but that’s the reality. And that kind of thing makes you get very real very very fast.”

And in a stunning turn of events, Clark asked for and was granted a release from one of the most powerful studio labels in the business. She went home, tended to her mother until she was healthy again and in the process, changed her musical priorities. There was a new conviction that every song and every album that was going to be put out hereafter was going to be on her terms and filled perhaps not with radio smashes, but with music that has meaning and deep emotion for her.

What resulted was an album that is appropriately titled The Long Road Home released late in 2009. The 9513 had a chance to sit down with the lovely Ms. Clark and talk about the new album, the Canadian country music scene and even a little snow in Nashville.

Ken Morton, Jr.- This exceptionally cold Nashville winter has to be downright balmy compared to your childhood Quebec winters, doesn’t it?

Terri Clark- (laughter) Absolutely. What is a way of life for us for half a year literally sends everybody into a complete state of emergency down here. Schools are shutting down. Kids are tobogganing down the middle of the street. It’s interesting to see the reaction to the cold and weather. Pipes will freeze down here because things just aren’t insulated the same way. People don’t have snow tires so it’s more of a hazard driving. They’re just not prepared for it. But, yeah, I’m pretty used to it. It reminds me of home, actually.

KMJ- You have a brand new album titled The Long Road Home and I thought that the title was appropriate considering your journey the last two or three years. Tell me about the journey.

TC- I chose The Long Road Home as the album title because it has a metaphorical meaning as well as the fact that I’m concentrating a little more on Canada with my airplay and touring. It doesn’t by any means that I’m abandoning the U.S., because I’m doing a lot of touring there as well. But I’ve been all the way around the world since I came to Nashville when I was eighteen. And I feel like I’ve sort of come full circle- coming back to my community and that side. So figuratively, The Long Road Home represents that to me. But it also represents that journey within me- a lot of the self-realizations and things that have become non-negotiable within myself within the last couple of years. It’s still a long journey and I’m still learning every single day working on myself. It’s been an eye-opening last couple year. Home is really inside your self. You just have to find your own way there. That’s the best thing. And it’s all reflective in my music as well.

KMJ- Speaking of the music, how would you describe the album from the artist’s perspective?

TC- I would say the album, musically, is more organic in sound. But it’s still a big band. It’s lush sounding with a full sound. I used more organic instruments. I don’t have a lot of screaming guitars, there’s a lot of mandolin. Instead of lush strings, we have more chamber strings. There’s some quartet sounds, a lot of acoustic guitar. I didn’t want it to sound like a big ole commercial record. I wanted it to sound sonically pleasant to listen to but different from what I’ve done in the past. I didn’t want to stray too far from what I’ve done in the past, but wanted it different enough to sound different.

KMJ- Was your goal of being more organic than all your previous albums was attained?

TC- I think compared to everything but Fearless, yes. And on my next record, I’m going to strip it down even more. I’m going to focus even more on the acoustic elements of the instruments. I just love that sound. The stuff I listen to at home is triple A and folk rock and more acoustic music. Less is more as I get older. I find less is more in every fashion both in music and in life. I feel the album musically is organic but not so organic as to feel not full. It’s still got horsepower where it needs to have it.

KMJ- I saw on your website that you’re already back in the studio doing some additional recording, I understand.

TC- I went in to rerecord a couple songs including one I recorded about eleven years ago called “Empty.” We did an acoustic version of that song for copyright reasons so I could pitch them to film and TV. It’s a song that I’ve always gotten a great response to all these years and I always felt like that was one that got away. We thought it could be showcased in television or film like so many different people told me it ought to be. We went in a rerecorded it and another because legally speaking, the record label I was working for owned that master. But after so long, we can go in and redo it and now the new version belongs to me. So now we’ll try to go out and get that song someplace somewhere.

KMJ- There is one full-fledged duet on the new album and a certain recognizable Country Music Hall of Famer backing you on another song. Talk to me about those songs.

TC- Johnny Reid, who is the golden boy in Canada right now- he’s doing really well there right now, did a duet with me on a song called “You Tell Me.” It’s a song that a lot of people face in relationships- when they don’t know whether to stay or go. It’s about the conversation between those people and whether they are at a turning point in their relationship. It’s very adult and very grown up. He did such a great job. He’s got such an R&B sounding voice and the two of us sounding so different really worked. And Vince Gill sang on “The One You Love.” It’s more of a guest vocal than a full-fledged duet, but Vince Gill can blend with anybody. He’s just got such great vocals.

KMJ- You mentioned Johnny Reid. You’ve been one of the few artists that has found full-fledged success on both sides of the border. Why do you think there isn’t more crossover on both sides?

TC- I think the key to that is having an American record deal. If you are on a Canadian label, it’s going to be hard to have radio airplay in the United States. I moved to Nashville when I was 18 or 19 and pursued it the other way. I knew if I could get an American record deal, it would bleed over into Canada. But a lot of Canadian artists work at just getting that Canadian record deal and unfortunately, it doesn’t work both ways over the border. Traditionally, you can cover all of North America with a U.S. record deal- actually you can cover the world that way. But in Canada, it’s more of a domestic type of success that you can have. I think that played a big role in my own success.

KMJ- You’re doing this more on your terms this time around rather than doing it on a big record label. What has that meant on this particular album?

TC- It means I have to wear more hats. (Laughter) No pun intended. I’ve got to oversee a little more. But I’ve got great business management. I’ve got a great operation and people that handle the paperwork on stuff that would normally steal away the creative energy when I’d be focused on that part of it. I had to kind of abandon some of my childhood expectations and dreams by going this route. More than likely, I’m not going to get any American radio airplay in any big way. There won’t be mainstream radio airplay any more. You need that major label budget and push to really get that airplay, unless something really strange happens. Things like being nominated for things like CMA awards are probably over. I’ve had to take some time and wrap my head around the realities of that. Those probably won’t happen any more. But that’s okay with me. When one door closes another one opens. I’ve got all the creative freedom in the world and I can do whatever I want, cut whatever songs I want to in whatever way I want to. And I can still do really well with my fan base and get satellite radio airplay and GAC play for videos and get played in Canada all day long. So I really have the best of both worlds. And I’ve got major label distribution with Capitol Nashville and BMI Canada.

KMJ- You alluded to this whole change of focus coming after your mom’s illness. How is she doing these days?

TC- She’s doing really well right now. It’s an up and down rollercoaster ride, but she’s doing well right now. She shouldn’t even be here any more according to doctors, so that’s all good. When you’re faced with something like that, it makes you regroup and reprioritize things in your life. I have a real gift of music in being able to deliver whatever message I choose to deliver. And I can help people that way. There’s a difference you can make if you choose to.

KMJ- I’ve got two more questions for you. On your website, I saw a quote that caught my eye. You said, “People aren’t getting anything from country music the way I think people should, the way I did.” I was hoping you could expound on that a little bit.

TC- I shouldn’t say anything. What I should have said people aren’t getting the same type of thing out all the artists that I listened to like The Judds, Reba, George Jones, Haggard, classic country, Loretta, and Patsy. It was a real adult format with real adult issues. It was about tragedy. And it was about facing things like death and suicide and drinking. That is what country music meant to me- more of a lifestyle kind of music. It’s just shifted. And it doesn’t mean that it’s different in a bad way, it’s just different. What I got out of it was the learning of life by listening to it. Real life. I find that the subject matter and the material and the things that are decorating it now are a little different. It’s definitely taken on a more of a pop format feel.

KMJ- You covered it a bit with that last question, but what is country music to Terri Clark?

TC- Country music is about real life. It’s about real loss. It’s about demons. It’s about angels. It’s about life. It is a lifestyle type of music- what we face every day in life. Some of it’s good and some of it’s not. But we have to look at it all to get a true picture of it. And that’s what country music has been to me. And it’s about the people who came before me, the people that started out. It’s about the Opry members that I run into every night. They’re the ones that paved the way so a lot of it is about the history of the music to me too.

Interview Flashback - The 9513 Conversation With Jason Eady

I have been blessed to write contributions/reviews/interviews/opinion pieces for several country music and roots-oriented websites and publications over the years including Saving Country Music, Nashville Scene, Country California, Country Weekly, American Noise, The 9513 and Engine 145. As a regular contributor to the last two in that list, I did close to a 100 interviews with different artists- and since both of those great sites have come down, I will reprint some of those interviews here to give them a home in perpetuity. This interview was originally published in January 2010 on The 9513.

Down in the low-country along the banks of the slow-moving Mississippi River, water seeps through deltas and backwoods bayous- forever changing the landscape with everything it touches. But it carries more than water on that journey down that river. It carries a history, stories, cultures and probably more than anything, a musical jambalaya. For those that that are familiar with the traditional Cajun dish, they know it’s a little bit of everything thrown together with rice and spices. 

For Jason Eady, this musical jambalaya had a profound and lasting effect on his soul. With influences ranging from country to soul, from Cajun to rock, and from gospel to blues, it shaped a sound that is fairly unique. And like those great storytellers along that river, Eady has carried the torch of writing and singing songs with a tale. His late 2009 release When The Money’s All Gone was lauded critically. 

Now a Texas resident, that unique and historic music scene is just one more ingredient in the long list of musical influences that make up the recipe that is Jason Eady.  The 9513 had an opportunity to sit down with the singer/songwriter and talk about his recent album as well as what lies ahead both as a solo artist and as a key member of a side project band. 

Ken Morton, Jr.- Jason, thanks for spending some time with The 9513. You grew up in Mississippi, what were some of your early musical influences there?

Jason Eady- I grew up on country music. That’s really what I grew up listening to. It was the stuff that was out in the early 80’s and late 70’s. Stuff like Haggard, Waylon & Willie. My parents always had a lot of Kris Kristofferson playing. So that was definitely my first love. Later on, I found bluegrass. And I remember this one time this local TV show had this songwriting round. Mac McAnally was on it as was Kevin Welch. That was the first time I had seen songwriters write their songs. These were songs I knew from the radio, but I had never thought about the fact that somebody else had written them. I don’t know. The thing I really liked about growing up immersed in Mississippi music is that it seems to be a crossroads between a lot of different kinds of music. Everything seems to pass through there. It might be jazz coming up from New Orleans or blues from the delta. Or bluegrass, southern rock, country, soul, or R&B. It all kinds of crosses there in that area. So growing up, I really was exposed to a lot of different styles of music. 

KMJ- On your latest album, When The Money’s All Gone, it seems to reflect that. It’s a recipe of country, blues, soul, Cajun, gospel, R&B and rock and roll. From your perspective, where does it fit across that musical landscape?

JE- This time we made an effort to get back to that groove-based southern -gospel blues-influenced material. On my last couple of albums, I’ve played around with a lot of different styles. It was the producer, Kevin Welch, that wanted to take us back to our roots with what we used to do. This one was more based in that swampy feel. There were exceptions, though. There are a couple songs towards the end of the album that are more of the songwriter/folk/lyrical based songs. I don’t think I’ll ever make one kind of record because I don’t listen to music that way. Even when I’m listening to my iPod, it might go from hip hop to bluegrass back to something fast. I get bored any other way. So the last thing I would do is make a record that was the same all the way through. But I think a blues-based southern-gospel influence is really the overall theme of this record. 

KMJ- Comparing it against your first two records, how would you see it fitting in musically or genre-wise?

JE- The first one was definitely more polished country. We recorded it in Nashville and it was much more of a commercial radio-oriented record. The last one was completely the opposite. We went completely bare-boned and did stuff live and in one take. So that one was really scattered. We had everything on that record. One song would be a bluegrass song, the next song would be a blues song, the next song be a country song. There was no real thread to it all- it was just all a collection of good music. The second one was very eclectic and more folk-side of things. 

KMJ- While not a Texan, you’ve been really adopted by the Texas music scene. How on earth did you manage to pull that one off?

JE- (Laughter) I had quit playing music for awhile and moved to Texas for a job. I was getting close to 30 years old. I figured my time had passed and I wasn’t going to do it any longer. But when I got here, I found out it was incredibly receptive to new music. It was the first place I’d ever moved to that was that open to new kinds of music and different styles. People actually expected you to play your own songs whereas in other places they’ll tolerate you playing your own songs but they really want to hear the covers. It was so refreshing to see that I thought I’d give it one more shot playing open mics on stage everywhere I could. When I’d travel on business, I’d take my guitar and go to the clubs at night. It just kind o f took off. One thing led to another and it started going. I finally quit my job and here I am. Really I think about it only taking off here (in Texas.) I did this once before in Mississippi in going to Nashville but things never really got rolling. I had some interesting things happen, but nothing ever really developed. So really my whole musical career has been based out of Texas. 

KMJ- I wanted to talk about some of the songs on the last album- specifically in what frame of mind you must be in for the characters in your songs to get in so much trouble. 

JE- (Laughter) You mean like “Promises in Pieces”?

KMJ- Or “God-Fearing Blues.” Where does the inspiration come from on those diabolical characters in those story-songs?

JE- On “Promises In Pieces,” I worked on that one for a long time. And I don’t normally do that. I can usually finish 70-80% of a song in one session. I may sit down for three or four hours, but at the end of it I’m usually pretty close to being done with a song. I may tweak it or edit it down or adjust a verse or two over the next couple of days. But usually it’s a pretty quick process for me. I usually assume that if I don’t get the bulk of it in that one setting, it’s not going to happen. “Promises In Pieces” was the only thing I’ve ever written that was a slow sculpture from the beginning. It took me about 2 months, constantly shaving away at it. It’s definitely the most literary song I’ve ever written. That one is a concept that was really story-based. The frame of mind was really just challenging myself to see if I could pull it off. With “God-Fearing Blues,” that just started with a feel more than anything. I had a feel for this song. I wanted to write something involving the area I grew up in and I loved those gospel churches growing up and I love that sound. I love those “Hallelujah” shouting type of songs. But at the same time, I don’t live that lifestyle as much as I probably should. I also didn’t want to want a plain gospel song. I figured that would be pretty hypocritical of me. I wanted to get that feel and pay homage to that sound but do it without necessarily writing a gospel song. 

KMJ- One of my favorite songs on the album is “Cry Pretty.” It’s such a great juxtaposition- such a great combination of words and lyrics. Is there a real story in there?

JE- There’s a story that somebody told me. And the story behind that song is that I had that title for a really long time. My wife actually said it about somebody that they “cried pretty.” And I thought, that’s a title. So I kept it and when I was starting to write songs, I was trying to put something together with that title. But it never seemed to quite work. And I liked the title so much that I didn’t want to ruin it by actually writing a song I wasn’t crazy about. But then about a week before we went into the studio- I think this was the last song we wrote before recording the album- I was talking to Kevin Welch about titles. This song title came up and he said it reminded him of this story about this girl I used to date and I saw at the end of this party. Kevin said, “She was talking to me and crying. And I was starting to fall for it and started to realize that as much as she was crying, there weren’t any tears coming down.” As soon as he said that, it clicked. I went home the next day and wrote it in about two hours. As soon as I had the story, it was just a matter of putting it down and making it work. It is a true story. Just not my story. 

KMJ- When you look at your career, what kind of notoriety or level of success are you wanting to achieve? You tried the mainstream Nashville radio-scene once. Now you’re doing a smaller label thing with more musical freedom but probably not as many publicity resources. Is it a wish to be more widely recognized on a national level or is that even a wish at this point?

JE- It definitely is. I’m not necessarily interested in the mainstream Top 40 country radio thing. It’s not whether I like it or don’t like it. It’s just that the way country music radio has gone lately, it doesn’t fit with what I do. I don’t know. That whole scene has just changed so much. It’s not about the same thing that it was when I was growing up. I don’t really think of that avenue very much at all. I love the idea of something else. There are a lot of people that are very successful in this business doing it differently. An example is Lyle Lovett. Lyle Lovett, Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, those guys. They are all people who kind of plowed away at it for twenty years or thirty years and kind of carved their own niche out of it and made their own brand. They’ve done their own thing this whole time despite what kind of fad was going on at the time and made their own career and their own sound. They do well by putting out the music that they want to put out. That’s really the path I want to follow. 

KMJ- How did your backing band get the name The Wayward Apostles? I’m sure there’s another good story in there somewhere. 

JE- (Laughter) That’s just like the thing with “God-Fearing Blues.” I had the band and we were doing a lot of gospel-flavored songs. We were doing a lot of gospel-flavored harmonies and a lot of the guys in the band- that’s all they really grew up learning how to play. We had the band name The Apostles for just a little while. But at the same time, we didn’t want to give the impression that we were a true gospel band. So we had to come up with something different that explained that this is what we do and that we’re definitely influenced by it but that we are trying to do something different. And that we are a little bit different. I just didn’t want to blur that line too much. 

KMJ- Two more questions left. This one came from one of The 9513’s founders, Brady. I know you’re sort of a pseudo-secret member of a band called Johnny and the Footlights that do some classic country covers. We wanted to know how that came about and if you have any plans to release any material under that band name. 

JE- Wow, that’s great. That came about with after playing some shows with Jamie Wilson who used to play with The Gougers and now is a member of The Trishas- I don’t know if you’ve heard of them but they’re just amazing. They’re really phenomenal. When she was between gigs- between the two bands- we were doing shows together. We still do this all the time. We do a show and share the band. Basically, whoever is the singer is the only thing that changes between sets. We were getting these gigs and having to do three or four hours. I would do 90 minutes of my stuff, she would do 90 minutes of her stuff, and then we would still have time to kill. And we both love old time country music. That’s a common theme that everyone in the band has. But those shows are so far and few between that we decided that we wanted to do something that was more “for real.” We found this place in Fort Worth that gave us this weekly gig. The band, the whole thing in fact, is such a self-indulgent thing for us. It’s really just us playing around. We all get together, there’s really no expectations, we just get to have a lot of fun. But we have talked about doing something else. A lot of stuff I’ve been writing lately really falls in that line of music. It’s really traditionalist country music. But I don’t think I would put something out like that under my name. I think it would probably confuse things. It’s a lot different from what I’ve done in the past. Jamie and I have talked about sitting down and writing twelve old-school country songs that are traditional in sound that we could put out under the Johnny and the Footlights name so it wouldn’t muddy the waters of our own careers at all. 

KMJ- You can count some of our readers and I first in line on that one, I think. 

JE- Yeah, I’m actually really excited about the possibility of doing that. I was actually talking to Jamie earlier today and we’re headed to Colorado to Steamboat Springs here in a few weeks. We’re going to take that time and try to write a lot of those types of songs and see what happens. 

KMJ- I’ve got one last question for you. What is country music to Jason Eady?

JE- Country music is a musical form that’s based on simplicity and lyrics. The lyrical content is rooted in everyday conversations. It’s based on things everybody goes through and it’s based on universal topics. And that’s both good topics as well as bad topics. And it seems that the way country music has gone lately, no one really wants to talk about the bad stuff. There’s break-up songs, but not really cheating songs. You know? It seems that people are ignoring the emotion of the bad stuff. That’s really the beauty of country music to me. It really talks about the everyday aspects of life. It tells stories. And if lyrics don’t come first, they certainly go hand-in-hand. It’s definitely not driven by melody like some other forms of music are. Pure and real would be the real key words to take from country music for me.