Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: You gotta practice almost every day writing a song, and the goal is just to finish the song. Finish. Even if it's a crap song. Like, it just sucks, you gotta finish it. And, you know, that way you're really good at finishing songs when you get that inspiration and you don't know where to go after that first initial hit. Like, you gotta know how to finish a song. If you can finish the ones that are bad, you can definitely finish the ones that are good.
[00:00:32] Speaker B: One for the bagman got in the game and two for the ball. Boys are young to slay.
[00:00:38] Speaker C: You know what a musical enthusiast I am. And you know that music is the ultimate unifier for different people from different walks. Well, this cat's gonna bring great music and great stories to the table here today. He was a fantastic guitar player. Didn't realize he wasn't supposed to be good at such a young age, but was fantastic soon to learn that his voice was also quite incredible to the extent that he auditioned for the voice television show, which catapulted him into opportunities to travel the world with well known bands. He's since returned to do his own solo project. A new album is coming out soon on his new label and can't wait to hear that he's going to perform for us today. Let's just say if Jesus left Chicago and he's bound for Fort Worth, Texas. So please help me in welcoming my good friend to the t cast, Mister Michael Lee.
I went to North Texas, studied music and.
[00:01:33] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:01:35] Speaker C: Toured for a while. We got a record deal that fell.
[00:01:38] Speaker A: Because I was a singer unt from.
[00:01:41] Speaker C: Did you play?
[00:01:42] Speaker A: Yeah, guitar.
[00:01:43] Speaker C: Drums, actually.
[00:01:43] Speaker A: Drums. Okay.
[00:01:44] Speaker C: Yeah, it was a jazz performance. I didn't graduate. I still did four years.
[00:01:49] Speaker A: What time frame? I'm only asking because I'm.
[00:01:51] Speaker C: This is 87 through 91.
[00:01:54] Speaker A: Okay. I have somewhere. I have the.
Gotta match here. I can't remember which. That's 88 or 88.
[00:02:02] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, got a match. Probably 89 ish.
[00:02:05] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, I have that on CD somewhere.
[00:02:09] Speaker C: Yeah. That's the coolest thing about the 01:00 too.
[00:02:11] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:02:13] Speaker C: They get to go record in the studio. They tour the world and do all these great shows. Like, if you're not in that one, you're not going anywhere.
[00:02:20] Speaker A: I remember getting to go see.
Oh, man, blank. His name is Phil. Phil woods. Sax player. He came up to.
I was in high school, or jazz band professor, like, took us up there to go watch Phil woods. He was like an understudy of Charlie Parker back in the day. This guy's like old school. This guy had emphysema. Like, emphysema. He was in the hospital all week. And then on Friday he did the performance and like just playing circles around Jim Riggs and Clay Pritchard. Every. Every hot shot up in unity. And this guy is like doing their licks and then taking it and running with it, trading for us. It was just, wow.
[00:03:02] Speaker C: Love it, man. A lot of those guys, when Dan Hurley just passed, like this past year and there's a bunch of the guys that I studied with or around, all those jazz guys were old then.
[00:03:12] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:13] Speaker C: You know, most of them retired from the road and everything else. So now I don't know who's up there. I haven't been up there in a long time.
[00:03:18] Speaker A: I haven't either.
[00:03:19] Speaker C: It was actually North Texas State University when I started.
[00:03:23] Speaker A: All right, yeah, I'm old. I realized how difficult to get into one of those lab bands would be and I was like, you know what? I'm gonna play guitar. Stop playing saxophone.
[00:03:34] Speaker C: So you played sax first?
[00:03:35] Speaker A: I did. Well, that was the deal. That was the deal I made with my parents. Okay. I had to. If I wanted to get a guitar and play guitar, you had to prove that you had to. Well, they wanted me to do it formally in band as well. And then also a reason I picked saxophone was because it was. My grandmother had just gotten diagnosed with cancer at that time and her favorite was, like, Boots Randolph. So I had a. I had a boots Randolph cassette, a greatest hits that she gave it to me and she wanted me to learn some of those songs. And it's like tenor sacks. I'm on alto, but whatever it was.
[00:04:09] Speaker C: Sounds a little different. But yeah, that's awesome.
[00:04:12] Speaker A: It was very cool.
[00:04:13] Speaker C: So how difficult was it? So as a kid, how old were you then?
[00:04:17] Speaker A: Twelve. Like junior high is when they start the band.
[00:04:21] Speaker C: High band.
[00:04:22] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:04:22] Speaker C: And so you have to pick because the directors kind of do this weird.
[00:04:28] Speaker A: Test and they're good at selling. Right. They're like, try the oboe.
[00:04:35] Speaker C: Somebody to play.
[00:04:36] Speaker A: I don't. Yeah, everybody wants trumpet, saxophone, or everybody wants percussion first and then saxophone and.
[00:04:43] Speaker C: Right.
[00:04:43] Speaker A: And trumpet was like the main ones.
[00:04:45] Speaker C: And the, you know, the percussion kids are never challenged anyway. I mean, it's fine, but until you get to either, you're in a grade school and the later grades actually have like somebody come in and teach.
[00:04:58] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:04:58] Speaker C: Or, I mean, otherwise it's.
[00:05:00] Speaker A: Well, you. I was fortunate. I went to Heb ISD over there and they had a great music program for.
[00:05:06] Speaker C: Yeah, just having a jazz band itself is great.
[00:05:09] Speaker A: Well, they were trying to get rid of it. My, when I first got there, it was a ten, 1112 high school, and they were going to get rid of the jazz band. And that was all I was looking forward to was being able to improvise and do, like, learn how to improvise and do all those things. And so we went, I, like, went to the director and was like, hey, can I. If I find kids, can we keep it going? And so wouldn't, like, campaigned around, and.
[00:05:33] Speaker C: That'S what it did.
[00:05:34] Speaker A: We, like, overstocked the band like nine trombone players and. Yeah, and, like, out of all 20, however many kids, it was like two of us could improvise ish, you know.
[00:05:48] Speaker C: Which means more opportunity for you.
[00:05:50] Speaker A: It was, it was a lot of it was me and Sam. Me and Sam. He was really good. All I knew is the blue scale on the saxophone. I was just taking guitar licks and transferring the saxophone so.
[00:06:01] Speaker C: So you could hear them. Well, I mean, that's what I'm curious about it. At age twelve, I mean, I can see aspiring. You know, I wanted, you know, ace freely was the guy when I was growing up, right? So that's what I want to do. But, you know, when I was twelve, my fingers hurt, so, you know, I don't want to, you know, I quit. Yeah, but I started on guitar. My parents were like, fine, you know, got me this big old guitar. So I ended up learning guitar later in life when I had patience. Yeah, and I'm still learning it. I'm a novice at guitar, but at the time, that, that's what turned me. And, you know, I took a little piano or whatever, but I wasn't really put in a position where at my level of immaturity, I'll call it, I had enough discipline for them to say, I want you to learn clarinet, and if you prove you can do that, then we'll buy you a drum set or we'll buy you a guitar. I don't know if I would have pulled that off. Just knowing myself.
[00:06:51] Speaker A: I think it was the, my parents wanted me to have some sort of structure in the musical realm. And just for me to be able to get the guitar, you know, I basically had to learn on my own with guitar, but I had to sign up for saxophone. So I would be practicing saxophone for whatever it was every day, like 20 minutes, 30 minutes a day. And then the rest of the night was me on guitar trying to balance the stereo and the guitar amp and, like, couldn't get the volume. It just ended up super loud, you.
[00:07:21] Speaker C: Know, you got into the gadgets, all that stuff too, right?
[00:07:24] Speaker A: Yeah, I did eventually.
And I think once I practiced quite a bit on guitar and I felt I was uncomfortably cocky at the age of like 14 and 15 on guitar. I just, like, I remember the drive. We were going to the hole in the wall in Dallas. It was the very first time I ever went to a jam and my dad was warning me, you know, he, like a good dad would do, and he's like, look, there's a lot of good guitar players. You may not be the best one here, and that's okay, right? It's great preparing you your expectations. And I'm like, none of them as young as me, you know, like just the arrogant kid for no, okay, no reason. And I get there and there's a kid there younger than me and better than me, and I was like, I need to get my butt in gear and really, really start working at this.
[00:08:14] Speaker C: That's a great experience, though. And because I have an anxiety issue and even did back then, I mean, half of my experience at North Texas is a blank, you know? Cause you'd work on something for six weeks for a final thing and pass out all the sheet music to the jury and then sit down and just, I don't know, the first note, I don't know what I'm doing. I just freak out, you know, so that's great experience. I'm sure as a kid to go have that and that perspective. The perspective on me would have just, you know, made me drop it. Which is why when I compare myself at twelve, I think that's pretty remarkable that you're able to do that at twelve without having parents that are, that are slave driving. They're just wanting you to show some discipline, which is totally reasonable. A lot of people say, well, they made me play piano, but they, but you're saying they still gave you a guitar too and let you play?
[00:09:03] Speaker A: They did. And I'm very, very fortunate to have those parents. And like, my dad, he would, he knew a little bit on guitar, he could read tab, he, you know, news cords and stuff. So if I had a question, like, in the early stages, I mean, he was always somebody I could go to. And, um, yeah, it was, I was very fortunate that he also, I mean, never once complained, but he would always take me to a blues jam. He would always support me. It would be a blues jam on like a Thursday night. It wouldn't get up until like 1130 in Dallas, play my 15 minutes, then take me home, then he'd wake up at 435 o'clock in the morning to go to work. Never once complained. So I'm very, very fortunate and blessed.
[00:09:48] Speaker C: Love it. Yeah. And look where you are now.
[00:09:50] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:09:50] Speaker C: It's built you up. So when you went through high school, you're over in the heb area, you played in the jazz band. What did you consider doing when you got to the. To the high school level where you're like, what do I want to do? Did you think about collegiate music, or was there some other goal originally?
[00:10:09] Speaker A: Yeah, I think since I was little, I wanted to play music full time. Like, that's all I wanted to do. I. And most kids were obsessed with Sesame street and Barney at that age. I was obsessed with Steve Ray Vaughan live at El Macabo, like that vhs. I would put that in and watch it religiously every day. And I wanted to do that. I just wanted to play guitar. I didn't even start singing. And in high school, it was like, I just want to play music.
Went to Stephen F. Austin University for just long enough to know where my classes were and forget them, but I was just playing. I got offered a music scholarship for the saxophone thing, and they wanted me to be in the marching band, and I didn't want to do marching band ever again.
[00:10:53] Speaker C: He's like, I've proven I can do.
[00:10:56] Speaker A: It militaristic in high school, at that high school for the marching band. So I didn't want anything to do with that. And then I did an open mic at Stephen F. Austin, and I just yelled, saying I didn't know how to sing. I just yelled. And I can get away with it. Sometimes I think I saw an interview of Steven Tyler saying, I don't know how to sing. I just yell. And I was like, and me being naive, I was like, yeah, I can do that. I can yell. So I ended up winning that little competition there on campus, and, yeah, it was. It was a blast. And I was like, this is what I want to do. And got addicted to that applause, came back home and just started gigging nonstop. Didn't matter how much money free for anybody that would listen. I just started playing a bunch.
[00:11:45] Speaker C: And that's in high school or post.
[00:11:47] Speaker A: As post high school, right after you.
[00:11:49] Speaker C: Got back from Stephen?
[00:11:52] Speaker A: Yeah. CNF, Austin. Yep.
[00:11:53] Speaker C: Okay, so when you gig, then, what. What was your idea? You writing stuff? You playing covers? How'd you pick a band?
[00:12:01] Speaker A: I got asked to join a band. It was the Whitney Ray band. We did a bunch of country covers. We had a female lead singer and I was just playing rhythm and lead guitar. We had another guitar player. He's in Nashville now, touring and all that stuff, so we did that. And I remember one night at Sarah's place in Fort Worth. It was still smoking, and I don't know if it is or not, but it's like, I don't know if you know that place or not, but it's like, next. It's in the same building as a gas station there next door. Yeah, it's right over by. Uncle Julio is over there. Okay.
[00:12:34] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, I know which one you're talking about.
[00:12:35] Speaker A: So the third set, you know, still smoking at that time, and her voice went out, and she's like, hey, I don't have voice no more. One of you guys have to, like, fill out. The night was like, I can yell. So I just. I sang, like, I think it was leave my little girl alone by Steve Ray Vaughan.
[00:12:52] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:12:52] Speaker A: And people clapped, and I got addicted. I was like, oh, I guess I can sing.
[00:12:57] Speaker C: So awesome.
[00:12:58] Speaker A: I'm sure it sounded like trash, but, yeah. So I just got addicted to that. And then I think after a year of playing in that band, I kind of wanted to strike out on my own and do my own thing and just be my own person. I had written, like, two songs at that time.
Not really delved into the writing side of things. I always thought writing as, like, this magical, inspirational thing that comes out of nowhere and just, you know, hits you, then it just flows down onto the paper. And now you got a song. And that happened maybe, like, once, you know, but, you know, not really taking it seriously until, I don't know, 24, 25.
[00:13:39] Speaker C: A lot of it's understanding kind of how it works, too.
[00:13:42] Speaker A: Yeah, it's a whole art in itself, for sure.
[00:13:44] Speaker C: And I'm sure people get inspired, but you still have to go through the process of learning how to do it, and that's how you get inspired to just spit it out.
[00:13:50] Speaker A: Yeah, it's. It's definitely a muscle. You know, it's something that you got to work at. And, like, I tell people that you gotta practice almost every day writing a song, and the goal is just to finish the song. Finish. Even if it's a crap song. Like, it just sucks. Uh, you gotta finish it. And, you know, that way you're really good at finishing songs when you get that inspiration and you don't know where to go after that first initial hit. Like, you gotta know how to finish a song. If you can finish the ones that are bad, you can definitely finish the ones that are good.
[00:14:25] Speaker C: That's great advice, too, because there's a ton of people, myself included, and I got half of them written up on the board because this is going to be a priority. Some of them are three years old, or I have everything but a bridge, or I just need this or that. You know, it was a cool idea at the time. You tend to forget it and you're working on something else, and then before you know it, you got 80 almost songs.
[00:14:46] Speaker A: Yeah, I think learning the second verse trick really helped me finish, which was, typically you're able to write a verse and then a chorus, and you don't know where to go when that happens. Just move your first verse to your second verse and write a prequel to your now second verse. So it really helps because it's easier to write about where you've been than where you're going in a song setting. So.
[00:15:11] Speaker C: Yeah. Do you write. So when you write, do you write with lyrics first? I mean, you're a musician first. So you write music first, lyrics first?
[00:15:21] Speaker A: My mindset, and I know a lot of people have different philosophies and approaches when it comes to songwriting. Mine is I try to look at the. I write the lyrics first, and I look at it as if it was a movie script.
And then I look. I look at the words on that stuff it was describing. What would this sound like if I was to make a score? If I were to make the. You know, I'm. Now I've shot the music video, now I gotta add the music.
[00:15:48] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:15:48] Speaker A: You know, and that's what I look at. It's the lyrics. It's like, what would this sound like?
[00:15:52] Speaker C: That's fascinating and very interesting, too, because I'm. I've never been a lyric centric guy. Even as a listener, you know, coming up, I would listen to tunes that I loved. Had no earthly idea what they're talking about.
[00:16:04] Speaker A: Same.
[00:16:05] Speaker C: But I learned. I learned to see the value. And a really good lyricist makes a otherwise average song really impressive.
[00:16:14] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:15] Speaker C: But do you find yourself, you must, like, you write, essentially, it's a poem, right? Essentially, because you've got some kind of lyric rhyme to it, and then you're writing the music. Do you ever try to. Do you ever have to undo some of the lyrics, redo some of the lyrics based on the music that you're placing into it?
[00:16:36] Speaker A: All. All the time. All the time. Like, there's. It's constantly evolving until I'm actually in the studio, you know, until I'm actually, like, cutting it, you know, because I I get that inspiration. Typically, the ones that make it to the record are the ones that are inspired by something and then finish that song, and then I'll. I will let that sit for a day. I will come back to the lyrics and then try to switch things out. And a lot of times, you know, we're kind of all writing about the same things. Yeah. I mean, some of the strongest emotions that we feel is what we end up writing about a lot of times. And it's been said before, so being able to, I just say, I just word vomit on a page what I'm feeling, and then I come back and chop it up, and then wait a day, come back and chop it up, and then if I finally get done and happy with it, I'm like, has somebody said it this way before? If that's the case, let's. Let's find a new way to do this.
[00:17:33] Speaker C: Come out sounding typical or something.
[00:17:35] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure.
[00:17:37] Speaker C: That's interesting. So, and then, so you're touring locally and got your own thing going, so you step off, and now you're doing your own thing, but you only have a few tunes that you've written at that time. So how did you end up building that into something where you end up cutting a record at some point?
[00:17:52] Speaker A: Well, I, slowly but surely, over the course of time, wrote just. It just kind of came about, uh, the songs did, and I think the first time I cut a record was with, uh, Nick choke over at Blue Smoke Studios. I think we did, like, five or six tunes that I had at that time. And then, uh, shortly after that, I went in.
[00:18:13] Speaker C: Was that, like, I'm sorry to interrupt, like, an Ep, or were you just trying to track some things that you had to use as demos?
[00:18:20] Speaker A: It was a little both. It. I didn't formally release it.
[00:18:24] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:18:24] Speaker A: At all. It was more something to just kind of have at my shows that people could pick up.
[00:18:28] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:18:29] Speaker A: You know, that was pretty much what it was.
[00:18:30] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:18:31] Speaker A: And just so that something they could have and remember great. You know, by. And then I went to Fort Worth sound with Bart Rose over there and cut the rest of the tin. I think I wrote two of the songs while they were cutting drums there in the studio, like, and one that everybody seems to request all the time. I, like, wrote in the studio that day, and I was like, hey, guys, I gotta go take a break. I'll be right back in, like, within 30 minutes. Like, came up with a. The song, and then we cut it.
[00:19:01] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:19:02] Speaker A: And then that got. It was kind of another similar deal to where it was just something that people could pick up the shows. I didn't really get into the whole online distributing of stuff.
[00:19:11] Speaker C: And is this a time where that was a prominent way to distribute music?
[00:19:15] Speaker A: Nah, I was just bad, and I was bad at that part. I would, um, I would just have the CDs and stuff there.
[00:19:21] Speaker C: I mean, in, in terms of the time period that it was. I mean, because at some point, I mean, us actually cutting a CD in my era was like a giant deal. Yeah, you made a CD.
[00:19:32] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:19:32] Speaker C: Not a cassette tape. It was already a big deal. And so, yes, selling music at shows was part of the merch.
[00:19:38] Speaker A: Right.
[00:19:38] Speaker C: But then it, as it transitioned into digital and stuff, then it was, you know, people using codes and different things. Was that the time period you were working in and still selling hard copies, CDs, or.
[00:19:49] Speaker A: Yeah, it was kind of that weird transition period where people still had CDs at shows, but they were also uploading their stuff to iTunes. Okay. And trying to get it out on CD, baby. And all those different, all those different sites. But that was in its early stages.
[00:20:03] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:20:03] Speaker A: So not a lot of people.
[00:20:05] Speaker C: So what you were doing was, was a typical, still the old school version, but.
[00:20:09] Speaker A: Old school version normal. Yep.
[00:20:11] Speaker C: People still had CD players in their car.
[00:20:14] Speaker A: Absolutely. Still had CD players. Now they're like, what am I going to do with this? Like, nobody has a CD player no more. So.
[00:20:20] Speaker C: And so the tune just came to you while you're listening to a drum groove on one of your other tunes?
[00:20:25] Speaker A: They were.
[00:20:25] Speaker C: Knocked it down.
[00:20:26] Speaker A: They were recording some other song. And I just had this idea I needed to slow, bluesish type thing, but I don't like to do everything as traditional blues. Very. I always. There's always a wrinkle. There's always a wrinkle here or there. And so the don't leave me is the name of the song, and it's. She's got a different chord change. And I was like, I just want to write a slow blues. And it. It just all came to me there. It's like, I always feel like a slow blues could use a chorus, you know, like it's always missing something. Just kind of change up the. The monotony of the core chain. Yeah. So, yeah, so it's. It later got released on the record that's on Spotify with roof records. So.
[00:21:11] Speaker C: Fantastic.
[00:21:11] Speaker A: So we re recorded that, and that's.
[00:21:13] Speaker C: One of your better ones that just popped in your head after all. You figured it out.
[00:21:16] Speaker A: That inspiration. Yeah, that inspiration just hits, you know, so.
[00:21:21] Speaker C: So at what point, then, and I don't want to define you by this. Some people are sensitive about it, some aren't, but, you know, you just. And now I can actually see why, because my question would have been more like, man, what inspired you to go put yourself out there and jump into an audition for something like the voice? Cause it seems like a grandiose leap to someone like me who has all that anxiety, but you were just like, dude, I don't even know what I'm doing, and I'll still do it. And it seems to have suited you quite well. So. As did the show. What inspired you to do that?
[00:21:51] Speaker A: I'd watch the show quite a bit, especially when it first came out. And, you know, I think I took a break from it for a minute there, and I was just like, well, as soon as if I turn 29 and nothing's happened, I'll go try out. And so that was pretty much it. I wish it was more. More romantic, but that's just what it was. So, yeah, so, I went and tried out in Houston and didn't expect anything. And I didn't expect. I mean, a lot of the people who try out for that show are from, like, Berkeley and Juilliard, and, like, I mean, these are singers, or the singers that have been doing it since they were. Could talk.
[00:22:32] Speaker C: Right.
[00:22:32] Speaker A: You know, and grew up singing. I. I started singing when I was 1819, you know? But you.
[00:22:38] Speaker C: You've learned how to not let the things outside of that box affect you.
[00:22:43] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:22:43] Speaker C: Right. I mean, based on the stories you've already told me, it just kind of doesn't. You just are able to maintain you're gonna do what you're gonna do, and it's fine.
[00:22:52] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:22:52] Speaker C: Is that kind of how you went in?
[00:22:54] Speaker A: Yeah. My mindset, it's like, I'm just gonna do it, you know, what I do. And if they like it, that they like it. If they don't, then, oh, well, like, might as well give it a shot. What do I have to lose? You know, so and so what?
[00:23:06] Speaker C: The experience was like more like a cattle call in the beginning, we got lines of people, and you're kind of going in and burning through a quick three minutes or.
[00:23:14] Speaker A: Yeah, they. They have those big cattle calls, and then they also have a second little audition there is. Where it's a little bit more personal.
[00:23:22] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:23:23] Speaker A: In a studio, and then after that, there's, like, two or three more auditions that you have to do before you even get to the. The blind auditions.
[00:23:30] Speaker C: Are you using the same tune in that case?
[00:23:32] Speaker A: Yeah. Typically, um, I can't even remember what tune I sang, honestly, for. Really? Yeah. I can't. For the first couple auditions, I think I did Ian Moore satisfied, and I think I did.
Then I think home by Mark Broussard. I think those were the two ones that I did.
[00:23:54] Speaker C: You get compared to him a lot.
[00:23:55] Speaker A: Mark Broussard sometimes by people, I guess. Yeah, I guess sometimes. I love a singing.
[00:24:01] Speaker C: Oh, me too.
[00:24:02] Speaker A: Huge fan compliment.
[00:24:04] Speaker C: And I don't know, a lot ton of people who. I mean, we used to open for Ian Moore when he was still doing the blues rock stuff and the long.
[00:24:12] Speaker A: Hair, throwing his hair all over the.
[00:24:14] Speaker C: Place and girls following him everywhere.
[00:24:16] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:24:16] Speaker C: So I have fond memories of that, too. That's fantastic. And that seems like that would be the smart way to do it. But that's the challenge of once you get on the show, then you start changing your tunes up every time, so you only have, you know, less time to prepare.
[00:24:29] Speaker A: Yeah. So. Well, the Ian Moore thing, he was the first one I really saw as, like, a triple threat who could sing incredible, play guitar incredible, and then write really good songs that were blues influence, but with that wrinkle that, you know.
[00:24:43] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:24:43] Speaker A: Talked about. But these were the auditions I was talking about, or, like, before the blind audition. And then once you get to the blind audition, there's, you know, approved songs that you can use because, I mean, it's a bit, you know, you got to get them approved. So I did submit that.
[00:25:00] Speaker C: You submit a song to get approved?
[00:25:02] Speaker A: Yeah, pretty much, yeah. So. And I did the thrill is gone and with BB. BB King thing. Cause I. It just felt right, I guess. And it's song that I've sang a lot, and I love BB King.
[00:25:14] Speaker C: Right.
[00:25:14] Speaker A: Uh, one of my earliest memories was being taken to Starplex over there in Dallas, and Buddy guy, BB King, and the Alma brothers were playing.
[00:25:23] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:25:23] Speaker A: And I was four, and I knew who BB King was. Like, I knew who he was. Like, I was like, yes, I'm here for him.
[00:25:30] Speaker C: That's fabulous.
[00:25:31] Speaker A: So, there was a good story.
[00:25:33] Speaker C: And then. So, obviously, that was. Was it more stressful doing that, or was it less. Just stressful doing that without having all of the people that, you know, you're competing against, like, standing there with you when you do the blind.
[00:25:45] Speaker A: When the blind audition, like, you can hear some of the other people, like, okay, auditioning before you get up there, and then you can also hear the big, like, you know, when they hit the button. And the girl that went right before me, she was, like, 14. She ended up doing interviews on Ellen and all this stuff. She got four chair turns right before I went up there. I'm like, there is no way I'm getting a single one. Is she just saying Whitney Houston? What up? Like, I'm. I'm up here singing BBK. So, uh, yeah, I think that was definitely the most nervous I've ever been in my life performing for sure. Just. Cause, I mean, it's. It's a wild experience. Like, right before you go out, they put you behind the big red doors and, like, there's, you know, the producer that's there getting the audience all quiet and everything. He's got a mic and it's like 10 seconds, you know, and you're like, 5 seconds. I'm like, yeah, you know, freaking out. So, yeah. And then the way the audition starts, it's just me with my guitar and start singing, and they're flashing a flashlight, like, go, bro, like, get it, like deer in the headlights. And I was like, all right, let's go. Boom. And then I just hit it. The band came in and. Yeah, it was wild.
[00:27:00] Speaker C: So when the band came in, everything. They also have a smoking band.
[00:27:03] Speaker A: Yeah, it's pretty insane.
[00:27:05] Speaker C: So how much rehearsal time did you get with them?
[00:27:08] Speaker A: Um, I think I had two rehearsals.
[00:27:12] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:27:12] Speaker A: I think it was. It was two rehearsals, and it's maybe ten minutes each time.
[00:27:18] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:27:18] Speaker A: To go over. To go over your minute and a half cut, you know? And that band is phenomenal.
[00:27:23] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:27:24] Speaker A: Really is. When I did whipping post, that next song in there, whipping post, you know, it has an amazing, you know, it's a great song, right? Really well crafted, smart song. It's got crazy time signatures and stuff. But I think what a lot of people don't realize with that band and how good they are is that they have a time frame and amount of time that they have to get that the most amount of that song, like, captured right in. So, like, whipping post, I think it was like a minute, 45 seconds or something. So not only is he playing in, like, 1112 or whatever, it is crazy. At the beginning, they have to get all that chorus, the slow down part, all that stuff. They have multiple click tracks going on in their ears to where there's, like, at some point they're hearing the new click that's coming. So they can either speed up a section or slow down a section. That way it gets in that timeframe.
[00:28:16] Speaker C: Are you hearing that, too?
[00:28:18] Speaker A: I told him, take that. I don't. I don't want to hear the clip. I will follow the band. I don't want to hear that at all. And I remember one part, and this was on, uh, they didn't air this part, but, uh, Mariah Carey and Blake Shelton are sitting there. We're rehearsing Whitby being a post, and Nate comes in. He's so excited after playing boots and cats all night to play in eleven, you know, so he's like, and I totally missed my entrance. And I was like, hey, Nate, I'm so sorry. Like, I know you know where one is, but I have no idea where to come in, man. He was like, I'm sorry. I'll help you out.
[00:28:53] Speaker C: Yeah, he has a. He has a slick way of, like, making the one disappear to his licks.
[00:29:00] Speaker A: And fills are, oh, yeah.
[00:29:01] Speaker C: Really smooth. And you can just be like, wow, that was really fascinating. But if you're. You're the one that has to come in on the one, you better know.
[00:29:09] Speaker A: You're telling me, man.
[00:29:11] Speaker C: He's super. Well, that's fascinating. So you were nervous as hell. So, on that first one, and then. So by the second one, how much. How much interaction with the. With the celebs do you get? How much do you have coaching do you have? What's the process once you get into the show and, you know you're just going to be prepping for the next thing? Is it still this fleeting little rehearsals or what?
[00:29:31] Speaker A: I mean, it's with the. With the actual coaches. Like, what you see on tv is typically what you. You get. I mean, you get 1015 minutes on air, maybe, maybe longer. It felt that short. Uh, you know, you're drilling. Anytime you're on tv, your adrenaline's kind of going. Right?
[00:29:48] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:29:49] Speaker A: Um, but there's also vocal lessons that you do with, um, treh, Lonnie Rose. She's amazing. She, like, was the vocal coach for Pink and Janet Jackson and a bunch of great singers, so. And that was actually the first time I've ever had a vocal lesson was actually out there, which was pretty wild. And I think what I really loved about her style was she. She knew that I wasn't, like, a juilliard singer. She's just going to give you little things here and there to help you perform better.
[00:30:21] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:30:21] Speaker A: So.
[00:30:21] Speaker C: So it wasn't something where, I know there's a lot of things where if somebody in the middle of a process like that were to give you certain advice and put ideas in your head that you now are conscious of, a lot of people would be thrown off by that, but you felt like it was still helpful. Even on the fly, it was pretty helpful advice.
[00:30:40] Speaker A: I've always been a learner and a pretty quick learner. Once I internal it, like, internalize it, I can just internalize it pretty quick and pick it up, and I'm like, oh, that makes sense. Boom, I got it. Like, it's over. So cool.
[00:30:55] Speaker C: I need you to learn the stock market for me real quick. I'll call you tomorrow.
[00:30:59] Speaker A: Yeah, I don't. Yeah, I'll get on that, buddy.
But, yeah, it's. It's a fascinating process, just learning how to do. How to sing really properly. I. I learned. I started singing in bars, you know, so a lot of the stuff I would do is because the band is so loud, you can't hear yourself. So now I'm yelling.
[00:31:20] Speaker C: Right.
[00:31:20] Speaker A: You know, and you're trying to be.
[00:31:22] Speaker C: Twelve inches that are blaring in your face.
[00:31:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:31:24] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:31:25] Speaker A: So being able to, you know, one of the things I was trying to learn is mixed voice, which is kind of like this mystery thing about singing and stuff like that. And most. She told me, she's like, well, most people, I say you got to push more air and get a little bit louder to get into it, but you're the. You need to tone it down. Way down. You're way too loud. Like, you know, so.
[00:31:46] Speaker C: So she was talking to you about mixed voice so that you actually would be able to come down off of the strength of the stuff you're saying. Well, like, just the range.
[00:31:55] Speaker A: So it's like getting into this next higher range. You know, everybody's got, like, a Mickey Mouse voice, and then you got your chest voice, and then there's this thing where you can blend the two.
[00:32:05] Speaker C: Right.
[00:32:05] Speaker A: And I've always been a loud singer, trying to get up higher and higher. Higher. I would just think, well, I gotta push more air, you know, get there. And basically, you're just short circuiting your. Your vocal cords that way. So, I mean, I had to ease in to it a little bit more, and then that really allows you to get higher and higher if you want.
[00:32:23] Speaker C: Yeah. And that would be a complicated thing to learn quickly, but you felt comfortable.
[00:32:28] Speaker A: I would just use little things here and there. I wouldn't, you know, and I would make game time decisions sometimes. Like, I don't got it today. I'm just going to go for what I know, you know, or something like that. And. But it's something I've definitely kept with me. And even whenever I was off the show, I started taking vocal lessons just because I saw how beneficial it was to me.
[00:32:47] Speaker C: Fantastic. So, somebody local?
[00:32:49] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:32:50] Speaker C: So Kelly Clarkson was teaching you vocals, huh?
[00:32:53] Speaker A: Kelly Clark, right? Yeah, I wish. Yeah, for sure.
[00:32:56] Speaker C: Uh, so do you keep in touch or have any of the other judges reached out to you? I know they go through cycles of tons of folks, and I know even if you had digits, you wouldn't be like, hey, what's up today?
[00:33:05] Speaker A: Right?
[00:33:06] Speaker C: Any other contact after the show or anything?
[00:33:08] Speaker A: Um, a little bit with some of the producers and people like that. But I think what I really valued out of that whole experience, uh, other than being able to, you know, get exposed to millions of people and getting to travel and all that fun stuff after the show, but the relationships I built with people on the show, you know, and the friendships that I've made, it's. It's really, really cool.
[00:33:30] Speaker C: It's.
[00:33:30] Speaker A: It's a. It's kind of like a fraternity, you know, you've all went through this crazy experience together, so then you have something to, you know, always fall back on. And, like, one of my friends, Keith Pallusto, he was a park ranger before going on that show, and he just wanted to be a professional musician. After the show, I got picked up with a bb king band, and then blood, sweat, and tears called me to come sing for them, and I was like, hey, honestly, I got the perfect guy for you guys. And Keith, I mean, Keith nails it out of the water. He sounds just like them.
[00:34:00] Speaker C: Wow. Yeah. And I could see you kind of fit into that vibe, too.
[00:34:04] Speaker A: Yeah, sure.
[00:34:05] Speaker C: That's why they called you.
[00:34:06] Speaker A: It was cool. It was cool, for sure.
[00:34:08] Speaker C: Well, that's fabulous.
[00:34:08] Speaker A: Honored to get that call.
[00:34:09] Speaker C: And that was one of my other questions you already answered was about the camaraderie there. There seems like there would be a lot because everybody's nervous out of their boots, but I wonder if other ones were a little spiteful, competitive. Did you run into any people that were off putting because they were so uber competitive?
[00:34:27] Speaker A: There are some. There's always going to be competitive people there. I mean, they're.
[00:34:30] Speaker C: Well, I mean, over the time, I mean, almost spiteful because they're as opposed to supportive of one another and still competitive. Was there any?
[00:34:38] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, there's only, like, one or two people that I can think of, but for the most part. And what I like about the voice versus some of the other singing competitions is that they're genuinely trying to find good people with good background stories, and it's not ever about, like, drama. It's just about this person singing.
[00:34:59] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:34:59] Speaker A: So they're. They're really trying to find, like, good people, good singers and good people. So the hundred people that were there before the blinds, like, I mean, I could think, like I said, think of one person that had, like, a bad attitude, but that's it.
[00:35:14] Speaker C: That's great. Well, that's good to know, too. And then you felt like the. The judges and the coaches, even the coaches that weren't the judges. I mean, we're all fairly supportive and made it a productive experience.
[00:35:25] Speaker A: Absolutely. They're all. They're all super kind and it all. Maybe I'm naive, but it all came across genuine to me. I had. I had a great experience.
[00:35:33] Speaker C: You're the only one that's going to know that's great, though. I mean, because that makes it more enjoyable to watch the show anyway, because, you know, it's. They're not sensationalizing things.
So when you have an opportunity, you have a door that opens like that. Whether you were playing and doing regional tours or cutting a five track ep and selling them at shows, how did you take that opportunity and leverage it? And what have you done with that? Either to help other people get to a certain point or get your career from a to b. How did you leverage that?
[00:36:07] Speaker A: So when I did the show, my whole goal for that show was just to be able to start traveling and playing music, you know, because up until this point, I was only doing it. I didn't have a day gig. I was only playing music. So being able to go out of town financially and still make bills at the time or just even calling a place and then even trusting you to be good or anything like that, like, they don't know you from Adam, right? So I was using it as more of just like, hey, this is who I am. I promise I don't suck.
Come, come book me. Right? So other people's expectations going to that show, I mean, were different, you know, but I kept it, the expectations there. So whenever that show got done, BB King's band called me to come record the thrill is gone down in Houston. BB had been passed away since 2015, I believe, but they are putting together, like, a compilation record of a bunch of different artists. I think Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Kev Moe is on it, a bunch of different great blues people. And they wanted me to come do thrill is gone, which I was like, that's amazing. What an honor, right?
That little four year old seeing that band up on stage now getting to go, that's the most. I say performing live was the voice was the most nerve wracking, but going into the studio with BB King's band to sing the thrill is gone. They cut everything live, all the instruments, and then now it's my turn to go into the room and sing in front of, and they're all just sitting there on the other side of the glass, you know, that was pretty nerve wracking. And then that record started doing pretty good. They called me to go on tour with them, so that was like, well, let's do it. Yeah. I toured that whole next year with them. We did 100 plus dates all over the United States and got to see a whole lot of people and a whole lot of different cultures and different areas of the country, and it was super great for me. It really was.
[00:38:11] Speaker C: So get some experience on the road to where you know how to navigate that whole process.
[00:38:16] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure.
[00:38:17] Speaker C: Was the. What did you do after you jumped off of the road, then there you still.
[00:38:22] Speaker A: Well, we were having a break, and then we were supposed to go to Europe and tour there. And then COVID hit just kind of.
[00:38:30] Speaker C: Of course.
[00:38:32] Speaker A: Right. It was just my luck, so, yeah, so when COVID hit, I had to, you know, switch gears and pivot, and I, like, started streaming and learned how to basically put a streaming computer. I put. Built a computer, learned how to do that.
[00:38:48] Speaker C: And then the computer.
[00:38:49] Speaker A: Yeah, I didn't have enough money, just buy one outright, so I had to part it together and. And put it all together and. And then get all the programs and everything all up and running to, like, streaming thing or how, uh, I did it. Uh, well, the. I used a program called obs, but then, um, a buddy of mine from the voice who didn't make it on the show was part of a streaming platform called you now. And he. He had been a partner on there forever, and he had to be a partner to make money on there. And I went on the chat on that site, and I don't think I had a profile picture. I was like, hey, this is Michael from the Voice. Remember me? He's like, all right, I'm going to pull you up. And on that platform, you can, like, Facetime somebody pretty much live. And he's like, come play a song. So it was just my phone. I had my acoustic guitar, played a song. The CEO of the company happened to be in the chat and then reached out about partnering. Yeah. And then they were like, hey, we really want to help some of these musicians during the pandemic that, you know, all they know how to do is play music. So they just started partnering a bunch of musicians who were out of work so.
[00:39:53] Speaker C: Oh, that's awesome.
[00:39:54] Speaker A: It was really, really cool.
[00:39:55] Speaker C: So you ended up leveraging that for. Did you end up being able to market anything, make any money through that, or.
[00:40:02] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, streaming. I'm very grateful for everybody. I mean, that's what got me through the pandemic, was streaming. You know, I didn't. Didn't file for unemployment, didn't do any of that stuff. So I was like, I was just determined to make it work. Did a lot of private parties over Zoom, which is weird.
[00:40:21] Speaker C: It wasn't then.
[00:40:22] Speaker A: Yeah, but, yeah, but it's like, all right, guys, I got my streaming set up. Let's all, you know, book a private party where everybody's on mute, you know, just like, I'll just sing some songs for you guys, you know?
[00:40:32] Speaker C: That's awesome, though. So do you do any intimate shows like that now? Do you do, like, people can hire you out, come play in my living room, play a few tunes?
[00:40:41] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. I like doing that stuff, especially if it's intimate and then you don't have to bring a pa and it's more just kind of organic, you know, and get back to the. Just a guy with a guitar in the room or on the porch and just that hangout. I love those. Those are my favorite.
[00:40:55] Speaker C: That's awesome. I love being in the. In the room, too, with those. Yeah.
So speaking of streaming, I know music's gone through an insane transition with. Through my era, for sure. Like I said, you're doing cassette tapes, and then by the time you're able to be on a CD somewhere, it was like, oh, we're stars now, you know, and then CDs were there more their welcome, and then streaming became a thing. That whole transition, it seemed like you kind of were part of the bridging of that gap as you experienced it. Where do you see the industry going now? That, and you play live, which is great, and you do the private events and things like that, which is probably sustainable, at least for now, but with the difficulty it is for musicians to actually put their tunes out and make money from it. Where do you see the industry going? And do you have any ideas as to what you might be doing to help to pivot within the crazy time it is?
[00:41:56] Speaker A: Well, I know that at least the record label I'm with now that we want to do vinyl for the next record, we want to do vinyl, and I think there's exclusively, well, we want to do streaming as well, but we're not going to have CDs. I wouldn't imagine. We'll just we'll do vinyl. I think, regardless if people have a vinyl record player or not, they want to have something tangible that they can take away from the show. And it. And a vinyl record, it's just more involved than a, you know, diamond case CD case. You know, it's. It's actually something that you're proud of and you put on your shelf, so. And I like them. I like vinyl a lot.
[00:42:35] Speaker C: Yeah, me too. I mean, that's why I grew up. And you go, you know, people used to know who was in the band, right? I know who the bass player.
[00:42:41] Speaker A: Right.
[00:42:41] Speaker C: In that band. Because you just would read all the liner notes and all this interesting things on it.
[00:42:46] Speaker A: Yeah. So, I mean, I see it becoming more involved. I think that more in depth. I think the real music lovers will gravitate to the vinyl, and then they'll probably stream it on their phone. It's just more convenient that way. I see it becoming more that. I know a lot of the bigger bands are.
They kind of, they say we make music so that way we can sell merchandise, you know, and that's where it's kind of there. There are more t shirts and clothing.
[00:43:16] Speaker C: But that's where it's at.
[00:43:18] Speaker A: Currently forced.
[00:43:19] Speaker C: You get a million streams on Spotify. You're still trying to make rent.
[00:43:24] Speaker A: Yeah. You're not. You're not making money.
[00:43:26] Speaker C: That's what I mean. So you just kind of forced into that. That avenue. And so with the label that you're working with, are they essentially doing a lot of the promotion stuff, too, and helping you set up road shows and stuff like that as well? That's still where your money's coming in live.
[00:43:42] Speaker A: Once we get. Once we get the record done and everything and formally announce everything. But, yeah, it's, uh, it's, uh. I think that's. That's the goal. Um, yeah, it's a. It's an interesting time that we are in for sure, when it comes to music. But, yeah, the majority of the. The income is the live shows for sure.
[00:44:00] Speaker C: Okay. So as long as that's the steady income, I think you'll be fine. Do you think that's ever going to. I don't think.
[00:44:06] Speaker A: I don't think it'll fade. I don't. I know, I know Fort Worth has gone through a lot of changes with a lot of live music venues shutting down, but I think it just kind of comes and goes, ebb and flows, and if it ever becomes a world to where nobody goes to live shows, I don't know if I would want to.
[00:44:23] Speaker C: He'd been handsome. Hologram.
[00:44:24] Speaker A: I don't know. Yeah, I don't know if I would want to do it, man. I'd like. I'd rather just, you know, I like that interaction that you get with the crowd and the spontaneity that happens when we perform. I mean, we rehearsed to just know the songs, but you never know where we're gonna go, you know, with this song. We might have an interlude there or extend something here or whatever. It's like, I don't want anything to be too structured or there be a guy on the side of the stage with a MacBook, you know, or, you know, type situation.
[00:44:55] Speaker C: So, yeah, when that goes out, that's makes for all kind of interesting circumstances, too.
[00:45:00] Speaker A: I've seen that it's pretty interesting how structured, I guess, is the right way to put it. Some of these bigger artists live shows.
[00:45:09] Speaker C: So the way this has gone, it seems to have birthed a lot of studio musicians, which is fine. And I've got. One of my friends is a very successful. Where he's actually a quite successful touring musician also, but his main objective is to play studio gigs. He loves going in and doing sessions, and he's very successful at that or whatever, but that's always been his goal. So certain. There are certain niches that can still thrive. You like the live game, and. But the people that are going in and just trying to make records are forced to essentially become salesmen and sell something with them. I mean, everybody needs merch anyway. That's why the road's so productive, too.
[00:45:48] Speaker A: Right? I think it's kind of interesting, like the studio musician versus the live musician, you know, and the people who can bridge the gap. It's. It's almost two different types of disciplines. Like, to where the studio. The studio musician has to do the most.
The most musicality that they possibly can with the littlest amount of, like, actual playing. Like, you have to utilize space so much. You have to utilize the. That way the equipment can breathe, and it's all about servicing the song. And then a live musician almost has a more difficult job because you got to take that minimalist beat and now fill up all that space of that giant live music venue that you're playing like they got, but not lose the essence of the song.
[00:46:34] Speaker C: Right.
[00:46:34] Speaker A: You know, and it's. It's very different. And I always, always tell my. The younger kids that are getting into it, I say kids, I don't like doing that, but they're like 21, right? 2021. And they're like, hey, I'm getting into this. I'm going on tour with this guy. This guy. And I was like, that's awesome. Get into the writing sessions. Learn how to write. Get in the writing sessions. That's where you're gonna make your long term money. If you can get writing credit just because you record on the record. Yeah. If you don't get points, if you. You're just paid that day, you. And it blows up, you're getting whatever $200 you're making that day.
[00:47:12] Speaker C: That's it. So if you're in sessions for points, you're still gonna do 800 sessions before somebody's record hits.
[00:47:18] Speaker A: Right.
[00:47:18] Speaker C: For you to.
[00:47:19] Speaker A: Right.
[00:47:19] Speaker C: So.
[00:47:19] Speaker A: So if you can.
[00:47:20] Speaker C: A lot of people are just doing one offs. They'll just do musician for hire.
[00:47:23] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:47:23] Speaker C: Give me my $800, and I'll come in and knock this out. That's it. But.
[00:47:27] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:47:28] Speaker C: And you could probably make a reasonable living doing that, depending on what level, obviously. But that's great advice, too, because if.
[00:47:35] Speaker A: You can get on the writing session, that is. That's where the game changes, for sure. And then you get a reputation as a writer, and now everybody's coming to you as a writer.
[00:47:44] Speaker C: That's great advice.
[00:47:45] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:47:46] Speaker C: Oh, I don't even have to ask that question. Thanks for sharing that.
So, as you were influenced, you've given us a lot of the influences and stuff that you had. Was super interesting also. But I found later in my life that I listened to some of the old stuff I did, but the stuff I grew up on, I can only listen to some of it as just nostalgia. Some of it stands up, but then I constantly searching for new things to listen to also. And I'll find myself even splitting my time between learning something off of a podcast or finding a new. A new group to listen to or whatever. But I split my time a lot more than I could ever imagine, because then, you know, in music school, we didn't even own a tv roommate, and I had a record player. And that's it.
[00:48:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:48:33] Speaker C: So do you listen still to music? You finally start jumping in the truck and just turning on the radio? Do you pop in specific stuff, or what do you listen to?
[00:48:43] Speaker A: It depends on what I'm doing. Um, there's always seems to be, like a time of year that I always kind of go back to the nostalgia stuff. I don't know. It just pops up. I'll get on a Steve Ray Vaughn kick again for, you know, a couple of weeks, and I'm like, man, this is killer. You know, like, I'm like, this is awesome. But typically, I mean, YouTube is always such a godsend, for one, learning anything you possibly could want to possibly learn about music or otherwise stock market, uh, or, you know, just finding new artists. And the artists that I've listened to a lot, uh, here in the last couple of years is Teske brothers out of Australia. And they're like, they're an australian band that's, like, basically Oda's redding reincarnate with, like, really deep lyrics. And it's. It's really cool stuff, and it's very vintage. They've recorded everything to tape, even their live records. They haul out a tape machine and record everything to tape. I actually got to go see them when they were here in Dallas a couple months ago.
[00:49:48] Speaker C: Really testy. So I would test. I would think Tedesky would run out of your mouth from your style. But that's interesting. I have to check them out.
[00:49:55] Speaker A: I. I think the older I get, I love Darrett trucks and that, you know, teski Tedescu trucks, man. I do. I think they're really great. I do.
I think the older I get, the more subtleties and details in different songs and different performance and stuff, like, just speak volumes to me. More like Teske brothers. It's almost like a master class and just how everybody's on the same page. Like, twelve people in the band, and they're doing them servicing the song. It's all about the song. It's never about, like, what fancy run you're doing in between this or whatever or not. It's all servicing the song. And I love that idea of everybody on the same page doing something together instead of, like, look at me, I'm so impressive.
[00:50:43] Speaker C: And that's the end game for. But it takes maturity to do that. I mean, that's what music school did. I'm sure you went to college is the same thing, yet all these people trying to learn to do more complicated things. And the only way you get better at it is by being able to put it into use in the context. But then when you get really good, then you also learn how to play very simply again. Yeah, but you're still way better.
[00:51:07] Speaker A: Right?
[00:51:08] Speaker C: There's a beautiful thing to that, too. Not everybody can do that.
[00:51:10] Speaker A: That restraint and finding those. Right.
[00:51:14] Speaker C: Thinking about the music, you're not thinking about your riff, you're thinking about the music, which I think a lot of people lose track of that whole objective.
[00:51:24] Speaker A: And there's. There's genres where that's cool. And I will definitely go listen to those guys, like. Cause it's impressive. And, like, every now and then I'll be like, oh, I want to figure that out and get that. That geek mode going again. It's like, oh, what was it? Rewind it. Well, I love that, you know, that's a fun thing to do, but I also really like to just be able to enjoy a really, really great song. The lyrics match up with what they're sonically doing. Like, that's. That's what I truly enjoy.
[00:51:50] Speaker C: Love it. I'm going to go check that out. Dude, I'm super excited for that.
[00:51:52] Speaker A: Killer.
[00:51:53] Speaker C: So how long do you think it's going to be before you make this new record announcement?
[00:51:57] Speaker A: Uh, we're halfway through it. We're halfway through it. We got six. Six songs recorded. I think we're going to go back in, do another five. So we're doing them over here at Nile City.
[00:52:08] Speaker C: Oh, perfect.
[00:52:09] Speaker A: Yeah, so we're. We're going. We're doing everything live in the room. I think we're just. We're just recutting the vocals pretty much, but we just. We got the whole band live in the room, so.
[00:52:18] Speaker C: Love it.
[00:52:18] Speaker A: I just try and do everything, like those records that we. We love, which is, you know, Motown now. Green stacks, all that stuff.
[00:52:26] Speaker C: Yeah. And a lot of that ambient room is going to bring a lot of that stuff, too. Just naturally. Right?
[00:52:31] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure.
[00:52:31] Speaker C: But you're not recording the tape, are you?
[00:52:33] Speaker A: No, I want to.
[00:52:36] Speaker C: I know it's. That's kind of cool and old school.
[00:52:38] Speaker A: I would.
[00:52:39] Speaker C: Man, that's a pain in the ass.
[00:52:40] Speaker A: That's what they say.
[00:52:41] Speaker C: Machine.
[00:52:42] Speaker A: I keep waiting for that engineer with that. Never experienced it and that wants to do it. That'd be.
[00:52:47] Speaker C: Just grab some scotch tape, man.
[00:52:49] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:52:49] Speaker C: Literally is of as much of a beating as it looks.
[00:52:53] Speaker A: And you can get pretty close to that sound with just people performing in a room live together. There is something about cutting a record all at the same time with the people. Like an energy that goes in instead of what a lot of people do is they come in, they'll do a demo, and then the drummer comes in and does that, and then the bass player comes and does his part and guitar guitars. Yeah. And you just layer it and there's. It doesn't have that connection continuity and you don't.
[00:53:21] Speaker C: You can't appreciate that until you've experienced it for sure. And I think we lose a lot of that. I lose a lot of that because I was doing sessions that got me back in the music industry and these cats couldn't show up within 3 hours of time. We're sitting around waiting for singers to show up.
[00:53:36] Speaker A: Right.
[00:53:36] Speaker C: So I started doing my own stuff, and by default, I end up in that situation where I'm not playing in a live room now.
[00:53:43] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:53:43] Speaker C: Doing each part and it just. It puts you into that kind of phase, and it's still quite enjoyable. But there's nothing like basically getting all the rhythm section tracks down in two or three takes and you're getting live takes from that.
[00:53:56] Speaker A: And then it's like trying to make love to somebody in separate rooms. Like, it doesn't make sense. Like, it doesn't work, man. It doesn't work.
[00:54:04] Speaker C: I'm sure somebody could figure that out.
[00:54:05] Speaker A: Yeah, sure. I'm sure.
[00:54:08] Speaker C: Well, that's badass, man. I really appreciate you spending time to come out here, man. Is there anything that you want to share about anything coming up or anything going on besides you got a new record coming, but you're not announcing it yet.
[00:54:18] Speaker A: Yeah, I got that new record. Be on the lookout for that. I mean, you also stream and find the old record on Spotify under Michael Lee and. Yeah, yeah.
[00:54:27] Speaker C: Throw me links and I'll make sure everything that that is here on this particular episode is LinkedIn so that you can get all your links into channels you're on.
[00:54:37] Speaker A: And Instagram, Facebook at Michael Lee. FW.
FW for Fort Worth, you know.
[00:54:43] Speaker C: Yeah. And so you're. I mean, you want to watch him perform? Start there. It's pretty easy. You're doing all kinds of great little one off. Little performances on there, too. It's fabulous.
[00:54:52] Speaker A: Yes, sir.
[00:54:52] Speaker C: Appreciate you, brother.
[00:54:53] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:55:05] Speaker B: She's dancing in the light just like a diamond mosaic like a mirabile oh, how she's shining in the middle of the dance floor center of attention gets.
[00:55:20] Speaker A: The whole room spinning the whole room.
[00:55:23] Speaker B: Is spinning if I'm gonna love, I need love I gotta love her love her from a distance I'm gonna love, I need to love her I got love her love her from a distance here come those eagle eyes right out of the wild she can see 4 miles she rid my mind I'm in the palm of her hand her hypnotize me that mesmerize me that mystifies me if I'm gonna love her I need a lover I gotta love her love from a distance I'm gonna love, I need love I got love from a distance oh, yeah, now will I love Zack gotta have a oh, now, baby.
I love, I need, I want, I love her, I love her, my lover I love her I'm gonna love her I need love I gotta love her love her from a distance I'm gonna love her I need love I gotta love her from a distance.
[00:58:11] Speaker C: Yes, sir.
[00:58:12] Speaker A: Thanks.
[00:58:13] Speaker C: What's it take? What you gonna do? What you gonna do? Success around the sandbox second grade rules a confident fake to make you do make you do what they want when.
[00:58:30] Speaker B: They won't be the fool.
[00:58:34] Speaker A: A diplomatic.
[00:58:36] Speaker C: Base is the one to see it through and don't let those figures take you off you game but just a let em lose just sit here in the front seat baby, ain't that sweet take a little honey from the money be but don't pay the fool I make political magical potion I'll missing bees at the end of the game mean a soul roll see the truth of ocean I never found a 63 like.
[00:59:06] Speaker A: Five.
[00:59:09] Speaker C: Between blurry lines if you gonna.
[00:59:12] Speaker B: Call on me.
[00:59:15] Speaker A: What color me.
