Randall King

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[00:00:35] Music

[00:00:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Hey this is Shelby and Quinn here at The Russell in East Nashville with Randall King.

[00:00:52] [SPEAKER_00]: So you're not new to Whiskey Riff and our fan base. I went to go see what the first article we

[00:00:57] [SPEAKER_00]: ever wrote about you was and it was in March of 2019. Wow. And it was about your single

[00:01:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Taking Me a Heartbreak, which is one of my favorites of yours actually still to this day.

[00:01:07] [SPEAKER_00]: So I just thought that was really cool that it's been over five years of us covering your music.

[00:01:11] [SPEAKER_01]: That's awesome. I don't even know it was a single in 2019. I was thinking it was earlier than that.

[00:01:15] [SPEAKER_01]: But does it feel like it was not too long ago that that single released? I don't know. It feels

[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_01]: it was 10 years ago. Oh really? One of those things where it feels longer. It was pre COVID.

[00:01:24] [SPEAKER_01]: So I think COVID made everything feel like it was ages just five years. Wow. That's the first

[00:01:30] [SPEAKER_01]: article, huh? Yeah. There's one about you. And that article also had a Garth Brooks quote in it

[00:01:36] [SPEAKER_01]: where he said that this kid is what country music is all about to me. Is that something where like,

[00:01:41] [SPEAKER_01]: you know, you had met him before then or was that a compliment that he just gave?

[00:01:45] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I think at that point, if you guys had, let's see if you guys had that article down,

[00:01:48] [SPEAKER_01]: that would have been, was it the beginning of 19 or end of 19? Do you all remember? March. Yeah.

[00:01:53] [SPEAKER_01]: It was March of 19. So at that point, my album had come out in 2018, May of 18. I self-titled a

[00:01:59] [SPEAKER_01]: record that had taken me on a heartbreak, Mirror, Mirror, took it to my heartstrings.

[00:02:03] [SPEAKER_01]: And that record had come across Garth's desk. My publishing company at the time was BMG. Chris

[00:02:10] [SPEAKER_01]: Ogilvie was my guy over there and he'd been pitching all my songs to Garth hoping I could

[00:02:17] [SPEAKER_01]: get a Garth cut and seeing if there was any kind of relationship there. And he'd been sending my

[00:02:21] [SPEAKER_01]: songs and Garth was digging what he heard. And he was very complimentary about every single song.

[00:02:27] [SPEAKER_01]: And it's like, man, just love this kid's voice. And Chris asked him, I was like,

[00:02:31] [SPEAKER_01]: well, would you want to write with him sometime? And the super classy, humble fashion Garth,

[00:02:38] [SPEAKER_01]: I still have the email. Garth said, yeah, man, you know, if he'd be willing to take the time

[00:02:42] [SPEAKER_01]: to come right with me. Well, hell Garth, hold on man, what do we got that day? Move it. So,

[00:02:48] [SPEAKER_01]: we scheduled it out and I got to go right with Garth and we'd given him the record.

[00:02:53] [SPEAKER_01]: I got to sit there and write with him in the studio where he cut everything that he ever

[00:02:57] [SPEAKER_01]: recorded. And we wrote a song called The Road I'm On, which is the title of his Netflix documentary

[00:03:02] [SPEAKER_01]: and his Amazon documentary. And it made his record. He was opening his shows with it.

[00:03:07] [SPEAKER_01]: And we just created a really strong, solid relationship. He's one of the best, most humble,

[00:03:14] [SPEAKER_01]: kindest people I've ever met. And he put that quote out, I think before we even wrote,

[00:03:21] [SPEAKER_01]: he talks about that. So, it's a really cool thing to know that like one of the

[00:03:25] [SPEAKER_01]: legends you've looked up to growing up that's influenced you a lot, thinks that much of you.

[00:03:30] [SPEAKER_00]: That is really cool. And that's again, five years ago. You're probably near the beginning

[00:03:35] [SPEAKER_00]: of your career, but I don't think as a whiskey riff fan that I know your country music star

[00:03:40] [SPEAKER_00]: origin story. So can you, I know you're from Texas and I don't really know how you got your

[00:03:45] [SPEAKER_01]: start or anything. So can you kind of explain that? Well, so I started in Lubbock, Texas

[00:03:52] [SPEAKER_01]: and I was waiting tables at Texas Roadhouse and I just graduated college from South Plains College.

[00:03:58] [SPEAKER_01]: I went to Texas Tech for a year and a half. My daddy wanted me to get a business degree

[00:04:02] [SPEAKER_01]: and that wasn't for me. So I got one good semester at Tech and I stayed there for two more,

[00:04:07] [SPEAKER_01]: failed out, spent too much of my daddy's money. I still remember the phone call of calling him

[00:04:11] [SPEAKER_01]: going, Hey, I'm sorry I spent all your money, but I'm not going to go to Tech anymore.

[00:04:15] [SPEAKER_01]: Went South Plains, got a degree in sound technology, learned how to produce records,

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_01]: hit the road, quit Texas Roadhouse, started laying floor and tile and carpet and everything on the

[00:04:25] [SPEAKER_01]: side just to pay the bills while I went and played three hour bullshit sets in New Mexico,

[00:04:31] [SPEAKER_01]: anywhere they could book me because I was booking myself, managing myself.

[00:04:35] [SPEAKER_01]: I was doing everything and came out with an EP called Another Bullet back in 2016. We'd been

[00:04:42] [SPEAKER_01]: touring for 2014 and 15 on basically nothing. Put out a little five song EP called Another Bullet

[00:04:48] [SPEAKER_01]: and we were drawing like 50 people a night into these bars when we'd go headline. In 16 started

[00:04:54] [SPEAKER_01]: working with a man named Scott Gunner, who is my day-to-day manager. He works under a man named

[00:05:01] [SPEAKER_01]: Howie Edelman, who's my overall manager, who manages Cody Johnson, Roger Kroeger and myself.

[00:05:07] [SPEAKER_01]: So we started signing on with them, started working on with them full time at 17 and we just started

[00:05:11] [SPEAKER_01]: hitting the small circuits where we could, opening for Cody. And then in 2018 they handed me the keys

[00:05:17] [SPEAKER_01]: to produce my own record, my self-titled record here in Nashville and threw me to the wolves.

[00:05:21] [SPEAKER_01]: A few producers, your five song EP Another Bullet back in Texas with nothing. See what you can do

[00:05:27] [SPEAKER_01]: with a full length record. I was like, oh shit, well here we go. It's a big boy pants on. So I

[00:05:35] [SPEAKER_01]: stepped to the plate and we knocked out 13 songs in two days. Did my self-titled record, put it out

[00:05:42] [SPEAKER_01]: and a song called Mirror Mirror blew up and put us on the map. And here we are. We started a set

[00:05:47] [SPEAKER_01]: of 50 people. We went from 50 to 150 to 250 to 350 to a thousand cab, 2000. So I just slowly built

[00:05:55] [SPEAKER_01]: it over the course of five years. And here we are three records later. Which obviously that's a great

[00:05:59] [SPEAKER_01]: transition into, you know, speaking on numbers, you've got a global streaming count of 400 million

[00:06:07] [SPEAKER_01]: and that just continues to grow. That's wild. So like whenever you hear that, what goes through

[00:06:12] [SPEAKER_01]: your mind? Blessed man. I've learned in this industry, like when I started out everything I said to

[00:06:17] [SPEAKER_01]: anybody that ever worked with me, any ever came on to the team, whether I hired them band and crew,

[00:06:22] [SPEAKER_01]: whether it was me looking my management in the eye, my booking agent of the eye or my label in

[00:06:26] [SPEAKER_01]: the eye, I've said it to everybody. Nobody in this industry can outwork me. They just can't.

[00:06:31] [SPEAKER_01]: And I've worked myself into the ground doing this, but it's an amazing thing to know that it don't

[00:06:37] [SPEAKER_01]: necessarily matter how hard you work. What matters is if the people believe in you. What

[00:06:40] [SPEAKER_01]: matters is if your fans believe in you, they are showing up those numbers, proof that the fans

[00:06:46] [SPEAKER_01]: believe in it. And that's what matters to me. So without them, I don't, it don't matter how hard

[00:06:49] [SPEAKER_01]: I work out. You can work yourself literally into the ground. You need them. That's right.

[00:06:53] [SPEAKER_01]: And the fans were certainly showing up on the international leg of your into the neon tour,

[00:06:58] [SPEAKER_01]: right? Yeah. Do you feel like, do you feel like that trip that you took to do those shows

[00:07:04] [SPEAKER_01]: that probably played a role in growing those, those numbers for you?

[00:07:07] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. A hundred percent. That road, that trip to Europe is why I sound like this. It wore me out.

[00:07:14] [SPEAKER_01]: I ended up having to cancel a couple of shows last weekend. Just try to get some rest and recovery

[00:07:19] [SPEAKER_01]: from it. Cause it's, it's a hard thing to do to go overseas. We'd already been out,

[00:07:23] [SPEAKER_01]: dude, all summer long. We've been hammering it. We had one weekend off in July and then we were

[00:07:27] [SPEAKER_01]: out and about up in the Midwest for four weeks in a row. Came back, flew straight to Europe,

[00:07:32] [SPEAKER_01]: did a three week tour over there. And we, uh, our first five shows were outside of the UK. We did

[00:07:38] [SPEAKER_01]: Oslo, which is Norway, Sweden, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, and, uh, Cologne, Germany. So we

[00:07:45] [SPEAKER_01]: did five dates out there, sold them all out. One was a festival. Uh, so we kicked off the run with

[00:07:51] [SPEAKER_01]: five sold out shows and Amsterdam was a thousand people packed in their double encore. Just

[00:07:58] [SPEAKER_01]: unbelievable night. I put, I put Amsterdam in my top five shows of all time and it wasn't the,

[00:08:03] [SPEAKER_01]: we kicked ass. It was the fans, dude. What are the, like, what is the difference between fans

[00:08:07] [SPEAKER_01]: overseas versus fans here? Um, I think over there, man, when they know you're coming, they, they

[00:08:12] [SPEAKER_01]: dig through everything that you got. They want to know and they do their studying. Uh, we were,

[00:08:18] [SPEAKER_01]: I played off myself, title record. There's a, there's a song called reason to quit, which is

[00:08:22] [SPEAKER_01]: the last track on the record that we barely ever play. Um, over there they knew every single word

[00:08:27] [SPEAKER_01]: and then when I played it and sang it back. So, I mean, it's, and that happens every now and then

[00:08:31] [SPEAKER_01]: over here, but like they study your B sides, your C sides, they know it all. It's cool.

[00:08:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Do you think that's just because they don't get a lot of country artists through? So that

[00:08:40] [SPEAKER_00]: when someone's coming, they like have no choice, but to like make sure they know everything.

[00:08:44] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, for sure. Um, I think that's for sure. I think that's absolutely the way it was.

[00:08:48] [SPEAKER_01]: I think right now everybody's going over there to tour. Now there's a lot of people heading

[00:08:53] [SPEAKER_01]: overseas, whereas like we were one of the first to go out and stick our neck out and go, go risk

[00:08:58] [SPEAKER_01]: the, uh, the risk rewards, you know what I mean? See, see what would happen. And we went in

[00:09:02] [SPEAKER_01]: September last year and sold out everything. Um, and came back over this year, still doing it. So

[00:09:07] [SPEAKER_01]: I think, uh, for them, they're just looking at it like, uh, something they don't get a whole lot of,

[00:09:12] [SPEAKER_01]: but whatever they do, man, they do it full blown, full passion.

[00:09:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Some other recent success you've had is a couple of viral songs on Tik Tok. I'd love to hear your

[00:09:20] [SPEAKER_00]: take on that. I know I'm sure you've seen the trends all over the place with you and a honky

[00:09:24] [SPEAKER_01]: tonk. Yeah. Yeah. And it's, you dude, it's, it's spiked back up a little bit, which is wild. Um,

[00:09:30] [SPEAKER_01]: you and a honky tonk went nuts over the span of about, I think it was about five months. That

[00:09:35] [SPEAKER_01]: song was all over Tik Tok, uh, for a month straight. I know it was the number one song,

[00:09:41] [SPEAKER_01]: uh, for country. When you, when you like create a video and you type country, it was the first

[00:09:46] [SPEAKER_01]: video. It was the first song that came up and it was that song in Tennessee orange at the time.

[00:09:50] [SPEAKER_01]: It was insane to see how many videos were made in that five month span. There's like 30, 35 K

[00:09:59] [SPEAKER_01]: total videos, uh, that were made with you and a honky tonk right now. And I think probably 32 K

[00:10:07] [SPEAKER_01]: out of that was like all within like a two month span. This is nuts, dude. And I don't know about

[00:10:12] [SPEAKER_00]: you guys, but I'm an avid Tik Tok user and that's just how many times people use the video. Not how

[00:10:16] [SPEAKER_01]: many times people scrolled and heard that song. Oh yeah. Like if you, if you're a fan of country

[00:10:22] [SPEAKER_01]: music, you heard what drives me crazy. Like you heard. So, uh, it's always fun. Especially when

[00:10:27] [SPEAKER_01]: we went on tour with Cody, uh, in the fall of 22, when that song was like really up there on Tik Tok.

[00:10:32] [SPEAKER_01]: Uh, we did some direct support dates with the mountain Florida. And as soon as, you know,

[00:10:38] [SPEAKER_01]: we saved it last song. So we're going through all our songs and it was like, Oh cool. Oh yeah. I

[00:10:42] [SPEAKER_01]: kind of know mirror, mirror. That's cool, man. Who's this guy? Who's this guy? And it was like,

[00:10:46] [SPEAKER_01]: what drives me crazy. And you just saw the crowd like light up. Oh, it's that dude. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:10:52] [SPEAKER_01]: There it is. I mean, it did a lot for us, man. Yeah. I don't know how many times I've been to

[00:10:55] [SPEAKER_00]: shows with people and they're like, I don't know who this artist is. I'm like, I promise you,

[00:10:58] [SPEAKER_00]: you know, their music, you might not know their name yet, but you know, their music. Oh yeah.

[00:11:02] [SPEAKER_01]: Soon as you hear a little bit, that was the thing for us for, for even with the self title record,

[00:11:07] [SPEAKER_01]: there were years where, um, I would, I would go to the merch table and I would sit there and talk

[00:11:12] [SPEAKER_01]: to people and they'd be like, dude, I've been a fan for your music for years, but I had no idea

[00:11:15] [SPEAKER_01]: it was ever you. And I was like, what do you mean? They're like, man, we've heard your stuff. We've

[00:11:19] [SPEAKER_01]: listened to your stuff. But like, I didn't know it was Randall King. I was like, well, how does

[00:11:24] [SPEAKER_01]: that work? Like we thought it was George Freight. And I was like, that's cool. But like, Hey,

[00:11:29] [SPEAKER_01]: I'll take the compliment. But at the same time, it also says like the song and then the artist

[00:11:33] [SPEAKER_01]: exactly. Yeah. It would take them. I had that happen to me all the time. People just be like,

[00:11:38] [SPEAKER_01]: we knew the songs didn't know it was you. Right. Which we've talked about some past shows of

[00:11:41] [SPEAKER_01]: yours. Uh, but one that's up and coming that we're excited about. I think this episode is going to

[00:11:45] [SPEAKER_01]: air after you play at King Fest, uh, which is taking place at the Nashville palace. So is

[00:11:52] [SPEAKER_01]: that something that you have circled on your calendar? Is that, is that a venue that you love

[00:11:57] [SPEAKER_01]: So King Fest, this will be the second year for us to do King Fest out of the palace. Uh, which we

[00:12:02] [SPEAKER_01]: love the palace man. The palace was one of the first places in Nashville. I got to play as a

[00:12:07] [SPEAKER_01]: headliner. The first place I ever played in Nashville was a wow. That's a statement. The

[00:12:11] [SPEAKER_01]: very first place. And first time I ever played a show in Nashville was direct support opening for

[00:12:17] [SPEAKER_01]: Cody Johnson at the Ryman in 2019. Um, my debut into Nashville was a hell of a thing, uh, which

[00:12:24] [SPEAKER_01]: was really special to think about. Then we got to come out here. I think we sold out. We sold

[00:12:28] [SPEAKER_01]: out cahoots twice out in Lebanon. And then we're like, all right, let's try a spot in Nashville,

[00:12:33] [SPEAKER_01]: see how it goes. And we'd kicked around venues, you know, there's Brooklyn bowl, there's marathon,

[00:12:37] [SPEAKER_01]: there's all these places. And, uh, I believe it was Howie. How he goes, man, you guys ought to

[00:12:42] [SPEAKER_01]: think about Nashville palace. Like what's going on at the palace anymore? And we're like, I was

[00:12:46] [SPEAKER_01]: like, what the hell is the palace? I've never been out there. You know, so right there across

[00:12:49] [SPEAKER_01]: from the Opry scoreboards is out there. Uh, it's a whole different kind of like music element.

[00:12:55] [SPEAKER_01]: That's out there. Like Alan Jackson's band goes out and plays in one of the little bars that are

[00:13:00] [SPEAKER_01]: in that circle out there. And when you go out to the palace and you realize like,

[00:13:06] [SPEAKER_01]: this is a true honky-tonk, like this is, this is the Gillies of Nashville. And I was like,

[00:13:13] [SPEAKER_01]: this is where I want, this is where I want to build. So I wanted to do it. So we went in my

[00:13:17] [SPEAKER_01]: my first show there, I think it was fall of 2020. And we started just once a year going in, hitting

[00:13:23] [SPEAKER_01]: it. And then we do King fest back in Texas, which has had great success. I was like,

[00:13:30] [SPEAKER_01]: why don't we do a King fest Nashville and just try it out and let this be the building blocks.

[00:13:35] [SPEAKER_01]: And so we're doing two nights, did it last year, two nights this year, two nights. I think Friday

[00:13:40] [SPEAKER_01]: we got Walker Montgomery, um, Brian Fuller and then us. And we're separating the nights,

[00:13:47] [SPEAKER_01]: not only with artistry, but I was like, well, I don't want to do the same set two nights in a row.

[00:13:52] [SPEAKER_01]: So the first night we're calling it the Tonk era. So we got everything pre into the neon

[00:13:57] [SPEAKER_01]: and it's set. It's a set based on snippets of each album and EP that I've ever released.

[00:14:03] [SPEAKER_01]: The different area of my career, even, even from a self-titled record, another bullet EP,

[00:14:08] [SPEAKER_01]: on the honky-tonk bullshit EP, the first singles that I ever dropped, uh, through with Warner all

[00:14:15] [SPEAKER_01]: the way up to shot glass, my sister's. And I think we fit in the night with my sister's EP.

[00:14:19] [SPEAKER_01]: Okay. And, uh, so we'll do nothing from the, nothing from end of the neon except for the

[00:14:24] [SPEAKER_01]: current single. Okay. And then, uh, the next night is the neon era. So we do have a set that's based

[00:14:30] [SPEAKER_01]: 95% on into the neon. Well, I didn't know that. I have to go both nights. Yeah. And then Saturday

[00:14:37] [SPEAKER_01]: we got Braxton Keith and Mackenzie Carpenter. Yeah. That'll be good. I'm excited. Yeah. I went

[00:14:42] [SPEAKER_00]: last year and I think, I mean, obviously it incentivizes fans to go both nights, but now

[00:14:46] [SPEAKER_00]: yeah, I'm really excited. Cause like that's the worst part about going to shows as a fan is like,

[00:14:50] [SPEAKER_00]: you can't always hear everything they play. Like it's just not possible unless you're

[00:14:53] [SPEAKER_01]: dealing with this. Unless you go, unless you go two nights, two nights, random Kings concert.

[00:14:57] [SPEAKER_01]: And then you got, you got everything pre into the neon and everything into the neon.

[00:15:01] [SPEAKER_00]: You mentioned Cody Johnson a lot, but you also were recently opening up for Tim McGraw.

[00:15:05] [SPEAKER_00]: I'd love to hear about how those shows went, where you were, how he is.

[00:15:09] [SPEAKER_01]: That was, that was unreal. Yeah. Coming into country music as a kid, learning about it,

[00:15:16] [SPEAKER_01]: becoming a fan. There's a record called all I want. What's one of Tim's first records. I think

[00:15:21] [SPEAKER_01]: it was like a second or his third record. I want to say it was just third. Uh, either way, that's

[00:15:28] [SPEAKER_01]: one that has, I like it. I love it. Um, I wore that record out as a kid. It was one of my go-to's.

[00:15:35] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm pretty sure my, my daddy still has videos of me running around singing in my underwear with

[00:15:40] [SPEAKER_01]: cowboy hat on. I like it. I love it. And so to get to go out there and open for Tim McGraw was

[00:15:46] [SPEAKER_01]: unbelievable. Um, it's a whole circle moment. Oh yeah, dude. Yeah. And him and him as a human being

[00:15:52] [SPEAKER_01]: just, he's God, he's, he's, he's humble and kind just to put it lightly. Um, but that weekend was

[00:15:59] [SPEAKER_01]: my sister's death day anniversary. So I had a block. I wasn't going to do it. And those three

[00:16:05] [SPEAKER_01]: offers came in and Chad, my agent called and he was like, Oh, no, you got a block. I know what the

[00:16:10] [SPEAKER_01]: weekend is, man. Um, but I can't not present you the offers. I was like, give me like three days.

[00:16:16] [SPEAKER_01]: Let me sit on it. And the first night I went home, just talking to Brit about it. And I was

[00:16:21] [SPEAKER_01]: like, you know what? My sister would even want, she'd whoop my ass if I didn't take those shows.

[00:16:24] [SPEAKER_01]: I know she would, she'd be upset. And uh, I was like, I tell you what, I'm going to take them.

[00:16:29] [SPEAKER_01]: And uh, I only have 15 minutes each night. And I said on her, on the 19th, which is her death

[00:16:34] [SPEAKER_01]: day anniversary, I said, I'm going to go up there and I'm gonna play out fly away. And I'm closing

[00:16:37] [SPEAKER_01]: the night out without fly away. And uh, that's exactly what we did. And each night Tim stood

[00:16:42] [SPEAKER_01]: out there and watch all 15 minutes every single night. And that was, to me, that was a massive

[00:16:47] [SPEAKER_01]: statement of who he is. Um, cause that's a hard thing to do. He's a busy dude, even for 15 minutes.

[00:16:54] [SPEAKER_01]: And every time I got off the stage, he'd come around the corner and shake my hand, talk to me

[00:16:58] [SPEAKER_01]: like he's a, he's a bad, he's a bad-ass flat out. Was he aware of the significance of those dates?

[00:17:04] [SPEAKER_01]: Uh, I don't think so, man. I don't think so. I don't think he knew. Uh, we, I didn't really

[00:17:10] [SPEAKER_01]: mention it to him. Didn't talk about it. I was, I was a little, uh, starstruck,

[00:17:15] [SPEAKER_01]: had my foot in my mouth more times than not.

[00:17:17] [SPEAKER_00]: But you brought up your sister a couple of times. Do you mind sharing that for people who might not

[00:17:21] [SPEAKER_01]: know? Yeah, I mean, I lost my sister April 19th of 2020. Um, she passed away to, uh, complications

[00:17:27] [SPEAKER_01]: due to a gastric sleeve that she had like 2013. Um, she ended up her labor failed. Uh, the fall

[00:17:35] [SPEAKER_01]: of 2020, I came out with a five song EP, a four song EP that was dedicated to her with her name

[00:17:40] [SPEAKER_01]: on it. Um, so now when you Google her name, country music comes up. So she lives for everything

[00:17:45] [SPEAKER_01]: country music, which is, she'd be a happy camper. I mean, which obviously around forever is, is one

[00:17:51] [SPEAKER_01]: of those songs that's included in the EP. Um, it's such a visceral emotional song. Anyone that's lost

[00:17:57] [SPEAKER_01]: somebody I think can connect to that. And then I'll also kind of lay it out as like, even if

[00:18:02] [SPEAKER_01]: they're not gone, like appreciate the time that you have. Yeah, absolutely. If you got, yeah,

[00:18:06] [SPEAKER_01]: if you, if it's like literally Cody, Cody says, you've got a chance to take it. Right. So, I mean,

[00:18:10] [SPEAKER_01]: that's, that's, that song is absolutely a, uh, it's a perfect picture of that. If you got a moment

[00:18:16] [SPEAKER_01]: that you're in and you have people that you love around you, you make sure you take advantage of

[00:18:20] [SPEAKER_01]: that moment, capture it, take it in. Don't let it pass by and don't blow it off. You never know when

[00:18:26] [SPEAKER_01]: your last moment that you have with them is going to be right. And making the most of moments you've

[00:18:30] [SPEAKER_01]: been on the road for years. Right? So I'm sure you're a little used to it at this point, but,

[00:18:35] [SPEAKER_01]: um, is there still a process where like you, you are like, Oh gosh, I've got to go out on the road

[00:18:40] [SPEAKER_01]: again. Or is it something now that you're comfortable with as far as touring goes?

[00:18:43] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. All the time. Uh, I mean, it's always a give and take. It's always a balance. You got

[00:18:50] [SPEAKER_01]: to find balance with it. And, uh, it's really easy to just work yourself to death. Uh, it's,

[00:18:56] [SPEAKER_01]: it's really easy to get caught up in numbers. It's easy to get caught up in, I got to do this.

[00:19:01] [SPEAKER_01]: I got to do that. What's the next step? What's the next move? Instead of stepping in and just

[00:19:05] [SPEAKER_01]: going, wow, well this is where I'm at right now. And you have to, I mean, you have to remember

[00:19:10] [SPEAKER_01]: to do that. You got to live in the moment. Um, so I have to, I have to openly make myself and force

[00:19:17] [SPEAKER_01]: myself to take in the moment. Sometimes you're like, like Amsterdam was one of those moments

[00:19:21] [SPEAKER_01]: where I just got to like sit there for a second on stage and just go, I'm only halfway across

[00:19:25] [SPEAKER_01]: the world. We just sold out a thousand cap room. I mean, they're, and they're going nuts. Like,

[00:19:31] [SPEAKER_01]: and they knew everything like that was, it was crazy. And then when they were,

[00:19:35] [SPEAKER_01]: they were all like that, they were all every single show out there. It was just unreal to

[00:19:39] [SPEAKER_01]: be halfway across the world playing country music. I'm a kid from West Texas. I'm from the panhandle.

[00:19:44] [SPEAKER_01]: Like I've known the flatlands and semi trucks my whole life to be able to hop on a plane and go

[00:19:50] [SPEAKER_01]: overseas and play in countries I ain't never been to like, there's just, like I said, blessed.

[00:19:57] [SPEAKER_01]: And outside of those international shows, are there any places that you look forward to if

[00:20:01] [SPEAKER_01]: they're on the schedule to go play at? Like, do you have any crazy stories? Like, Oh, I,

[00:20:06] [SPEAKER_01]: we had a tour date in this city and this happened kind of thing that you can think of

[00:20:11] [SPEAKER_01]: outside of King festival? Well, just like, uh, asking as far as like outside of the

[00:20:17] [SPEAKER_01]: international dates, cause obviously those are where you were able to connect with fans.

[00:20:20] [SPEAKER_01]: Dude. I mean, there's been some incredible moments all year long. Flagstaff, Arizona was one of my

[00:20:25] [SPEAKER_01]: favorite moments this year. Uh, it was kind of, it was a surprise show to me. Uh, it was the first

[00:20:31] [SPEAKER_01]: time that we ever booked that market and sold it out. I think it was like eight, 50, 900 people,

[00:20:36] [SPEAKER_01]: something like that in there packed out wild night, just screaming every single word. It was

[00:20:43] [SPEAKER_01]: one of those shows where like, you don't have to try, you don't have to work at it. Like you just

[00:20:47] [SPEAKER_01]: get to go up there and have fun because they're there. They're, they're ready to bring the energy

[00:20:52] [SPEAKER_01]: for you. Flagstaff was one of my favorite ones. All these festivals, man, like country, all the

[00:20:57] [SPEAKER_01]: country thunders, country thunders are always a blast. Um, God, even this year we kicked it off

[00:21:01] [SPEAKER_01]: with Steamboat. Steamboat was a blast there. There's been a lot of highlights, man. And then

[00:21:05] [SPEAKER_01]: of course, opening up for Tim McGraw, um, last year we closed out the year getting open for John

[00:21:09] [SPEAKER_01]: Party, which was spectacular. Dude. Like Arena So's sold out him and his crew and his band,

[00:21:15] [SPEAKER_01]: like there's top notch people, man. Red Rocks. Red Rocks. Yeah. I love that one.

[00:21:21] [SPEAKER_01]: Red Rocks was incredible. I played I'll Fly Away at Red Rocks and when I went into it,

[00:21:26] [SPEAKER_01]: it was a rainy drizzly day. And I hope as soon as I, as soon as I kicked into I'll Fly Away,

[00:21:31] [SPEAKER_01]: it cleared up and a rainbow came out. Wow. Then as soon as I ended the song,

[00:21:35] [SPEAKER_01]: rainbow went away, clouds came back over and I was like that, like that's a full,

[00:21:40] [SPEAKER_01]: that's a God moment. Like that's a full circle. That is unreal.

[00:21:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Now, before we talk about more about your new music, I want to touch on football really fast.

[00:21:48] [SPEAKER_01]: So I, let's go. It's football time now. Let's go.

[00:21:53] [SPEAKER_00]: So you have your Cowboys hat on and I messaged you from the Whiskey Riff Instagram asking you

[00:21:57] [SPEAKER_00]: what your favorite football team was. And you said Cowboys and Chiefs, which is kind of cheating.

[00:22:03] [SPEAKER_01]: But I need, I need the explanation. Uh, well for one, I'm a Cowboys fan first. For two,

[00:22:11] [SPEAKER_01]: it's really hard, really hard to be a Cowboys fan. I'm a diehard faithful. I just,

[00:22:18] [SPEAKER_01]: God, that's a tough organization to, they're the number one organization for letdowns because

[00:22:24] [SPEAKER_01]: they always have the potential and they never live up to it. So I didn't get to see all the

[00:22:30] [SPEAKER_01]: Super Bowls in the nineties as a kid. I came in at the Drew Bledsoe era. So that was about oh

[00:22:37] [SPEAKER_01]: five, I believe. And, uh, I saw Tony Romo come into play. I still remember his first game and

[00:22:44] [SPEAKER_01]: I was a massive Tony fan all the way up to when he got hurt in the preseason this final year.

[00:22:50] [SPEAKER_01]: It had been tough, but I love the Chiefs. I was going to say that's to make up for.

[00:22:55] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. But I went to, I went to Texas Tech, right? So I watched Patrick Mahomes as a Red Raider.

[00:23:02] [SPEAKER_01]: There you go. Love Pat. I always, always had a soft spot for the Chiefs anyway,

[00:23:07] [SPEAKER_01]: because the Chiefs used to be the Dallas Texans back in the day, right? Lamar Hunt and Tex Graham

[00:23:13] [SPEAKER_01]: flipped a coin to see who's going to stay in Dallas because you can't have Dallas Cowboys and

[00:23:17] [SPEAKER_01]: Dallas Texans. So they flip a coin, Tex Graham wins. Lamar Hunt goes out to Kansas City, starts

[00:23:23] [SPEAKER_01]: the AFC. Now you got the NFC and the AFC. You got the Kansas City Chiefs, Dallas Cowboys. And one of

[00:23:28] [SPEAKER_01]: these days, I'm going to see them both in the Superbowl. And I'm gonna be like, I win no matter

[00:23:32] [SPEAKER_01]: what. I win no matter what. Well, you clearly know your stuff. So we'll let it pass that you're a

[00:23:37] [SPEAKER_01]: Cowboys and Chiefs fan. Yeah. I think that that's perfectly fine. But we do want to talk a little

[00:23:43] [SPEAKER_01]: bit about, you know, your, your new music of course. What's this album's theme? You know,

[00:23:48] [SPEAKER_01]: do you keep, do you keep evolving the honky-tonk sound? Is that something that you're always going

[00:23:52] [SPEAKER_01]: to stick to and it has a staple of your projects? Yeah, absolutely. The honky-tonk sounds who I am.

[00:23:59] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know any, I honestly don't know anything different. Nor can I pull it off.

[00:24:05] [SPEAKER_01]: One of the things I've always said when I first started out was I can't, I can't sell it. I can't

[00:24:11] [SPEAKER_01]: be fake. I'm not up there acting. If I have to get to that point to do anything, I'll pull out. Like

[00:24:20] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to do it. Yeah. When I first started out in 2013 and 14, there was a record that I came

[00:24:28] [SPEAKER_01]: out with under Randall King Band. And it was, it was forceful. It was recorded in the basement of

[00:24:39] [SPEAKER_01]: the Texas Tech's library in their studio. And it wasn't, it was sounded good and it was okay, but

[00:24:44] [SPEAKER_01]: it wasn't me. It was, it was sonics that were pulled in from an influence of the other members.

[00:24:51] [SPEAKER_01]: And it wasn't, it wasn't Randall King. It was, um, it was more red dirt rock country to put it best.

[00:24:59] [SPEAKER_01]: And, um, I toured on it for like a year and a half. And I remember playing shows and standing

[00:25:06] [SPEAKER_01]: up there singing the songs and going, I don't even believe in this shit. Why am I doing it?

[00:25:11] [SPEAKER_01]: So I buried the record, changed directions. And I went back to being me and went back to the honky

[00:25:16] [SPEAKER_01]: tonk traditional roots. So going forward, you can expect more of the same because

[00:25:21] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know any different. I'm not trying for certain sounds. The only thing we did with this

[00:25:25] [SPEAKER_01]: record was I felt like in my sound, I was missing an element of who I am. There's a Gary Allen-esque

[00:25:33] [SPEAKER_01]: early dirks grit and smoke that I felt like my records were missing. So this record,

[00:25:39] [SPEAKER_01]: we went all grit, all smoke and uh, and the neon came out the way it did. And it's a little more

[00:25:45] [SPEAKER_01]: of a modern-ish take on my honky tonk traditional roots. The next record I plan on it being a little

[00:25:52] [SPEAKER_01]: more on the honky tonk side than the modern side. And, uh, it's fine by me just to, just to,

[00:25:58] [SPEAKER_01]: to, to throw it out there. I'm pretty sure it's going to be honky tonk bullshit volume two.

[00:26:04] [SPEAKER_01]: Okay. So you're going to get more of that, what that honky tonk bullshit EP was.

[00:26:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Looking forward to new music, but I do want to dig up that old Randall King band.

[00:26:13] [SPEAKER_01]: Good luck. I'm going to try. I buried this shit out of it. It's deep. It's deep. It's

[00:26:17] [SPEAKER_01]: deep. Like Grand Canyon deep. Gotcha. Filled with dirt. Awesome. We're gonna,

[00:26:23] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm still going to try. Um, we're going to wrap up with what we're calling honky tonk rapid fire

[00:26:30] [SPEAKER_00]: brought to you by ammunition whiskey. So first question is how do you drink your whiskey?

[00:26:34] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I don't drink whiskey anymore. So there you go. Cause I don't always see

[00:26:39] [SPEAKER_01]: more tequila guy. I'm a tequila guy. How I drink my tequila on the rocks. There we go. Um, fill

[00:26:46] [SPEAKER_01]: in the blank sad country songs and blank make me happy. Sad country songs and blank. Oh,

[00:26:53] [SPEAKER_00]: well, let's see. Tequila. What are your favorite honky tonks?

[00:26:59] [SPEAKER_01]: Uh, God that's hard. Cause there's a lot of goodness. I mean Billy Bob's cruise, the rose,

[00:27:06] [SPEAKER_01]: uh, the weed out there and still water. I love that green hall. Yeah. What's the key to a good

[00:27:13] [SPEAKER_01]: honky tonk? What are you looking for in a good honky tonk? Oh man. It's just gotta be a,

[00:27:18] [SPEAKER_01]: it's gotta be a darkness to it. Right? Like the neon lights is what keeps it glowing and it needs

[00:27:25] [SPEAKER_01]: to be dim lit smoky. Even if it ain't smoking, I guess nothing's smoking anymore. They take all

[00:27:30] [SPEAKER_01]: the damn smoke out, but, um, so at least it's gotta be dim lit neon dance floor. When you

[00:27:35] [SPEAKER_00]: walk into a honky tonk, what song do you want to hear playing? All the girls all get pretty

[00:27:43] [SPEAKER_01]: here at closing time. Do you have a favorite side country song? Man, that one's really tough.

[00:27:53] [SPEAKER_01]: I would say two George Jones songs come to mind. I used to have loving her today for one, but, uh,

[00:28:02] [SPEAKER_01]: what's that one? Just because I ask a friend about her. Oh, she thinks I still care. That is one of

[00:28:10] [SPEAKER_00]: my all time favorite. Do you have a go-to karaoke song? Is karaoke even allowed in a honky tonk?

[00:28:16] [SPEAKER_01]: Does that make it? I wouldn't say it's allowed in a honky tonk. Yeah. But one of my favorite karaoke

[00:28:22] [SPEAKER_01]: songs to see probably anything I can rock backstreet boys. Now I would like to hear that.

[00:28:29] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you're not on the spot obviously, but I mean, backstreet boys cover. I am.

[00:28:36] [SPEAKER_01]: What are you doing whenever you're not playing music? What's something that you kind of just do

[00:28:39] [SPEAKER_01]: on the side? Um, man, when I get a chance, I love to fish. I don't get a whole lot of chances,

[00:28:45] [SPEAKER_01]: but I love to fish. If I can get away, go hunt, shoot some bird. There you go. Call her again.

[00:28:49] [SPEAKER_00]: And last question is what is your favorite thing to do while drinking whiskey or in your case,

[00:28:54] [SPEAKER_01]: tequila? Uh, man, one of my favorite things. I'm a people watcher. So I like,

[00:29:00] [SPEAKER_01]: I like sitting in the corner of a bar, sipping on tequila and just watching, watching the shit

[00:29:06] [SPEAKER_01]: show. That's a great answer. I love that. Yeah. I don't think people watch her too. Yeah. Well,

[00:29:11] [SPEAKER_00]: thank you so much for your time. I'm looking forward to kink fest this weekend. And also

[00:29:14] [SPEAKER_00]: thank you to the Russell for letting us shoot there here today. And we'll see this weekend.

[00:29:19] [SPEAKER_01]: It's going to be good. Come on.