144: Randall King
On Episode 144, I'm joined by country singer-songwriter Randall King, who at the end of the week (Friday, Dec 11), will be releasing Leanna. The four-song EP is named after King's late sister who unexpectedly passed away earlier this year. It's as heartfelt and endearing a tribute you'd expect from King. On songs like "Takin' It As It Comes" and "Around Forever," King offers nuggets of wisdom, valuable perspective, and some life lessons he's learned over the past few years from friends and family--namely, his sister. "Takin' It As It Comes" sees King draw back the curtain on depression and OCD. He's honest and real about those personal struggles while offering determination, patience, and perseverance. On the standout "Hey Moon," King delivers perhaps his greatest song to date with a storyteller ballad about single parenting, distance, and splitting time.
During this one, we talk about the writing and stories behind the songs from Leanna, the guidance and encouragement Randall received from his older sister, writing over in Nashville, late nights in Lubbock, those Panhandle roots, and some 806 Songwriter Retreat stories.
This episode's presenting partner is Desert Door Texas Sotol. In addition, this episode is sponsored by The Blue Light Live and Hot Damn Coffee.
Interview Transcript
Note: Transcripts aren’t always accurate since they are computer automated and haven’t been edited for spelling, grammar, etc.
Thomas Mooney 0:02
Hey y'all Welcome back to New slang on music journalist Thomas Mooney. We are kicking off the week being joined by country singer songwriter Randall King, who is releasing a new EP this Friday, December 11. It's titled Leanna and is named after his late sister who unexpectedly passed away earlier this year. At four songs long, it really is as heartfelt and endearing a tribute to his sister, as you would expect from Randall, you hear a lot of wisdom and perspective and gratitude from Randall in the songs. And not that anyone has needed more reminders this year. And I'm not saying you or I or anyone else is ungrateful or anything, but let's just be honest, it's easy to take folks for granted. It's easy to kind of like focus on the negative to nitpick and grow frustrated with those minor setbacks in life. And then you hear something from Randall, like around forever or taking it as it comes. And it's a meaningful reminder that you do have a lot to be thankful for.
And I mean
that mainly in the form of friends and family, and yes, even good hearted strangers. Sometimes you just have to take a minute, the songwriting and spirit of the songs from Randall, it just feels like he's continually finding new highs. You know, I've known Randall for a good while. And that's a pat myself on the back for this one. But I knew it was just a real app description and and just good when I said it, somewhere in those written archives, I called Randall I quote, Neo traditional country revivalist, I still stand by that I think it's just really apt to the way Randall is, as an artist, he has a lot of those same values. But again, more to my point on on random continually finding those new highs. Sometimes you just have to take a minute, for some of that perspective as well. Just got to have that gratitude to see how far we've come. I still remember back when he was getting the EP, another bullet ready. And thinking a song like a waiting on you was just a turn in randles writing, it's still a good song. But then, of course, you fast forward four years, and he's releasing songs like, hey, moon, I won't spoil it all because we talked about it at length during the interview. But as Randall says, you know, they could have taken a different approach with that song that could have came out a lot differently. It would have been really easy to just kind of go that paint by numbers route. It could have been a great song that way too, of course, but there's just so much nuance and substance with the route that they went. I think for as great a vocalist and a mood setter, Randall is it's really been the lyrical content that has separated him from the pack. It's everything from those clever hooks and that wordplay to those unshakable choruses to the precise storytelling arcs and the principal themes of his songs and records in general. Again, the piano by Randall will be out officially this Friday, December 11. I expect each and every one of y'all to stay up on Thursday night to listen to it. As you'd expect, we talk about the songs. The guidance and encouragement Randall received from his older sister songwriting over in Nashville and of course, some of those Lubbock and panhandle roots and some of those songwriting stories from a couple of the 806 songwriting retreats. Today's presenting partner is our pals over at Desert door Texas Soto. If you're asking yourself, what exactly desert door or a SoTL is, well, it's a premium, high quality spirit that is similar to a tequila or Moscow, but in my estimation, it's more refined, smooth and fragrant. It has a distinct and intriguing palette that picks up on hints of vanilla and citrus while maintaining a healthy earthiness that is quite enjoyable. One of my favorite features about desert door is just how versatile It really is. If you want to feel fancy and a little highbrow, it's perfect for a variety of cocktails that call for lime wedges and core salt, chopped ginger, a gob a nectar sprigs of time and sticks of cinnamon, threw down to muddle some fresh fruit, all that kind of stuff. It's perfect. It's great for experimentation and fine tuning all of your mixologist skills. And then also if you're a little bit more downhome and casual, you got that denim jacket on. It's just perfect for those short and sweet simple go to favorites that hit the mark every time. I'm talking about ranch waters and Moscow mules and palomas and and Mexican Coca Cola with desert door.
What I love so much about desert shore is just how genuine and an authentically West Texan they are as well. They go out and harvest SoTL plants out in the wild and are aware and knowledgeable conservationists at heart. So next time you're at your neighborhood liquor store, get yourself a bottle of desert door. I'll throw a link into the show notes for more information. If this is your first time listening, I highly suggest you hit that subscribe link. New slang is on iTunes, Spotify and virtually everywhere you listen to podcasts. Okay, let's get on into the interview with Randall here is Randall King. Let's start off with you have this new EP EP coming out pretty soon. Obviously, like, these four songs are really personal to you. And the the idea of this EP is really obviously important and very sentimental. And I'll just give you the floor First off, like what is kind of, so you can give like the idea, the general idea of what this EP and the songs are for and about.
Randall King 5:41
Yeah, I mean, the CP is, you know, it's, it's titled after my sister's name, my sister passed back in April. And I wanted to do something special for me, and I wanted to do something that honored her that also showed my personal history within my life, in my personal history with my sister, and give my fans a little bit more depth than what they normally get, you know, do a little deeper than just the surface of who I am and where I come from in my family history. And in all four songs really showcase showcase that showcases the preset from Tegan and Isaac combs, which represents the struggles that I came through back in high school within depression and anxiety and OCD and things that I've struggled with in that all the way to the shows in my early career, you know, and
my sister was there for all that she was my protector she was she was a lot of my strength and in a way in a lot of ways I look to her basically, as a person was the downward
Thomas Mooney 7:05
like a muse.
Randall King 7:07
Come to me here in a minute, oh, man, just look to her for basically approval of the things I was doing and who I am. And between senator songs that I just wrote, which was honeymoon, I wrote that about Danny sodre and his little girl and, and a separation of being a parent and going through a custody battle and have broke him when I wrote that song, send it to me for approval, you know, just did check this one out. And that's cool. And I was just little iPhone voice memo on it. And so that became my favorite song. And her song for her and her daughter. And this whole EP just showcases little subtle things like that. around forever, I mean, that's, that's one that's basically about holding on to your loved ones. And taking advantage of the time to go with them because literally We ain't will be around here forever. Our time is limited. And it can be gone in a blink of an eye, which is how it was with Leanna we knew that she was getting bad but we did not was that bad. It was gonna be that quick. And then you get out fly away, which is the sound that I say your home diffuses to. It's also a sound that I've been playing guitar since I was in first grade. It's one of the first songs I've ever ever learned on guitar. Play that played that song from talent shows growing up my grandpa's funeral. And then this past February, I played my version of our flow away from other grandpa's funeral. And I didn't really think that I'd be playing it for piano and singing or home to Jesus, but or even played at her funeral. But I did. And that version just kind of happened, man, it just it was most things that I stumbled into. And I made it my own. And I was like, man, we gotta we got to put this on the PS got to be the highest on the EP. Just because it's kind of it's, it needs to be on there and it's going to finish out this EP beautifully and like it's a good finalization of those four songs.
Thomas Mooney 9:43
Yeah, you know, like it's, it's always one of those things where, you know, when you think of like this, a lot of the stuff that you come out with obviously, there's a lot of that honkytonk grit and there's a lot of the, you know, the late night, Honky Tonk songs and the The just the the live energetic, all that kind of good stuff right there. But man, you also you just do a lot of these really just, you know, just mature ballads and life, like just life life songs, you know what I mean? Like there's a lot and like what you've done here on this EP is I think it's kind of shown another side that we've all kind of known about, and a lot of your fans have known about. But for the general public, if you're just kind of like a casual fan, or one who's just been listening to the music, I feel like they're gonna take these four songs and realize that there's a lot of depth to, to the Randall King, song catalog. And yeah, these these four songs are just like, just, whenever you send them over to us, it was just kind of a man like what you're kind of you're staying, saying the statement, but it not being a, you know, just in that form.
Randall King 11:05
If you get what I'm saying. Yeah, and there's a certain there's just a deeper, it's a deeper Saturday, man, I strive myself on my songwriting. And obviously, our live show is a beat honkytonk It's fun. And you know that not every song is designed to be driven sounds we got, oh, it's ourselves. You got to love songs, you got sad songs. Over the years, I've really dedicated myself and dove into the songwriting aspect of it. And I strive to be the best songwriter, artist out there. And that's, that's my goal. And I've learned from some really, really great songwriters over the years, being in the rooms with guys that have written hit songs that I shouldn't have even been in a room with. But they had heard some stuff and gave me a chance. And I took that chance and ran with it. And lo and behold, the self titled record, the last three songs that were in EP and then this record just says that life is deeper than the Alcatel and we're drinking fun time. I mean, a life is real life throws curveballs life life's full of pain and hurt and sorrow but in that sorrow you learn and you take a positive spin on something and you just keep trucking it Keep your head down, go to work. And you push through it and you make do it because you got to live. My favorite statements Les Brown that john Wolfe sold stage, Andrew Conrad that passed away from COVID this year. This incredible, incredible human being he survived cancer twice all into contract COVID and then finally got him but to survive cancer twice, and live by the statement that he always told people get busy living. That's life man. Get busy. If the CP doesn't showcase that aspect of it then I don't I don't think I'm doing it justice. But personally, I think that this EP showcases the best part of a full circle of life man. Every struggle you ever struggle that you take on you take it as it comes, man.
Thomas Mooney 13:42
Yeah, like it's one of those things where this year has been pretty fucking rough on a lot of people. I think like they're going to be able to play they're already applying these songs to their own struggles and in this year and I think for me like the thing that I've kind of realized this year it goes to that whole like get busy living thing is that this year could have been really easy to just kind of just quit on on whatever you're doing, you know what I mean? Or like just take an extended hiatus on Well, you know, this year just is not my year. There's a lot of like ways you could have convinced yourself to quit this year. And I think like just the perseverance of like this year is you're gonna see that in a lot of people the resilience that that resilience factor. And you know, I want to talk about Hey, Moon for a second because I remember you, you playing it during like 806 stuff and one of those things where into the first night all the are passing guitars around and playing songs and it's never like a song that you guys wrote that night. It's always stuff From this is in my, my bag, you pull that song out and it's just like everyone's paying attention during that kind of thing, listening to lyrics and listening to words and the stories behind those songs. But I felt like everyone's kind of just also just, if there was that proverbial pin drop, it would have happened right before you started playing that song for everyone.
Randall King 15:28
Yeah, I mean that song special. I wrote that with Martin nessler. And I've written a lot with Mark man from cool under pressure. So it's been days have gone to a cowgirl and then I wrote a moon and taken as a comes with him. And Tim comes as also him and Tony Martin. And both those guys wrote just to see you smile. And, and live and live in well. Countless hits do those guys. They get together every Tuesday for the last 20 years. And and they've written together. I read written with Mark hadn't written with Tony. And they asked me to come in and sit down to write with him. I was like, man, I said, it's a big honor to be a part of something that a tradition that you guys have got going for 20 years. I think y'all Sure. Oh, yeah, come on, rotating as it comes there. But hey, Moon was one that I sat down with Mark. Probably. Actually, you know what it was a there's only had that solar eclipse couple of years ago, it was the same day because we were sitting out Ratan out at a manager's place. And he's he's about six floors up and a condo in Midtown there in Nashville. And I remember we stopped writing stuff down on the balcony. And the eclipse was going on. Were in town we were out and about a moon boat set there, we finished it out. We wrote hangman and I'd actually pitched it to someone else to write with. And it was just kind of pop router is the first time that I sat down with them and didn't know not gonna name names was first time ever sit down row with them and didn't realize you know, it's always hit or miss or you're sitting down in a room with and there was just dedicated to routing Hey, number one big Nashville radio hit. And I didn't realize that when I pitched the idea of a moon. And it just every angle every corner, kind of taken. It was just trying to get poppy with it. And I was like, You know what, I'm gonna take this one put in my back pocket and or at something else wrote a song. It was pretty good. It was pretty good. But it wasn't no hang though. And I sat down the next day with Mark and pulled it out. tossing the idea. You can take the song and it can be the most typical. It can be the most typical love song. We just do talking about this girl where she had what she doing. talking talking to her to the moon which is your typical angle on that or like this. That's all about Danny. And then there's one girl Molly and Danny is one of the best fathers I've ever known. This would do literally anything for his daughter would just lay down his life right there to do anything in the world for absolutely loves her. And for whatever reason. He got hit with a court suit from his ex wife and had to go to court and fight for his daughter after 60 days. legality wise he couldn't see his daughter and they could just completely shattered and broken I mean that's the that's the rest of breakfast I've ever seen Danny and Danny's one of most positive lives out there whenever walks up my you know any who walks up? Oh, there got down there. Up there now Jeff Medan is positive, man. It's good dude. Man know how 60 days man it just is broken. He was not that same person. But he changed his whole life around. Stop drinking completely and was just 100% dedicated to doing whatever it took to be able to see his daughter. But in that 60 day timeframe, I sat there and over Hey Mo, just for him. And Molly sent it to him. And I was like, I think that just think that this song, this angle scene about Danny's position, wondering what his daughter's doing? Let's see, okay. Because he's he was just an absolute powerless position of even knowing because she had the full control.
Yeah. What do you know? Yeah, that's it works both ways. As far as that goes, as far as this parent versus parent, man, they don't matter if it's a man and a woman wanted it to man, parent versus parent, it's, it's a pretty shitty angle to go through on the opposite end of the where you can't see your kid, regardless of the situation. So I think that that's, I think this song speaks volumes to those people.
Thomas Mooney 20:57
Yeah, I mean, it's one of those things where those kind of situations you can it's a slippery slope, obviously, where, you know, you're with somebody and that they, you, they break up. And, you know, most times, it's not a clean break, it's not a mutual thing. And it's very easy to where you hate that other person. And then it's very, very easy to then figure out ways to hurt that person via the child you guys have. And
Randall King 21:32
mn and n don't do nothing to hurt the kid. Yeah, it hurts the other parent. But here you're really hurting as a kid and how, how in your mind, can you sacrifice your kids? Your kids mental state your kids feelings? Just to hurt the other person? It's bigger than you. It's bigger than both of you. Figure it out.
Thomas Mooney 21:58
Yeah. And you know, obviously like also, it ties to a lot of the great country songs that are about these situations. Like whenever you were talking about that song. First time you played it, like one of those songs that popped in my head from the 90s was I don't call him daddy by what's his name? 90s country. Oh, I'm
Randall King 22:26
getting you stumped me on this one. I'm not sure which one your dog super No. Oh, yeah. Super. No. Yeah. I wonder what song you're talking about now? Yeah. Didn't know passed away this year. Yeah, it's
Thomas Mooney 22:40
Yeah, but those kind of songs about like adult situations about horrible situations. Those used to be like on the radio. But yeah. Anyways, yeah, like,
Randall King 22:52
what was the thing? Like it's real? It's got substance to it, man. It's deeper than just. Hey, girl. What's, uh, what's she doing? What you're drinking. Get out of here with that? Give you some real.
Thomas Mooney 23:07
This episode of new slang is brought to you by new slang. So obviously, you're listening to new slang right now. That probably means that you enjoy it. Or at least you enjoy some of the conversations with the artists that are on here. Well, you may be interested in helping support new slang a little bit more by doing one of a handful of things. One, stop by our new slang merch store and order some merch. Right now. There's t shirts, koozies buttons, stickers, magnets, and a handful of key chains and the like to if you like new slang just a little bit more. You can join the new slang Patreon. What is Patreon? Well it's like a subscription service since new slang is free. It's a great way to get some extra bonuses and additional content. For example, if you subscribe to the postcard pal tier for five bucks a month, you'll get ad free episodes, updates on upcoming guests and monthly new slang postcards. The postcards are essentially little mini show posters that I started designing to highlight that month's roster of guests like right now we just ended the month of November. So November show poster is a denim jacket where all the episode guests are individual buttons pinned to the jacket. Right now if you sign up for the Patreon I'll go ahead and make sure you get all the back prints. Again signing up for the new slang Patreon or purchasing something from the new slang merch store are great ways to help support new slang. Another easy simple way is to give us a five star review over on iTunes. Ensure the slang with all your friends and family who you think may enjoy new slang. links to both the Patreon and the merch store and all of our social media stuff is in the show notes. Okay, let's get back to the episode. It feels like a lot of the songs were kind of in the mix already. They're already around and then it just After your sister passed, it just they all kind of rose from the mix and made sense together. Is that kind of the situation? Or was there anything that you had to like,
Randall King 25:11
initially, we had a, well, this EP was supposed to come out in the spring. And it was just supposed to be the three songs taken as comes him in and around forever. Because all three tied into a deeper side of my personal history. And, you know, taking as I said, and taking it as it comes digging into the things I struggled with in high school, my senior year and how bad how bad I really got and overcoming that. Loads taking life as it comes, man not living in fear, taking advantage of the life that you're given. And upsetting. I mean, Danny's my buddy. So a moon came from personal story from a friend. And then around forever, obviously. Well, that song. It's about, you know, there's a little line in there about my dad getting old and live that man was on the road for there's about a two month stretch, where I was gone constantly. And I hadn't seen my dad in about three months. And there was live like, overnight, like I came home that had that one, I love that and still had a lot of brown and I still look pretty young. And I came home man. And they wouldn't know man, he was just solid gray. And you can see it in his face. He was getting older. And it was really like overnight, that happened. The realization of an artist, the things that are the things that you sacrifice, going out chasing the dream on the road, is the time with your family. That's, that's the biggest sacrifice that we make as artists on the road is it's not, it's not the work you're putting in is the time that you've given up. Anybody else you know, you can settle down, stick around in your own town and see your loved ones every day if you really want. But for guys like me out there trying to kind of ground it. You have to be dedicated to it. And that sacrifice comes with being gone a lot and sometimes been gone for a long long stretches.
Thomas Mooney 27:36
Yeah, that song right there has that. Life's like a real haggard record line. Where did that come from? Where'd that pop up?
Randall King 27:46
I love Merle Haggard. I don't know, I just want to say the lines were just popped out with my laugh Spears laugh. Record goes from good to bad. You know, it's just the if we literally compare the world spinning around. And the days passing by to laugh spin in like a haggard record. And we didn't realize quite how deep that was until we sat back and went. Oh, wow, that's actually that's pretty good. But I love that song. I wrote that with Josh, Josh Miller. And we'll Bondi Nashville about a year ago. We wrote it, we were like, Oh, yeah, this one's This one's gonna be good. But that EP was supposed to come out in the spring and then COVID hit.
And
just put that on pause. But it kind of gave us a little bit more time to really perfect it, which was nice. But oddly enough, when when COVID hit and pushed everything back. Leanna passed away. And I was sitting in her Jeep at my dad's place in the middle of the night. The day she passed. And I was looking at the stars. And I was on my on my phone. And my notes were right on my songs because that's how I read my songs is via phone, voice memos and notes. And I was in my notes writing her eulogy. No, I wouldn't read religion it was a little bit later I was written. This is written my thoughts down written the day down. And what I wanted to say because I was going to take a break from social media and a lot of my fans to understand why they hadn't heard from me in a while. Why? What was going on? And then I was just gonna stop and take a break from music. I was gonna put my career on pause for a second. He'll for a little while Ingres was coming up with what I was gonna say. And tell him a story about everything that went down. And as I sat there thought about it all I thought about that EP every result was kind of lively. And it was speaking to me in a way I think too, because every, all the ideas, everything came to me from the album artwork all the way to adding all fall away into into the EP, as well as just the, the full ideas of how she tied into everything. Because every memory, every memory of me and her it was just, it just came flooding to me and I realized how deeply she tied in to my personal history. And Amanda she's part of the reason I love Country Music Man, I wouldn't I wouldn't have been a massive durch Bentley fan had it not been for her, given me that first darks record. And data and I compare a lot of my writing and who I am as an artist to those first three records a darks man, and she tied into all of that. And the hell did the album artwork is is is a black background, what's black was her favorite color with a yellow rose, which was her favorite rose. And then it's in gold, which we had gold from the last name cane. And gold is her signature, which I had from a piece of paper that she from a notebook she left us and she knew she was passing. No, but she wrote all sorts of notes to us about she wrote, she wrote a specific note to me. The my niece, my oldest niece gave it to me so that so that I had it. And it was a personal note to me about what Leanna wanted, when she passed, and where certain things of hers were going to go and she wanted to be cremated. And all these things. And in those in that notebook, I had her signature. And so I took a picture of it and sent it to Warner. And then they replicated it and put it on that all the album artwork. I mean, all those ideas came to me after that, gee, God's timing on everything was just incredible man. For the first city, his situation was it just came out. It came out really well. It came out as one, one beautiful and beautiful way to honor
Thomas Mooney 32:56
No, absolutely. I mean, it's, it's very much like it's strange, because like, again, like I go back to saying, I hear the songs and you kind of just apply them to your own life and a lot of ways but then also just knowing you and knowing you know, how difficult this year's been. It's also one of those things where you just like those songs are because obviously like as a listener, you almost always kind of just take ownership of a song that you love or that resonates with you. But in a lot of ways I'm just like man those songs right there are you and your sisters and like that you know that's that's fine and I don't know long story short, I think you did like a hell of a job at like pervert preserving, you know, some kind of legacy and tribute and
Randall King 33:50
it's just the underlying underlying Lee I wanted something that was going to be permanent to when you record music and put it out there and then it's out there it's permanent. And then for me it was it was something to cling to and hold on to and man it's out there with permanent now you know it's she'll live forever via those four songs we that EP, to me that was really important. Yeah,
Thomas Mooney 34:24
you know, switching gears a little bit you know one of the things that we've been doing the last few years has been NATO six songwriter thing and you know, I think that going out there with you all and kind of just being that wallflower in the room, the the fly on the wall. I think that like one of the things that I realized that I appreciated really about like, especially you and Ross and maybe this is because you guys have spent more time or a lot of time in it. Nashville writing and like writing just so much is that you guys like never really get tired of writing. Like, sometimes you got to like take breaks like a lot of songwriters take breaks between, you know, writing a song in a in a situation like that.
Randall King 35:19
Yeah, you guys were out you can burn yourself out real fast not careful. Yeah.
Thomas Mooney 35:24
Well you guys, like I just I remember y'all just kind of always being writing like, I know like one year you know you got like, there's one year, which is I think this last year that like both of y'all basically had written like four songs or three songs or at least parts of these three or four songs.
Randall King 35:47
And yeah, I think I had a hand in at least three songs that Ross had handed more because he was just constantly delving into it. Dude, yeah, that makes you sit me down. And you tell me that you get three days to read as many songs as you can. And I've dedicated a time slot and going in there mentally going, Okay, I got this time. I mean, that's what I do in Nashville. Every time I go right up there. I get one week at a time every month. And I save all my songwriting ideas. I don't even hardly write out those unless I'm coming up with ideas running down the road driving because that's where I come up with most of my ideas. But I know I've got that week. I've got a schedule where it's I'm set up with usually two songwriters a day for about a three day stretch. And we just read her ass off for a week. So I mean, I'm used to that schedule. So when they can't, we're like, yeah, we're gonna go down here and drink beer and hang out Wrestling's for about three days and just read as much as we can. I was like, so you're telling me that I get to pretty much what to do. I get to pretty much do what to do in Nashville, but also get to drink beer and smoke cigars. Yeah, man.
Thomas Mooney 37:04
Yeah, of course. Like that's no knock anyone else. But as far as like, you know, it's one of those things like if you have like just a couple ideas and you've the mental cap capacity, the mental I guess strain when you're writing a song. It's always one of those things where that's one of those things I noticed, I guess is that after you're kind of finish, everyone kind of has like that writer's high. And then you're also kinda Yeah, you kind of like also go in and just need a little break here. But then like, like I said, like you and Ross were just kind of like, Alright, 30 minutes later, you have the song idea. Let's just go and knock that this episode of new slang is brought to you by Hot damn coffee. Rolling in from the hills of Eastern Tennessee is hot damn coffee to downhome company that rose single origin high quality coffees from around the world. Their year round rows come from certified farms in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Nicaragua. Check out the hot damn website over at Hot damn dot coffee. There you can find more info on their operation and roasting process and some helpful tips on how to brew the best cup of coffee. They certainly made my mornings that much better. And to be perfectly honest, I enjoy a nice cup of coffee at all hours of the day. Some of my favorites have been the Tanzanian peaberry in medium roast and the medium roast of Nicaraguan with the honey process. While there, check out their hot damn coffee Club, which is a monthly subscription service with the holiday season coming upon us. It's just really kind of the perfect gift. I don't care how difficult or easy a person is to shop for. They'll always be good with items like high quality coffee. And of course right now, if you throw in the promo code slang in all caps, that's s l a n g, you'll get 20% off your order. And if you're signing up for the coffee club subscription service, they'll take 20% off that first month and also throw in a bonus eight ounce bag of their Nicaraguan coffee. Again, that slang in all caps. Head over to hot damn coffee and sign up today.
All right, let's
get back to the episode.
Randall King 39:17
One of my favorite ones from that year was there's me Charles shafter and Ross. Yeah, and I love Charlie have a hard time right and Charlie. And I think Charlie has a hard time with me.
Thomas Mooney 39:33
But Charlie has a hard time right with anyone but
Randall King 39:37
he has his own. He's got his own element and how he does things. But I sat down with him and Ross because i think i think that's we drew out of the hat. Yeah, first things first. The first song at the gate was us three we got like other names out of the hat. I sat down I was like, Listen, be interesting and sat down and again went through a couple ideas. And Roscoe is man I got one. I was just I played a gig in New Orleans one day and was late at night and I was just upset play the gig was our I went all went down on the corner of the street corner Decatur and I made a phone call to his girlfriend at the time. And he was I would just would talk for a little while and then I was just upset and I sat down and I wrote a bunch of wrote all my thoughts down on this note. And this wrote and he had essentially the whole song written and all we had to do is come up with a really cool vibe. Really cool arrangement and then twist some of those words where it fit into the song. And that's one of the cool songs that I've written to come out of there it's called it's called New warns. Yeah. But it's on his it's on his EP and was sat there and stressed out malady and it was just I just remember being just want to call it survives I've ever written. And his imama cut this one won't cut this one was I will shit Did you pretty much wrote it. So absolutely cut it. And they did a damn good job on it did great. Yeah, Charlie's just got Charlie's always got that cool. He's always got that cool vibe. Anyway, so he through all I think he's a real big reason of why that song just came out. Cool. This has got it edginess to. It was a really good. It's actually really good mix of routers. I wasn't sure what to expect out of it. But it was great.
Thomas Mooney 42:00
Yeah, it's I remember checking back in on you guys throughout that night. And
Randall King 42:06
you were kind of the dad that was like, Okay. Oh, cool. Uncle Tom over there. Just keeping us in line. Oh, yeah.
Thomas Mooney 42:19
More like waitress or waiter? Uh, y'all need another beer? Yeah. But now actually, like you saying that whole part about? You know, you guys. I forgot. Like you guys had started going down like a different route and had been working on something else. And then the next time I can't come back, like, it felt like, Oh, you guys. I guess I left. And
Randall King 42:44
I think we at that point, we'd started on a song. Yeah. And it was like, we got to verse chorus, and it just was like, yeah, coming out, or whatever. And then Ross was, well, hold on, I got this. And I just started jamming on the guitar. And throwing drum melodies out there. And Charlie was able to fit fit the words right. In the cadences, and it was, it was cool. Cool. Yeah,
Thomas Mooney 43:13
it was one of those things where first time I left for the second time, whatever, I left, it felt like, oh, maybe they're gonna come up and like, hit a wall here. And then I came back. And it was like, y'all were in the middle of, of just like that hot streak where you had transitioned to this other song. And I remember when you were cutting the little demo of it, and hearing that for the first time. A little work tape, whatever you want to call it. Yeah, it was like, man. Well, what? Yeah, well, long story short, I thought like you, Ross, or Charlie could have, like, if all three of y'all cut that song. It would make sense like and that I think kind of rarely happens in those kind of situations where all three people are like, excited about maybe like the even the potential of cutting a song like that.
Randall King 44:05
Yeah, man. No, I still love that song. That's, that's one of the coolest songs out there that I'd written and actually added at everything we've written that one and Mirror mirror the only songs that ever really got cut. No way. Cut one was kind of demo with Larry, Jill,
Thomas Mooney 44:29
I never just put you're going to say yeah,
Randall King 44:31
very first, very first song that we wrote out there in 2017. is actually it was me, Charlie shafter. And Larry Joe. And I cannot think of the name of that song off the top of my head right now.
Thomas Mooney 44:43
Yeah, I just remember. You guys were inside and it was you and Charlie first, and then Larry Joe came up. And then
Randall King 44:57
it was a cool one too. Yeah. Then the next. I think, actually that night, me and Brandon started on Mirror mirror. We got a verse and chorus. And we were working on a second verse. And I'll continue walks up smoking a cigarette. Lately lately that got out here, we got to get loosen on the tailgate of the truck. This out in the pasture out there. Don't lock up, try to start riding with us and Nashville, you get in the room, you lock the door and you can, no one's going to walk in on you. But out there in the past year, anybody can just walk up and sure shit, they'll walk up there. And Ross about a half a verse, the second verse. And we just kind of stopped writing. And didn't finish the song. We started working on something else, which was like some kind of Mozart it was assigned by Danny to Dalton don't have this identical Staff Sergeant sodre. And run that. And so we were drawn. And we got about halfway through that didn't finish it. I think Dalton fire finished him on his own. But I left. And I brought miramare back to Lubbock with me and just sat at home, working on it and cleaned it up. And then I kept one line that Dalton wrote. So he's got one line and all of miramare is just showing her in the early fall. And then finished out I wrote the rest of the second verse, and wrote the outro. And I was thinking what would Brandon Adams say? Brandon Adams was, say some about a crystal ball. I know he would, and sat through that last line in the very last outro verse. and sent them a voice memo. And they were like, Damn, that's country. And that song wasn't even going to do that I was just gonna sit on. We never put it in the live show. I wasn't even sure. Really, I was thinking, my mind I was thinking, Man, it's almost too old school to country. I don't know if it's gonna work. And we open for Kojo and Springfield, Missouri, and that rodeo. And we get done with the set manager Scott was out there. And I think somebody from Sony was, was there. And how we met up, my overall manager was there in Scotland the sad. Man, after washing your set, I think you need, I think you should try out that song on your mirror. So then you guys should work it up. And try because at this point, we didn't have a full record, we had the EP, and it was just five songs. And so for us to come up with a full set that had great quality and, and different levels of direction, vibe and energy. We had to take songs that I've just written and sit there in a garage and work them up. And I had to basically produce what we were doing in the garage and my band at a time. They there's some ideas in charge arrangements and this and that. And I'm like APR on the line. One more won't hurt. Mirror mirror. All of that. All those songs came out of a garage in Lubbock, Texas. And then they just transferred really well to the self titled record. I think everything broke was one of them too. Because that is needed. I needed better songs for our live live show. And we got done with that show in Springfield. And Scott was like, Man, you think you got a shot at miramare? So I was like, thanks. So yeah, I think your set needs something that country. I think you need to get any needed. It'll give like a fresh breath of air to this upbeat hochatown stuff you're doing, like, All right, we'll give a shot. We sat there in the garage and worked it up. And as we were working in the garage, I was like, Damn, this thing's cooler than shit is cool. And we started playing it love and I'll be damned dude. Bob up the middle of the song. Like, crowds were singing that song back to us. And it's unreleased and that the first time they were hearing it in the middle of song they were singing that shit back. And I looked at the guys and like, that's special. That sounds gonna be special for that purpose. And we were opening for cojones crowd
in Omaha and I remember going into that song and it's not our fan base. It's gorgeous fan. They don't know us the first time hearing this first time hearing that song, and no shit. They literally were singing that song back to us but halfway through and I went Wow. You ever cut in the sumbitch put it on the subtitled and that's the biggest song on federal record.
Thomas Mooney 50:20
I know man it's see. I know that VA was super excited about that idea. And I honestly think you would have ended up
Randall King 50:31
he pulled he pulled a what I did with mirror with Haman he had pitched it to another router. And it was routed and I actually think it was Danny Stoddard it was and he pitched it he pitched mirror to Danny to route with any in somebody's country because they're the only person who's going to do this idea justice. I gotcha. Shit. popped it out and make songs.
Thomas Mooney 51:02
Yeah. I think you would have wound up cutting it just because ba would have just prodded you for ever until you cut it.
Randall King 51:15
He handed me he was playing it ran it, you know, Brendan's? Yeah. 30 Southern rock. Like borderline 80s rock meets.
Thomas Mooney 51:29
Like whiskey town,
Randall King 51:30
and yeah, yeah. whiskeytown how to describe it? Yeah, like more like whiskeytown like early Ryan Adams shit. And he was playing miramare he was somebody recorded in playing at Blue lab full band, a blue lat full band, and it did shit. It sounded great. I was like, ain't they rock? They must not know it.
Thomas Mooney 51:56
This episode of Newsline is brought to you by the blue light live here in Lubbock, Texas. Blue Light has undoubtedly been my home away from home over the years, and has played such a vital role not only for my development as a journalist, but obviously it's been one of the foundational pieces for a lot of your favorite songwriters and bands who have made it out of the Lubbock area over the years. And of course, as a music venue, they've played such a pivotal role for a lot of your favorite bands just in general. One of my favorite parts about blue light is just how versatile the place can truly be. I've seen it crowded and rowdy on a Saturday night for a rock and roll band. And I've seen it dead still on a Wednesday when a legendary singer songwriter rolls through town. What you should do is go over to blue light, Lubbock calm and check out all the new merchant they've added hats, t shirts, both short and long sleeve. They also have hoodies and koozies and just added some sweatshirts that are very much an homage to the college sweatshirt that john Belushi wore in Animal House. And then of course, maybe the crown jewel of their new merge is the varsity club style jacket and blue satin. I got one the other day and yeah, it's just one of my favorite things I own now. And yeah, I don't know. I just love it anyway, you can check out all their new merge over at blue light, loving calm, as always, I'll throw a link into the show notes for easy access. Okay, let's get back to the show. able to just do I've talked to them about doing like some Huey Lewis cars.
Randall King 53:25
Yeah, that'd be that'd be slick. But
Thomas Mooney 53:28
yeah, the Yeah, just
Randall King 53:31
I think he covered each to cover that one. I love listening to play cover that one. Founder only.
Thomas Mooney 53:42
Yeah, Fleetwood Mac. Yeah.
Randall King 53:43
Yeah, man, Fleetwood Mac, dude. I crushed that damn song.
Thomas Mooney 53:49
Yeah, I think there needs to be like a, a like a Fleetwood Mac tribute record of just like country artists.
Randall King 53:58
That would be
Thomas Mooney 53:59
Yeah, I'm like I told I told ba.
Randall King 54:08
Yeah. Come on.
Thomas Mooney 54:12
It would be that I know, like Eric Willis had was covering a Fleetwood Mac song too. I think like Ray needs to cut like, we're
Randall King 54:20
covered. I forgot Eric Willis. Product too.
Thomas Mooney 54:25
Yeah. All these 806 guys,
Randall King 54:27
Grady Spencer are some great ones out of blue. Red, because that was kind of that was kind of reds classmate and Grady Spencer, Eric ham. And then up in that, you know, up in Amarillo, you had Shane Rogers and Casey Berry. And that was kind of that, that's kind of that that classmen that like 2010 to 2014. And then you had our class out of blue, which was me Dalton cleddau, which was flatland cavalry. Danny was kind of in that class with this man.
Thomas Mooney 55:05
No forget been
Randall King 55:07
a have been been Leachman my friend Laura Markham that works man Texas Roadhouse. Dave Martinez, there's been a blog my class was pretty strong. Push on class. Yeah. What can you talk about? I'm not missing somebody, but
Thomas Mooney 55:24
I mean, there's probably Let's see here. You already said Dalton
Randall King 55:32
Tanner castle?
Thomas Mooney 55:35
Yeah, Tanner. I'm looking over at the photo, you know, six motors.
Randall King 55:42
Oh man, man, dude, hell no September Bula. I'm surprised remembering that because I just I was there almost every day and blew out with my old room and mode was played bass for me and Dalton at the same time. And it was best for Kristen Morris. We were at blue light every day. And in fact, that was some of my favorite time period because my dad had just gotten divorced that 2013 so my 20 1415 he was just always coming down to blue out with like a two year stretch where he called me out of blue escapes home from Dragon trip calm and what are you doing boy oh shit Nemo just and round we're about to go out to blue lat and go watch set and such play and go dragon. I'll be done there and that by a couple hours I'll meet you down there. My olara so he'd come down and I'd give him my bed and I'm sleep on the couch and we just got to go out and drink crown and coke on that. I think back then the Big Shot take was a whiskey big shot. Because before blue light came out with the burn shots. I mean this shit we get hammered down there. And I loved him and I loved I love that time frame admire because it was there was just there's not much responsibility wasn't a whole lot of stress. It was just on the very very starting edge of me going out and playing music and doing what we're doing now. And you know, this life was simple man. I have a dog arranger. And then one day I was like I gotta do this full time I got to really dive into this or I'm just gonna half ass and I have nothing my dad got remarried I sent my dog up there to live with him moved out of my house moved into my truck moved down there moon in Parliament in the den Cyrus has a fair stand on caches and foreign full time out of the 93 suburban just making it grounded it been out playing while we've been playing we're still playing three hour sets at New Mexico for about 1000 and not pay my guys a little bit of money take all that and put it back into creating the another bullet up some of my favorite times in my life.
Thomas Mooney 58:14
You know, like I think one of the kind of like the the nostalgia aspect of it even though it's not even if you think about assignment that far back but a lot of y'all didn't have like the obviously like the name recognition like you could walk into a bar and not everyone trying to get a photo you know Yeah, yeah, there's there's some there's some I don't know some comfort in that in that time. The just being able to just enjoy yourself is like hanging out with buddies and kind of like
Randall King 58:53
just kind of like when you first go to college man and and the whole world's open to you. You have so many options available for you in your life. Every Door is right there to be kicked in. And there's there's a peace in that knowing that you have your whole life ahead of you not that you know shit don't have the whole my whole life ahead of me and you know that there's a stress level that is just not there yet. You know? It's you're free to do what you won't be free to be whoever you want.
Thomas Mooney 59:35
Yeah, there's the we're like the the canvas is blank still.
Randall King 59:39
Yeah, man. Yeah, Canvas blank. You can create, do and be live and whatever man it is what it is. So, I mean, not that I didn't know who I was or what right. Do I always knew that. I just mean that life was as wide open for the taking Man.
Thomas Mooney 1:00:01
Yeah, well, one of the things I was wanting to ask, asked you about because I don't think we've ever really talked about this has been kind of like your progression into embracing a lot of those new traditional sounds and a lot of the classic country in the talk, because, obviously, even though there has been a revival of a lot of the 90s country sounding stuff, as of late, you know, you're coming up in Lubbock, where it's, for lack of a better term, a lot of Texas country, singer songwriters. And yeah, a lot of your contemporaries and peers from this time have, have really gone that route. And
yeah, you know, like, it
Randall King 1:00:42
can be a trend to a point, the, the old school nostalgic thing. And I kind of, like, it's awesome, it's great to see because it does really good things for me. But I was never trying, was never trying for that I wasn't trying to be Manny's country, I wasn't trying to be a this country when trying to a country. I was just trying to do what I do. And be me. I mean, I had a budget, a timeframe. And with that self titled record, it was. I mean, it was it was a lot thrown at me at once. It was a self produced record up in Nashville in the big studio with badass studio musicians. And we had to cut eight songs and six hours, and four songs and three hours. And it was you better know what the hell you're doing. Get it done and be quick about it. And so it was like I had to do a lot of pre production, no one was going to say to the musicians what angle I was going to go for each song, and to do a lot of work before moving in there. And I was never aiming for a specific sound. I was just aiming to do the songs that I was writing justice and the 90s infamous, came out me, man, I'm a big 90s fan. And it literally just came out who I am deep down inside shined in that record, which is why we titled it the self, just a self taught record. Because it was who's Randall King, there it is. Everything on that record. It is what it is. But I was never aiming for it. I was just aiming to do justice to the songs that I had been working on for the last two years that writing and making sure that they would come off not only live not only not only great on the record, but also a great live. And I think that record showcase that really well. But as far as what's been going on in the scene, everyone's shooting back towards the 1980s thing like what Midlands doing is great for the scene because it's putting country music back out there. And my nostalgic, no, I don't think I'm nostalgic. I think I just am who I am. I'm country. I'm not aiming to be anything other than me. I'm not aiming to sound like it's the 1990s was able to do something cool. Something that is reflective of the music that I grew up on, and the music that I love. And that comes out of my writing.
Thomas Mooney 1:03:30
Yeah, no, I mean, like, that's, yeah, I didn't necessarily mean it in a, you know, you're trying to she shoehorn you into a corner or anything like that. But, you know, obviously, like, whenever you you start out you're you kind of like anyone who starts out. Again, it goes kind of into that blank canvas, and you're just kind of relying on, you know, what's what, what some of your buddies are doing writing wise. And then obviously, like we grew up on, and, like, what I'm saying is, is I think like you, you You didn't think about it too much like it just kind of it or it feels like that it feels like a very organic Kind of, yeah, process.
Randall King 1:04:13
I'm writing. A lot of I'll say this NASA this time. If if it's being written today, it's already been written. Everything's already been done as far as i don't think that anything is new and fresh. It is to a point. But almost everything has been done man. Which is kind of you just don't want to be redundant. And just strike, steal something from somebody. But I think that your influences live subconsciously in your mind and you pull from them. When you don't even know that you're doing it. Kinda like Mirror Mirror man. That was Brandon's idea. pitch and melody. ran up the gate with me. Hello. And we recorded it. And we have people talking about Twinkle, twinkle lucky star for Merle Haggard. pennis just like it is like, I do like it, because I hadn't heard that song forever. Southern compared it and I was like, Okay, yeah, just the Mirror mirror on the wall on is essentially the same. It's pretty close to the same melody. Everything else is different. So it's like, Well, to me, that's just a tip the hat to Merle Haggard. I think haggard would have been like, well, hell yes, sir. Right that country shit. I don't think that by any means it was just a copy and steal. I think subconsciously things just live down in your brain. And they come out via your influences and songs.
Thomas Mooney 1:06:02
Want to break one more time to talk about our pals over at Desert door and offer a handful of my favorite go twos. By no means am I an experienced mixologist or bartender or anything like that, but these have been super easy to make and great ways to unwind in the evening. Let's start off by upping your ranch water game a little bit by subbing desert Dorian, I'm a simple man. I just kind of take a topo Chico take a couple of drinks out at some desert door and top it off with a few lime wedges. I'm actually pretty big on the palomas now to what I'll do is take some desert door, some grapefruit juice, a dash of a gob a nectar and some fresh lime juice. And I'm kind of big on lime. So I'll throw in another wedge or two when I pour it over some ice. And actually I'll do the exact same thing, but I'll substitute some pineapple for the great fruit for a changeup. And now that the weather is dipping down, I started having a desert door version of a hot toddy put some door and some honey together and give it a mix at an Earl Grey tea bag with some boiling hot water. Let it just sit for a minute. Remember, patience is a virtue. And then of course, I'll squeeze in a little bit of lemon just to have that balance. Anyway, desert door. It's as versatile as vodka and more refined, smooth and complex than tequila. It's rich and balanced. So whatever your go to is, it'll do the trick. For more info on desert door, check the show notes. All right, back to the episode. You know, one of the guys that you and me would talk about a little bit is a guy like Tony lane. And him kind of being like a one of those guys who I'll just say like right now if you haven't checked out the Tony lane record, like there's one out there go check it out.
Randall King 1:07:43
Modify.
Thomas Mooney 1:07:44
Yeah, it's like every I think like we counted it up. Like we're every like there's maybe like two songs on there that haven't been cut by other people. But yeah. So I obviously have you have you had like a chance to be in the I know you cut one of his songs off on the self title. But have you had a chance to write with him or anyone?
Randall King 1:08:06
Yeah, I've written with I've written with townie about three times. And I haven't actually cut anything that we've written. There's, there's still there's two of them that I love. But they just haven't made a record yet not to say that they won't ever sometimes a song sits there for a while in it. The timing of it, it just waits for the right moment to be a part of a compilation that needs to be a part of that. I love Tony, Tony is my favorite writer of all time, love Tony letters to home to run which you know run was a lot of Anthony Smith too. But and I've written with Anthony a lot Anthony was tugging on my heartstrings when he knows me. But I did kill Tony lane. So I've actually cut into I've actually cut to his one hasn't been released yet. We cut it got almost two years ago, and it's been sitting around waiting for our next full length record. And I actually think it's gonna be the title of our next full length record. But I love that I love the song man. And the other one was it was a him and Billy curtains and it was a third route and I can't think of his name right now. Three routers and Billy currington. And there's a guy and that song had been sitting on a shelf for who knows I'm not even at that point. It might have been vendor decade. And Scott had found it and he had known about it for a while and loved it. And he pitched it to me and sent it to me and I listened to it and I was like dude, I love this. And it's the only even as of right now it's the only song I've ever cut and released that I haven't written That's one goodbye. But I've loved that song. I love it.
Thomas Mooney 1:10:08
Yeah. So like when you're when you're in like a room with someone like Tony lane. Do you ask him about like other other stuff he's written? Or do you just kind of talk more about like, what's going on? For
Randall King 1:10:22
the first time the first time I sat down with Tony, I tried not to fangirl on him. You know, I was still just like, No shit. This is cool. And my hero man.
Unknown Speaker 1:10:37
I'm a little a
Randall King 1:10:40
little further down law. And that's Tony didn't like the way his phrasing to sit there and hesitates a little wrong. It's like, Oh, just does the coolest things. And we're sitting there. And the one thing you don't want to do, as a writer is tried to pitch that rat or something that's their style that you've heard, you know, you know, mean? Like, you don't want to start coming up with things that you think would, they would write well on, you just want to pitch them the best idea you got. And sit there and write the hell out of it. And not, not try to force the song to be anything other than what it's going to be. And so sitting in for Tony, I didn't realize that. And the first time we wrote I pitched him an idea. This sounded like something he would write. And it was a really good song. It really is. It's a really good song. But it wasn't probably what it could have been because I was aiming for something. And I learned right there. You sit in a room with a router you don't aim don't aim for something that you think that they're going to write well. Now rally with nestler I knew that NASA was the right person for it. Because I've written with Mark and I knew that he would do that song justice but yes, I just don't think he ever aim you just let the song breathe and be able to it's going to be
Thomas Mooney 1:12:23
Yeah, yeah, the the other like this fucking incredible song he wrote that I just can't shake is always that I need you.
Randall King 1:12:34
Yeah, uh, did I say one of my one of my favorites from him? That is super underrated is any his versions on Spotify to the George Strait song better rain? Better Ray. They're all gone. Yeah, I mean, dude. That song that song was beautifully written. It's kind of like the line in one year if you don't love me if you don't learn that calm and fled me drown like the way he writes is so visual. Dude, it's just unreal. I love the guy.
Thomas Mooney 1:13:18
Yeah, it's it's that it's the like you were saying like the phrasing and like also just kind of what his phrasing and his delivery like you Yeah, there's like it adds so much depth to to align you just like shit.
Randall King 1:13:36
A little pass Little Rock I don't think was on his Spotify album. No,
Thomas Mooney 1:13:39
I don't think so.
Randall King 1:13:40
I've gone through like YouTube and googled little pesto rock Tony lane and listen to it on YouTube. I think it's like a live version. And you're just sitting there listening to it gets chills, man. Like Damn. So good.
Thomas Mooney 1:13:58
Yeah, it's uh, he's just fucking great man. I knew like I knew I needed to ask you about him if you had done anything recently
Randall King 1:14:08
sat down with Sony three times but I mean, I'm always looking through his back catalogue. Just because why wouldn't you? He's got genius songs man.
Thomas Mooney 1:14:20
Yeah, well obviously also you he did write with Garth. What was a
Randall King 1:14:26
did I mean that came out of a written record twice actually. Well, I
Thomas Mooney 1:14:31
got that one song finally her his new record finally. Come out and everything. What what's it like sitting with like Garth Brooks in a room?
Randall King 1:14:42
You know, I did. I actually just treated it like I would any other writer. And a lot of people ask me like, me nervous. Are you are you like, I'd be I'd be nervous. You know, I'm just trying to sit there and go out and be confounded. I love you, man. Now That's right. I was like, honestly, dude, I'm gonna treat them like a human being because that's what we are. We're just humans, I am not gonna I think the last thing he would want is for me to sit there and fangirl on him. So I just sat in the room and was who I was, and didn't try to do anything other than just be me and, and, and be nice and interact with them and do that I learned right there that Garth is the most humble person and kindest person that's an artist that I've ever met. And he's, to me, he's the biggest country superstar on the planet worldwide. Because worldwide, I believe he's bigger than George. And I mean, dude, to be that, to be at that level. And be as kind and humble as he was. Every time someone will walk, because we wrote in his studio where he recorded everything. And we were sitting there in the middle of the ride and someone would walk in. He would apologize, stop what he was doing, he'd get up and walk over there, shake their hand and talk to them for a second walk them over. Introduce them to me. And the one that conversation was done with shake hands, and he'd go, alright, let me walk you out. And he'd walk them out the door. Shut the door. Come back, apologize to me again. And then we keep writing. And I was like, wow. He talked about humility. Being a Down to Earth person. He goes be damned dude. He goes be damned is a biggest superstar on a country music on the planet. And he just treats people the way that he would want to be treated. Yeah, he treats him he treats them like the superstar and inside Wow. That's impressive. Yeah, there's
Thomas Mooney 1:17:01
I think like, of course, I've never met Garth or anything like that. But I think there's like that quality in him that is also like that you've heard about guys like Tom Cruise. were like, yeah, big superstar. But I guess like the story about like, Tom Cruise trading fans has always just been, like, just super engaged with each and every one of them. And like, really makes it Yeah, like, that whole mirror that whole like meme, I guess it was mean, before we started using me like the name meme. But like him jumping on the couch. on Oprah. Remember, like, apparently, like during, like the commercial breaks, he was like, going to like every person in the audience and like spending a minute with each of them kind of thing, like shaking their hands, thanking them for being there. And like asking where they're from, and like, doing that little small talk thing. But it apparently never came across as like small talk. He was like, in the moment with that person each time. And then, you know, commercial break cap or wherever the breaks are, whatever. And then go back and sit down and jump on the couch, I guess I don't know. But
Randall King 1:18:12
that's one of the things I miss man is, you know, we've, we've been on the road. And that, you know, actually, we were the heaviest touring band of the us this year, because we found a way to safely play shows. And you know, my overheads not crazy right now where we can go play 25% capacity, and it still be safe. And but I can't go out to merge and shake hands and take pictures and do those things like I used to. And that's one of the things that, you know, you're able to play shows, but like, it's disappointing to not be able to go out there and shake your fans hands take pictures with it, because I did that every show for the last three years. Four years, you know, except for maybe on hand, a couple of them where I had to head out for another town or something. And I knew we had to leave early. But I can only count to three times on hand that I've never gone out to march and this year with with you know, COVID protocols, you just can't do it. Because I'm a walking drumstick if everyone's shaking my hand and getting close hugging me taking a picture. I mean, come on, can't do it. So that's that's the most disappointing part about it. Because the fans are who make you man, the people that support your music, love your music relate to your music. That's what makes you and that's what makes music. Me that's what makes music great is the fact that you can write something that's so relatable to different people, but also, what's relatable to one person isn't necessarily doesn't necessarily relate the same way to the other person. People different meanings out of your lyrics relates to them in different ways. And that to me is just incredible.
Thomas Mooney 1:20:08
Yeah, it goes kind of like what I was saying earlier about how, like the ownership of the song. Like you're you always own a song, obviously. It's like something special about whatever the situation, whatever you wrote that song about, but once you release it, it's almost, then it becomes everyone else's song. And like they can apply whatever it is that they need to apply or whatever they
Randall King 1:20:31
get out of that song. But technically, technically, I don't own my songs that are released now, though. Warner owns this. Yeah, well, I think in like 20 or 30 years, it comes back to me. As well, I
Thomas Mooney 1:20:54
mean, it's take the good and the bad, and
Randall King 1:20:59
it's all good. It's all good.
Thomas Mooney 1:21:03
Yeah, well, man, it's been really great having you on and talking about this new EP and writing the total cost works and everything.
Randall King 1:21:15
Thank you for having me. Thanks for talking to me again, man. I appreciate you having me on. I remember, I remember when you used to do your favorite albums, and you've heard songs of album, things like that, and you rank them like one to 100 I remember the first record I ever made back in 2014 that we buried actually, old dirt road. New slang had new slang put, like 500 songs in the top one, the top 100. And that record was like top 10 or 20 for loving knows. For me, it was the first time anybody had ever given me recognition on the things that I was doing. And it was really cool. So thank you for that, Tom. Yeah, thank you for being a supporter even in the early not me days.
Thomas Mooney 1:22:08
We're gonna I just wish I still had like a copy of that because I mean, I go on Amazon and sell it for 1000 bucks or something.
Unknown Speaker 1:22:17
And that's why you
Thomas Mooney 1:22:20
Alright, that is it for this one big thanks to Randall, be sure to check out Leanna which will be officially out this Friday, December 11. Stop on over at our partners over at Desert door Hot damn coffee and the blue light live. Check out the new sling merge store and patreon while you're at it. Okay, I'll see you all Thursday for another episode.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai