170: Jon Randall
On Episode 170, I'm joined by singer-songwriter, album producer, and artist Jon Randall. During this episode, we talk about Randall's upcoming solo album--his first in 15 years, The Marfa Tapes--the collaborative album with Jack Ingram and Miranda Lambert, what drew him to the Far West Texas town, songwriting, working with the likes of Dierks Bentley, Parker McCollum, and the aforementioned Ingram and Lambert, and writing songs with Guy Clark.
This episode's presenting partner is Desert Door Texas Sotol. In addition, this episode is sponsored by WYLD Gallery, 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 0:01
Hello, welcome back to New slang. I am music journalist Thomas Mooney, hope everyone's week has been going really, really well. This episode right here is a real treat. And I think all of y'all are going to enjoy it immensely. It's with singer songwriter john Randall. So if I started reading off all the collaborations and co writes and records that john has produced, we would literally be here like the rest of the day. I'll just mention a few of them though. He's co written songs like whiskey lullaby and 10 men and a bunch of others with folks like guy Clark and Ashley Monroe, Natalie hemby. Side note. There's a couple of really, really great guy Clark stories in here. He's also produced records for jackin Grumman, Dwight Yoakam and Dirks Bentley, Pat green and Parker McCollum. And he's worked with folks like Marin Morris, Emmylou Harris, Sam Bush, Lyle Lovett, Vince Gill, and so many more. The list just seriously goes on and on and on. And of course, we touch on a few of these during this conversation. So john also has a couple of new projects coming out in the near future as well. He has a new solo album, his first in 15 years. If you haven't yet, go check out the song keep on moving. He released that a few weeks back, and for me personally, it's been in that heavy rotation ever since. And then he's part of a little collaboration project with a few folks that you may have heard about the Marfa tapes by jack Ingram, Miranda Lambert and john Randall. It's out may seventh. We talk a lot about this project, his upcoming album and a ton more. 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 god they 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 down home 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 door is just how genuine and an authentically West Texan they are as well. They go out and harvest Soto 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 to new slang, do us a big favor and hit that subscribe button. If you're over on iTunes, leave one of those five star reviews. Be sure to stop on over at the new slang merch store as well. I just added some new coffee mugs and shot glasses and some new t shirts as well. They're all flying off the racks. So yeah, be sure to get yourself one. Stop on over at the Patreon. It's a great way to support this podcast and journalism in general. And obviously, you're able to get some more perks and some more content if you do so. And of course, all these links that I've just mentioned, they will be in the show notes. All right, I will not make you wait any longer. Let's get on into it. Here is john Randall.
Guess like, you know, we're kind of want to start off with is, you know, you just released this new single keep on moving. And yeah, you know, it's been 1515 years since the last time you release something that was in a form of a record. And of course, this is like, you know, going to be part of a record of some sort. I know you've had a couple of collaborations between then and there. But, you know, for the most part, this is like the the next thing that you're doing and obviously, that 15 year gap you've been doing a bunch of amazing stuff in between but for you like what was it that made you made this the right time to to do something you know, under your own name?
Jon Randall 4:48
Oh, you know, it's, I mean, I kind of I kind of don't know, I can kind of guess. Because it's just, you know, I'm just I'm always making music. I'm always working with They now work with so many different people work in so many different situations and wear different hats. And over the years, you know, record some things. Just because I wanted to record something that wasn't going to be, you know, go on somebody else's record, or you know, just wanting to record some for myself, and after a few of those songs would pop up where you go, man, I kind of want to just record this and have it recorded. All of a sudden, I had enough songs to actually kind of have a project, you know, and, and I think too, for, you know, the last record I did was for Epic Records, you know, I was still at a time where you had to have a label to get anything out there yet, as some sort of distribution, it was just now, the, it's the great, you know, it's the great wild west and music right now. And, and so obviously, it was a little bit easier to be able to release something, you know, without having to deal with, you know, a label, wanting you to do a radio tour and do all those things, you know, um, I could still do what I do, and put some music out. And also just people around me encouraging me I would play these things for people that, you know, my artist friends that I work with, you know, and, and people that are just, you know, and family and friends and musical friends and artists, and, and everybody be like, Man, you should put this stuff out, people need to hear this. So it took a lot of people around me to kind of push me towards doing it and, and some really good people in my camp making it happen, because I'm not good with all the logistics and all that kind of stuff. So it's really kind of been a team effort of great support from friends. Yeah, you
Thomas Mooney 6:54
know, what's what's so interesting about that is you talking about kind of having these, these songs stowed away, if you will, that you didn't necessarily think were going to be cut by someone else, I always find that interesting, when, since since so much of the music industry right now, and forever has been, you know, getting co writer or outside cuts. And, you know, the, if you look at any of these, quote unquote, great singer songwriters from Nashville who have a bunch of cuts under the belt, whenever they put out a record, it's almost like exclusively songs that weren't cut by others. And, of course, there's a handful of tunes that that are both but it's almost like, they put those songs in their pocket. And they're like, these are the songs that I feel I want to get out. Is that kind of the same for you right there?
Jon Randall 7:50
Yeah, it is. And it's really two songs that I felt like kind of fit the way I mean, a lot of the most of these songs I wrote by myself, or if it was a co writer, it was like, you know, one really close co writer that we still were writing something that sounds a little more like me, it's like, I kind of had quit thinking of myself as an artist in that traditional sense. But as a writer, I kind of have a point of view. And so it, it kind of, there were those songs that I was, like, I still like the songs that I was writing for myself by myself in my bedroom at 10 in the morning, all those years ago. And when I started finding that guy, again, those songs started happening a little bit. So that that was also a little bit of that is that this feels a little bit like my point of view in the way that I want to say things, you know, and so that's why those songs connected with me to kind of keep and, and let people hear, you know, me doing my thing.
Thomas Mooney 8:52
Yeah, because I, I find like the whole co writing world to be fascinating as far as, like, how you get these personalities in a room and, you know, create something out of thin air. And a lot of ways. Yeah, but but I think like the thing that a lot of people don't really necessarily ever talk about is how, as you said, right there, you felt like you've kind of you kind of lost where your voice was as as an artist. And that I'm assuming has to do with, with just kind of writing for other people. Or at least like going walking into a space knowing that maybe this song is going to be cut for someone else because you're you're riding with that artist.
Jon Randall 9:36
Right? Well like riding with artists, I enjoy that. And I feel like I've written some really great songs, you know, with artists that I've been producing, or artists that I've just been riding with, because I kind of know what my job is my job is to help them find their language, help them find their point of view and say what they want to say, you know, and we kind of go you know, it It's kind of like if you know if everybody in the room knows what the bar is, and you all have the same bar. And you all think the same thing is good, you'll get there. You know, and and when it's working, and when it's buzzing, and when it's right, it, some great songs come out of that. Or sometimes somebody will take something you said said, or you say, and they'll twist it. Just a little you go, oh, okay, that's cool. And what I was thinking, you know, and those, those moments are great. But But yeah, there's sometimes you just want to say what you want to say what you want to say it. And, and I still love writing by myself, sometimes, you know, a lot of the times. It's cool when you have a goal, like when I was working with Derek's Bentley on his bluegrass record up on the ridge record, we conceptually knew what we needed for that record. And so that was really fun to chase those songs down, and try to find what we needed to say in those songs. I loved having that goal. And for me, that's when collaborating is is really, really fun.
Thomas Mooney 11:07
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Because I think that a lot of times, some or not, a lot of times, I'll say like, sometimes someone will have, you know, most of the pieces of a song together or most of something. And it's almost like they're needing to figure it out, figure it out. But if you have someone to bounce the ideas off of. That's where all the work and can actually happen versus if they were just trying to write it in their minds, if you will, right. Just sometimes like having that other person just to listen and say, yeah, that's needed to go there. Or like now, and I don't know about that part. Not necessarily even thinking in, I guess, like, what I'm saying is a lot of times, I think you sometimes think that when two people enter a room to write a song, that most people think that when you walk out, both people are thinking, can I cut that song? And that's sometimes not the case. Sometimes it's you helping that other person out? Because like, you're just a great listener.
Jon Randall 12:18
Right? Yeah, absolutely. years ago, I remember playing some songs for Rodney corral. And I remember him going, you know, if you said, and right there, it was, like several real simple thing like that. And it was like, if you put an IR out there, then that would change this whole and it would be like, oh, wow, that twisted the whole course upside down. You know, like those little things like that, that you You're so inside of the way you're seeing it that somebody outside can say something kind of just small and random like that. And you're like, oh, oh, yeah, that's really cool. Yeah, and we need those. We need those people around us, you know, that help help us get there. Yeah, I
Thomas Mooney 13:01
mean, it makes a lot of sense. Like I said, This episode is brought to you by wild gallery. Based in Austin, Texas. Wild gallery is Austin's only Art Gallery, featuring Native American art, head on over to WYLD dot gallery to see their vast array of traditional and contemporary art by Native American artists. Currently, they are a virtual gallery. You can still make appointments on their website, if you're wanting to purchase a specific painting in person. But of course, the beauty of them being virtual is that you're able to see and buy from your home without tracking all the way to Austin. While Newsline definitely focuses on music. I always love speaking with songwriters about those other mediums that they explore. Often that's through painting and drawing the visual arts. And since I'm a West Texas native, I've long been drawn to the history, the stories, traditions and heritage of Native Americans, especially those that were out here in the western frontier. And that is what's so great about Wilde gallery. All the artists featured are Native American, and they are telling stories about Native Americans. If you scroll through their collection, you'll see a wide range of styles as well. There's definitely some American west and some bold pop art, there's more of that traditional Fine Art like oil on canvas, as well as those that are influenced by Native American traditions. My parents, they always had paintings hanging around the house or their offices that were inspired by West Texas and Native Americans. And now I do as well, especially here in my office, which I'll let you guess where the latest print is from. As a journalist. I do feel like the most intimidating part is staring at a blank white page. And of course, you don't have to be a journalist to be staring at a white blank page. I know a lot of y'all do that. What I'm saying though, is Don't let your walls suffer from that same white blandness Go visit wild gallery, I guarantee you, you will find something that moves you and that you'll want hanging in your home. Again, that's wild with a Why go visit WYLD dot gallery. links will be in the show notes as well. Okay, let's get back to the episode. One of the things that I was reading through, and this is one of those things, I was like, Oh, I'm gonna have to ask you about this is that you mentioned how, like, with with a new song, you mentioned the enneagram nine think, thought, Man, that is super interesting. And so I take it, you're a nine. And then do you do you think that like that actually helps in I guess, like understanding what other folks are helps in, in the relationships of songwriting?
Jon Randall 15:57
You know, it's, it's funny, I have a couple of songwriters that but before I had ever really known anything about the anagram and I'm still kind of learning things about it. I know, it's trendy, and I know it's the thing right now, but I will say I had some other friends that started learning to identify personalities in a car. Right. And, and learning strengths and how to approach things. And I will say, not as much as a rider but as a producer. I've really started learning to identify musicians. And and how to negotiate in a roomful of people when you're trying to like, when you're like, you know, Manning, the you're driving the ship, you know, it has come in handy there and working with artists to understanding what number your artist is that you're working with, and how to keep the flow going for them. I have been really trying to utilize that in production more so than songwriting. Really.
Thomas Mooney 17:01
Yeah. I love that right there. Because I mean, even if someone says I have never, I don't believe in that. If they just take the test like they'll go. Well, there's some truth to that. I mean, like,
Jon Randall 17:13
yeah, I mean, there there is some, for me anyway, I like when I read through when I read through nine, and I'm somewhere in that tribe. 963. But when I read through it, I was like, Oh, yeah, ouch. Yeah. Thank you that out. Yeah, but I you know, I've always it's funny, before I ever knew anything about the enneagram I've always so many great, great musicians that I know. They they play their instrument like their personality is. I have said that for years. Like really great players that I know, like, like guys that are eight, I just man, they are aggressive. And their town is big, and they play really hard. And they're, they drive everybody else on stage to play really hard, you know. And then there's the guys that are the fives and fours that are real. introspective, and their solos are super interesting and soft. And, you know, it's like I've been for years, I've been like, Dude, that that guy plays exactly like his personality, you know? And, and so, now that I've been studying the intagram enneagram I've been like, okay, yeah, man. Hey, that's exactly how that got plays his instrument.
Thomas Mooney 18:23
Yeah, I mean, I think like, that also just ties into you being able to go, you know, not necessarily manipulate the situation of a producer of producing a record anything like that recording a record, but you kind of it's obviously a tool to help manage personalities and like, if someone's in a bad mood or, or, you know, if there's something that's like, you know, that's I don't know, messing with the mood. Have a have the time.
Jon Randall 18:55
Yeah. Just telling somebody, you know, trying to get somebody to change their town and find the, their, their guitar tone, you know, like, what's the best way to approach getting him to like, change his guitar tone? How do I need to like with an eight, you have to go Hey, man, your tone sucks. Can you like change guitars? And I'm like, Oh, yeah, okay, cool. I got you, you know, like, without an overdue like, Hey, man, dig what you're doing. I really do. I'm just curious. What like maybe like a Les Paul through, you know, baseman with luck or whatever. Whatever. You need to approach that. So you don't step on somebody's ego, you know? Yeah,
Thomas Mooney 19:39
you got to do like the Phil Jackson.
Jon Randall 19:41
Yeah, exactly. But yeah, it's been it's, it's been interesting to, to just kind of play around with that.
Thomas Mooney 19:49
Yeah, no, I think it's, it's amazing. And I think there's a lot more artists out there who, who need to look into that. I think that there are out But maybe they're just not doing interviews about it, but
Jon Randall 20:03
Well, I know, I know companies use it. And it not just any grant but other personality studies. I have a friend I won't mention on the company, but it's a huge company, very, very successful company. And then he told me that they had done personality test and then they, they use that so as something a problem came across his desk, he knew who to delegate that to ozone so handles that great song so knows how to do that really well. And so it really helped their flow with with you know, delegating the work around to for it, so everybody could use their strongest abilities and their strongest part of their personalities. And I thought, I mean, a lot of companies have been doing that for a long time. Yeah, and I heard I saw it I Love Lucy not too long ago where they were talking about numerology that they were talking about it like it was the enneagram Oh, really? She is like, I'm, I'm a three and I'm a one and they were all naming their numbers. Yeah. Yeah, it's on an I Love Lucy episode. I had to rewind it because I was like, they just talk about the inia gram when I Love Lucy. That's really cool.
Thomas Mooney 21:16
That's, that's amazing. So have you have you been doing a? You know, like, Can you say like what jacking groom is? Do you know? Like,
Jon Randall 21:27
if you eat Oh, yeah. On what? Oh, yeah, I know. Exactly. And, and I even know that he lied on his enneagram test. Wouldn't be the number that he knows he is. It's amazing. Yeah, he's the he's Yeah, he's funny. He's one of my best pals, man. We, you know, we've been working on a project with Miranda, I don't know if you know about that project. But But uh, we I turned him in Miranda on to it and she's made everybody in her world take the enneagram test now. Because she wants to know, everybody. So we were on our on our last trip to Marfa together. We all did. He had everybody do the test. And we've been we've been having a lot of fun with that with her as well. And that's when you're given jack grief on his number like no, you're not on your test. There's no way that's amazing.
Thomas Mooney 22:33
This episode of Newsline is brought to you by the blue light live here in Lubbock, Texas. Blue Light has undoubtably 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 merge. 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 an 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. Yeah, yeah, I've heard a few of the songs off of the Marfa tapes. And that's obviously like, you know, that's to me that what I love so much about that is you can tell there's going to be banter in between songs. And I think that that is absolutely the coolest thing as far as giving the you know, the the record a little bit more personality, give it a little bit more context to see what what you guys are like in between takes and whatnot. Was that was that always going to be part of the plan there or was it one yes, that just made sense went while you were cutting it later on?
Jon Randall 24:38
Well, no, it really i mean that's the thing we we went for it was just like this is just what we do and how we do it. We just turned we just turned the tape on. We say tape these days, but we just hit record and and start playing you know, and we agreed to go there's gonna be flat notes. I'm gonna play some wrong chords. We might mess a lyric up guitars in reality and because we're sitting around a campfire in the middle of the night in the desert, you know, and, but we're just gonna let it be that that real enroll and I man up, I got to give it up to my I mean, it's easy to, for me to say that but like, I give it up for Miranda because she's you know, she's a she's Miranda, she's our buddy and she's, she's as real and honest as anybody I've ever known in my life as an artist. And that's what I look, there's not a lot of artists that would let that happen. You know, there's no other artist that would just say, Okay, well, let's go back and do it again. Because I don't know if I sounded great on there, whatever. Me, she sounds great. And everything she sings, but I just, I gotta give it up to her and jack both for just going Yeah, let's do it that way. Let's just let this be what it is. And everybody gets to hear it exactly how it goes down. You know? And hopefully people will understand that about that project, you know?
Thomas Mooney 26:02
Yeah, I mean, I can't imagine being someone like, especially like Miranda, where, obviously she's, you know, a country rock and roll star. And having, I guess, that aspect of going out, man. You know, I can probably do it better. You know, and I can do it better. And if you give me the time and just kind of letting loose and letting go of that. That part of the control whenever you're in control of so much other stuff in your career.
Jon Randall 26:37
Yeah, absolutely. No, I mean, that's, that's what I love about her man. She's she is she's just bright. I mean, real good, really great artists. I mean, you know, this all these great artists that we're all revere. Oh, so many of them were not afraid. They weren't afraid to fail. They weren't afraid, afraid to reinvent themselves not afraid to go try something different. And that's what I love about her. She's like, once she says, Okay, let's do this, then it's full on, you know. And now, I think that's what makes her special. And jack too. I mean, Jack's jack man, he, you know, you get, you know, what you're going to get with jack, you know, you don't sugarcoat it, you know? And that's, that's what makes him so great in this little trio. You know, he keeps everybody honest.
Thomas Mooney 27:32
Yeah, for sure. Yeah, one of my favorite podcasts I've ever done is with was with jack and Bruce Robinson. Oh, yeah. That was such a fun conversation to be part of. Because, in a lot of ways, when when you have two people like that, you don't even have to do the talking, you can just knock them talk. And that's what we're, I think a lot of the magic comes from in those kinds of conversations. Just asking one question and letting them figure it out.
Jon Randall 28:02
Yeah, now jack jack is a he's a, he's a great interview, and he's so got so much, I so much compassion and passion for music, and, and that's what I love about jack man. And he's, he's one of the people to you that that really him and Miranda both really encouraged me to, to put some music out. For that reason, you know, just just he just, he's so passionate about what I do, which, you know, is flattering to me, because, you know, I respect what he does so, so much, you know, we've worked on, you know, I produce a couple of his records. And, you know, it'd be really easy for me to take on that role. I had just his buddy that produces his records, you know, but he, he really pushed me to put this out and, and inspired me to like, believe in it enough to let people hear it. So he keeps us like I said, he keeps us all honest.
Thomas Mooney 28:59
Yeah, well, you know what, like now that you mentioned, I'm thinking about it right here. So like, my favorite record of Jack's is that midnight motel, and you guys kind of do something on there with Blaine's Ferris wheel where he does that pre like he does the story before playing it. Yeah, that's that's in a lot of ways. Kind of like what you what what's going on here with with the new record,
Jon Randall 29:25
right? Well, you know, the funny thing about the Blaine Ferris wheel thing is, so Chad Cromwell was playing drums Chad's a legendary drummer plays with played with Neil Young forever and played with Dire Straits and played with detail with Joe Walsh. And he's just he's played on a million great, huge records. And Chad had come down to Austin to play on that with Charlie Sexton and bucha and, and he He didn't know that story. And I knew I wanted jack to tell him the story before we played the song, so that he would kind of understand what the song was about since he was playing on it. So I told Brandon Bell, our engineer, I said, Hey, Brandon, just be rolling, because I'm gonna go ask jack, tell Chad that story and I want to get it on tape. And, and so he, he did perfect right on cue, man, we hit record. I said, Hey, jack, Tell, tell tell that story before we play the song. And he told the whole story perfectly. It was great. And it was like, we were all brought into it. Donald think jack knew we were recording it, you know? Yeah. I love that part of that record. And you realize how well written that song is after he tells the story. You know?
Thomas Mooney 30:49
Yeah, no, I that's like, the every time I listen that song, I listened to that whole intro. You know? It's Yes. It's in my opinion, it's like, just as much as part of the song as the the song itself. So yeah, right. And like I said, like, that's probably like my, I mean, you can't really go wrong with jack records. But that's probably like my favorite record of his I just think like the the songwriting is just, you know, just as as strong as possible.
Jon Randall 31:19
Yeah, yeah. He was really on his game on on all that stuff. And it was you know, it's funny he and I have said, I'm telling you, I can't tell you me not he and I set on a bus drink and bottle of whiskey you know, to in the morning. Listen to the old Willis, Alan Ramsay record and listeners, Jerry Jeff Walker records and going man, we we need to make a record like those guys didn't care, they just turn on record and just started playing. You know, like, we had that whole. That's the way we saw our heroes making records kind of thing. You know, two in the morning, just you know, up drinking and playing. So we talked about it forever. And finally, we just, he's like, man, let's let's do it. Let's make that record was like great. And that every bit of that is live man. We just it's all on the floor, you can hear Charlie Sexton clicking his paddles every now and then in the room. If you'll notice, Ted, Chrome was not playing any symbols. I think there's one on one song that he snuck in there. But there's no symbols on the drums, which gave it this really cool dry sound in the room because the vocals were in the room and the cymbals. Were just going to eat the vocals up. Because they were all sitting in the same room together. And so I was just pretty proud of jack for that team, because he just went for live vocals like, yep, just gonna sing it loud. This is how it's gonna go, you know? And it was really fun to make that record. Really, really fun.
Thomas Mooney 32:44
Yeah, well, going back to the the marpha tapes. Was that was that done all at once? Or was that like, over the course of a couple of times out there?
Jon Randall 32:54
You know, we did, I want to say I can't remember is four or five trips that we've done out there. And we wrote, we wrote a bunch of songs, just a ton of songs. And we had all these little bits and pieces and of them sitting around. And so what Miranda wanted to do was give everyone kind of the, the vibe of it, and I don't know, if you've seen on, like YouTube, there's a little bit of footage of, there's a little bit of footage of some of the songs. And, and so it was like, we wouldn't be surprised to see where we were when we wrote the songs, what the vibe is at that place that we hang out out there. And so we we went out there this last trip, and then we that's how we record everything. Brandon Bell brought two mics. We had a camera guy there to get a little bit of footage. And and so we just we just sat there and recorded it, you know, just sitting. Some of it's on the tailgate of that Bronco, some of it sitting by the fire, but none of its manipulated. It's all just straight up, us sitting around in a circle playing guitars and singing just like the day we wrote them, you know?
Thomas Mooney 34:11
Yeah. And of course, like, you know, a place like Marfa, out in the middle of West Texas, underneath the stars. That's a very, very special kind of place a creates a certain audience and a certain mood. Yeah, how important you think it was that that it needed to be in a place in a setting like that versus, you know, anywhere else in the
Jon Randall 34:37
world? Well, the thing the way it all came about was I've been going down there for a while I it's a long story, how I just kind of in my own way I know I didn't discover. But for for my group of friends and people in my world, I felt I was the first person that had ever gone out there are you down if anything was out there, you know. And it was been years ago that I started going out there and just hanging out, I just fell in love with the whole, the Big Bend area, everything, you know, stay down terlingua and stay down the more footstep for days, all that stuff that's out there. And I can just drive around out there. And, you know, for hours and with the window down love every second of it. And I was always talking about it. I'm always I'm one of those people that if I discover something I think everybody else needs to know about it, you know, so oversell it. And, and Miranda was man she was going through, you know, rough patch, she was all tabloids, all that crazy stuff is going on in her world. And she called me She said, I, I gotta get out of here. And she said, Why don't we fly down to middlin? Jack's playing a gig in Midland, let's go pick up jack. And let's go out to Marfa. Because you talked about it, and I need somewhere to go. I was like, yeah, there's nowhere better to go. So we just went out there. And you know, that it was let's go out and write some songs. But that was also let's go out there and disappear. And just, let's just hide out for a while, like a bunch of outlaws you know. And, and we did. And that, you know, we just started pouring our hearts out. Everybody was kind of going through some one thing or another at that time. And so that first trip, that was the trip of road 10 man, that first trip we wrote, like seven or eight songs, something like that, like we just wrote and wrote and wrote, ended up staying two extra days from what we planned. And, and her and jack both just fell in love with it. Like she just couldn't get over it. And so we went back again, and was like, hey, let's go again. And and so that's kind of how that all came about, was just running away, to get away and ended up writing some songs. And then when we went back, and I think for Miranda, it was just Gosh, we've got all the songs of the last time we went down and wrote we set set in the car and we we went back and listen to everything we'd written on every trip. And it just the wheels started turning about, gosh, you know, this isn't like a studio record. This is a record that people need to hear what the songs are about. The songwriters sitting around playing guitars and singing, you know? And, and so that's when she decided we should just put it out. Just like it is so
Thomas Mooney 37:31
yeah, I mean, I'm I'm originally from Fort Stockton. So like, you know, I you know that area. Yeah. And I, I what I like about it is there's a little bit of me that that goes, man. I'm glad like somebody else thinks it's cool. Because Yeah, forever growing up down there. I didn't think it was necessarily cool. And I didn't necessarily think anyone else was gonna think it was cool. And, you know, then moving away, then you kind of go, Oh, you know what that place is actually pretty special. And, you know, in my late teens, early 20s. I basically lived out in Fort Davis during the summers. And
Jon Randall 38:12
yeah, it's just the odd. Yeah, I remember you know, growing up cuz I grew up in in, you know, Dallas, South Dallas. Sounds like a North North Texas kid, which is all plains, you know, there's, there's one Hill in Dallas and the Belmont hotel sits on it. I think that's that one in the big hill going up by 20 going into Duncanville. Those are the two hills, but it's like I used to see that Atlas, the the Rand McNally Atlas that had the it had, I think it had Santa Elena Canyon on the cover. And I remember always seeing that and laughing and going, why did they put like a picture in New Mexico or Arizona on the front of this Atlas? Like, you know, and never dawned on me that that actually could be something that existed in Texas, I just assumed, oh, that's just like some stock photo desert photo, they cover a Texas, you know, because everybody thinks, you know, we all wear hats and ride horses and live in a desert, like the cowboy movies. So the first time I actually and I remember, we would draw through there on the tour. But I mean, back when I was on the road years ago, I remember, you know, coming coming through there and, and but it would be always at nighttime, you know, coming through El Paso. I don't I don't remember ever even like noticing that there are mountains in El Paso, you know, right. So it's just, it's just funny, like, the first time I went down there and then was like, Oh my gosh, like, this is beautiful. Like, I had no idea that that was that that existed. And I was obsessed with it once I got out there, you know?
Thomas Mooney 39:50
Oh, yeah. I mean, like, that's if you're going out there and you're on, you know, the tour buses going on. I 20. You know, you're just stopping in truck stops and yeah, you know, or I tend I guess to and not really ever getting into what the what the locals do, or what the locals how the locals live.
Jon Randall 40:12
Yeah, well and that's the thing I always say about like Marfa and all that. It's like, nobody drives through there you have to jump off 10 and, and go to their drive. You know, you're you're trying to get there or you know, cuz you don't just, you just don't know it's there unless you research it and realize it's there or take a take a back road and find it, you know,
but it's cool. It's beautiful.
Thomas Mooney 40:41
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Jon Randall 43:09
I know man, I think about that a lot too. Because we I mean, when I was when I was growing up in Texas, I was in a bluegrass band all through high school, you know, and we we played festivals all over Arkansas, and Oklahoma, Louisiana and South Texas and, and little you know, VFW halls and stuff like that, and man, we we were lost without that map. And everybody knew how to read a Rand McNally. You know, like if you were the copilot, you are no good if you are getting carsick because we need you to keep your eye on where that next highway was coming up. You know? Yes, funny to me. I don't even know if anybody half your listeners probably don't even know what around me. Yeah,
Thomas Mooney 43:54
and like you pay attention to like the little numbers by the road. Because that's what's how many miles Yes. And my dad would have me count up these miles between here and there and be like, Okay, well pull out the the calculator. That's also not on the phone and figure out how far we need to go and
Jon Randall 44:14
yeah, exactly, exactly. I'm gonna see how we got here says, Oh, yeah. And go ahead and you got it. Now you got it. I was gonna I was going somewhere else. You got it.
Thomas Mooney 44:27
I was just gonna say I'm gonna I was gonna just comment saying that. Not all those memories were great. A lot of them were like, you know? Oh, yeah. is my fault for not driving as a 10 year old.
Jon Randall 44:39
Yeah. No. Yeah, no, I gotcha. It was work. It was where you were working. I get it. Direction were you about to go into? Oh, I was just gonna I was just gonna tell you I mean, the ads manager and a guitar player got lost in ham. Germany one time, we're gonna manage your drive and we bought a map to try to figure out where we were going. And it was as big as the inside of the car. It was ginormous, and everything was in German. And we couldn't even find the road. We were all in on the map to figure out where the next road was, it was the biggest epic fail of trying to drive to a gig in Germany. But I just remembered opening that map up. And now I think, oh, you would have had GPS, it would have taken you exactly where you needed to go, you know?
Unknown Speaker 45:35
Yeah. That's like the like a cartoon right there. The map? Oh, it was big, as big as the inside of the car.
Jon Randall 45:44
Yeah. And it was that club that was that club that the Beatles played in and hamper is 3936. Whatever. Sorry, Beatles fans. I can't remember the name, but. But it was in the red light district. So every time we'd stop and ask for directions, people start laughing at us and go look at these. Look at these Americans trying to find my district or last, asking for directions to the red light district. It's like no, no, no, we're playing look. Yeah, right.
Unknown Speaker 46:15
That's good.
Thomas Mooney 46:19
Yeah, I was gonna ask about this, because I'm a big fan. And I mean, obviously, he's from from out there, too. But, you know, you you got some rights with with guy Clark. And, you know, he ended up cutting some of those songs. What was what was it like setting across a table or across the room from guy Clark.
Jon Randall 46:42
The first time was really intimidating. Um, and I knew guy threw me. I mean, it's funny, I've got a really funny story. But it's a very long story about the first time I ever met God, Clark. It's a crazy story. But the years later, I got to hang out with him and Susanna more with the woman. And when I was working with me, Lou, and, and so we, you know, I got to know him better. But when he finally said wants to come over to the house, and let's write let's write a song. You know, I was obviously very intimidated, because I was a really young writer. And, and it was interesting, because I wasn't, I kept feeling like, if anybody that's that might hear this, it's written with him will know exactly what I'm talking about. He, he would like write like little pieces of things, like two or three lines here, two or three lines. And then he would think for a long time, and then, and there'd be all these pieces of paper laying on the table with little pieces of lines. And I kept thinking, Oh, my God, man, we're not going to get a song. He doesn't like what I'm going out here. Like, I kept feeling like we weren't, we were not going to get a song, you know. And then he just, you know, takes big hit off his joint knee, he starts piecing all these pieces of paper together, he's like, okay, there's the first two lines. Here's the next to any, it's like he, he was such a craftsman that that's how he wrote songs to, you know, like, he was building it. Here you go, that goes there, this goes here. Now seeing that, that's the first first thing that, okay, that's okay. That's the course and he just like laid it on. And then all of a sudden, it was just like, Oh my God, we wrote a song. It's all right here. Like, we spent all this time. And I was it it was interesting, because that was just, that's, that's one thing you learned with CO writing with any co writer guy Clark, or anybody is like, everybody's process is a little bit different. Everybody's trying to get to the same place, but the way they get there is a little bit different. You know? And, and, and then I was like, Oh my gosh, man, we wrote a song and it was great. Once I understood kind of how he worked. I kind of knew how to how to roll with him when we when we would ride but he definitely was. I learned a lot riding with him. I learned a lot just about simplicity. He had, he had a handful of rules that I always thought were really interesting, like never make one person better than the other. If it's a breakup song or something, you can never make one person the villain. You know, one of the best lines in it came when me and him and Gary Nicholson were rotten some days the song right to you. There was a line that he had said that I'd give anything to remember this line because and Gary would do but guy had this line. That was a great line. And we were trying every way to shove that line into the song and it just it just wouldn't get there. And he just said Well, you know what, sometimes you got to get rid of the best line in the song to to get the song to go where it's supposed to go and when we pulled that line Now we finished that song in like 30 minutes. You know, I thought that was a really great lesson about not being too precious with a great piece of poetry, if it doesn't belong in that song in that body of work.
Thomas Mooney 50:15
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I that's, I mean, I think that's very understandable to want to keep that in because you know, if it's if it's the best line, I know, like a lot of young songwriters, they, they may be also have trouble with, with keeping a line in just because it sounds cool, but it doesn't necessarily mean anything.
Jon Randall 50:37
Mm hmm. Yeah, I mean, and that that's a tough, that's, that's a tough thing too. Because it and there are those songs. I mean, I won't lie. I love writing songs sometimes, that are a little disconnected, because it is odd. It's just cool. That's more like when you're writing cool rock stuff, you know, like, you can get away with that stuff, or it's so inside that you're not sure anybody's gonna really get what you're saying. But it's kind of cool. But when you're telling a story, you definitely don't want to leave somebody to stranded. You know, language is a really interesting thing. With with songs. For me, that's what I'm always chasing is like, I think Steve Earle is a master of telling a story and finding the language to tell that story. It's like if you listen to the way that he tells the story, the character always has a certain way of talking. Delbert McClinton does that he still does Billy Gibbons like those, those guys come out at blues world and they have all these cool like, vernacular. That totally is the guy singing talks like that, you know? And, and I think that's, you know, to me, that's always the challenge is what's the language that needs to tell this story? The best?
Thomas Mooney 51:56
Yeah, finding that that character's voice as far as the way he talks? That's, that's a really interesting thing right there. Yeah,
Jon Randall 52:05
yeah, it is. I mean, it's it's a study, I mean, there really is. The especially, there's not a lot of story story songs. But when you're telling a story song, which are probably the hardest songs to ride, maybe I don't know, that's probably debatable. But to ride them, as well, as guys like Steve are all Rotom is really. To me, it's hard to nail that down and make your story makes sense. kind of look kind of pride the way journalism approaches writing something, you know?
Thomas Mooney 52:41
Yeah, yeah, I definitely think so. I mean, sometimes I feel like I'm losing my hair, but trying to like, figure out that narrative and what you're, I think, you know, maybe this is something that you can relate to. Because I find this to be the biggest problem. And anything that I have a write about, is when I like something so much. And I want to say like 10 things about it, and I don't know how to begin, I don't know how to, like, put those in order to say him. And I just kind of want to say them all at once. But there's obviously no way to say that all at once. Right?
Jon Randall 53:17
Yeah. No, that's, that's a good point. Like, where do you start? What's the best way to thread this? And then put a bow on it? Right, yeah.
Thomas Mooney 53:29
One of the things that you said there just a minute ago about guy as far as piecing that song together, having those strips of paper out. Where they kind of reminded me of was obviously, like him being, you know, making guitars and stuff. And not necessarily like, you know, it doesn't necessarily mean that he became a better songwriter, because he made guitars, but do you think like that had a an impact on his songwriting, or his approach to to songwriting to art?
Jon Randall 54:03
Well, you know, possibly, and I think, you know, stone camp and, and Berlin and Daryl probably spent a lot more time writing with him than I did. I know they did. But I always perceived that that is was guy's personality and not to go to any grant. They've been saying. He, he played and wrote songs and like a craftsman. He was a painter. He was meticulous about building guitars. He was metate. I mean, watching him roll a cigarette. He was meticulous about rolling a cigarette. His joints looked like cigarettes. They were perfect. You know? So it's like, he was like that he was and so I think with his songwriting, he was like that as well. It was it was they call it a craft and to guy It was a craft. I mean, he crafted a song The way that he did Everything else. And to me, that's all connected. Just from the outside looking in.
Thomas Mooney 55:07
Yeah, I find that really, really interesting as far as what, because I think a lot of times, especially now, a lot of songwriters just think of themselves as songwriters, or as musicians. And there's a lot of artists who, who do other things, and they may not be as good at painting or, you know, or building guitars or writing a screenplay or whatever the case is, as as they are as at writing songs. But I think that sometimes, that way of thinking limits what what they're capable of doing,
Jon Randall 55:46
right? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I think you're, I think you're right, you know, it's funny, I've got I have a friend that it's a massive hits on router, the guy has written just, I don't know, at 30 number one hits or something. But he's also a bass fisherman tournament fisherman. And, and, and if people ask him go, what do you do? He tells me, he's a turnip, turnip tournament fisherman. And, and he means it, but he's also like, one of the biggest hits on crafters that ever wrote songs. And I love how it's like, you can have a couple of things in your world, you know, but what are you the best at? I guess, is what you're asking. Right? Like, what are you? What? What pushes you to be the best at what you do?
Thomas Mooney 56:39
Yeah, but I think those other things help can help make you a better whatever that is. Yeah, no, no, no, yeah, you can write. Because it's one of those things where, you know, like, just seeing it from a different approach maybe, or, you know, I think a lot of times, you know, it's maybe that that time that London, I hate to put it as in like, you're on autopilot. But like, when you're just able to think about stuff versus or you're really writing that song out, or whatever the case, you know, I think like sometimes people think of songwriting is only when you pick up that pin and the guitar, or sit down at the piano. And a lot of times art comes way before that the process starts.
Jon Randall 57:33
Oh, no, absolutely, yeah, I mean, and you might even, yeah, and the things you do just in your daily life. You know, being a great listener, are just hanging out with people are sitting in a bar here, you can hear somebody say something. And that sparks an entire thought process for you that eventually you take into the writing room, you know, and, and, you know, it's funny to have a friend that is just one of the most badass guitar players that ever played a guitar. And, and there's, there's a mechanic seat, you know, he's big into golf, and the mechanics of golf, and he relates that in the way that he approaches playing, and he's just a master at his instrument. But it's interesting because it's like, it's the opposite of Jerry Garcia, which is just kind of loosen it, He's incredible, too, you know, and but it's loose and it finds its way and he just kind of, he's looking for it and he's, he's, you know, freeform and and Willie's kind of that way to, you know, add it in a fun and interesting because maybe that's, like you said, it's like the way that you approach other things in your life or what you bring into your art as well. Yeah, for sure.
Thomas Mooney 58:53
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 gobby 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 grapefruit 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. Add 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 kid from Texas that you know, really well, Parker McCollum. You know, I feel like obviously, that last EP is really, really great. But it to me what I see a lot in that EP is some of those, like early promises that you saw in his early work. You just see, like, I guess some of those roots are those seeds, where you're like, Oh, you know, like, oh, man, he's gonna be able to do something. This is cool, but like, there's gonna be something cooler ahead. And I think like Hollywood, gold is at least the beginning of that.
Jon Randall 1:00:58
Yeah, I appreciate you saying that man. I have. You know, I kind of read Randy Rogers. And Ben Vaughn at Warner Chappell. And Jesse Vaughn and Warner Chappell, kind of introduced Parker and I, and I think we didn't know each other. But I know, I mean, I knew what was going on with him. And I think he knew of my work as well. And, and I think everybody kind of put us together because they felt like we would get each other and they felt like, you know, he's about to do a thing in Nashville. And I'm a Texas guy, and I've worked with all those guys, but also know how to navigate my way around the Music Row thing and dealing with labels and how to how to help him make the kind of thing he needs to make, that can, you know, get to a bigger platform without losing any of our roots, you know, if that makes sense. And it's a big, big thing, too. I mean, it's a lot of weight on my shoulders to take that on. Because I know his audience. I know, I know, my Texas people, I know where he's coming from. And he is such an artist, he's such a great writer, his thing does not need to be messed with at all. And so that's why I wanted to be really careful about what where, where we went on this, you know, this project, and grilling truly, man, just, you know, all we're trying to do is what I try to do when I'm working on a record any record is, what is it conceptually on what I'm not saying? Like, let's make Pink Floyd the wall. But But when I say conceptually, sound wise, what what band Do we need in there? What group of cats do we need in there? What What's our anchor song? And then how do we build off of that sound, so that we're not just throwing stuff that the wall. And and that's kind of it's been, that's been kind of our challenge is, you know, navigating the way that Nashville does things, and the way that we like to do things, you know, and I think we, I think we're on it, I appreciate you saying that about Hollywood, gold, because I feel like it's a great body of work for him. And, and we're just trying to keep that going, just trying to keep that momentum and that, that sound and finding out what that sound is for this project, you know. And he's great. I mean, he's, that's the thing is that I really been begging, you know, and he's smart. He's got it, he's got it, and he gets it. But it's like, I always say, you know, what if, what if, what if, when the first time someone had heard Bruce Springsteen, they said, Well, hey, let's, let's, let's get him in Nashville and make him right, with all these hit riders know, what would have happened. So it's, it's been, you know, I think we've all kind of done a good job at like, let's just make sure Parker is Parker, and let's just capture it without messing with it too much. And so, you know, a lot of it was to watch his live shows, and wanted to kind of build off that, what his what his band is live and what that sound can be live, you know, how can we translate what we're going to do here that that's kind of the same instrumentation as what you're doing? Because that's the sound, you know, so but I love working with him. He's, he's a, he's just a fantastic artist and a great guy, great guy to be in the studio with.
Thomas Mooney 1:04:52
Yeah, I think that like, a lot of times. folks can dismiss Parker just because you know, he's a good looking guy and you know, got that Nashville record label deal and all that kind of stuff. Yeah. And not realize that, you know, the guy actually also knows a lot about great music. And he, you know, I've had conversations with him about Rodney crowl. You know, and like, you know, him being kind of a diehard when it comes to Rodney crowd records and, yeah, you can't get any more real and Rodney crowd, you know,
Jon Randall 1:05:28
no, no, man, Parker's roots are really deep. I mean, he was singing to Jerry Lee Lewis country song to me the other day. I think he did it on the Opry that night. Like, I love that about him. Most new artists would never do that. I mean, I don't know, a new artists that would walk out there and saying, what was uh, what was the 39 holding everything you can whatever he said that Jerry Lewis just country is, you know, dirt. And that's what he that's what's gonna make him a great artist, that he's not afraid. He's not afraid to do that stuff. He wasn't afraid to work on a record Nashville. And he's not afraid to tell Nashville. Hey, this kind of record I'm going to make you know. So let's, let's keep rooting for him. You know, we need we need him.
Thomas Mooney 1:06:18
Yeah, I think so. I think there's there's some, some Texas guys right now that are doing some cool things that they're all in that that age gap that age, that age range, and they're gonna they've all made stuff in Nashville the past year or so. And yet, they're still gonna have that identifiable voice that made them, you know, be be famous or popular or whatever. Be on No, yeah. In the first place. So I think it's, it's a good thing.
Jon Randall 1:06:49
Most of them are working with fellow Texans. You gotta realize there's a bunch of guys up here from Texas that are producing records, you know, and working with working with our buddies back home. So it's kind of, we're kind of infiltrating it a little bit.
Thomas Mooney 1:07:06
Okay, so I got a question to ask about that. That specific. Yeah. So one of my buddies was telling me about, I guess he had, he had moved up to Nashville. And within that first month or so he had been reading like the first Billy, I guess, like the Billy Joe shaver, biography or something. And he was saying how back then all the Texas guys ran together and all like the Georgia guys ran together and all the whatever pockets were like, you just ended up like that with those people. where you're from, even though you're all in Nashville. And if maybe you were back home, you would have been doing the exact same thing is that you feel like there's something some truth to that too, as well as not necessarily that you know, you're not hanging out with anyone from any other state but that there's a little bit of that comfortability with just knowing that, oh, this guy's from Texas to
Jon Randall 1:08:02
Yeah, I mean, and it's funny too, because, man, you know, how Texans are? We find it man, I'm serious, we'll find each other in a crowd. And I it's true, the Georgia guys can have they have their crew people and you have everything but text and seek each other out and, and we kind of look after each other, you know, like, somebody comes to town that's new, we kind of it's like, okay, Hey, buddy, here's the deal. Here's how this rolls appeared. If you need me, you call me like, we kind of find each other. And it's a it's kind of cool, really. But yeah, we all hang. I mean, you know, it's we're not. So I moved here. I moved here and I moved to Nashville in 1987. And part of the reason I came up well, one was because a buddy of mine that had moved up here had had a gig lined up and and so I came up to check that out and and kind of hang out with him. But, you know, I was a bluegrass kid mostly. And there was a handful of us bluegrass kids that all moved up there because because Ricky was there you know Jerry Douglas, Sam bush Bailiff like all the new grass revival guys like the station in was famous bluegrass joint. So if you're a bluegrass guy, you kind of were going to go there in North Carolina or DC area, you know, or go out to the west coast and play hippie grass. You know, that was kind of your options for that. But also, you know, guy was in Nashville. Townes was in Nashville, Steve bro was in Nashville. Rodney was in Nashville, Delbert was national law was making records here. Nanci Griffith had moved up like everybody. So many of those guys before me, moved to LA, and then they moved to Nashville. like God moved to LA towns moved to LA Delbert moved to LA Gary Nichols in New Delhi, and then everybody moved to Nashville, you know, and so, I think it's because there wasn't the same kind of scene. You know? Let that blew up like when jack and Pat and all the proofs and those guys, all that was happening, you know that happened after I'd already moved up this way. So part of it was, I thought that's what he did you know, that's where it was going on me guys there and talent is there and all the Bluegrass guys are there, Emmylou Harris is there. And that's where that's the crew of people I want to be hanging out with, you know, and that's what I did was I moved to town and I found all those people is like, okay, here's the people I want to hang out with. And then that's kind of that's kind of what the scene was when I got here team was that crew was all hanging out together. And Billy Joe was up here to remember there was this cool little funky bar that would stay up and way after hours, and you could stumble in there, like four in the morning and guy and Phil Kaufman and prion and towns, everybody was hanging out down at this little hole in the wall, when I moved to town, and it was just kind of cool to see. See those guys? You know?
Thomas Mooney 1:11:05
Yeah, well, I mean, that's one of those things that maybe, that maybe, I don't know, like, like kids these days. And I say kids, including myself, don't necessarily realize is that like, there was not necessarily the, the infrastructure here in Texas to support a, a scene where you could travel and tour, quote, quote, unquote, toward Texas, back then, that right now a lot of, you know, years of, you know, kind of getting some radio and getting bars and gigs that, that you could play that are smaller than Billy Bob's, or, you know, something like that, you know, where I remember talking with Wade Bowen about how one of the things that he thought kind of put him ahead was, was that he had his own PA system, and that, like, you know, some of the some of these places in Texas, you could play but you had to bring your own pa and you had to bring your own equipment. And like sound you had to hire the sound guy out to to run the sound on your stuff, and how just being able to have that was just a little bit of an of an advantage to being able to play around town and around Texas.
Jon Randall 1:12:23
Bright? Yeah, I mean, I can totally, totally see. I mean, that's how it was playing when I was at a bluegrass band back home, you know, is like we had a, we had a banjo player that had a PA system in a van. And we could go set up on it on a flatbed trailer at a at a county fair and play. You know, and we were kind of self contained. So I can totally see that. But you know, I think for t like for some of our heroes. You know, for God, I mean, I know that, you know, part of the deal was he was he got a publishing deal in LA and they were like, well, you can move to New York or Nashville. You know, we'll pay $75 a week or whatever it was something like that. And I think Christofferson was like, he was in Nashville still at the time. And he was like, Man, you got to come to Nashville. They're they're loving hippie poets here right now. You know. And then so that's how he ended up going from LA to Nashville, was, you know, just trying to make money writing songs. At that point, I don't know. He I'm not even sure he was making records yet. You know, I could be wrong on that. But But yeah, that was, you know, that was kind of the deal. was when I moved to town, that was the way it was like that was that whole crew was running together. And, and so you try to figure out where those guys were hanging out. And that's where you would want to go hang out. And it was usually, and you didn't want to try to keep up either. That's the other thing. I found out.
Thomas Mooney 1:14:02
How do you how do you I hate to say the word infiltrate. But how do you even break into like meeting one of those guys like back then when you're, you know, just a kid essentially?
Jon Randall 1:14:15
Well, for me, I mean, I kind of I kind of skipped the line because you know, when I was 20 I guess I just turned 21 when we were doing when I joined Emmylou Harris's band and so I got to hang out with all those people when I was really young. And and so that's kind of how that's kind of how I got there was you know just through you know, we played gigs with all those cats and you know me had hangs at our house Super Bowl parties in New Year's Eve parties and she'd have you know, gotten Susanna and and Gemma guar and and you know, Harlan Howard and all those guys would be over their house hanging out. So I kind of got in, kind of got in early on that now I did meet guy. I told you I want to tell the story. But basically I met guy. When I was 19. It was my first gig. When I moved to Nashville. I was playing with Holly Dunn, who was nothing he was out of San Antonio, he had a deal on Warner Brothers. And, and we went to Europe. And I don't know how I ended up hanging out with Sonny Curtis, at 19 years old and trying to keep up drinking wine and whiskey scotch, but it was it didn't end well. But basically, guy walked offstage. We were watching guy, and he walked offstage. And he didn't know me from Adam, but he just looked at me and I had my guitar and he goes, let's go pick. And I was like, Oh my god, I'm gonna get to go pick with Clark, you know, and Sonny Curtis. So I grab my guitar and guy goes, where's your room, and I go, what's over that little hotel and he goes, alright, let's go. So we start walking through this little village across the street to the, to this hotel, and on the way he picks a Billy Joe shaver, Steve Young, Johnny Rodriguez. And we are and then about 20 other people and we compound in my room. And I'm rooming with our drummer and bless his heart, he was in bed and guy opens the door flips the lot on it goes, get up, we got to move those beds. My drummer, God loving man, our drummer, let's get up. He's getting his clothes on. While these people are pouring into the room with coolers and wine bottles and gas started, he tips the beds up against the wall, leans up from the bottom up against the wall, and starts rearranging the furniture so that we can all sit in a circle and play songs. Well, by this point, I'm on my balcony throwing up. And I missed the entire party. Like all these guys in my room, like all these legends in my room. And and so what's funny is fast forward like a years later, we're sitting around at Emmys house and and guy starts telling that very story. Because he was talking about we're talking about Eddie shaver and and he starts telling that very story. But he doesn't realize that it was me. So and at some point, I'm just listening to him tell the story from his point of view. And it was exactly how I remembered it. And he goes, Yeah, I know who that portal sumbitch was in his room. It was he's out there throwing up off the balcony all now but that was a hell of a Billie Joe believable. I was like, Hey, guys. I said that little son of a bitch on up off the balcony was made. He was like, wait, I was like, Yeah, man. And he that was our that was one of our funny things forever. Because it blew his mind that that was actually me that that was the guy he remembered. Didn't know who that kid was. But that was kind of our fun story for a long time. That's amazing.
Yeah, no. And I look back, I tell you what, I think back and
there's there was a real blessing in that because my songs were not good enough to play in front of those guys at that point in my life. Like, I think back of the song, the couple of songs that I would have played in, and I would have been cringing right now if I told you I sat and played those songs in front of Billy Joe Clark. I'm so glad that I was not capable of playing any music for those guys.
Thomas Mooney 1:18:51
I'm so glad you told that story.
Jon Randall 1:18:53
Well, that was crazy. Crazy funny. But that was the thing man as I kind of got, I got pulled in just because I was hanging with me at such a young age. And that that kind of is you know, she introduced me to a lot of people a lot a lot of my heroes and we played a lot of gigs with you know, we play those festivals and, and that's kind of where you you really make friends with a lot of people. Are those big festivals get to hang out with a lot of people at one time, you know?
Thomas Mooney 1:19:26
Yeah, yeah, I've noticed that as far as like being able to go to like look reunion a couple of times, and during south by where the numbers are low, but like the the artist numbers are high because of how many people were playing and you know, backstage. It's a little bit low key as far as you know, the who's who, but like, everyone's relaxed and you can just tell that people were actually having conversations and not just like doing the flyby.
Jon Randall 1:19:57
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. That's But that's the crazy thing about our business too, is like, some of the people I'm probably closest to are people I don't see a lot, you know, we would see each other. You know, we all live in the same towns but, but it's like we don't see each other till we're at a festival hanging out for three or four days and getting up on stage and playing music together. And there's a there's an interesting camaraderie in that and it's an interesting way that we have friends here, but that's kind of how it works. You know, and some of the people I consider to be my, some of my closest friends. I don't really see that much, you know. Got a bit when I do when I do, it's fine. We have a lot of fun and play a lot of great music. Yeah,
Thomas Mooney 1:20:43
you got to have to take them out of Marfa.
Jon Randall 1:20:46
Oh, my gosh. I'd moved down there tomorrow. Fuck good. If there was enough if there was enough places to work now. I know that. Yeah, I know. You do. I know you do. Yeah,
Thomas Mooney 1:21:03
I think that'd be a good spot to end it on. Right.
Jon Randall 1:21:06
Okay. Well, I hope I gave you something. Yeah. No, of course. Yeah. I just don't want to I can be random. No, no, no, I just don't want to take three hours at a time.
Thomas Mooney 1:21:17
All right. That is it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. Be sure to hit that subscribe button. If you haven't already. Keep your eyes peeled for a new john Randall record. Check out the morphotypes when it's released in early May check out our presenting partners over at Desert door the blue light live wild gallery in hot damn coffee. Stop on over at the merch store and the Patreon if you haven't. And yeah, I'll see you all next week for more episodes.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai