Just Be Nice

People always ask me. How did you get where you are? I'm going to start a series in April about that but I want to start by saying. "Just be Nice."

I'm very connected in my small world but more importantly than that is that I have amazing friends that help me when I need. I feel the biggest reason is because I am friendly. All doors that have opened to me have been because I've been polite and basically nice. My good friend/artist that I manage Lacey Brown recently did a series of Christmas shows and at the end of one of them she ask the crowd to love one another and be nice to each other. It's not that hard is it?

"Just Be Nice"

"There Is Just Doing It."

So a few weeks ago I went to my 15th SXSW in Austin Texas. It's a music conference like no other. Hard to describe. You just have to be there or go someday to believe what happens in that 5 day period.
This year was a little special to me because Bruce Springsteen had been chosen months before to do the keynote speech. He was also going to perform somewhere in town the day of his speech.
I'm a Bruce fan. His writing speaks to me. His interviews are intelligent, witty and humorous. He is very humble. He is the rock and roll voice for the common man. Just like Haggard is for the country folk.
His performance that night was amazing. He did exactly what he talked about in his speech. I've seen his show before but not before a pep rally. Which is what it felt like that day, a pep rally.  A coach telling his team what they needed to do that night to win then taking the field with no regrets and annihilating the competition!
In his world there's is no competition. Just him and his E Street Band. 62 years old and still rocking. I'm still high from his performance. It was simply amazing.

I'm including some key moments of his speech. If you get a chance please watch it here.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2012/03/15/148693171/bruce-springsteen-on-the-meaning-of-music

Bruce said....

"Its just what you're bringing when the lights go down. Your teachers, your influences, your personal history. At the end of the day it's the power and purpose of your music that still matters."

He went on to say...

"Rumble young musicians rumble. Open your ears and open your hearts."
"Don't take yourselves to seriously. Don't worry but worry your ass off."
"Have iron clad confidence, but doubt. It keeps you awake and alert." 
"Believe you are the baddest ass in town."
"Keep 2 contradictory ideas inside of your heart and head at all times. If it doesn't drive you crazy, it will make you strong."
"Stay Hard, Stay Hungry and Stay Alive and when you walk on stage tonight, to bring the noise, treat it like it's all we have."
"Then remember. Its Only Rock and Roll."
"There is no right way, no pure way, of doing."

"There is just doing it."

And he did! 

 

My view from the Balcony. 

Music Overload

Walt Wilkins, Reckless Kelly, Alabama Shakes, Kids These Days, Rayland Baxter, Kingston Springs, Max Gomez, The-Dream, Lionel Richie, Bruce Springsteen, Alejandro Escovedo. Just a few of the bands I was able to catch in between meetings, lunches, business dinners and private parties at SXSW 2012 last week in Austin Texas.
SXSW is five days of near 24-7 music, with nightly showcases and full-day parties and more than 2,000 acts. I've been to this event 15 years in a row. I absolutely love going. I could've seen more had I had the time. Please feel free to look up anyone on this list that you may not have heard of. Especially Walt Wilkins and Rayland Baxter. I'll be writing a blog specific to Springsteen's keynote address later this week. It was absolutely brilliant.
I look forward to next year again. I can't get enough.

If You Have To Ask

Should I Move To Nashville?

I can still hear the question clearly.

Every now and then we get a recommendation from a friend, a family member, an old band member from back home, a cousin of a cousin, my uncle's neighbor's 10 year old daughter....you get the picture. "I know a great singer, You need to hear this person, Can I get them to call you, Can I give them your email, your number, will you meet with them, will you listen to their music?
Of course we say yes, If you don't then you're too good or you got above your raisin', you've lost touch with where you came from etc, but again that's another blog.

It was somewhere between 1997 and 2004 that I was at Sony Music doing A&R for Hit songwriter/ producer Don Cook. My mentor. An amazing man. A total father figure to me. I can't say enough about what I learned from this man. At the time we were making records on multi-platinum artist like Alabama, Tracy Lawrence, Wade Hayes, Brooks and Dunn, The Mavericks, Lonestar, Joe Diffie, and a few others. To say Cook was the hottest producer in town at that time is an understatement. We were rocking!

So we took this meeting, a recommendation from a friend back home in Texas. This artist and her parents came to Nashville just to meet with us to see what we might think of this aspiring young 18 year old singer. The meeting was great. She nervously sang in front of us. Her dad backed her up on guitar, the mother listened proudly. It was a relatively good meeting. Nothing out of the ordinary. She was good but not great. Toward the end of the meeting the parents were asking the basic "how did you guys get here" questions when the young artist looked at Don Cook and asked.

"Should I Move to Nashville"?

I'll never forget his answer. It said it all. It was not hateful or mean. It was not cocky or arrogant. It was the truth. When you know you are meant to be somewhere and there's nothing else that matters and I mean NOTHING! Then you know. You absolutely know!

His answer was....

"If You Have To Ask Then the Answer Is No".

Heartbreak Town
I've seen 'em rise
I've seen 'em fall
Some get nothin'
And Lord some get it all
Some just run
While others crawl away
Hold my hand baby don't let go
I've got some front money
And I've got a next show
And i'm gonna need you
Down this yellow brick road

This ain't nothin' but a Heartbreak Town
Square people in a world that's round
And they watch you dancin' without a sound
It ain't nothin' no it ain't nothin' no
You take your number and you stand in line
And they watch to see how high you're gonna climb
Pat on the back 'n' better luck next time
It ain't nothin' no it ain't nothin'
But a Heartbreak Town
Songwriter: DARRELL SCOTT

You Can't Always Get What You Want

It was 1991 and I had been in Nashville for 5 years. I was coming off a 2 year tour with Leon Russell and Edgar Winter. Probably the most amazing tour (musically) that I've ever been on. It was very unexpected that I even ended up on that tour. I was a country drummer and all of a sudden I was in a rock band with 2 rock and roll legends. Still blows my mind.
When the tour ended,  we were basically let go as a band.  I took a few weeks off then started the process of finding another gig. I made the usual phone calls to my "hit list" to see if there were any auditions coming up.
To my surprise I learned of 3. They were Les Taylor (formally of Exile) who had a solo artist deal on Epic Records, Vern Gosdin who was coming off the amazing "Chiseled in Stone record on Columbia and MCA artist Lionel Cartwright.
Coming from Texas and having spent my early years in Honky Tonk bars I really wanted the Gosdin gig the most. It was in my wheelhouse. Perfectly taylored to my style of playing. I could play it in my sleep.
It turned out all 3 auditions were scheduled on the same week in the order of Gosdin, Taylor and Cartwright making it very difficult to prepare properly for the 3. So I made a plan that I would spend more time on Vern and honed in on it. That was my dream gig. I was so sure I would get that gig that I didn't spend much time on the other two.

My confidence was thru the roof when I sat behind the drum kit for Vern. He asked me to count off the first song which I did and about 15 secs into the song he waved us off and turned around and said to me "You're playing to F-ing Loud, back it down." My heart sunk to the floor and I never recovered. Totally bombed the other two songs and drove home confused and defeated.
I collected myself and went to the Les Taylor audition and was still so paranoid from the day before that I bombed that audition too.
I had to shake it off and luckily I had a few days till the next audition to get my mojo back. I walk into the rehearsal room never expecting to be there and nailed the Cartwright gig. Got the job on the spot. I was so relieved.
It turned out to be a life changing experience. Lionel was the best. An amazing musician, writer and person. The guys in the band are all still some of my best friends. My path was not chosen by me. I was not in control. I was not supposed to get the other two gigs. I landed where I was supposed to be.

Failure will happen. Don't let it knock you down. Don't fear it, Take it on, Shake it off. Learn from it and move on!  


"You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes, well you just might find
You get what you need" 
(M. Jagger/K. Richards)

Fall Forward

A few nights ago I was watching David Letterman as I always do to decompress and laugh out loud before heading to bed. I love to laugh out loud but that's another blog. Anyway, Denzel Washington was on the show as a guest and it was typical banter between the sarcastic host and the cool laid back Washington when Dave brought up that Denzel had just given a commencement speech. Denzel talked about how nervous he was and how he struggled to get thru it. He also talked about something that he lives by. "Falling Forward". How it never made sense to him that we should have something to fall back on. I have not been able to get this out of my mind since. It's my story. I never wanted to do anything other than be in the entertainment business. The drums were my driving force. They allowed me to think like no other in my family or my hometown. They were my ticket out. I never thought about what I would do if playing music didn't work out. Never! My dad and brother always said I could come work for them if things didn't work out and to be honest with you things didn't work out a lot. But I never thought about going back. And I never will. If things didn't work out I always found a way back in. I love what I do and maybe that's why.
Denzel said you should identify your particular gifts and to persevere in honing them no matter what.

No Matter What!

He said, “I never understood that concept…I don’t want to fall back on anything except my faith. If I’m going to fall, I want to fall forward.” You will fail,” he said. “Accept it. You will lose. You will embarrass yourself. You will suck at something. So you got to get out there and give it your all." I should know. In the music business, you fail all the time. If you don’t fail, you’re not even trying. 
"Taking risks, he said, is about being open to life, to people, to foreign ideas and new frontiers." He insisted that while that might be frightening at first, “it will also be rewarding. Because the chances you take, the people you meet, the people you love, and the faith that you have, that’s what’s going to define you.”
In the end, he charged the graduating class with a universally inspiring mission: “Never be discouraged. Never hold back. Give it everything you’ve got. And when you fall, fall forward.”

Dinner with Girls

Tonight I had dinner with Donna, Amanda and Amanda's high school friend Sarah.  I added nothing to the conversation or "convo" as they called it. They rattled off for an hour, laughed, made faces and giggled. I hardly understood a word. It's like they have their own code. "Girl code". Their own language! Plus I didn't know any of the characters that they talked about. I was completely lost. Maybe I need to get more involved in Amanda's life at school. Maybe I need to get to know her friends. But that's not easy either. At this age they don't allow dad's in their lives!  Especially at school. I'm not cool enough. It's not easy I tell ya.
Coop was easy. Coop and his buddies were easy. I had so much more in common with them. Guy talk.
I said 3 words all night. "Hello" when they walked in and "check please" when it was time to leave.